This story definitely has darker elements to it.

Vinny woke up and looked down at himself with a wry smile. Miss Reed's body was still there. Of course he knew it was going to be, but still, even with his calm at the situation it was still strange to see just waking up.

He got up and went to the attached private bathroom this room had and got a shower and got ready for the day. He would need to do quite a bit in order to get things in order. As he showered, he felt his new body and was surprised at how it seemed so familiar and yet so different. He shrugged inwardly, knowing he had bigger things to handle than the issues surrounding his new body.

No, he had people he needed to see, people that if he was able to get to them he could shut down a lot of this case. He knew that much of their information was no in written files and would rely on testimony from others. No all of it, there was a lot of stuff in the money laundering part of all this that would have to be dealt with, but one thing at a time.

He was soon ready for the day and walked downstairs to the first floor. Stephen and Christ were already there, Chris with a cup of expresso and Stephen with a coffee from a local shop.

They heard him before they saw him, hearing his heels on the stairs as he came down, so when his heeled feet hit the floor both were looking his way.

"Shit, I'd fuck you." Chris said with a laugh.

Despite himself, Vinny had to laugh at that. He was wearing a smart black skirt suit, a dark gray blouse, black pantyhose and black heels. He walked over and sat down near both of them.

"I bet you would." Vinny quipped.

"Anyway," Stephen said. "I've been looking at what you got us yesterday. You're probably wondering how we're going to approach this."

"I do. I also have some ideas of how to approach this too, but let's hear what you two have come up with."

"Okay," Stephen said, a grin on his face. Vinny, always one to be thinking ahead. "So, the crypto thing is going to be the hard one, since Paul is dead."

"I thought he died in '67." Vinny said with a laugh.

"Wow, you are feeling better. I think that might be your first real joke." Chris said.

"Anyway," Stephen said again, though with a bit of a chuckle. "Paul handled so much of that by himself that we don't have a lot to go on. That normally would work in our favor except when he went to rehab and had to bring use Dominic for a contact for a bit. Dom wasn't so discreet while he hasn't been a part of that for a bit, people there did learn a bit more than they should have."

"Why didn't Paul handle Dom?" Vinny asked.

"Handle what? Chris asked. "By the time Paul knew, it was too late and it was better to downplay it. Besides, Dom otherwise is a good earner, he's just used to people who live this life, not civilians. Paul undoubtedly did what he could, but we now need to make sure that no one talks there."

"Remind me," Vinny said. "How we exactly are involved in this one?"

"We use it to clean money, but we also help them do some pump-and-dump stuff and in exchange we profit off the price changes. If we can keep this one going we could in the future make a hell of a lot of additional money, we just need to scrub any mention of us 'facilitating' the price changes. We're not sure how to go about this."

"I think I can handle it. Did we just intimidation, bribes, blackmail?"

"Mostly appeals to greed and bribes." Stephen said. "Dom isn't sure, but he thinks these were the contacts that he dealt with."

Stephen handed Vinny a small sheet of paper with some names and contact info on them.

"I think I can convince them to not cooperate." Vinny said. "The money laundering one is the bigger threat, though. We were much more involved and it involved other interested parties. If we don't nail that one down, we've got a serious problem."

"Agreed." Chris said. "I'm going to talk personally to our inside people there."

"I can persuade them as well, if you want."

"No, this one I think I should handle." Chris said confidently. "I can't be sitting here dictating everything to everyone else, can I? A boss needs to show he's able to handle some things himself. Stephen, you're going to handle some of the loose threads, right?"

"Yes, Chris." Stephen said. "One guy I already talked to. If he doesn't talk, he'll probably do a nickel but we'll take care of him and his family. One guy is hasn't made bail yet and that scares me some, he's low-level but he's done some errand work that connects people."

"Great. Well, Vinny, you might nee to go in with your new D.A. body and convince him of his duties. Also, speaking of duties, how much do you think you can do before they start to notice she's not in her office too much?"

"I figure I have another day before they start to asking some hard questions. Maybe. I'm going to try to get that crypto stuff handled this morning and then check in with her boss. Hopefully it buys us some time."

"We'll see." Chris said. "So, we've got no time to lose then." Chris and the rest got up. Vinny took Miss Reed's car to a nearby coffee shop. He had person he need to meet there.

Damien Fuller was tall, handsome, very well-dressed with an arrogant look and a smug demeanor. Vinny smiled as he saw him walk past. Dom was right, this guy was a total prick. This might be easy.

Just before Damien entered the coffee shop, Vinny rolled down his window and spoke just loud enough for Damien to hear.

"I'm in here. Sit in the rear, passenger side."

Damien looked unhappy at being told what to do, but he complied with it. Vinny didn't really have a good way to force him to comply. Being subtle was much more important here than looking tough.

Damien got in and Vinny didn't bother to turn around.

"So, your one of the contacts." Vinny said softly.

"Look, I have a lot to do today. I actually produce something for a living so if we can keep this really short..."

The door locks were engaged and then Vinny turned around, making sure that Damien could see him clearly, female body below the neck, male head, and especially the neck stitches.

"Jesus, what the fuck!" Damien said, his voice raised.

"So, Damien," Vinny said, then giving his address and phone number. "Here is the situation so there is no lack of clarity on your part. We've helped your company considerably, including offering services that allow you to 'produce' the money for your scam engine. You are going to tell the police and the D.A. that you and your associate were in on it together and leave our names out of it. You are going to delete anything that ties us to you. You are going to prison."

"And why, uh, why would I do that?" Damien asked, still shocked at what he just saw, but still feeling the need to play it tough.

"Well see, my body below the neck belonged to the assistant district attorney until yesterday and now she's just a disembodied head attached to a machine. We can give her a new body and put your head in her place. Nothing below the neck. Just a dark, soundless room for years on end, not even the ability to move your neck. You do what I say and you strike a plea, you'll get three to five most likely and we'll make sure there's a nice fund set up for you to access when you get out. Same with your colleague. Are we clear on all of this?"

"Y-yes." He stammered out.

"Good." Vinny unlocked the door. "Get the hell out of her car."

Vinny had to smile watching the man, his confidence now shattered, skitter away in terror. Vinny guessed that he'd have nothing more to worry about with him. Now though...

He picked up his phone and called Miss Reed boss, who picked up immediately.

"Miss Reed. I heard you got the latest yesterday, but you haven't been at the office today." Her boss sounded unhappy.

"An unexpected development. I had a witness want to talk to me personally. A Damien Fuller, he's one of the executives at the cryptocurrency company." He said in Miss Reed voice.

"Oh, him. Yeah, he's been a bit stubborn, cocky little bastard, really. He's not obstructed anything, but he's definitely dragging his feet with cooperating. He doesn't realize his only hope is with us. Speaking of which, we were prepared to offer him immunity if he testifies. I don't like it, but if it gets the rest..."

"About that." Vinny said. "It turns out he's walking back their involvement."

"Shit!" Her boss said. "Did someone get to him?"

"Probably." Vinny said with a quiet smile. "But there's no way to be sure unless we get him to talk or pull some data location records and hope we get lucky. I don't know, I don't doubt someone talked to him, but unless we can get something substantial that proves a connection, that part of the case is a bust for anything broader. I can go check and see if we've uncovered more of a paper trail..."

"Don't bother." Her boss sounded frustrated. "If he's doing this, most of what we have points to people outside the company, but not exactly who. We needed him for that and now that we don't have that, it just leaves him and a couple of others to take the fall."

"Look at it this way, we can still nail them for fraud. Maybe even spin it with the tech companies. Some BS about 'responsible ethics' in the corporate world while insisting on the above the board companies that we otherwise have and our welcoming to our city."

Her boss was silent for a second.

"I like it. It says no one is above the law while not making the industry feel like they're being singled out for scrutiny. Good work. Okay, I'll bet Mr. Fuller's attorney will be contacting our office soon, so we'll be ready for him in that case. In the meanwhile, since you're not at the office, I would like you to check on something for me. It has to do with the money laundering."

Oh, when the stars align, Vinny thought.

"Sure." Vinny said in Miss Reed's voice. "What do you need?"