‘Bathroom,’ Parker told him, as Mackey passed them and went down the hall. ‘Just till they leave.’
Parker shooed him, and Henry followed Mackey, Parker coming third. They went into the bedroom and Mackey said, ‘Go on in, Henry, we’ll be along.’
Henry was no trouble. He was like a horse who’s learned that obedience is followed by sugar lumps; he went on into the bathroom while Parker and Mackey dragged the dresser away from the window, back to its original position. Then they followed Henry into the bathroom, leaving the door open.
This was the one room in the house that couldn’t be looked into from outside. The only window was high and small, its lower half of frosted glass. It was a fairly small room, and they had to stand close to one another, as though in an elevator. Henry stood with his arms folded across his chest. He looked at the wall, and took short audible breaths through his nose.
After a minute, Mackey said, ‘Henry, take some deep breaths. You’re gonna make yourself pass out, you breathe like that.’
‘Sorry,’ Henry said. He swallowed and said, ‘Could I get myself a glass of water?’
‘After they leave,’ Parker said, and from the front of the house came the two-tone call of the doorbell.
They became very silent, even Henry, and after a minute the bell rang again. Another silence, and the rattle of the doorknob, testing the lock.
Quietly, Mackey said, ‘Now they split, one down either side of the house, look in the windows. Meet at the back, try the door. Go back to the car, call in: Nobody home, no sign of a problem.’
The wait seemed long, but probably wasn’t, and then they heard another doorknob being tested, at the rear of the house. They’d be looking into the kitchen now, which had been made neat, no evidence left of even one breakfast, let alone four.
Whispering, Henry said, ‘Do you think they’re gone?’
‘Let’s give them another minute,’ Mackey said.
They waited another minute, and then Mackey stepped slowly through the doorway, looking to his right, where the bedroom window was. ‘Looks good,’ he said, and went on across the bedroom to the hall.
‘You can have your water now,’ Parker said, and Henry drank a glass of water, spilling a little. Then Parker followed him out the door.
No one was looking into the window. They walked down the hall and when they got to the living room and looked out, being careful to stay deep in the room, not too close to the glass, the white RFD car was still there, both cops now inside it. The one in the passenger seat was on the radio.
Henry said, ‘What are they doing?’
Mackey told him, ‘The case is in the city. These guys report to their station, their station passes the word to the DA’s office in the city, these guys wait here until the word comes back, okay, you’re done. Another minute or two. We’ll all sit down, and the next time we stand up, they’ll be gone.’
They were.
10
At twenty-five minutes after eleven, the phone rang. Parker said, ‘Henry, bedroom. Door closed.’
‘Go with him,’ Mackey said, and the phone rang again. ‘We moved the dresser.’
Which meant Henry might be able to get out the window. ‘Right,’ Parker said, and followed Henry down the hall. In the bedroom, he said, ‘Sit around on the other side of the bed,’ farther away from the doorway. Then he left the door partway open and leaned against the jamb, so he could look at the window and still hear the living room.
If this was Brenda, then they were probably in endgame. If it was some friend of Darlene’s, or anybody else, Mackey would say, ‘Wrong number,’ hang up, and not answer when they called back. Darlene’s answering machine could handle it.
Parker could hear Mackey’s voice, but not make out the words. It didn’t seem to him that Mackey was talking to Brenda, it didn’t have that style to it, but he was having a conversation, not cutting it short, so what was this?
Li. It had to be. Another delay? Another kind of trouble?
Mackey appeared at the end of the hall. ‘Okay,’ he said, and walked back into the living room.
‘Come on, Henry.’
They went back to the living room and Mackey said, ‘They’re stonewalling.’
‘That was who you talked to before.’
‘Sure. Darlene’s in with this ADA, it’s going on and on, and nothing’s happening. It should be overby now.’
‘They’re trying to break her down,’ Parker said. ‘Get her to switch the story back again.’
‘She won’t,’ Henry said. ‘If they put pressure on Darlene, I knowher, she’ll just get more and more determined.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Mackey said. To Parker he said, ‘The thing is, before, I only told him there should be news, I didn’t say what the news was, and now everything’s on hold, so he wants to know what’s happening. She’s in there, and her lawyer is in there with her, and he needs information.’ He frowned at Henry and said, ‘Speaking of which, how much of this is Henry supposed to hear?’
Henry said, ‘Oh, come on. I’m not stupid. I’m afraid of you two, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid. Who could you be talking to, this time or last time, except your friend’s lawyer? Can I provethat? No. Do I hope nobody ever has any reason to ask me what I was doing today? Yes.’
‘Well, what the hell,’ Mackey said. ‘Sit down, Henry, we got a little longer to wait.’
