44
AT THE END of a very long day, the two homicide detectives, Jensen and Reeves, who were investigating the murders at Dax Baxter’s house, got into their car in the garage in the basement of the building. As they did a man dressed in black stepped from behind a concrete column, held out a black pistol equipped with a silencer, and shot Reeves in the head through the window. Then he pointed the gun at Jensen, in the passenger seat, fired twice, then put one more into Reeves.
Jensen slumped in his seat, but he was still alive, even though he was not thinking very clearly. He fumbled for the radio’s microphone, clipped to the dash, then keyed it. “Mayday, mayday,” he said into it. “Two officers down in police garage.” Then he passed out.
• • •
CARLOS RIVERA WAS just turning into the parking lot at his building when his police radio came alive. He stopped and listened.
“How do you understand that gobbledygook?” Chita asked.
Carlos translated: two officers down in a police garage; help on the way.
“In a police garage?” Chita asked. “That’s bold. Do you need to go there?”
“Outside my jurisdiction,” Carlos said. “I’m where I need to be.” He parked and took her to his apartment.
• • •
STONE WAS HAVING a brandy in bed with Ana when his cell phone rang. He looked at it, then picked it up. “It better be good at this hour, Cupie.”
“I’ll be brief,” Cupie replied. “News has reached me on one of my grapevines that the two detectives investigating the homicides at Dax Baxter’s house were shot in the garage at their building. One of them is dead, the other is critical. Happened half an hour ago.”
“Any suspects?”
“None so far, but you’ve gotta think that it might be whoever killed the two guys at Dax Baxter’s house.”
“Thanks, Cupie.” Stone hung up, walked into the bathroom, closed the door, and called Billy Barnett.
“Hello?”
“You know who this is?”
“I do.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“How long have you been there?”
“Since about seven. We had dinner here.”
“Two cops investigating the Dax homicides have been shot in their car, in a police building, one is dead.”
Silence, then: “Weird,” Teddy said.
“Some think that whoever killed the two at Dax’s house may have shot the two cops. Maybe he thought they had some evidence implicating him.”
“That would not be my first guess,” Teddy said.
“Do you have a first guess?”
“No. Just not who they think it is.”
“Right.” Stone hung up. So Billy didn’t do it, unless he was lying, and he had never known the man to lie. He went back to bed. “Sorry about that,” he said.
“Anything important?”
“I don’t know, maybe.”
• • •
CARLOS PUT THE cop shootings out of his mind and concentrated on Chita. It took about ten minutes, then they both came, Chita first. She rolled on top of him. “Don’t go to sleep,” she said.
“I’m not sleepy,” Carlos replied.
“Sex renders men unconscious,” she said.
“Not me, not now.”
“I’m happy to hear it.”
They rested for a few minutes then did it again.
• • •
TEDDY AND SALLY finished the dishes and put them away.
“You’re very quiet,” she said.
“Something strange happened.”
“What?”
“The two detectives investigating the events at Baxter’s house have been shot in their car.”
“When did it happen?”
“This evening, I think.”
She thought about that. “We’ve been here all evening.”
“How’d you like a little trip to Santa Fe for the weekend?” Teddy asked.
“Weekend? It’s a two-day drive.”
“I can borrow Peter’s Mustang.”
“You want to go on horseback?”
Teddy laughed. “Sorry, a Mustang is a small Cessna Jet. The flight’s not much more than an hour.”
“Sure. I’d like to pick up a few things at home, anyway.”
“Good.”
“Billy, you’re not going to go after Dax, are you?”
“I doubt it. I would like to talk to him, though.”
“I’ve got the phone number at his house there. You could call him from here,” Sally said.
“It’s going to be a nice weekend,” Teddy replied. “Let’s go to Santa Fe.”
“Whatever you say,” she said.
Teddy laughed. “I love the sound of that. You can say that to me anytime.”
• • •
STONE AND ANA lay in bed, sweating, after another round of enthusiastic sex. “I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“About sex?”
“I’m all thought out about that, for the evening, anyway. I was thinking maybe I’ll fly you to Santa Fe and spend a couple of days, then we’ll go on to New York for a while.”
“Haven’t we had this conversation before?”
“That wasn’t a conversation, that was a decision, based on our earlier conversation.”
“Ah, yes,” she said, “I remember it well. I think that, in two or three days, I can reestablish myself with my colleagues and clients as alive and working in Santa Fe. And it’s been a long time since I was in New York.”
“It will be my pleasure to reacquaint you with the city,” Stone said, kissing her. “Now let’s get some sleep so that I’ll be in shape to fly tomorrow.”