Nickel Package (Burnside Series Book 6) by David Chill

Author:David Chill [Chill, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cold Spirit Press
Published: 2015-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

*

The photos I had seen were admittedly a few years old. His hairline had receded a bit and a slight paunch had developed across his middle. But the intense expression was still there. Had I not been shaken by the previous day's events, I doubt I'd have provided him with such a hostile greeting.

"Sorry," I said, putting the gun back in the drawer. "Occupational hazard. I'm not used to visitors. Or surprises."

"Okay. Mind if I sit down? Promise you won't shoot me?"

"Sure, scout's honor," I said, gesturing to one of the cheap chairs facing me. "Have a seat."

Eric Starr pulled up a chair. "So. Do you mind if I ask who hired you."

"I don't mind. But I'm not going to tell you. Confidentiality and all."

"I'll pay you a million dollars," he said.

I thought about this for a moment. Eric Starr was someone who could actually afford to do that. But he was also a shrewd businessman and the information was hardly worth the price.

"You're a liar," I told him. "You wouldn't pay up."

He took this in. "That's right. I just wanted to see how you'd respond. I know BMB hired you."

"Oh, do you now?"

"Yes. I've got a few contacts here and there."

"Did you pay them a million dollars?"

He shook his head, although I doubt it was in response to my question. "Why did you come see me yesterday? Out of the blue. Did you really think I'd fall for that line and talk to you? That someone called and said I wanted to see you?"

"Well, someone did call. And now, here you are in my office. Wanting to see me."

"Yes, I suppose I am."

"So what do you want?" I asked, eyeing him carefully.

"What do you think I want?" he said, using my trick of answering a question with a question. I decided to play along. It wasn't every day that a rich and famous guy stopped by my office to shoot the breeze.

"I think you want to know what I've learned," I said. "About you. About your family, your company, your dead partner. About why I shot someone to death yesterday inside your nice, clean parking garage. But mostly, I think you want to know what I'm going to do with all that information going forward."

Eric Starr processed this slowly before responding. "Yeah. That about covers it. Maybe you can tell me about what happened in the garage yesterday."

"It was all over the news. Probably on your internet site. Or don't you bother to read what's on Laputa's home page?"

"I know the public version. I'd like to know your version."

"One and the same. A couple of goons approached me. One pulled a gun and ordered me into his van. I disarmed him."

Starr frowned. "How'd you do that?"

"By shooting him in the chest. And by the way, if someone brings a .25 caliber pistol to your lost and found department, would you kindly let the police know?"

"Man, you're a real smartass," he said dryly. "All right, look. What are you going to do now?"

"Take what little I've learned, piece it together and try and make sense of it all.

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