Ambush
- Автор: Паттерсон Джеймс, Борн Джеймс О.
- Серия: Michael Bennett #11
- Год: 2018
- Язык: английский
- Год: Little, Brown and Company
- ISBN: 978-0-316-27398-5
- Жанр: Триллеры
Электронная книга - «Ambush». Краткое содержание книги:
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I called her and asked her to meet me on the seventh floor of the Bergdorf Goodman department store, in the little restaurant. She sounded shocked by the invitation, then blurted out, “I didn’t know you realized there was a restaurant up there.”
The BG Restaurant was fancy by my standards, with big, ornate windows and stiff, formal chairs. The menu prices made me flinch a little, but I rationalized the midday splurge. The croque monsieur made that rationalization easier.
We sat at a small table overlooking Central Park near 57th Street. The view was spectacular. And so was Mary Catherine. Her beautiful face, framed by that lovely auburn hair, and those clear green eyes that seemed to take in the whole world made the view pale by comparison. It’s too bad I could never put that kind of shit into words around her. Instead I said, “You look great.”
She blushed slightly and smiled. “You always say the right things.”
We chatted about subjects we normally don’t get to chat about. Current events. Where the kids might end up going to college. Where we might go on vacation this coming summer. It was great.
Then we ended up on the topic of Juliana.
Mary Catherine said, “I really think you need to give her more room. By the way, that was a sneaky trick, getting Carter to admit he was planning on moving to LA.”
I smiled. “Sneaky or brilliant?”
She shrugged and said, “I guess it’s a little bit of both.”
“When you get a little older, you have to get sneakier. It’s our only advantage.”
Mary Catherine wasn’t swayed. “I want you to let her live her life. At least within reason. Carter seems like a nice enough boy.”
“I wouldn’t have a problem with him if he was a boy. But the fact that he’s closer to thirty than twenty bothers me.”
“Do you really think anyone would try to do anything stupid to any of your daughters after they met you?”
I thought about it. Maybe I did come on a little strong sometimes.
I changed the topic. “Have you thought about a date for us yet? A spring wedding might be nice.”
“No, I haven’t thought about it.”
“I could be sneaky and trick you into it.”
“There’s no need. It’s just that I have so much to keep up with running the house. It’s hard to take time to plan anything. I can’t even think about a wedding right now.”
I said, “It doesn’t have to be big and elaborate.”
“The hell it doesn’t. If I’m going to marry the man I love, it’s going to be way over the top. I mean Barbra-Streisand-as-entertainment big.”
I chuckled as I said, “What do you mean if you’re going to marry me?”
She reached across the table and took my hand in hers. “When I marry the man I love. But right now I want to focus on Bridget and Fiona as they get ready for their first boy-girl dance. And Trent, the forgotten kid, who never does anything wrong. And Chrissy, who is taking this baby-of-the-family thing a little too far.”
I thought about what she was saying. “I know you end up getting a whole family with me. A giant family. I don’t want to stress you out any more.”
“Oh, you silly, oblivious man. That’s just it. I do get the whole family. The whole fantastic family. It’s not a negative. I get to adopt each of the kids, just like you and Maeve did. It’s thrilling. It’s more than I ever wanted. But right now I have cookies I have to get to Shawna’s class for history day, and then I’m taking Seamus to the eye doctor.”
I leaned close and kissed Mary Catherine. I had never loved her more than I did right then.
Chapter 60
By the time I got back to the office I was on fire. I had more information — specifically, that a woman hired the Dominicans to shoot me. I wanted this whole ordeal over as soon as possible.
Some of my ad hoc task force was already there, and I called in Cassie Max and Roddy Huerta.
When we all gathered in a conference room, Roddy was the first to say, “You do realize you’re not my sergeant. You can’t just order me into the office any time you want to talk to me.”
Cassie casually turned toward Roddy and said, “Shut up and maybe learn something.”
I appreciated that kind of support. I hate to admit it, but I got a kick out of seeing Roddy brought down a peg or two.
I said, “I think I have something that’ll change how we look at this case.” I glanced around the table. The detectives and the three forensics people were all staring at me intently.
“I have a tip that a woman hired the Dominican gunmen who tried to shoot me. They describe her as beautiful.”
Roddy shook his head. “You called us in to tell us that? An attractive woman is trying to murder you? Are you bragging?”
“No, numb nuts. I’m telling you this because it’s a lead. I know we’ve all looked through surveillance videos trying to identify a suspect, but I’ve been looking for a man. Not only is that sexist, it’s also the biggest trap a detective can fall into. I got tunnel vision. Now I’m hoping you guys can help me out. If we all start reviewing surveillance videos, we might be able get an image of this woman.”
Roddy said, “And what if she’s just a go-between? Maybe the killer really is a man.”
“I’m not sure how you want me to respond to that, Roddy. Are you saying we should ignore this lead? I think we should run it down, and if we find her, see if we can’t get her to identify who she’s working for. It’s kind of basic police work.
“Also, this fits in with the murder at the hospital. The corrections officers who were guarding the murdered gunman both said they spoke to a woman. They just couldn’t give any description and didn’t know exactly how she was involved. She may have just been a distraction.”
Cassie said, “I have hours of video from businesses around Madison Square Park. I didn’t have any idea what to look for, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”
Roddy said, “That shitty hotel purposely doesn’t want anyone knowing who comes and goes. And there are no businesses at the entrance that would have surveillance. I did grab a tape from an electronics store not far from the rear entrance to the hotel. I looked at it but wrote off the females who were leaving as prostitutes.”
Cassie let out a laugh and said, “Typical.”
I intervened before Roddy got too bent out of shape. “Unless anyone else has anything useful to add, I would recommend we all get to work. There are other pieces of this puzzle that might fall into place.”
As the little meeting broke up, I looked over to my lieutenant. Harry Grissom hadn’t said a word during the meeting as he leaned against the back wall with his arms folded.
Now he looked at me like he was about to speak. Instead he just nodded and grunted something that could’ve been “Good job.”
Chapter 61
Alex took advantage of being alone in the Dominicans’ apartment. She didn’t just sit on the couch and wait. She did a good, thorough search of the place, putting everything back where she found it. To Alex, planning was a part of the job she enjoyed. With attention to detail and preparation, she felt ready all the time.
The kitchen drawers gave up something that really interested her. This creep had a photograph of her from the time when they had sat at the White Castle talking about things. It was clear that his friend had taken it somehow when she wasn’t paying attention. They had printed out at least two copies.
From a photographer’s point of view, the picture wasn’t that bad. He had been lucky to catch the light just right, and her hair was over her shoulder, away from her face. It was really quite flattering.