The young man's anxiety was mounting. He was wiggling in his seat, looking at the telephone as though deciding whom he should call before he got himself in any deeper.
'How much longer are you two gonna be here? I'm through answering your questions. I need to use the bathroom, okay?'
'Coop, check it out.'
I walked to the door Kiernan pointed at, near the entrance. Mike wanted me to make sure it wasn't another staircase or exit, that there was no telephone inside and nothing Kiernan could use to hurt himself.
There was only a toilet and a sink. When I said it was okay, the young man practically mowed me down getting inside and latching the door.
Mike was on his feet. 'I'm taking him in.'
'You're going to collar him now?'
'Got to.'
'Don't do it. He's giving you all kinds of stuff, hoping you leave his father alone, I guess. It's all good-he's tying himself up in knots. He'll clam up faster than lightning the minute you arrest him.'
'He's giving us bullshit,' Mike said, running his fingers through his hair. He was beginning to look as weary as I felt.
'That's fine. Don't you want to keep it coming? Why shut it off?' I tried to get Mike to look at me but he paced around me.
' 'Cause we can turn him, that's why. Have some leverage. If he's protecting someone else, he won't have the balls to stick with it. Lock him up and-'
'For?'
'For serving alcohol to minors. For burglarizing Amber Bristol's apartment.'
'Prove that.'
'He just admitted it.'
'No, he didn't, Mike. He denied it. He said Amber asked him to do it for her. How the hell do I prove she didn't, now that she's dead?'
'You're the lawyer. You're so goddamn smart you can find me a crime.'
'I like it this way. He's spinning in circles. He'll dig himself a little deeper, and I can use each and every contradiction, each and every inconsistency, in front of a jury. You put him in cuffs and we'll have to read him his rights. End of story.'
'Ever been to Breezy Point?'
'No.'
Mike was talking fast and Kiernan seemed in no rush to leave the bathroom. 'It's a private community.'
'That can't be. It's part of New York City.'
'Thirty-five hundred homes. The whole damn neighborhood is a privately owned cooperative. The houses, the streets, the beaches- every inch of the place is private. It's got the highest concentration of Irish-Americans in the United States. More than 60 percent. Boozy Point, as they say about themselves. You'll get no help out there. They'll circle the wagons around Jimmy Dylan and his boys, I can guarantee you that.'
'Then we can-'
'You don't even know how to get there, do you?'
'What difference does that make?'
'Take the Belt Parkway for starters. Very close to where Elise Huff's body was dumped.'
'Mike, I agree the kid looks good for this,' I said, pulling on his arm to hold him in place. 'But let's slow down and try to build a case.'
'What? Leave him out so he can destroy evidence? So he can skip town, like that doctor you didn't fight to put behind bars? Half the Dylan family is still in Ireland. They'll take Kiernan in with open arms. C'mon, Coop. You've fallen for that crap before.'
'Lock him up for a couple of misdemeanors and he'll still be out of jail before you finish your paperwork on the arrest. It's been a long day. Let's get some rest and look at it fresh in the morning.'
'I don't want to argue the point with you. You don't like it? Take a hike. I'm not half as tired as you are.' Mike was peeved at me, perhaps for personal reasons, and ready to dismiss me.
'You ought to lay off him and let me go at him for a while. Different style.'
'Bottom line is, I'm bringing him in.'
'Not for murder.'
'Of course not. But I just can't take the chance that we leave him out here when three women are dead and he's got a clear connection to two of them. At least we can shut this place down and have the SLA pull the license so nobody else gets hurt.'
The bathroom door opened and Kiernan Dylan slowly walked over to us.
'I'm not answering any more of your questions, okay? I'd like you to get out of here.'
I put out my hand to grab Mike's arm but he pulled away.
'We're leaving, Kiernan. But you're coming with us.'
'What the fuck does that mean?' He was fired up now.
Mike flipped open his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Mercer. 'C'mon inside. Ask for Charlie, the bartender, and tell him Kiernan wants you to come upstairs.'
There was nothing close enough for the young man to throw or kick this time. 'What'd I do?'
'Let's start with your liquor license. We'll worry about the dead girl later.'
'You arresting me? Is that what you're telling me?'
'You act like a gent and I won't cuff you in front of all your friends. You're going to leave here and come back to my office to talk to us.'
'I want to make a phone call.'
'You'll get your call,' Mike said, 'as soon as we get up to the squad.'
The door opened and Mercer entered the room. The fact that he was bigger and taller than Kiernan Dylan was comforting to me, and surprising to the angry young man.
'Coop, you go on ahead. Call Peterson and tell him we're on the way. The precinct needs to send a squad car to come by and keep things quiet,' Mike said. 'And get the bar car back ASAP to get as many names and identifications as they can.
'Mercer, you and I will flank Mr. Dylan here as we walk through the crowd of his admirers. No cuffs as long as he behaves. And you, sir, you can tell your man Charlie to make it last call in about ten minutes, once we're out of the way. You think your pit bulls are guarding the door?'
Dylan was speechless now. He nodded his head.
'Well, just tell them to be cool with this while we leave here and the rest will go down easy.'
I worked my way through the bar area and out onto the street. I crossed to the curb on the far side of Mercer's car and made the call to Lieutenant Peterson.
Minutes later, the front door of Ruffles opened and Mercer stepped out, followed by Dylan and Mike. Kiernan told the two rough-looking men in black on either side of the entrance that he was going off with the police.
The line of patrons waiting to get in was almost a block long. Several kids recognized Kiernan and shouted out his name. Near the front of the group were four guys who seemed to be friends of his. One called out, saying they had come to meet him and asking where he was going. Kiernan hesitated, and Mike and Mercer paused with him.
The dark-skinned bouncer told the group to shut up. 'Back off,' he said. 'They're cops.'
The most vocal of the foursome took his cell phone from his pocket and aimed its little camera lens at the departing trio, framing them under the Ruffles sign as his flash went off.
'Get ready to hit the gas, Mercer. Coop, you're riding in front.' Mike opened the rear door of the car and got into the backseat with Kiernan. 'The last thing I meant to do tonight was stage a perp walk.
TWENTY-NINE
