"Do you see me on the lam? Does it look like I'm hidin' out from the Outfit? Christ, they're the ones who set me up here. Trudy's so damn stupid., She...wanted you to find me figuring you would come here and keep me quiet. She was afraid I'd squeal because I know too much. You were set up, pal." "How about her story in Cedar Rapids?" "Trudy doesn't know Cedar Rapids from Timbuktu. She made it up. The kid is clever and probably saw the town's name on the train coming to Chicago. "Anyway, the Iowa. “I believe I can assist.”“That will be a great relief. And it will save Harold a deal of heart searching too, I am sure.”“Good. Then it will be taken care of.”One of the Gimps passed by refilling wine glasses as he went. “They really are so well trained, Adelaide. You must be so proud of your girls.”“Yes, of course, but I am proud of the boys too. You cannot make good pots without good clay.”“Wasn’t that what you used to teach us? ‘Or a good furnace,’ isn’t that how it ends.”Adelaide nodded. "Behave," I hissed in her ear and waited for her to settle down."I was having a look through my mum's collection of Mills and Boon stories the other day, just reading the bumf on the back of each book that gives you an outline of the story," I began. "I started to notice a trend where the heroine is abducted and secured in some way, often in a place of peril before the hero turns up and saves her from a fate worse than death."I chuckled, "Though it did seem that some of the heroines would have. My friend. The father of my son’s girlfriend.She gasped, more shocked than physically hurt. Tears formed in the corners of her dark eyes. She was rubbing her cheek unconsciously. She looked around and sat heavily in a guest chair. I remained standing.“Talk.”She didn’t. But tears were running down her cheeks.“I can’t decide who to go to. New York City Police, that’s obvious. You and Massimino taped Phillip Montgomery without his knowledge. Nor permission. That’s illegal in itself.”Cassandra.