looked like a future D.A. His handshake was firm and he smelled of after shave lotion. Canoe I bet.

“Sit down, Spenser, good to see you. Jackie and Rich have me wired in on the case. I don’t see any problem. When’s it going down?”

“Day after tomorrow,” I said, “at six in the morning, at the market terminal in Chelsea.”

“That Suffolk or Middlesex County?”

“Suffolk,” I said.

“You sure?”

“I used to work for the Suffolk County D.A. Everett’s Middlesex, Chelsea’s Suffolk.”

“Okay, I’m going to need some cooperation from Suffolk.” He looked at his wristwatch. It was big and had a luminous green face and you pressed a button to get the time displayed in digits. “That’s no sweat,” he said. “I’ll get Jim Clancy on the horn up there. He’ll go along.”

He leaned back in his swivel chair, cocked one foot up on a slightly open drawer and looked at me. “What’s the setup?” he said. I told him.

“So we set up around there ahead of time,” Sylvia said, “and when they are in the middle of the transaction…” He raised an open hand and clamped it shut.

Linhares nodded. “Right. We’ve got them no matter what part of the swap they’re in. One of them will have stolen money and the others will have stolen guns. I want to be there. I want part of this one.”

McDermott said. “We thought you might, Anton.”

Linhares smiled without irritation. “I didn’t take this job to stay in it all my life.”

Sylvia said, “Yeah, but let’s make sure this doesn’t get leaked to the press before it happens.”

Linhares grinned again. “Gentlemen,” he said. He shook his head in friendly despair. “Gentlemen. How unkind.”

“Sylvia’s right,” I said. “These are very careful people. King Powers by habit. Rose and Jane by temperament. They’ll be very skittish.”

“Fair enough,” Linhares said. “Now what about your people. How you want to handle that?”

“I want them not to exist,” I said. “They can be referred to as two anonymous undercover operatives whose identity must be protected. Me too. If my name gets into this it may drag theirs in with it. They’re both clients.”

Linhares said, “I’ll need the names. Not to prosecute but to bury. If they get scooped up in the net I’ve got to know who to let go.”

I told him. “They’re related?” he said.

“Yeah, husband and wife.”

“And you put this thing together for them?”

“Yeah.”

“How’d Suffolk ever let you get away?”

“Hard to figure,” I said.

“Okay.” Linhares looked at his watch again. He liked pushing the button. “Jackie, you and Rich get up there tomorrow with Spenser here and set this thing up. I’ll call Jimmy Clancy and have him waiting for you.”

“We gotta check with the squad,” McDermott said.

“I’ll take care of that,” Linhares said. “I’ll call Sergeant Cruz and have you assigned to me for a couple of days. Manny and I are buddies. He’ll go along. You get hold of Bobby Santos, he’ll go up with you tomorrow so he can brief me for the bust.” He reached over and punched an intercom on his phone and said into it, “Peggy, get me Jimmy Clancy up in the Suffolk D.A.’s office.” With one hand over the mouthpiece he said to me, “Good seeing you, Spenser. Nice job on this one.” And to Sylvia and McDermott, “You, too, guys, nice job all around.”

He took his hand away and said into the phone, “Jimmy, Anton Linhares. I got a live one for you, kid.” We got up and went out.

“Who’s this Santos?” I said to Jackie Sylvia.

“State dick, works out of this office. He’s okay. Wants to be public safety commissioner, but what the hell, nothing wrong with ambition. Right Rich?”

“I don’t know,” McDermott said. “I never had any. You want to ride up with us tomorrow, Spenser, or you want to meet us there?”

“I’ll meet you there,” I said. “In Clancy’s office. About ten.”

“Catch you then,” Sylvia said. We reached my car. There was a parking ticket under the windshield wiper. I took it out and slipped it into the breast pocket of Sylvia’s maroon blazer. “Show me the kind of clout you got around here,” I said. “Fix that.” I got in the car. As I pulled away Sylvia took the ticket out of his pocket and tore it in two. As I pulled around the corner on County Street he was giving half to McDermott.

I was into the maze again and on my first pass at the Fairhaven Bridge I ended up going out Acushnet Street parallel to the river. There was a parking lot by the unemployment office and I pulled in to turn around. There was a long line at the unemployment office and a man with a pushcart and a striped umbrella was selling hot dogs, soft drinks, popcorn and peanuts. Festive.

I made the bridge on my second try, and headed back down the Cape. The sun was at my back now and ahead was maybe a swim, some tennis and supper. I hoped Susan hadn’t eaten. It was five-twenty when I got back to the motel. I spotted Susan’s Nova in the lot. When I unlocked the door to the room she was there. Sitting in front of the mirror with a piece of Kleenex in her hand, her hair up in big rollers, a lot of cream on her face, wearing a flowered

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