Confidential Prey (Nick Teffinger Thriller) Read Online Free Page B

do?”
    “I’m going to catch him.”
    “No you’re not,” she said. “We are.”
    “Yeah, right. I forgot. We .”
     
    The seatbelt sign was still on. Teffinger unsnapped, got vertical and wandered back to the flight attendant’s station where a startled young woman gave him a stern look.
    “The seatbelt sign’s on,” she said.
    Teffinger sat next to her.
    “I need coffee.”
    “We’ll be serving—”
    He handed her a twenty.
    “Do me a favor, as soon as you’re authorized, get to me first and keep it topped off. Can you do that?”
    She took the bill and stuffed it in her bra.
    “Your eyes are two different colors,” she said.
    “I know,” he said. “When the left one starts to turn green it means I don’t have enough caffeine in my system. That’s why this is so important.”
    She smiled.
    “Is that the CNN reporter you’re sitting next to? Raverly Phentappa?”
    “Yes.”
    “I knew it.”
     
    Back in his seat Teffinger called the district attorney, Clay Pitcher, a barrel-chested man with yellow cigar teeth. He was five years from retirement and hard to get riled up at this point. After filling the man in on everything that was going on, Teffinger asked him the all-important question. “Can we get a search warrant for Anderson North’s phone records?”
    Clay’s reaction was quick.
    “No.”
    “No?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because he’s not doing anything wrong,” Clay said. “He’s passing information but he’s not committing a crime.”
     
    He hung up, looked at Raverly who had been listening to it all, and said, “Your turn.”
    She dialed Anderson North and caught him on his drive into work.
    “I want you to tell me who your L.A. contact is,” she said.
    “Why?”
    “Because I want to talk to him.”
    “About what?”
    “About telling me the name of his client.”
    “That’s a dangerous, dangerous path, and I’m not going to let you go down it,” he said. “Besides, my marching orders are clear. No one’s supposed to try to backdoor this guy. That means me and it also means you.”
    “But—”
    “No buts,” he said. “I’ve been set up to be a Chinese wall and that’s exactly what I’m going to be.” A beat then, “Look, even if I told you who my contact is, there’s no way in hell he would ever turn in his own client. I know this sucks, but that’s the way the system works and you know it.”
    That was true.
    She did know it.
    She hung up, looked at Teffinger and said, “No go.”
     
    The seatbelt sign went off. Ten seconds later the flight attendant showed up with coffee and a smile. “Let’s get that green eye back to blue,” she said.
    “Thank you.”
    Teffinger avoided the confused look on Raverly’s face and lowered his voice. “When we get to Denver we’ll hire a P.I. I’m getting those phone records and that’s all there is to it.”
    Raverly nodded.
    “I’ll do the hiring and the paying,” she said. “That will keep you one step removed.”
    “Thanks.”
     
    Twenty minutes later Sydney called and said, “The woman in the dirt was definitely the lawyer, Ashlyn White. Her throat was slit just like the guy said. I don’t mean to be crass with what I’m about to say, but I don’t think she was a random hit or a spur of the moment thing.”
    “Why not?”
    “Like I said, I don’t want to appear rude, but the woman’s not a looker. She’s in her mid-thirties and, well, just not all that attractive. More than that, though, she was taken late at night when the parking garage wasn’t getting much activity. It wasn’t a place to stroll. It was more of a place to hide and wait for someone you already picked out.”
    Teffinger cocked his head.
    “Lawyers know things,” she said. “Maybe she knew something and our friend wanted to get it out of her.”
    “Possibly,” Sydney said. “We’re also looking into robbery. The woman left the office with a briefcase. It wasn’t at the grave site.”
    “Does anyone know