that the tips were turning white.
'When did you go to Breezy Point next?' Mike asked.
'I'm back and forth all the time. My folks have had the place since I was a kid. I've always spent summers there.'
'You take Elise out with you?'
'No way. She was nothing to me. I told you, I saw her once and that was it.'
'Gets crowded out there in the summer, doesn't it?'
'The Point? Yeah.'
'I was thinking about your family's house, in particular.'
Kiernan didn't know where Mike was going with this. He cocked his head and squinted, his eyebrows rolling into the shape of a fuzzy V.
'What with all those brothers and sisters of yours, your mother-'
'She spends the month in Ireland, with my grandparents.'
'Your father, too. But I guess he's had a playmate to keep him company while your mom's gone, then. What's his friend's name? Amber? Isn't it Amber Bristol?'
Kiernan Dylan opened his clenched fists and spread his fingers wide, snapping the band off as he did. He stood up and kicked the drawer of the heavy old oak desk, moving it back almost a foot.
'That bitch has nothing to do with him anymore. You understand that, Detective? Amber won't be back, so you can just leave Jimmy Dylan out of my business. You coming after me? Then leave my father alone.
TWENTY-EIGHT
What do you mean Amber won't be back?' Mike asked. 'We're talking about Elise Huff, I thought.'
Kiernan had seated himself in the armchair in the corner after Mike calmed him down. If he had read a paper or heard a newscast in the last few weeks, he had missed all of the crime stories or was playing a good game
And I thought you didn't know anything else about her. I'll get back to Elise. Maybe when you listen to the cell phone messages you left her, it'll tweak your memory,' Mike said, trying to completely unhinge his subject, jumping around from one sensitive topic to the other.
Elise's cell phone had never been recovered, but from the way Kiernan's legs started bouncing, he didn't want to be reminded of their exchanges
How long have you known Amber? He was caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. He had no reason to think we knew anything about Amber and was clearly blindsided by Mike's reference to her
I've met her a couple of times.'
'Where?'
'The Head. I helped my dad run it before we opened down here.'
'How long have you known about their relationship?' Kiernan closed his eyes and thought for almost a minute. 'What relationship would that be? She was a friend. Everybody likes my dad. Everybody. Then we opened Ruffles, and she'd drop in to say hello sometimes when she was downtown. Mike rolled the desk chair over to sit face-to- face with Kiernan. 'Did Amber get booted from the Head?'
'Did she tell you that?'
Mike kept staring at Kiernan.
'Okay, okay. You're asking me. Maybe she did. She couldn't hold her liquor. Kept saying a lot of stupid things. Embarrassing things.'
'What did you mean when you said she isn't coming back?'
'She went home. Amber comes from some Podunk town out west. My dad told me-no, no, forget my dad. I guess I heard from my brother Danny or one of the guys who works at the Head that she finally figured out she had no frigging future hanging around waiting for some married man to give it up for her. That totally wasn't happening, get it? It was over.'
'Did you see her before she left?'
'She came in here a couple of times this summer. I'm easy with the free drinks,' Kiernan said, forcing a smile. 'Look, why are you asking me about Amber?'
The music from downstairs was louder now. So was the crowd, shouting over the noise from the jukebox. The buzz from the sidewalk in front of the bar was also heavier.
'Nobody's seen her in a few weeks.'
'I'm telling you, she's gone home.'
'Convince me. How do you know that for sure?'
Kiernan Dylan's feet were tapping on the floor. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked up at the ceiling. ' 'Cause I packed up some stuff for her, okay? 'Cause she asked me to throw out some of her weird, freaky-her stuff, okay? 'Cause she was never coming back to use it- she told me that herself.'
I tried not to react as Kiernan admitted that he had been the person-or one of the people-who had so carefully sanitized Amber Bristol's tiny apartment.
Then he leaned in and looked at Mike. 'And she sure as hell didn't want that pervert superintendent who was always looking to jump her bones to make any trouble for her after she was gone.'
Vargas Candera. The guy who had a penchant for beating his girlfriend.
'So you were just being a Good Samaritan,' Mike said. 'You weren't trespassing or, say, breaking into Amber's pad, were you?'
'You're looking to screw me, aren't you? You don't get me one way, you try to do it the next. Maybe I need to call a lawyer.'
'Maybe so. Your old man must have a hotline to some jerk for every time he gets a summons in his place. You got a car, Kiernan?'
'What?'
'A car. To get back and forth to Breezy Point. To get rid of the things Amber asked you to.'
'Yeah. I need it for business. For picking up liquor and supplies. Sure I got one.'
'What do you drive?'
'A minivan, 2005 Ford.'
Mike was thinking the same thing I was. The perfect vehicle for moving a body or two from one place to another.
'Where do you keep it?'
'On the street. I park on the street.'
'What's the tag?' Mike said, taking out his notepad to write down the plate number.
Kiernan put his head back again and recited the letters and digits. He swallowed hard and looked at Mike again.
'It's nearby? You mind if we look at it tonight?'
'I-uh-I don't have it anymore.'
'You just lost me,' Mike said, lowering his head and rubbing his eyes.
'It was stolen. It was stolen about ten days ago.'
'Your van was stolen? From where?'
'Not far from here. Near the Bowery, a few blocks away.'
'You got a copy of the police report?'
'That's the thing. I haven't made one yet.'
'You what?'
'I haven't had time. It's been crazy busy here at work.'
'You run a bar, Kiernan, not a hedge fund. Once you've made sure the place is stocked with booze and you got somebody who can pour the damn stuff, what the hell else do you have to do? Tell me the
