46
When I got back to my apartment, Vinnie, with his coat off and a nine-millimeter Glock on his belt, was cooking sausage with vinegar peppers on the griddle part of my stove. A big pot was heating on another burner. Adele and Hawk sat at the counter watching him. They were drinking some Gray Riesling.
'On duty?' I said to Hawk.
'Vinnie's on duty,' Hawk said. 'Besides which, you knows I don't get drunk.'
'I had forgotten that for a moment,' I said.
A dele said, 'Hello.'
I said, 'You seem to be warming to your protectors.'
'I am,' Adele said.
'It's probably some variation of the Stockholm syndrome.'
'Cecile called,' Hawk said. 'I told her to come over.'
'She get a nibble?'
'Think so.'
'When?' I said.
'Tonight.'
'I think you're back on duty,' I said.
'Pretty soon,' Hawk said.
A dele watched us as we talked, and glanced now and then at Vinnie as he nurtured his sausage and peppers.
'Can you tell me who Cecile is?' Adele said.
'What you're going to do?'
'Cecile is a friend of Hawk's,' I said.'The rest is a little murky.'
'Will it be dangerous?'
Hawk grinned.
'Not for us,' he said.
The doorbell rang and Hawk went to let Cecile in.
'I've got a date,' she said as she came into the living room.
'Of course you do,' I said.
'What a relief,' she said.
Cecile knew Vinnie. I introduced her to Adele.
'I need a drink,' Cecile said.
'Martini?'
'Rocks,' she said, 'with a twist of orange if you've got it.' I made her the martini.
'This has been fun,' she said, 'like, you know, cops and robbers, an adventure. And I always knew that Hawk and you were around.'
'Protect and serve,' I said.
'Well, now I'm scared. I don't want to play anymore.'
'No need. Tell us the deal.'
'I go to an apartment on Park Drive,' Cecile said, 'and ring the bell for Griffin in two-B.'
'That's it?'
'Yes. When someone answers I give my name on the intercom. He buzzes me in and I go up to apartment two-B.'
'Any instructions when you get up there?'
'None,' Cecile said. 'I assume I disrobe.'
'Maybe I should go too,' Vinnie said.
'Vinnie will stay with Adele,' I said. 'Hawk and I will come along.'
'Do I have to go?'
'You have to say your name so he'll buzz you in,' I said. 'Then Hawk can take you away.'
'And you'll go up?'
'Knock, knock,' I said. 'Who's there.'
