Confidential Prey (Nick Teffinger Thriller) Read Online Free

work.”
    “You sound weird.”
    “It’s winter out here,” she said. “There’s fog and rain and wind. I don’t know who invented this place but they sure screwed it up.”
    Teffinger smiled.
    “Fi gure out how the guy picked the lawyer to be his victim. Why her out of everyone in the world? Figure out if she was a wrong place wrong time girl or something more deliberate and calculated. Figure out the motive.”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Thanks, I owe you one.”
    “One? What kind of math are you using?”
     
    He dialed Raverly’s room and said, “I’m going to go scrounge up a beer somewhere. You want to come along?”
    She did.
    She did indeed.
    They headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard, watched the Bellagio fountains dance to a Celine Deon song, then crossed over to Paris and played the pass line at a craps table long enough to get four complimentary drinks, Bud Lights for him and scr ewdrivers for Raverly. He was $10 0 up at that point, tossed the chips on the waitress’s tray as she passed and told Raverly, “Forty-eight hours.”
    He expected her to not understand.
    She knew what he meant, however.
    He was referring to the time left before Mr. K struck Denver.
    “How are you going to stop him?” she said.
    “I don’t know.”
     
    Outside the strip was chocked with headlights five lanes thick in both directions, moving slower than the walkers. Horns honked, motorcycles revved, drunken party voic es shouted and faces hung out windows.
    “You need to get North to tell you who his attorney friend is out in L.A.,” Teffinger said. “Then we need to get him to tell us who his client is.”
    Raverly chewed on it.
    Her expression wasn’t enthusiastic.
    “You’re a sking for two separate attorney s to breach their trust,” she said. “I’ll try but we better be working on a plan B in the meantime.” A beat then, “It might be easier to follow the telephone trail. If we could get North’s records, that would show who he’s talking to in L.A. Then if we could get that person’s records, it would show who he’s talking to.”
    Teffinger kicked a coke can.
    “Our guy’s too smart to not have thought of that,” he said. “He’s probably using a payphone and if he is using a cell, I’m sure he’s distanced himself from it. It’s probably a disposable or prepaid, purchased for cash, or something of that nature. There are a hundred ways to do it. Go to Google and type in anonymous cell phone and you’ll find half of them right there.”
    “Still, it’s worth trying.”
    “It is and I’ll set it in motion. Maybe he wants to be caught and he’ll get sloppy on purpose. That’s not what my gut tell s me but you never know. The only thing I know for sure is that this guy is 100 percent legit and has coughed up two bodies to prove it.”
    Suddenly something happened that Teffinger didn’t expect. Raverly grabbed his hand and held it as they walked.
    “We need to get him talking some more,” she said.
    “I was thinking the same thing , except shouting instead of talking.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Talking implies control and deliberation,” he said. “I need to get into his emotions and twist them. I need him to spit things out before he gets a chance to think them through.”
    Raverly squeezed his hand.
    “The system’s not built for that,” she said. “There’s too much back and forth.”
    “Exactly,” Teffinger said. “That’s why we need to change the system.”
    “Meaning what?”
    “Meaning I need to start talking to him directly.”
    “How are you going to do that? Just shut him off unless he calls you direct?”
    “Maybe.”
    “I don’t know that he’ll go for it,” she said. “There’s another option, though. We already know he’s taken a shin ing to me. He probably wouldn’t mind talking to me as long as he felt there wasn’t too much risk.”
    Teffinger put his arm around her waist.
    “ No. You’re already too close to the fire.”
    “Screw the