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him, “Listen.”
    He shut the car off and turned to me, his
expression stalled in a quizzical twist. “Yeah?”
    “ About this thing
tonight.” I shook my finger at him. “You cannot tell Spinelli. You
hear me?”
    “ What?” The way his jaw
dropped, you would have thought I had just ripped the mustache from
his face. “Tony, don’t you want to see the look on his face when we
tell him Ursula is gonna get naked in front of you?”
    “ No. Of course not. Why
would you want to do that to Dominic? You know how vulnerable he
is.”
    “ I know. That is just it.
He’ll squirm like a fish.”
    “ Exactly. I thought you
liked Spinelli.”
    “ I do.”
    “ Then why make him squirm?
Do you think he would do that to you?”
    His expression melted into something of a
frown. “No, not for the fun of it.”
    “ All right then. Don’t do
it to him.”
    He pursed his lips and made a tic sound
through his teeth. “Okay, fine. I won’t tell him, but I want all
the details tomorrow morning. Deal?”
    “ Deal,” I said, though I
thought I might regret that promise later.
     
     
     
FOUR
     
     
    Spinelli’s enthusiasm to see us faded quickly
after noticing Carlos’ cat that ate the cannery grin. I tried
kick-starting the conversation, inquiring about Howard Snow the
minute we settled in around my desk.
    “ Where is he?” I said,
hoping to derail his suspicions. “You got him
downstairs?”
    He pitched a glance my way before refocusing
his attention on Carlos and his shit-eating grin. “Who?”
    “ Snow. Where is he? In
holding?”
    He pointed at Carlos. “You’re hiding
something.”
    “ Me?” Carlos’ grin widened
to a full-fledged smile. “I ain’t hiding anything.”
    “ Dominic. Snow. Do we have
him or not?”
    “ Huh?” He came back to me,
this time long enough to give me a straight answer. “No. We missed
him. The black and white reported his car in the driveway, but no
one home. He could be at the hospital, though.”
    “ Why, is he
hurt?”
    Spinelli’s attention drifted once more to
Carlos, who had taken the seat across the desk from me. “No. His
wife is in the hospital.” He shook his head. “Cancer I think.” He
said to Carlos, “You know something. What is it?”
    Carlos threw me a look, begging me to let
him off the hook. I shot him down with a stone-faced glare. “You
got them heading over to the hospital now?”
    “ Who?” said
Carlos.
    “ Dominic,” I said. “I’m
asking Dominic.”
    Dominic replied, “Who?”
    “ The black and white.
Jesus. Will you forget about Carlos and come back to
earth?”
    He snapped to attention, turned on his heels
and pulled the bend out of his tie. “Sorry. No, I don’t have the
unit going to the hospital.”
    “ Why not?”
    “ Because his car is still
in the driveway.”
    “ Then why did you say he
could be at the hospital?”
    Spinelli offered up a dull shrug. “I don’t
know. I was just saying. His wife is in the hospital. If he’s not
home, maybe that’s where he went.”
    I shook my head. “Forget it. Carlos and I
will ride out to his house and try to make contact. Tell me what
you found out about Biocrynetix Laboratories.”
    “ Ahh, something
interesting there.” He pulled a small notepad from his back pocket
and flipped past the first few pages. “Biocrynetix Laboratories is
a privately funded co-op specializing in radical R&D for large
pharmaceuticals and governmental contractors.”
    “ What does that mean,
radical R&D?”
    “ It means they invest in
projects deemed too experimental, risky or radical for traditional
pharmaceutical companies to take on; projects that hold slim hope
for breakthroughs, but yield immense profits with
successes.”
    “ I see. Traditional
pharmaceuticals are publically owned and such endeavors make Wall
Street investors too skittish.”
    “ Exactly, but here’s the
interesting thing.” He turned to Carlos. “You told me Biocrynetix
Laboratories was working on a super sweetener?”
    “