Page 19 of Blood in the Water
Baren looked away from Will, training his eyes on Nolan. “We want you to tail the woman next.”
“The woman?”
“The lawyer.”
Nolan’s blood ran cold in his veins. “Bridget?”
Baren tipped his head and for a split second Nolan wondered if he’d said something he shouldn’t, if he’d somehow betrayed his fear. “She’s the lawyer.”
Nolan nodded, keeping his voice steady. “We can do that.”
“Take Sean with you,” Baren said.
“Sean…” And then Nolan understood. “You want us to do it today?”
“Any reason you can think of why we’d wait?” Baren asked.
“We were supposed to head over to the Monarch, send a message to that asshole who didn’t pay Seamus after the last Pats game.” The Monarch was one of many bars in South Boston that fronted for Seamus’s bookmaking operation.
“Do it tomorrow.”
Nolan thought about the burner phone, wondered if Bridget had it on her, if she would check it, if he would even have time to send her a warning text. He would have to hope she was heeding his warning, acting as if she was being followed 24/7 even though up until now Nolan had no reason to believe that was true.
He didn’t have time to consider the bigger problem: that Baren Maguire was giving orders, that Bridget was being swept into the paranoia inside Seamus’s crew, that Sean was being deputized with Nolan and Will — a way to keep him busy, or a way to keep tabs on Nolan and Will because Baren didn’t trust them to report honestly about Bridget?
“You got it.” Nolan stood and looked at Sean. “You ready?”
Sean nodded.
“Let’s go.”
8
Bridget was putting the finishing touches on a motion she needed to file in the Ramirez case when an unfamiliar buzzing came from inside her bag. She thought she’d imagined it, but it sounded again a few seconds later, and she dug through her bag, searching for the source of the noise.
She found it in the burner phone, vibrating underneath her wallet. She hadn’t thought twice about it since Nolan gave it to her at the apartment. In fact, she’d thought it was overkill and had only taken it to ease Nolan’s mind.
Now she looked at it with trepidation, hearing Nolan’s words when he’d handed it to her:I’ll text or call on this phone if I hear Seamus has you followed.
She pulled out the phone and pressed the button to check the display.
Ordered to tail you with S. Maguire today. Act natural.
She inhaled, trying to calm the slam of her heart against her chest. Why would Seamus order her tailed unless he didn’t trust her? And why send Sean with Nolan and Will unless he didn’t trust them?
She sent back a thumbs up emoji so Nolan would knowshe got the text. Then she shoved the phone back in her purse and walked to the printer to get her motion, grateful for the walls at BRIC, the minimal windows making it difficult for anyone to watch her from the street.
She considered putting off her trip to the courthouse to file the motion, then decided it would be foolish.
Act natural.
That’s what she had to do. Go about her business, don’t look over her shoulder, pretend it was just another day. This wasn’t a big deal unless she made it one. It was natural for Seamus to be paranoid after his arrest. She didn’t get a free pass because she was a lawyer instead of a street soldier. If anything, Seamus had more exposure with her, although she was limited by what she could tell anyone because of lawyer-client privilege.
She took the motion back to her desk and reviewed each page for accuracy. The routine nature of the task and the sound of a day at the office — phones ringing, people speaking in murmured voices, the tapping of computer keyboards — served to ease the coil of nervousness in her stomach. When she was sure the pages were error-free, she slipped them into a manila envelope and put it in her bag.
She was making her way through the labyrinth of cubicles when the voice of her boss, Sheridan, cut through her thoughts.
“You going downtown?”