asleep.
Some time later the telephone rang. Sherri jumped up, grabbed the phone, and slipped into the bathroom with it. “Hello?” she said quietly.
Kapak was awake. The sun was bright in the places where it shone through the blinds. He could hear Sherri talking in a hushed voice beyond the closed door.
After a minute the door opened and she came out, looking concerned. “You’re awake?”
“Yeah. The phone woke me.”
“It’s Skelley. He’s calling from Temptress.”
“What’s he doing there already?”
“He wants to talk to you” She held out the phone.
Kapak took it. “Skelley. How did you find me?”
Skelley said, “Your phone was off, and Spence didn’t know where you were. I was worried so I looked at the surveillance footage from last night to be sure nobody hit you over the head after I left. I saw you and Sherri in my office, so I took a guess.”
“Very smart.” He was beginning to feel optimistic. His alibi was getting stronger and involving more people. “Well, you’ve got me now. What’s up?”
“We’ve got lots of trouble. Siren got robbed last night.”
“Robbed? Where were Voinovich and Gaffney?”
“They were there. The day manager at Siren found them tied up with duct tape.”
“Are they all right?”
“Yeah. They said it was a man and a woman, both young, just like at the bank the other night. They stole Voinovich’s SUV and drove off with the safe. They pulled down the wall to the office to get the safe out.”
“I just don’t see how this happened. How did they even get in the building?”
“What can I say? They got suckered. Gaffney was kind of vague on what happened, but I got Voinovich alone and talking about his SUV, and he got pissed enough so he wasn’t thinking about how he and Gaffney looked. The chick that Joe Carver brought with him pretended to be drunk, banging on the door and wanting to audition as a dancer.”
“So Jimmy let her in.”
“Yep. Apparently she’s really hot.”
“So why the hell is she doing armed robberies?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“I’m really starting to wonder why Joe Carver won’t just give up and go away. He’s already got me for what? A couple hundred thousand, probably. I met him once. Does he want me dead? He must be crazy” He sighed. “What time is it?”
“About six-thirty. Want me to call the police?”
“Is there anything around the building that we don’t want anybody to see?”
“No. Gaffney and Voinovich had guns, but they don’t now.”
“Let me think for a second. No. Call them. Maybe the cops can find Carver. Let them try.”
“Got it. I’d better call them right away, if I’m calling, or they’ll wonder why I waited.”
“Do it. And then call Spence and tell him what happened.” Kapak pressed the End button and tossed the phone on the bed where Sherri could reach it. “I’ll have to skip that breakfast,” he said. “But thanks.”
“Are you going?”
“Yeah. I’ll go home and change my clothes and then see what they did to Siren. There was something about knocking down a wall to get to the safe.”
She went to the closet and brought Kapak his clothes on hangers. “I’m sorry about the club.”
“Things happen. You just have to do what you can to fix them.”
“I’m going to forget about what happened to you last night—the hospital and all. I understand why you want to keep it quiet. But you should remember. You need to take it easy.”
“I’ll do that after I’ve done what I can to protect my clubs.”
“I’m working again tonight.”
“Yeah?”
“In case you feel like coming over again. You know when I get off.”
He looked up as he buckled his belt. She shrugged, apparently unconscious of the fact that she was still naked. But her eyes were averted, looking at the wall, and he could see she was nervous about what he was going to say.
“You mean I’m invited?”
She turned and met his eyes. “Yes. Any time you want to come.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen today. The last couple of days have been kind of complicated.” He watched her face turn down to look at the floor in disappointment. “But it’s nice to know that at the end of it I’ll be with you again”
She hugged him, then pulled away and went into the bathroom and came back with a thick white bathrobe, which she cinched tightly at the waist. “I’ll walk you out.”
22
KAPAK SHOWERED IN HIS master bathroom and dressed in fresh clothes. He wished he had time to shower in the guesthouse, but he was in a hurry this morning. Just as Kapak finished brushing his teeth, he heard the doorbell. When he came out of his suite, Spence was already moving toward the door, but he waved him off. “I’ll take care of this. Just stay out of sight.”
When he opened the door, Lieutenant Slosser was standing in front of him, a bit too close, and looking down at him intently. Kapak was too old and had seen too much to allow himself a startle reflex. He kept his face empty. “Hello, Captain.”
“I’m a lieutenant.”
“Did you hear we got robbed again?”
“I heard that. It’s getting to be an expensive habit.”
“Expensive, yeah. It better not be a habit. Come on in.”
Lieutenant Slosser stepped inside, and Kapak closed the door. Kapak followed Slosser’s eyes and saw the tray with two cups and a pot of coffee. “I see you’re just having coffee.”
“You want some?”
“No, thanks. I already had enough today. I wasn’t sure you’d be up. But since you are, would you like to go up to Siren with me? I’m going now to take a look around.”
Kapak hesitated. This couldn’t be anything but an attempt to entrap him. But he needed to know what Slosser knew and what he thought. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that. Let me just get my wallet and keys.”
Slosser stepped into the living room. His eyes never stopped moving, collecting details, making their way from one end of the room to the other, then through the French doors that led out to the garden of tropical plants among big stones that looked as though they’d come from far away, and on to the other windows. There seemed to be nobody here but Kapak, which Slosser judged was highly unlikely for a man who was under a barrage of attacks. He would have at least a bodyguard or two. And if Slosser had come with a warrant, he knew he would have been able to find plenty of weapons without much of a search.
Kapak returned, putting things in his coat pockets. He went to the front door and held it open for Slosser.
“I’m just curious,” Slosser said. “Don’t you have people with you?”
“Right now? No. I usually have a driver to take me places, and I sometimes have one or two club security people around at night if I’ve got reason to be worried. But everybody stays up late and sleeps late. I’m only up because of the robbery, and I don’t think the bastard will kidnap me today. He’s already got my money.”
“He?”
“It’s just a way of thinking. There’s always a ‘he.’ He’s the one who thought of the plan and told the others what to do. He’s the one we have to outsmart.”
