The Witness

might push him into making a mistake.”
    “He’s not as smart as Keegan, which is why he hasn’t moved up the ranks as smoothly, I believe—in the marshals or the Volkov organization. I calculated the Volkovs would have eliminated him by now, but apparently he’s seen as having some value.”
    “Have you ever done any fishing?” Brooks asked her.
    “No. It appears like a tedious pastime or occupation. I don’t understand what fishing has to do with Cosgrove or the Volkovs.”
    He pointed at her. “First, I’m going to take you fishing sometime, and you’ll see the difference between restful and tedious. Second, sometimes you hook a little fish and it can lead to a bigger catch.”
    “I don’t think … oh. It’s a metaphor. Cosgrove is the little fish.”
    “There you go. Hooking him might be worth a try.”
    “Yes, it might. Greed responds to greed, and his primary motivation is money. A threat, something with just enough information that proves the source has evidence. And if he uses his electronics or phones to communicate, they’d have enough to question him.”
    “Which could lead to that bigger fish. And it’d add more weight to your testimony.” He held out the bag of pretzels he opened, but Abigail shook her head. “What’s your bait?”
    “Because you need bait to hook even a little fish.”
    With a nod, he bit into a pretzel. “Wait till you drown your first worm.”
    “I don’t even like the sound of that. However, there was a woman in witness protection after testifying against her former boyfriend, a low-level gangster involved with the Volkovs’ prostitution ring in Chicago.She was found raped and beaten to death in Akron, Ohio, three months after the conviction.”
    “Was Cosgrove her handler?”
    “No, he wasn’t assigned to her, but everything I was able to gather at the time pointed to his being the one to pass her information on to his Volkov contact. I know enough to compose a believable and threatening message.”
    “Another pebble in the river.”
    “What river? The one with the fish?”
    Laughing, he gave her foot a bump with his. “Could be, except if we were sticking with that metaphor, you don’t want to be tossing any pebbles. Might scare those fish away.”
    “I’m confused.”
    “In this metaphorical river, we toss the pebbles because we want a lot of ripples.”
    “Oh. A pebble, then.” She considered this for a moment, then began to compose.
    Anya Rinki testifies against Dimitri Bardov. July 8, 2008. Enters the Witness Protection Program. New ID: Sasha Simka. Transferred to Akron, Ohio; employed as sales clerk at Monique’s Boutique.
    Case assigned to Deputy U.S. Marshal Robyn Treacher. Case files accessed by William Cosgrove October 12 and 14, 2008—no log-in or official request for same on record.
    Copy of e-mail from personal account of William Cosgrove to account of Igor Bardov, brother of Dimitri, sent October 15, 2008, attached.
    $15,000 deposited in account for William Dwyer a/k/a William Cosgrove on October 16, 2008.
    Anya Rinki, a/k/a Sasha Simka, found raped and murdered October 19, 2008.
    This data will be e-mailed to Administrator Wayne Powell withinforty-eight hours unless you agree to a payment of $50,000. Details on the remittance of same to be given in the next communication.
     
    “I think that’s a nicely formed pebble,” she said, and turned the screen so Brooks could read it.
    His smile spread slowly before he shifted his gaze from the screen to her face. “Good shape, good weight. You had all those dates in your head?”
    “They’re accurate.”
    “What’s the content of the e-mail you’re going to attach?”
    “It said: ‘Sasha Simka, Akron, 539 Eastwood, Apartment 3-B.’”
    The smile faded as Brooks eased back from the computer screen. “So Cosgrove killed her for fifteen thousand.”
    “Yes, not personally beating her to death doesn’t make him any less responsible. I believe he’ll respond to this. I believe he’ll agree to pay. As soon as I know the surveillance is in place, I’ll send it.”
    “What did they pay him for you?”
    His tone, hard and cold, had her taking a moment to shut down her laptop. “He owed fifty thousand in gambling debts. Ilya bought—they’re called markers—he bought Cosgrove’s markers, then used the debt to threaten him.”
    “And when you weren’t … eliminated?”
    “They forgave half, and required him to work off the rest. The fee, even though I lived, was