“Yes,” Dane said, looking between them, “I do believe I have my answer now. To one question at least. Myles? Derrick? Detective Hitchcock seems to be in need of medical attention. Let’s remove him to a place where he will get the level of care he deserves, shall we?”
“Frank, Elena!” Hitch pleaded. “I’m begging you, please! Don’t let him take me!”
“What happened to ‘no violence’?” Elena said to Dane.
“Oh, dear. I’m afraid I meant to you or Detective Harriman.”
Myles hoisted Hitch to his feet and held on to him, keeping Hitch’s arms pulled back.
Frank stepped a little closer to Derrick, who in turn moved back slightly, staying out of range. Frank wondered at this — he didn’t believe for a moment that Derrick was afraid of him. He glanced at Elena. She met his eyes now, and although she did not betray it by any signal to him, he knew she was calm — and ready. Again watching Derrick, he said to Dane, “Let Hitch go.”
“You would speak up on behalf of this piece of offal?” Dane said. “Well, then — perhaps I should hear what Detective Hitchcock has to say for himself.”
Derrick moved closer to Hitch, his right side toward Frank. Frank shifted his own stance.
“Mr. Dane,” Hitch began, “you’ve got to believe me — I didn’t know what he planned.”
“Of whom are you speaking?”
“I don’t know! The guy called me — that’s all it was, a phone call. Disguised his voice. I swear it. I swear it!”
Dane waited.
“I told him where you’d be, that’s all. Nothing more than that — nothing! He — he paid me. He left a little cash for me, but I swear to you, I didn’t know he was gonna try to stick you with a murder rap! You’ve got to believe me, Mr. Dane!”
Dane sighed. “A false assumption. Derrick?”
Just as Derrick’s fist connected with Hitch’s face, Frank moved, landing a hard kick to the outside of the wasp man’s right knee. Frank heard a muffled cracking noise — Derrick gave a shout of pain and lost his balance as the knee gave. He rolled to the right. Elena grabbed his left wrist as he fell, yanked his arm out straight, and kneed him hard in the face. He dropped like a stone.
“Enough,” Dane said.
Myles dropped Hitch, whose bloodied nose sent a crimson flow over the front of his shirt. He held his hands open, out at his sides, a gesture of half-surrender.
“Now look what a mess you’ve made!” Dane scolded. “None of this was necessary.”
“You thought I’d stand here and watch you beat the crap out of Hitch?” Frank asked.
“He can’t be very precious to you. You’ve just halted the only punishment he’s likely to receive.”
“You’ve learned what you wanted to know. Besides, if you think he arranged the killings on the
“Detective Harriman! I’m so pleased. Now we come to my interest in your investigations. I believe you can see why I’m determined to bring Trent Randolph’s killer to justice.”
Derrick rolled to his side and groaned.
“It had better wait, unless you want to watch your lapdog suffer.”
“Arrest him,” Elena said, and Frank could see the misery in her — that she knew what that would mean to her. “Arrest all of them.”
“I don’t think he will,” Dane said. “You see, I believe Detective Harriman is better at thinking ahead than you are, my impulsive — oh, don’t scowl — all right, you aren’t my friend.”
Frank bent to help Hitch to his feet.
“Take Detective Hitchcock, for example. Detective Harriman realizes that he has no real proof of anything other than Detective Hitchcock’s confession of conspiring to convict me of murder.”
“He just saw two of your men assault an officer, on your orders.”
“And he knows that poor Derrick never attempted to defend himself from either of you. Besides, I promise you, your name will not be left out of any statements I make to the police.”
She hesitated, then said, “Don’t let that stop you, Frank. This is your chance.”
Frank pulled Hitch’s arm over his shoulders. He knew an impulse of his own, to reach down and grab a handful of sand and throw it into Dane’s good eye. Childish, he told himself. “Help me with Hitch,” he said to her.
Elena moved to Hitch’s right side, but as they lifted him, she reached across Hitch’s shoulders to place her hand on Frank’s arm. “Frank—”
“What would happen to Seth then, Elena?”
“Maybe he’d be better off with—”
“Fuck you and your self-pity,” he said. “Think of Seth.”
She lowered her hand to Hitch’s waist, so that she was no longer touching Frank.
Dane came closer and patted Hitch’s cheek. “You do know I hate unfinished business, don’t you, Robert? I know you lied to me to protect your own hide, but why did you choose Elena for your scapegoat? Revenge because she let Lefebvre get into her pants?” He laughed.
