“I’m going to ask you about several disparate elements of this case, a laundry list really, to see if you connect any of them to the three neg ops or anything they might have said to you. The tough part is, I’m going to ask you to immediately forget all of these elements, relevant or not, as soon as I leave. Do you think you can do that?”
KG nods. Agent Derrick smiles. “Okay. First, were any of the neg ops wearing a flower? Did the girl have a flower in her hair?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Good. Were any of them wearing rings, any jewelry on their fingers?”
“No, not at all.”
“Good. Were any of them wearing yellow, or mention anything about the color yellow?”
“The...the blonde’s dress was yellow, light, like a pale yellow. Oh,” KG winces, “the dress had green flowers on it too. Sorry.”
Agent Derrick pauses, files this away. “Okay. That’s okay. Now this, this is very important. Did any of them mention ‘the red candy’?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. No one mentioned that.”
“Good. Could you tell the make and model of the car?”
“Naw. It’s old, and American, and black, but aside from those things I couldn’t hazard a guess.”
“Okay. Did it have plates?”
“Uh,,,no, no it didn’t. That’s weird, right? You can easily get pulled over for that.”
Agent Derrick tilts his head. “Some places, yes. It really depends on the local law enforcement.”
“Sure.”
Agent Derrick places his hands on his knees. “Mister Granta, I’m going to give you my card.”
KG waits. “Okay.”
“I’m going to want you to call me if anything else happens that involves the three individuals we have been discussing. Can you do that for me?”
KG nods. “Of course.”
Agent Derrick smiles. “Good.” He slaps his thighs lightly and bounds to his feet. KG rises to meet him. Agent Derrick presses his card into KG’s sweaty palm and smiles. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Granta. Hopefully we’ll never speak to each other again.”
KG laughs. “Yeah, um...I’d like that?”
Agent Derrick laughs in return. “Take care.” And then he is out the door, seemingly as quickly as he came. KG looks the card over as he hears Agent Derrick’s car pull out onto Belt Line Road – it is very simple: just the agent’s name, “Mueller-Toch Consortium”, and a phone number.
