Sacrifice

'Wow, Burke! It's dark in here— I can't see outside.'

'It's okay, Luke,' I told him, switching on the Tensor light. 'We're safe here. With Max up front and Simsa back here, nobody would dare bother us.'

'Don't forget Immaculata,' he corrected me gravely. 'She's tough too.'

'Yeah, you're right. You know you're going to see Teresa over at Max's house today?'

'It's Immaculata's house too.'

'Okay, okay, kid. I got it. What are you…studying to be a feminist?'

'What's a feminist?'

'Ask Lily, okay?'

'Okay. Are you mad at me?'

'Hell no. I'm not mad at anyone. Just embarrassed that a kid's smarter than me sometimes.'

'Oh, you're very smart. Lily said so.'

'Lily said I was smart?'

'Tricky, is what she said.'

'Oh.'

'It's okay, Burke. You're my friend. Like my big brother.'

'More than you know, kid.'

Couldn't hear anything from the front seat. I wouldn't anyway— Max and Immaculata can battle to a fever pitch without making a sound.

'How was Simsa's first night?'

'Oh, it was good. Mac told me I could wrap an alarm clock in a towel and the puppy would feel like it was his mother's heartbeat…but she slept with me instead. My heart beat for her.'

129

The cab slid to a stop. Luke scrambled out, holding his pup, eager to show everyone. Mac put a hand on the boy's shoulder, made some gesture at Max, stamped her foot. Max pointed at me, shrugged his wide shoulders. Mac stepped in close to me.

'He says you don't want Lily to be at the meeting with Wolfe.'

'That's right. You guys are battling each other— I got no time for it. You asked me to persuade Wolfe to jump back— I'm trying to do that— what'd you want to get in the way for?'

'Oh, go away,' she snapped. 'Go someplace with your pal. Come on, Luke,' turning away from me.

On the way to Queens, I tried to explain things to Max. He kept his eyes on the road, pretended he couldn't pick up my gestures.

130

We were waiting at the curb by the diner a good twenty minutes in front. I picked Wolfe up in the side mirror, stepped out and opened the back door like a chauffeur, climbed in after her. Max took off smoothly, heading for the highway. If she had people following us, they'd have an easy time until we hit Chinatown.

Wolfe threw a quick glance at the blackout windows. Her mouth twitched. 'Very clever,' she said.

'Better than a blindfold, huh?'

'Sure.'

'Want a drink? This thing isn't air-conditioned,' I said, offering her an unopened bottle of cold spring water I'd bought from the deli across from the diner.

'Thank you.' She unscrewed the bottle cap, took a long pull.

'I appreciate you doing this.'

She took another sip. 'The baby's been positively identified.'

'How'd you do that? He was in the water a long time.'

'The coroner said it was Battered Child Syndrome— just about every bone was fractured, some of the old ones had healed. Derrick had been X-rayed before— the last time there was a child abuse complaint. The pictures were a perfect match.'

'You know for sure what killed him?'

'He was beaten to death. Hard to tell exactly what finally did it— lungs punctured, blood in the spinal column…maybe all of that and more. Doesn't matter now, it's a homicide, not an accident.'

'Who's gonna be indicted for it?'

She looked at me like I'd have to step up in class to be stupid. 'Both of them— the mother's already made statements. Lots of statements. Sometimes she says the kid fell down the stairs, sometimes he choked on his bottle. Doesn't matter…the coroner said the baby was killed over a long period of time. She had to know.'

'She did know.'

'Yes. She'll come up with some kind of defense— they've always got new ones. She's going down for this, just like he is, once we pick him up. He won't go far. He's a Welfare vulture, living off dead-souled women. We'll find him.'