A Blade of Glass

Chapter 14

After he'd finished his call with Hanna, Julian had made a few more inquiries and then collected his partners to head out. Along the way, he could tell that Nickie wanted to talk about the files he'd given her to look over, but he indicated that she should hold off. It wasn't that he didn't trust Mary, but that he didn't want the speculation of the theory he'd formed to get out, at best, it would color everyone's perceptions, at worst, it would cause a lot of trouble moving forward, so he'd decided to hold off on having anyone else hear the idea until he'd gathered a little more information.

Nickie pulled them in front of their destination, a modern looking apartment complex that looked like it would take more than then combined yearly salaries for the entire squad to afford.

"Why are we here?" Mary asked from the back of the car, where she was riding along.

"We're here to talk to a man about blackmail."

They made their way up to the building, tilting their heads back to try and take it in. Each one of them tried to imagine what the views must be like from the upper floors as they approached.

Julian pushed the small buzzer next to the door and waited, after a few seconds a harsh voice came through telling them "Go away."

"Police, open up," he called back, holding his badge in front of the camera.

The person in the security office must have run a quick check, because after a minute, the door buzzed and allowed them in.

Immediately on the other side of the door, they found a pair of beefy looking men in black uniforms blocking their way. From between them, a man that only looked small in comparison stepped through.

"Peter Lok-Cole," he said, extending a hand. "Head of security, what's this about?"

"Building's got its own security?" Nickie whistled.

Ignoring her, Julian shook the man's hand, feeling the Alpha-male attempt to crush his.

"Detective Julian Drake, I'm here to see Mr. Russel."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but his name came up in regards to something I'm sure he'd like to keep quiet, so call up to him and see, otherwise, I'll have to come back with warrants and such and that will certainly make its way into the papers, which wouldn't be beneficial to either of us."

Julian knew he was running the fine line between getting cooperation and sounding like he was threatening, but he didn't care, he knew Mr. Russel's type and more importantly, Mr. Lok-Cole's. People like him prided themselves on protecting the privacy of their clients, he wouldn't want news crews stationed around his building, trying to sneak any bit of information that they could out.

Lok-Cole glared at him for a second, then slipped back between his meat-wall to make a call. A minute later, he came back and pointed to some chairs against one wall.

"He'll be with you as soon as he can."

Julian nodded and took a seat, knowing what was up. They weren't going to try and wait him out, he'd made it clear that he was on a time-table, so the only reasons to make him wait were either to clean something up, or to wait for someone else.

Twenty-five minutes passed before he got his answer as a thin man hustled into the lobby and looked around.

"Where are they? This them? What do you think you're doing? Harassing my client? Do you have nothing better to do? This is ridiculous, he hadn't done anything, so what do you want?"

"First, I'd like you to take a breath," Julian said, deliberately slowing down. "Next, I'd like to know who I'm talking to."

"Max Harrigen, I'm Mr. Russel's attorney, not to mention brand manager, anything you want to ask him, goes through me, you understand that Mr. Drake?"