nice. It’s one and one makes two, just that simple. You’re here because the chippie has to take a hit and I’m the one’s gotta do the job. Ain’t that right, Victor?’
DeLaroza stared at the floor. Finally he nodded very slowly.
‘Lemme hear you say it there, partner.’
DeLaroza continued to stare at the floor.
‘Lemme hear you say it,’ Burns said flatly. ‘Say it out loud.’
DeLaroza remained quiet.
‘Say it.’
DeLaroza started to speak. His lips moved, but the words died in his mouth. He coughed, trying to clear his throat.
‘Say it!’
The voice was hoarse and seemed far away. ‘Kill her,’ DeLaroza said.
Burns grinned. ‘See how easy it is when you try.’
Chapter Nine
The ant was as big as an elephant. It crawled across the ceiling and Sharky watched it, wondering what it was doing on the roof of a twelve-storey building and why it even wanted to be there at all.
Sit and wait. Boredom. The curse of the stakeout.
At least Livingston had provided him with what Arch called his stakeout kit — an army cot, blanket, hot plate, and several packets of instant soup and coffee. It helped. They had also left a car on the street below near the exit of the apartment parking deck in case he had to tail her.
But he had nothing to read. After all the stakeouts Sharky should have remembered something to read. And he would be there until Papa relieved him at eight A.M.
He lay on the cot with the blanket under his head and the earphones on and watched the ant scurry across the ceiling and start down the wall. The recorder for Domino’s living room whirred quietly on the floor near the cot. The radio was on. Led Zeppelin boomed in his ears.
She was moving around, singing to herself, the recorders for the bedroom and massage room cutting on and off as she went from one to the other. She was in the master bedroom when she made the phone call.
‘Hello, is Mister Moundt there, please? . . , Hi, it’s
Domino. . . Fine, and you?.. . Oh, you do? Wonderful. I
was afraid it wouldn’t get in. . . . Thank you, that’s so sweet.
It’s for tonight. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.
Wonderful, I’ll be by in a few minutes. Bye.’
Good. He could pick up a paperback or some magazines. He pulled on his suede pullover, smoothed back his hair, and walked down to the ninth floor, making sure the elevator he took did not stop at ten. He did not want to end up in the same elevator with her. He walked through the cold drizzle to the stakeout car, a blue Chevy, got in and waited. A few minutes later the gate swung open and the blue Mercedes pulled out.
He followed her down Peachtree Street, staying several car lengths behind her. When she turned into the lot at Moundt’s he drove past, u-turned, and ambled back, giving her time to enter the store.
Moundt’s was a gourmet supermarket, possibly the best in the city, it had two entrances, the main door on Peachtree Street and another through the side that led past a snack bar. He got a cup of coffee, stood in the doorway, watching her as he sipped it. She was in the rear of the store, talking to Moundt, a tall, grey-haired, amiable man who seemed to know her well. He gave her two cans which she put in her shopping cart.
Supposing she makes you? Sharky thought. Remembers you from the elevator?
He went to the fruit department, got some white seedless grapes and half a dozen hard apples, then cruised the store, staying two or three rows away and well behind her. He reached the paperback rack and, keeping his back to her, looked for a book. He selected a thick novel by Irwin Shaw, then turned cautiously, and looked back over his shoulder.
She was gone.
He moved towards the checkout counter, peering over the tops of the aisles. As he reached the end of the aisle she stood up. She bad stooped down to get some crackers and now, suddenly, they were face to face, an aisle apart.
He left the basket, went back up the aisle, aimlessly searching the counters as though he had forgotten something. She was facing the other way when he came back and be pushed his cart hurriedly to the checkout counter.
An elderly lady got there at the same time. He smiled, reluctantly, and motioned her in front of him.
Goddamn, she must have fifty dollars’ worth of stuff in that cart.
He watched her put the items on the checkout counter. It took forever. Sharky waited. Then he casually turned sideways and looked back over his shoulder towards the store.
Domino was standing there, right behind him, three feet away.
Well, shill
She smiled at him, blue eyes crinkling at the corners. His nose is broken. How interesting. We seem to be
