“I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. I'm gonna to call room service,” Marcus said looking around the room for the phone. “Where's the phone?”
“I don't see it.” Carmen joined Marcus looking for the phone. After looking in all the logical places Carmen opened the door and told Agent Grant, “Excuse me, this may sound stupid, but we can't find the phone.”
“It's been removed from the room. Is there something that I can get for you?”
“Yes, some food, we're hungry.”
“Okay,” Agent Grant said. “Is there a menu in there?”
Marcus quickly looked around the room. “I don't see one anywhere.”
“Okay, what now?” Agent Grant shook her head.
“They do mean for us to eat, don't they?” Carmen asked.
“I'm sorry about this folks. I'll try to get a menu up here soon.”
“Thank you,” Carmen said and slammed the door in Agent Grants face. Then she opened it again. “I'm sorry that I slammed the door in your face. I know none of this is your fault.”
“That's all right, Ms. Taylor. I know this can't be easy for you. I promise I'll get a menu up here as soon as I can.” This time Carmen closed the door lightly.
“I'm glad you cleaned that up. The last thing we need is to piss off the person protecting us.”
The following morning at nine, Agent Grant knocked on the door to inform Marcus and Carmen that she was ready to escort them back to the federal building. Upon arrival they were taken to a conference room, where Special Agent Rietman, DEA Agent DeBreeze, and another man they had never seen before joined them.
“Ms. Taylor, Mr. Douglas, this is Special Agent Ward. He is the agent in charge of this investigation,” Special Agent Rietman said.
“And just what investigation is that Agent Ward?” Marcus asked sarcastically.
Special Agent Ward looked at Marcus and then to Agent Rietman.
“We've been keeping tabs on your investigation since Mr. Mason started asking questions about Frank Collins,” Agent DeBreeze said looking at the two special agents. “And to answer your question, Mr. Douglas, we've bee
n investigating Hudson Financials for some time now.”
“That's why Frank Collins file was missing from the police station.”
“That's correct.”
“What exactly are you investigating Hudson for?”
“We have reason to believe that Frank Collins was using his position at Hudson Financial to launder money before he was murdered. We had a preliminary discussion with him and I thought we had a deal.”
“That's when his wife was murdered,” Agent Rietman said. “That's when we entered the investigation. We are proceeding under the presumption that Bill Hudson is in control and he had his wife murdered to keep Collins in line. When that didn't happen he was murdered, too.”
“If that's the case, why do the police list his death as a suicide?”
“That's where it gets a little hairy,” Rietman said.
Special Agent Ward stood up. “Let’s cut this bullshiting around, and get to the point of this. Excuse my language, Ms. Taylor. We know that Hudson is laundering money through those accounts; we know that everyone that gets in his way dies of some accidental death. What I want to know is what your involvement is in this case?”
“We're pretty sure that he has someone in the police department working with them.” Agent Rietman added in answer to Marcus' question.
“We are investigating the murder of Desireé Ferguson. Mrs. Ferguson and Suzanne Collins were friends and we started out looking for any connection between the two deaths.”
“And what have you found out Mr. Douglas?”
“Mason said you had some information for us.”