“Well, we are not suggesting you are a hit man,” said Abboud. “We have been investigating this for close to a year now. And we have good information that there was a team of assassins sent by the Popular Front. A group which you already acknowledged you have been associated with in the past.”

“The Popular Front never really existed as more than a name,” said Donny. “That’s like talking about a bunch of competing gangs and calling them the Mafia. And to the extent the factions had an alliance, it broke up after the uprising petered out.”

“Maybe,” said Abboud. “What we know is your client was on the team.”

“What client?”

“Daryl Harrison.”

“Slider?” said Donny. “That’s why you came to the courthouse today? That’s preposterous.”

It wasn’t preposterous. Donny just had never considered the possibility.

“Is it?” said Blonk, clearly thinking what Donny was already coming around to. “The man was a hardened guerrilla, a veteran of the fighting in New Orleans, and a committed ideologue. He had already done several ‘special missions’ for the Front’s leadership during the years of resistance. And now he has been killed on a very similar mission for the People’s Council, most of whom came from the Front.”

“What do you want from me?” said Donny. “I kind of have my hands full, as you may have noticed at the courthouse this morning. And I have nothing to do with any of this.”

“Who else knew about the plans for the prisoner transfer, and was also in contact with Harrison and others in the movement?”

“Oh, come on,” said Donny, trying to convey the most dismissive possible expression.

“You look a little squirmy,” said Abboud. The way she said the last word, with that accent, made him actually squirm.

“I know how to keep my clients’ secrets,” said Donny.

“You met with Harrison a week before the assassination,” said Blonk. “Are you sure you didn’t talk about the president’s case?”

“How do you know my calendar?” said Donny. “Never mind—I don’t even think that timeline’s right.”

“Oh, it’s right,” said Abboud. “We have our sources. We just want you to be one of them. Come clean with us about Daryl and whoever else in your network as counselor to the revolution you told about this. And we, in turn, will be able to avoid having to treat you as a co-conspirator.”

“You’re fishing in the wrong hole, Deputy Commissioner,” said Donny. “That’s a fascinating theory, but it’s fiction. And even if there were truth to it, you’d be out of your jurisdiction. I suppose you could report it to the feds, but they have their hands full trying to keep the country from falling apart. Did you hear they’re starting to auction military equipment off to corporations and NGOs?”