MANHATTAN
SUNDAY NIGHT
“WELL?” STEELE DEMANDED.
Dwayne typed on the computer keyboard quickly, then touched the screen with his finger. Documents flew by in a kaleidoscope of information. Narrow-eyed, he watched them, then touched the screen again.
“No calls from any number registered to Ted Franklin.”
Steele made a frustrated sound. “Apparently he’s smarter than his previous actions would suggest.”
“That wouldn’t be hard.”
“This is an inconvenient time for Mr. Franklin to improve his criminal IQ.”
Dwayne bent over the computer again. More documents flew by. He tapped on several, read, shook his head.
“What?” Steele asked.
“A lot of nothing. The team watching the La Jolla house is suffering terminal boredom. No one coming or going. The hostiles watching the house are equally bored and equally determined. Gotta give it to those feds. They’re real bulldogs. Some wild-card Mexicans cruised the place. No point in following them, because if they’re sniffing around the judge’s house, they’re as lost as we are.”
“Telephone? E-mail?”
“One of our people took the judge’s computer and hacked it. So far, nothing helpful and no e-mail but the business kind. No physical mail but bills. No phone calls to the house except from people looking for Ted. No point in following up on them, because they know exactly what we do about his whereabouts. Zip. Zap. Zero. Did I mention zilch?”
“Keep everyone in place. Ted might run for familiar ground.”
Dwayne nodded and continued his update. “The team watching the lawyer’s house hasn’t learned anything except how the rich and ridiculous shop. The team that black-bagged the lawyer’s office has an eye-popping list of clients, but none of them connect in any obvious way to our Teddy-boy.”
“Try for a subtle way.”
“I’ll need hundreds of people to backtrack the clients and stake them out.”
“Pick the top five prospects. Follow them.”
“Pick them how?”
“That’s why I hired you. For some things, your instincts are better than mine. Pick five. And get Faroe on the phone. We need to make some plans for the rendezvous.”
“I tried. He’s not answering his phone.”
“Try again.”