Spin State - Chris Moriarty [81]
In the normal course of things, she would have shaped Kintz up or shipped him out posthaste. But if things went well, she wouldn’t be on Compson’s long enough to make lowering the boom on Kintz worth her while.
“So what was Kintz doing down there?” she asked. “And what was the deal between him and Voyt, anyway?”
McCuen looked like he’d sat on a tack.
“I’m not asking you to tell tales out of school, McCuen. I just need to know how to spin him.”
“I know,” McCuen said reluctantly. “But it’s my job if I piss the wrong people off.”
Li looked at him, eyes narrowed. “So it wasn’t just that Kintz was scamming Voyt. Kintz was Haas’s man in the office. Is that it? Or was Voyt in on it too?”
One look at McCuen’s face told her she’d hit pay dirt.
“So what were Voyt and Kintz doing for Haas besides passing along information?” she asked.
Again the hesitation.
Li kicked her chair back and lit a cigarette. “Christ, Brian. Tell me if you want. If not, don’t. We’re all big boys and girls here. I’m not going to waste my time dragging it out of you.”
“I don’t know anything,” McCuen said. “Honest. I’m just repeating rumors. But . . . Voyt had an eye on the bottom line. You always hear rumors about mine security being on the take. God knows there’s plenty of chances. But Voyt . . . the rumors about him were pretty persistent. And somehow if you knew Voyt at all, they didn’t surprise you.”
“And you think Kintz might have taken over Voyt’s sideline?”
“I’m not saying that. But it’s possible.”
Li put down the list of names and stood up. “Let’s go talk to him then. Before Haas’s little bird gets a chance to whistle in his ear.”
Kintz turned out to be a hard man to find. They finally caught up with him in one of the fifth-level strip joints. Li recognized his drinking buddies as company goons—one step above the bouncers who were standing around itching to kick them out before they broke something. None of them looked sober enough to operate heavy equipment.
“Like to talk to you,” she told Kintz.
He looked at her but kept his hand on his drink. “I go back on duty tomorrow at eight. That soon enough?”
“Jesus, Kintz,” McCuen burst out. “We’ve been looking for you since three in the afternoon!”
“And how the hell was I supposed to know that, Brian?” Kintz said McCuen’s name as if it were a dirty joke.
“You could answer your damned comm for one thing.”
Kintz kicked back in his chair, smiling. “Aren’t you the teacher’s pet,” he drawled. “Wag your tail a little harder and maybe she’ll let you sit in her lap.”
“Right,” Li said. “If I wanted to referee playground fights, I could have taught kindergarten. Karl and I are stepping around the corner for a nice quiet cup of coffee.”
Kintz didn’t protest much; Li was able to steer him out of the bar and down the street with no more than a firm hand on his elbow.
“What do you want from me?” he asked when she’d gotten a table and two steaming cups of coffee between them. “I’m off duty in case you didn’t notice. And I don’t fucking appreciate being dragged around like a child either.”
Li smiled and lit a cigarette. “I don’t recall asking whether or not you appreciated it,” she said pleasantly. “In fact I’m pretty sure I don’t give a shit. Personally, I’d have fired you the day I got here. Except I’m piss lazy, and if I shipped you out, I’d have to waste my time figuring out who Haas’s new rat in the office was.”
“Whatever.”
“What were you doing in the mine the day of the fire?”
“Working.” He sounded nonchalant, but the sudden tension around his eyes told a different story.
“Working on what?”
“Working for that dumb bitch, Sharifi.”
“You obviously got along. Must have been a real pleasure all around.”
“You wouldn’t think it was so funny if it was you who had to deal with her fucking attitude. I knew her before she ever got here. Not that she remembered. She was my fucking college physics teacher.”
Li blinked, uncertain whether she was more baffled by the idea of Kintz being a student anywhere Sharifi would