Killer Smile

Christ’s sake! You think you’re a smart-ass, breaking into a crime scene, stealing evidence. You don’t respect the process, and I don’t appreciate it.”

“I do respect the process. I didn’t leak anything, I swear.”

“Try livin’ in Mexico, honey, like my brother. The cops there don’t bother to do any investigating, they just beat a confession out of you.” Gomez’s tone had an unhappy finality to it. “I’m working this case, I’m all over this case, and I don’t need you or any other lawyer – including Ms. Rosato – talkin’ to the papers and makin’ me, my sergeant, and the department look bad.”

“Wait, hear me out. I thought you leaked it.”

“Bullshit!”

“Listen, set our stuff aside for a minute, I’m calling because of this nurse, Keisha Grace.” Mary tried to modulate her voice. “She’s missing. She hasn’t been home since Wednesday. She saw my fight with Saracone. She heard me accuse him. Yesterday, she called me on my cell, trying to reach me. It’s too coincidental that she disappears right now.”

“So tell her family to file a missing person report. This is Homicide, not baby-sitting.”

“Her family doesn’t live here.”

“So how do you know she’s missing?”

“Her boyfriend told me, I’m here with him now.”

“Then put him on. I’m done talking to you.”

Mary handed the phone over, but not before she covered the receiver with her hand. “Back me up, please.”

Bill nodded and put the phone to his ear. “That’s right, Wednesday morning. She worked for the Saracone family for two months.”

Mary started nodding encouragement.

“It isn’t that unusual for her. I mean, she does disappear from time to time.”

Mary stopped nodding encouragement.

“Last week, for two days. Week before that, one day, and the week before that, too.”

Mary kicked his big foot in the flip-flops.

“No, she never said anything like that to me. She didn’t tell me much about the Saracones or about any of her jobs.”

Mary gave Bill a shove, and he almost fell over.

“Nothing,” he answered. “No, I don’t think she ever felt threatened or anything.”

No! Mary grabbed the phone. “Detective Gomez,” she said into the receiver, but his only response was a very pissed-off click as he hung up.

It was dark and pouring when Mary left the apartment building, so she pulled the White People Hat out of her pocket and put it back on. She hurried back down the street in the downpour, over the gingko berries and through dirty puddles formed by the cracked sidewalks. Water drenched her sneakers, and hard rain pelted parked cars, sidewalks, and her hat so hard it was like a dull roar, obliterating all other sounds.

Mary broke into a light run, keeping her head down against the slant of the drops. The front of her pants got soaked, and her sneakers were waterlogged by the time she turned the corner onto the cross street.

Which was when she became aware of a dark sedan, turning left onto the cross street, a few lengths behind her.

Thirty-Two

It was a black Town Car, behind her. Mary wouldn’t have noticed it but for one thing. The windshield wipers weren’t on, despite the downpour. She picked up the pace, using the absurd brim of the hat to sneak a look backward. Was the car following her? Was she being paranoid? Still. It was pouring rain. Who would drive with no wipers? It was a late-model car, the wipers had to be working.

Then she realized. The only reason to drive without windshield wipers in a rainstorm was if you wanted to hide your face. And Chico would have known Keisha’s address. Or maybe he had followed her there, and she just hadn’t seen him from the bus window. Was it him?

Mary broke into a light run, but she wasn’t afraid. Not completely. Not her. That would have been the old Mary. This was Cowgirl Mary. She ran to the corner where the bus stop was, but she had to see if the Town Car was following her. She took a right on Chestnut and kept running. She ran past a closed dry cleaner but kept her eye on the left side of the street.

The Town Car turned onto Chestnut, taking a right at a distance. Its wipers still weren’t on. She couldn’t see the driver atall. It could have been Chico. He would have ditched the Escalade. She wondered fleetingly if he had a gun and burst forward, panicky. She kept her pace, panting from fatigue and nerves. Only a few other cars were on the street, a green Jetta and a red Saturn. She jogged to the end of the block, and when she reached the corner, turned right, keeping up the pace. Her hat brim flopped with each step and doused her face with cold water. She held her breath until she reached the middle of the block.

The cross street was darker than Chestnut, and she felt suddenly panicky. Maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea. In the next second the Town Car turned onto the cross street. Its panel of bright headlights switched to the high beams. Light flooded the narrow street, illuminating parked cars, trash cans at the curb, and wet trees and sidewalk. It couldn’t have been a normal driver. If a normal driver wanted to see better in this weather, he’d turn on the wipers. Unless he didn’t want to be seen. It had to be Chico.

Oh, no. No one was on the sidewalk. There was no traffic on the cross street. He would have a good shot if he shot her here. There was no shop to duck into or anyone to witness what happened. Except.

Mary reached into her pocket for her cell phone and tried to open it on the run, but a sudden rush of cold rainwater from her sleeve made her drop it. She barely heard it clatter to the sidewalk in the downpour and she couldn’t see it in the dark. She didn’t have time to stop and look for it. She left the phone and kept running. Her lungs felt like they were going to burst. Her thighs ached in the soggy jeans. She ran until she couldn’t anymore. She was sick of running. She had to end this. Now.

She turned around suddenly and ran straight for the car. The car kept coming. She intercepted it in three strides, grabbed the passenger’s side door, and flung it open. She was about to start screaming when somebody else did.

“Help, police!” Mary screamed back, before the scene registered. The driver wasn’t Chico Escalade, but a very old woman with curly gray hair and eyeglasses as thick as her mother’s.

“Don’t hurt me, please! Please, please God!” The old woman grabbed her purse from the seat and thrust it at Mary in terror. “Please, take it! Just don’t hurt me!”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Mary flipped up the brim of her hat, dumping rainwater onto her shoulders and the car’s black leather upholstery. Her chest was heaving, she was out of breath. “I’m really, really sorry. Your wipers aren’t on, do you know that?”

“My wipers aren’t on?” The old woman looked at the windshield wet with rain, then looked back at Mary. “Goodness! I thought they were! No wonder I couldn’t see anything! Please don’t give me a ticket!”

“Okay, I won’t give you a ticket, if you make me a promise.”

“I will! What is it?”

“Promise me that the next time you drive in the rain, you’ll double-check and make sure your wipers are on.”

“I promise, Officer!”

Mary saluted her from the wet brim of her rain hat. “Atta girl!” she said, and went off to find her cell phone.

It was going to be a long night, and even so, she knew it would be nothing compared to tomorrow.