'Whatever you say.'
'We gave it our best shot, Matt. It's worth it if we can smoke the fucker out because God knows how we could get anyplace combing the city for emerald smugglers. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.'
'I know.'
'We'll catch the cocksucker sooner or later. You know that.'
'Sure.'
'Well,' he said, and shifted his weight awkwardly. 'Well, listen.
Get some sleep, huh?'
'Sure.'
I rode up on the elevator. He wasn't in South America, I thought. I knew damned well he wasn't in South America. He was here in New York and he was going to kill again because he liked it.
Maybe he'd done it before. Maybe Kim was the first time he found out it felt good to him. But he'd liked it enough to do it again the same way, and the next time he wouldn't need an excuse. Just a victim and a hotel room and his trusty machete.
Have a couple of drinks, Durkin had suggested.
I didn't even feel like a drink.
Ten days, I thought. Just go to bed sober and you've got ten days.
I took the gun out of my pocket and put it on the dresser. I was still carrying the ivory bracelet in another pocket and I took it out and set it down next to the gun, still wrapped in paper towels from Kim's kitchen.
I got out of my slacks and jacket, hung them in the closet, and took off my shirt. The bulletproof vest was a tricky thing to get out of and a cumbersome thing to wear, and most of the cops I knew hated wearing them. On the other hand, nobody likes getting shot.
I took the thing off and draped it over the dresser next to the gun and bracelet. Bulletproof vests aren't just bulky, they're also warm, and I'd perspired inside this one and my undershirt had dark circles under the arms. I took off the undershirt and my shorts and my socks, and something clicked, some little alarm went off, and I was turning toward the bathroom door when it flew open.
He sailed through it, a big man, olive skinned, wild-eyed. He was as naked as I was and there was a machete in his hand with a gleaming foot-long blade.
I threw the mesh at him. He swung the machete and knocked it aside. I grabbed the gun off the dresser and dove out of his way. The blade arced down, missing me, and his arm rose again and I shot him four times in the chest.
Chapter 33
The LL train starts at Eighth Avenue, crosses Manhattan along Fourteenth Street, and winds up way the hell out in Canarsie. Its first stop across the river in Brooklyn is at Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street. I left it there and walked around until I found his house.
It took me a while and I took a couple of wrong turns, but it was a good day for walking, the sun out, the sky clear, and a little warmth in the air for a change.
There was a heavy windowless door to the right of the garage. I poked the doorbell but got no response, and I couldn't hear the bell sounding within. Hadn't he said something about disconnecting the bell?
I jabbed it again, heard nothing.
There was a brass knocker mounted on the door and I used it.
Nothing happened. I cupped my hands and shouted, 'Chance, open up!
It's Scudder.' Then I pounded on the door some more, with the knocker and with my hands.
The door looked and felt awfully solid. I gave it a tentative nudge with my shoulder and decided it was unlikely I could kick it in. I could break a window and get in that way, but in Greenpoint some neighbor would call the cops, or pick up a gun and come over himself.
I banged on the door some more. A motor worked, and a winch began lifting the electrically operated garage door.
'This way,' he said. 'Before you knock my damn door down.'
I went in through the garage and he pushed a button to lower the door again. 'My front door doesn't open,' he said. 'Didn't I show you that before? It's all sealed shut with bars and shit.'
'That's great if you have a fire.'
'Then I go out a window. But when'd you ever hear of the firehouse burning down?'
He was dressed as I'd last seen him, in light blue denim pants and a navy blue pullover. 'You forgot your coffee,' he said. 'Or I forgot to give it to you. Day before yesterday, remember? You were gonna take a couple pounds home with you.'
'You're right, I forgot.'
'For your girlfriend. Fine-looking woman. I got some coffee made.
You'll have a cup, won't you?'
