“I didn’t know that.”
Beck leaned forward. “But you told me that Crane threatened to kill you. You described it word for word. I couldn’t see how some hedge fund asshole would be capable of actually following through on a threat like that. So when I pressed you on it, you told me about Markov and about him being an arms dealer. I got the feeling Crane knew Markov had men who would be capable of killing. Do you know anything about these people? We need to know, because now we have a much bigger problem than Crane and Milstein and your job. These people with Markov, they will kill you in a fucking heartbeat, Olivia. Who are they?”
“All right.” She said the words abruptly. In a way so that Beck would stop talking about men who wanted to kill her. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know who they are exactly.
“I told you yesterday, I’ve only heard vague references about Markov. I’ve heard that he is some sort of arms dealer. And yes, he’s Russian. And yes, a connection to Eastern Europeans seems possible. But I’m just speculating. Wall Street money managers don’t give out information about their clients. I don’t know where Markov made his money. Could he have connections to ex-military types? I would think that’s possible. Do I know who they are? No. I don’t. I know he’s not wanted for any felonies. I know there aren’t any outstanding IRS cases against him.”
Beck sat back, looked away from Olivia. He exhaled. She sounded like a fucking lawyer. Maybe that had to do with her corporate background. Or her job as someone who made sure people followed regulations.
Manny shook his head slowly, repeating her name in quiet admonition. “Ah, Olivia, Olivia.” As if to say, what have you done to us?
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know.” She turned to Manny. “I never wanted to come to you, Manny, but you always told me, if I needed you…” Her voice trailed off. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“All right,” Beck said. “What’s done is done. Right now we need to find out everything we can about these people.”
Olivia leaned forward across the dining table. “I can help. I can find out.”
“How?”
“I still know everybody at Summit. I’ll call people I know and keep asking around. Maybe someone knows more. If I have to, I’ll confront Milstein. He might know, even if he keeps Crane’s operation at arm’s length.”
Beck said, “Don’t call Milstein. You can’t have any connection to him whatsoever. None. If we need to get information from him, we’ll get it.”
Manny broke in.
“Olivia, listen to James. You don’t call anybody, carina. We take this from here.” He turned to Beck, “Time to go after this Crane asshole. Straight up. He knows who these fuckers are. We work on him until we get every last fucking thing we need. Or Milstein.”
Beck answered, “We will if we have to. Trouble is, it’s not going to be all that easy to scoop Crane up. I don’t see him being alone now, or maybe even alive much longer. Last I saw him, his arm was taped to a table with the biggest fucking ball peen hammer I’ve ever seen next to him.”
Olivia looked up at that. She started to ask Beck a question, but stopped.
“What?” asked Beck.
“Why would Markov want to hurt Crane?”
“I assume he blames Crane for setting you off.”
“But he can’t…”
“Can’t what?”
“He can’t hurt Crane. Crane runs his investments. He needs him too much.”
“For now.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“How long do you think somebody who has as much money as Markov is going to leave it at risk with a brokerage company that let this situation get so out of hand?”
“I don’t know. But I know one thing for sure,” she said.
“What?”
“If he wants his money out of Summit there’s only one person who can unwind all those trades. Especially if he wants it done quickly.”
“Crane?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay,” said Beck. “So Crane is the key right now.” Beck turned to face Manny. “As for Milstein, I just got off the phone with the Bolo brothers. I told Ricky and Jonas to keep an eye on him. I assume he’s at his office. If not, they’ll know how to find him. He won’t be anywhere we can’t get to him if we need to.”
“Okay,” said Manny.
Beck gave Manny a look and said, “Hey, I know you’ve been thinking about what guys you might need to do what you were thinking about. You know, before.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Maybe now is the time to reach out. Just to have a little manpower if we need it. No need to bring them in now. Just to have things in place.”
Manny nodded. He stood up without a word and headed for his kitchen downstairs, leaving Olivia and Beck at the dining table.
When Manny was out of earshot, Beck leaned forward, arms on the table.
“Okay, listen to me. You and I are going to sort this out. I don’t have time to explain the whys or whatevers behind the things I need to do. Okay?”
Olivia nodded.
“You understand why we said you can’t have any contact with Milstein or Crane now, right?”
“I think so.”
“Something happens to either of them, you don’t want to be near it. Clear?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Considering what they tried to do to me, keep in mind—without me and Manny and our crew you’d might very well already be dead.” Beck paused, giving what he said time to sink in. “When I ask you a question, I need careful answers.”
“Okay.”
Before Beck continued, he looked past Olivia at Ciro. The big man had settled back on the couch, leaving it up to Beck for the moment. Manny was gone, which enabled Beck to talk freely.
Beck looked at Olivia, making sure to put aside enjoying her exquisite face. Or looking at the spaces between the buttons of her white shirt. Or anything that had to do with her being desirable in any way. He looked only at her eyes, looking past the flecks of gold in the deep browns and shades of ocher that gave her eyes their nearly mesmerizing color, hoping to see fear in them.
He began his questions carefully.