Tuck was in the office, working on the other cases they were investigating before Sir Norsberg had returned to their ledger. If they were to any one the impression that they were not working on this case and remain as undercover as possible, they had to make sure all the other work was being taken care of. That meant no slacking off and zero signs of anything less than business as usual or people watching would get suspicious too soon. Tuck had especially enjoyed watching Sir Norsberg's money transfer into the account that afternoon. It took only a little over an hour for the funds to electronically arrive in their account from the old man's usual channels. They had never really officially worked for him, always taking money from a shell company to give the old far the benefit of anonymity. The funds came through an overseas channel so it would take a lot of digging for Norsberg's name to ever come up. Tuck had never seen that kind of money in his life, and doubted he would ever see a receipt with that many zeroes on it ever again. The money was safely put into the other accounts and as Edgar has instructed and he took about twenty percent out of the account in cash/bonds and tossed in into their private box that isn't even listed under either of their names. It's a secret stash only he and Edgar knew about just in case their funds ever get frozen. It was Edgar's way of having a backup should someone attempt to cut off their cash flow halfway through the investigation.
As Tuck was ruffling through some papers and receipts from other cases, someone came knocking on Tuck's door. It was Jonathan, his cousin and co-worker, "Tuck, we have someone here I think you need to deal with personally."
"Oh?" Tuck said as he stood up. Through the glass that separated his office from the lobby, he could see why Jonathan wanted him to come out. A tall man looking less than formal had strolled into the lobby. He was dressed like a biker and had a scruffy beard and a long pony tail, and was pretty much intimidating the shit out of everyone.
"Oh my." Tuck said as he took a deep breathe and then walked out to greet his guest. "Devon!"
"Hey Tuck," Devon called back.
"You're a few hours early." Tuck added, "Where's the rest of your team?"
Devon didn't seem impressed or enthusiastic. "They're downstairs and not willing to come up yet. They don't believe Edgar and think he's pulling our leg. They're on a 'believe it when I see' it kind of position right now. They want to see the green, and then we can talk about the case."
"Given what happened last time, I can't say I blame you." Tuck said with a slightly nervous tone, "That was an unfortunate accident, but we didn't do that on purpose and we did pay you eventually when our matter with the bank was settled. I apologize for being late, but we had every intention of paying you. We were more than impressed with your work and believe every penny was well earned. I'm in charge of the finances, so the minute you and Edgar see eye to eye on price I'll have the money wired immediately. You can even sit here and wait for it to be verified if you like."
Upon hearing that, especially the part about being paid today, Devon's demeanor started to finally lighten up. "You know, it's easy to see that this place is run by people who used to be cops. Just take a look around, this place looks like the station downtown. I bet that office in the corner is yours, so you get to act like the chief." he gave a small snicker and then took a seat at one of the vacant desks. "You guys seem very serious about this job. Is it that important of a case?"
"It is." Tuck confirmed.
"It must me if you need my help," Devon added.
"I'm not going to sugar coat it, this is going to be a dandy." Tuck continued, "This is why Edgar felt it was necessary to bring you back in. I'm not sure how much Edgar said over the phone, but there's no bond. We're looking for a person who has been missing for five years."
"A missing person case? Fuck me." Devon said as he sat back, "I knew this sounded too good to be true. You want me scouring the country for a person who has no criminal history?"
"We'll make it worth your time. Cash now and more after the person we're looking for is found. We'll even cover expenses." Tuck knew that one would hit the mark with Devon. The tough guy seemed to settle down a little more. "We'll let Edgar give you all the details and then you guys can negotiate a number that will make everyone happy. Even though this isn't going to be an easy case, we all want you and your team here because we know you guys are the best. And if this job is done promptly, it will be a big payday for everyone. This client is known for tipping, big time."
Devon, a fellow admirer of Uncle Ben, cracked a large yellow smile, "Now you're playing my tune, mate. Let's wait for Edgar and then we'll see how things go from there." He said as he put his feet up on one of the desks in the lobby.
"This isn't your home," Edgar said as he walked in and lightly slapped Devon's foot off the desk. He paused for a moment and then offered an open hand, "Good to see you again."
"Is it?" Devon asked.
"It is," Edgar said as shook the man's hand, "Let's take this into Tuck's office and we'll crunch some numbers."
"My, my... you are very direct with this one. No chit chat or foreplay, just getting down to the nitty gritty. This really is an important case." Devon chuckled as he walked into the office and took one of the chairs in front of Tuck's desk.
Tuck took his usual spot behind his desk, and waited for Edgar as he closed the door behind him and took a seat on the sofa in the corner of the room. He looked over at Devon, "Like I said before Edgar arrived, we're offering cash now, and I'll have it wired to your account. There's also a bonus if the subject in question is found, preferably alive."
"That sounds nice," Devon replied, "So what is the exact dollar amount? My normal fee for a bounty is around ten grand, minimum."
"Add an extra zero to that first number." Edgar said without twitching. "And we'll also cover expenses."
"So you're saying the fee is a hundred grand upfront and then another fifty after the person is found?" Devon said with a slight quiver to his voice, hardly believing what he was hearing.
"If you agree, I'll have a hundred large wired within the hour." Tuck said backing up his partner, "You'll have the money before you or any of your team lift a finger."
Devon likes money as much as anyone else, and this was a shit load of it, but he needed to ask the questions. "Who are we looking for?"
"You'll be looking for someone who has already been declared dead." Tuck quickly repeated.
Before Devon could ask the obvious question Edgar took over from there. "Our client spotted this dead person at a vigil earlier this week. She's convinced the person, her mother, is still alive. Our job is to find her and arrange a reunion for our client."
"This seems like basic grunt work, so why do you need my team?" Devon said, as he had a bad feeling that Edgar was hiding something. "Our expertise is in dangerous bounties. We're made to take on the tough cases, and missing mommies are not exactly our specialty."
"We fear opposition to her recovery." Tuck said trying to sound like he believed it himself, "There is a good chance someone doesn't want this person to be found and we might need some muscle to break through potential road blocks."
"What kind of opposition?" Devon asked.
"The kind that might shoot at us." Edgar quickly responded, "This is why we want you and your team involved in this. We think your methods would be best so that we can snatch the person in question without alerting those watching her until it's too late."
"This is a very strange case." Devon confirmed as he stroked his long beard and thought it over.
"That's why the payoff is so big." Tuck quickly recovered, again pounding Devon over the head with Uncle Ben. It was a successful tactic.
Devon stood up, "I have to talk this over with my team. I'm going to recommend we take the job but as always we put it up to a vote. I appreciate you being honest with me and letting me know how risky this one is. How soon do you need an answer?"
"What time is it now?" Edgar asked sarcastically.
"Yesterday." Tuck answered, "We are going to begin immediately. There are people in the office already working on it."
"Alright, we'll get back to you in short time." Devon opened the door and strolled out with his usual, I can kick your ass any time I want, macho swagger all the way to the elevator.
As they watched the big man disappear into the elevator, Tuck turned to Edgar, "Do you really think it's necessary to hire this guy and his team?"
"I hope not." Edgar said with a sigh, "But if this case turns out to be something besides a goose hunt, we might need the back up. Especially if any of conspiracy boy's theories turns out to be true."
"Speaking of him, what's he doing in the lobby?" Tuck asked suddenly noticing Jerome was out there.
"I managed to pry him away from the force." Edgar said, with a smile.
"Oh did we?" Tuck said, surprised by the acquisition. "Shouldn't I get a chance to approve new hires?"
"Norsberg told us to expand our staff," Edgar reminded him, "And Conspiracy Boy is going to our little expert in many fields, especially when it comes to all things conspiracy theories. And after this case is done, we can use the old man's money to keep him here to do a lot of technical grunt work for future cases. The guy has a wealth of forensic and data collection expertise."
"That's a good point too," Tuck said somewhat impressed with his partner's recruiting abilities, "He'll be a valuable asset to the business and I can only imagine how much fun he'll be to work with on this case. I'm sure that's the one thing that tore him away from the force."
"That is true," Edgar confirmed, "And the fact that he was being grossly underused by his superiors at the station."
"So, when do we start?" Tuck asked, not really sure himself.
"In about an hour or so." Edgar said as he consulted his watch, "When Ms. Johnson comes in to give us all the information we need to start this hunt, then the real fun will begin. We're going to use the conference room to go over everything."
"You know, it's still not too late." Tuck said, somewhat hesitant, "We can still give back Norsberg his money and walk away." He slipped the receipt of the transfer over to Edgar just to show him the money was in.
He didn't look at the receipt and tossed it aside, "Fraid not, we're already underway. I already told Jessica that I had a change of heart and would be taking the case out of the goodness of our hearts. To turn back now would devastate her and make us look like the more insensitive than we already were."
"Alright, but I have a suggestion." Tuck said as he pulled out the newspaper with a few parts of the classified ads circled, "I need you to have a look at these and tell me what you think."
Edgar looked at them and then back at Tuck, "You're thinking of moving the business?"
"No." Tuck said with a grin, "Just the base of operations for this case. If we do it here, you might as well just paint a bull's eye in the middle of the lobby. If there really is this massive conspiracy as Jerome said, then to have a separate HQ for it elsewhere would be best. Because if they watch or try to bug this place... all they'll be looking and listening to is business as usual."
"So you're suggesting we use the old man's money to make a secret hideout specifically for this case?" Edgar thought about as he repeated it out loud. He'd never thought of it but Tuck was right. If they were going to run a case like this, it would be best to work away from the office. He thought about it again for a moment, "How about next door. I know they have some space available. That way we can walk in through the front door here and the sneak through the back to the other building where no one is looking. That way it looks like I'm still showing up for work and none will be the wiser."
Tuck thought it over for a moment, "I thought about it but I'd rather have a little distance. The new place needs a cover, not just something that we can sneak into next door."
"Alright, let me have a look." he took the paper and had a look at the places he had circled, "Right here, there's a restaurant underneath it. I'm not the biggest fan of that kind of cuisine but I'll develop a taste for it. That will make for a good cover."
Tuck took a look at it, "That's perfect."
Edgar passed the paper back, "Call their agency tomorrow but rent it out of one of our dummy corporations so the paper work doesn't lead back to us. We'll pay the rent in cash and I'll have Jerome run that office whenever I'm not there. This sounds better the more I think about it. Let's get this thing started. I'm going to prepare Jerome for his interview of Jessica when she gets back here."
Tuck watched as Edgar left his office and then led Jerome to his own. He pulled out a small bottle of whiskey from his desk and didn't bother with a glass as he just took a swig straight from the bottle. He was a tad nervous about the job at hand, but had to put his faith in Edgar and that the man knew what he was getting into. He took another swig from the bottle before putting it away and starting to do some online searches for some numbers for possible replacements in case Devon turned them down.