Cozy Up to Death by Colin Conway

Author:Colin Conway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: outlaw, biker, gang, outlaw biker gang, outlaw biker, cozy, cozy mystery, witness protection program, witness security program, U.S. Marshals, FBI, romantic mystery, mystery romance
Publisher: Original Ink Press
Published: 2020-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

There was another thump in the back of the store.

“Travis!” Brody yelled. “Wait here,” he said to Onderdonk and hurried to the Cozy section. The cat wasn’t anywhere he could find, but there were several piles of books he’d knocked to the floor. Brody collected them together and stuffed them on a shelf, not bothering to check if they were in the right spot.

When he returned to the front counter, the lawman had picked up the copy of The Deep Blue Good-by. Onderdonk’s lips silently moved as he read the back jacket. “Travis McGee. Is that where you got the cat’s name?”

“What about it?”

“Nothing. I didn’t take you for a reader.”

“I can read.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t, but back in Quantico, you said you didn’t.”

“Maybe I changed, or you underestimated me.”

“Clearly.”

“So what happened with Evie when she turned herself in?”

Onderdonk carefully laid the paperback on the counter. “Just what you would expect. Initially, the agent on duty didn’t believe her. Then she started dropping the names and dates of the people and places that Danny mentioned in his sleep. The agent wanted her to go home and told her that someone would be in contact. Evie refused. She knew it was too dangerous to leave.”

“Obviously,” Brody said. “If she went home, she was a dead woman.”

“She didn’t give up though. She kept after it until they located an agent who was investigating the mob, and he took an interest in her. He listened to her story and realized what she had. After getting authorization to put her in a safe house, the agent and his team interviewed her in earnest. Initially, Evie didn’t want to admit to the robberies she committed, but the names and dates of the mob hits had been printed in the newspaper. It wasn’t enough to build a case around or to protect her.

“When she finally copped to the robberies, though, the game changed. The agent sent a couple of others to pick up her partners. That’s when the proverbial sh—” Onderdonk paused, “stuff hit the fan.”

Brody nodded his appreciation for Onderdonk’s avoidance of swearing in his store.

The lawman continued. “The agents discovered some unknown men in broad daylight had already grabbed the first partner. That guy was never heard from again. Another group of unidentified men tried to grab the second partner, but he fought back. That man died in a gunfight. All a sudden, only Evelyn Spier was left to finger Daniel O’Leary.”

“And she did?”

“She had to. What other choice did she have? If she went home, she was a dead girl. By this point, the mob and Danny Boy knew she was talking to the FBI. As for the G-Men, they had her pinned to the wall. She told them everything—everything Danny Boy did, everything she did, everything she ever saw at the club.”

“I understand,” Brody muttered. “I’ve been there.”

“That’s when the FBI agents caught a break and snatched O’Leary.”

“They grabbed the dirty cop?” Brody asked.

Onderdonk nodded. “Once the man’s girl was in the tank, his head was quickly put on the chopping block.

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