box in the console, and the two detectives headed around the back of the complex.
“What do you think?” he asked Gold.
“I think he’ll come this way, but we’re too far from the door.”
“Me, too.”
“We may be here all night,” Gold said. “We don’t communicate with anybody, we won’t know if he’s been found or not. Cuccia could be dead for all we know.”
“I can have Gina monitor the radio at home,” Iandolli said. “Just in case.”
“Don’t involve your› &ldquo,” Gold said. “Trust me.”
Iandolli smiled. “Where do you think we should post?”
“Close as possible. But you’re the surveillance expert.”
“I agree. He’ll be looking for an address, but he’ll come this way when he spots the cruiser.”
“You really think Cuccia will find his way here?”
“It was our first thought, both of us,” Iandolli said.
“Great minds,” Gold said.
Chapter 64
Special Agent Walsh flashed his badge to stop John Denton and Lisa Pellecchia. The couple was leaving the hospital for the airport. “Sorry, sir. Ma’am. You can’t leave Las Vegas just yet.”
Lisa looked up at Denton from her wheelchair. “Why not?” Denton asked.
“Because Nicholas Cuccia has escaped custody, for one thing. And I say so is the other reason.”
“You say so?” Denton asked.
“This is serious, Mr. Denton. A federal drug enforcement agent is in a coma right now because of Nicholas Cuccia. We have reason to believe Cuccia may be looking for Mr. Pellecchia. Until we can locate the suspect, we don’t think you or Mrs. Pellecchia should be left unprotected.”
“Then take us to the airport,” Lisa said.
“She has a point,” Denton said. “If this is really about protection.”
“We don’t have the manpower,” Walsh said. “Sorry.”
“So we’re detained until this guy is caught?” Denton asked. “Are you serious?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“For what? Unless you’re going to arrest us. Are we being arrested?”
Walsh wasn’t in the mood for a lawyer. “I can do that. If you’d like. I can arrest you.”
“For what?” Denton repeated.
“For what?” Lisa added.
“Assault,” Walsh said. He turned to Denton. “Back at the Bellagio. I think you know what I’m talking about.”
“This is bullshit,” Denton said.
“We need to find Mr. Pellecchia,” Walsh said. “Ma’am, do you know where he is? You might save his life. Nicholas Cuccia has killed at least three people today.”
Lisa spoke without thinking. “His girlfriend,” she said. She looked to Denton. “Right?”
Denton frowned. Walsh waited. “Mr. Denton?” he said. “You could save the man’s life.”
Denton looked down at Lisa. She looked up at him with a gentle smile. “I lived with the man for five years,” she said. “I figured it out.”
Denton nodded at Walsh. “All right,” Denton said. “All right.”
The puppy lay asleep on Samantha’s lap as Charlie set a cover on the pot of sauce he was cooking. She smiled at him when he took a seat on the couch beside her.
“Smells pretty good,” she said.
Charlie leaned across her lap to pet the dog. He kissed Samantha on the cheek. “So do you.”
“About how long will that sauce take?” Samantha asked.
“Forty minutes.”
“Can you make it take forty-five?”
They kissed.
“I missed that,” he told her.
“Me, too,” she said.
They kissed again. Samantha held ight. It was good holding him again. She missed him. She was glad he was there.
He moved closer as they embraced around the dog. He leaned into a kiss when he felt something hard under his leg. “What’s this?”
He pulled a.25 from between the couch pillows.
“Oh, shit,” Samantha said. “That’s what he shot me with. Beau, Carol’s husband. I just assumed he took it with him.”
“Yeah, and so did the cops,” Charlie said as he set the gun on an end table. “Which reminds me,” he added as he removed the.22 he had bought from the hookers from his pants pocket and set it alongside Beau’s gun.
“Where did you get that?” Samantha asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Charlie said.
The puppy was climbing on Samantha’s chest. It licked at both their faces as its tail wagged excitedly.
“Ooooh, the pretty baby!” Samantha said in a high-pitched voice. “Oooh, the pretty baby!”
She picked the dog up to hold against her face. Charlie shook his head as he backed away from them on the couch. He said, “I knew I should’ve bought flowers.”
Chapter 65
When Minh learned where Charlie Pellecchia was, he grinned. It was the same address Minh had copied on the street where all the police activity had been the day before.
“Police cruiser park in front,” his man told Minh in broken English. “One cop in car.”
Minh told his man to make sure he was waiting behind the apartment complex and that his gas tank was full. Then he screwed a silencer onto the end of his weapon’s barrel and picked up an order of Chinese food from a local restaurant.
Minh planned to make a delivery to the address where the police cruiser was parked. Then, as soon as Minh was inside the apartment, he would shoot Charlie Pellecchia.
Gold was crouched behind the bushes alongside the narrow gap between buildings where Samantha Cole lived. On the other side of the gap, Iandolli used night vision binoculars to scan the area behind the complex.
“How long before you figure the Feds roll up?” Gold whispered.
“They may already be here. Up the block somewhere we can’t see, or on a roof. Who knows? They’re anxious to get Cuccia after what happened.”
“They’re probably still tripping over their own feet.”
“Maybe,” Iandolli said. He could tell Gold was nervous. Neither detective had ever been in this type of situation before, laying in wait for a killer.
Iandolli scanned the area to his left. He held the binoculars steady as he moved slowly from left to right across the tops of the hedges around the pool. When he reached the last hedge to his right, Iandolli noticed somebody walking alongside it. He whispered to Gold to remain quiet.
The Glock was stuffed inside Cuccia’s pants against his lower back. The agent’s weapon was jammed in the front of his pants. He pulled down the baggy Hard Rock Cafe sweatshirt he had bought from a souvenir shop to cover both guns.
It was too dark to spot a surveillance team, but the police cruiser parked up the block couldn’t be more
