He was immediately ready to act. He knew the value of having me under his thumb instead of on retainer. I gave him the address of the apartment on Dickens. I also gave him a description of Roulet and what he had been wearing in court that day.
“If he shows up at that apartment, I want him stopped,” I said. “And I need your people to go now.”
“Done,” Vogel said.
“Thank you, Ted.”
“No, thank you. We’re glad to help you out, seeing as how you’ve helped us out so much.”
Yeah, right, I thought. I hung the phone up, knowing I had just crossed one of those lines you hope to never see let alone have to step across. I looked out the window again. Outside, the rain was now coming down hard off the roof. I had no gutter in the back and it was coming down in a translucent sheet that blurred the lights out there. Nothing but rain this year, I thought. Nothing but rain.
I left the office and went back to the front of the house. On the table in the dining alcove was the gun Earl Briggs had given me. I contemplated the weapon and all the moves I had made. The bottom line was I had been flying blind and in the process had endangered more than just myself.
Panic started to set in. I grabbed the phone off the kitchen wall and called Maggie’s cell. She answered right away. I could tell she was in her car.
“Where are you?”
“I’m just getting home now. I’ll get some things together and we’ll get out.”
“Good.”
“What do I tell Hayley, that her father put her life in danger?”
“It’s not like that, Maggie. It’s him. It’s Roulet. I couldn’t control him. One night I came home and he was sitting in my house. He’s a real estate guy. He knows how to find places. He saw her picture on my desk. What was I -”
“Can we talk about this later? I have to go in now and get my daughter.”
Not
“Sure. Call me when you’re in a new place.”
She disconnected without further word and I slowly hung the phone back on the wall. My hand was still on the phone. I leaned forward until my forehead touched the wall. I was out of moves. I could only wait on Roulet to make the next one.
The phone’s ring startled me and I jumped back. The phone fell to the floor and I pulled it up by the cord. It was Valenzuela.
“You get my message? I just called.”
“No, I’ve been on the phone. What?”
“Glad I called back, then. He’s moving.”
I shouted it too loud into the phone. I was losing it.
“He’s heading south on Van Nuys. He called me and said he wanted to lose the bracelet. I told him I was already home and that he could call me tomorrow. I told him he had better juice the battery so he wouldn’t start beeping in the middle of the night.”
“Good thinking. Where’s he now?”
“Still on Van Nuys.”
I tried to build an image of Roulet driving. If he was going south on Van Nuys that meant he was heading directly toward Sherman Oaks and the neighborhood where Maggie and Hayley lived. But he could also be headed right through Sherman Oaks on his way south over the hill and to his home. I had to wait to be sure.
“How up to the moment is the GPS on that thing?” I asked.
“It’s real time, man. This is where he’s at. He just crossed under the one-oh-one. He might be just going home, Mick.”
“I know, I know. Just wait till he crosses Ventura. The next street is Dickens. If he turns there, then he’s not going home.”
I stood up and didn’t know what to do. I started pacing, the phone pressed tightly to my ear. I knew that even if Teddy Vogel had immediately put his men in motion they were still minutes away. They were no good to me now.
“What about the rain? Does it affect the GPS?”
“It’s not supposed to.”
“That’s comforting.”
“He stopped.”
“Where?”
“Must be a light. I think that’s Moorpark Avenue there.”
That was a block before Ventura and two before Dickens. I heard a beeping sound come over the phone.
“What’s that?”
“The ten-block alarm you asked me to set.”
The beeping sound stopped.
“I turned it off.”
“I’ll call you right back.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I hung up and called Maggie’s cell. She answered right away.
“Where are you?”
“You told me not to tell you.”
“You’re out of the apartment?”
“No, not yet. Hayley’s picking the crayons and coloring books she wants to take.”
“Goddamn it, get out of there! Now!”
“We’re going as fast as -”
“Just get out! I’ll call you back. Make sure you answer.”
I hung up and called Valenzuela back.
“Where is he?”
“He’s now at Ventura. Must’ve caught another light, because he’s not moving.”
“You’re sure he’s on the road and not just parked there?”
“No, I’m not sure. He could-never mind, he’s moving. Shit, he turned on Ventura.”
“Which way?”
I started pacing, the phone pressed so hard against my ear that it hurt.
“Right-uh, west. He’s going west.”
He was now driving parallel to Dickens, one block away, in the direction of my daughter’s apartment.
“He just stopped again,” Valenzuela announced. “It’s not an intersection. It looks like he’s in the middle of the block. I think he parked it.”
I ran my free hand through my hair like a desperate man.
“Fuck it, I’ve gotta go. My cell’s dead. Call Maggie and tell her he’s heading her way. Tell her to just get in the car and get out of there!”
I shouted Maggie’s number into the phone and dropped it as I headed out of the kitchen. I knew it would take me a minimum of twenty minutes to get to Dickens-and that was hitting the curves on Mulholland at sixty in the Lincoln -but I couldn’t stand around shouting orders on the phone while my family was in danger. I grabbed the gun off the table and went to the door. I was shoving it into the side pocket of my jacket as I opened the door.
Mary Windsor was standing there, her hair wet from the rain.
“Mary, what -”
She raised her hand. I looked down to see the metal glint of the gun in it just as she fired.
