“I don’t need you to take care of me, Abdul. I need you to butt the hell out.”
“The hell you don’t. You practically fried the whole apartment and didn’t hit him.”
Paul looked at the burn-scarred room. “Did you do all that? Is your hand that bad?”
“How do you know about my hand?”
“Abdul told me.”
I was getting angrier. “What the fuck did you do that for, Abdul?”
“Because I’m your doctor. You are my responsibility.”
“You’re not my doctor. You’re a fucking coroner.”
“I am your doctor. And you’re not fit for a homicide investigation. You shouldn’t be on the street at all. I called Paul as soon as I found out you were on this case and told him about your hand. I knew there was no point in trying to talk you out of it, so I appealed to Paul.”
“Fuck that! I won’t leave the street.”
Paul tried to settle the argument. “You’re right to be worried, Abdul, but I need Juno on this case.”
Abdul resumed work on the stomach wound, wiping the blood away as he talked. “What’s so important about this case?”
Paul sat down on the sofa. He fingered his tie tack. “I need somebody I can trust.”
Abdul asked, “Why?”
Paul took a minute to explain his mayoral involvement theory to Abdul. It was cut short when the door opened, and Karl Gilkyson came back in-bastard couldn’t leave us alone.
Gilkyson was making a concentrated effort to keep his gaze off the carnage. “Fill me in.”
Paul jumped in before I could respond. “The kid’s name is Vargas. That’s him with the cut throat.” Paul pointed to Pedro’s body, trying to get Gilkyson to look, but he wouldn’t bite. He stayed focused on Paul. “He witnessed the Vlotsky killing and picked out the murderer’s mug shot. The murderer’s name is…what was it again, Juno?”
“Zorno. Ali Zorno.”
“Yeah, Zorno. That’s him with the head wound.” Again he pointed.
Gilkyson fell for it and took a swift glance at the burned-out hole in Zorno’s head then jerked away.
Paul mocked him with a devilish grin. “He killed the kid to protect himself from prosecution. That’s when Juno and Maggie arrived and tried to arrest him, but he resisted and they had to use deadly force.”
Paul led Gilkyson out for some fresh air before the lawyer blew his dinner all over our crime scene. The door closed behind them before Paul returned with a take-charge attitude. “I only have a minute before Gilkyson comes back in. Here’s the plan: I’m going to tell him the Vlotsky case is closed. Let him think we don’t suspect anything. I’ll put Maggie’s picture out with the story. We’ll get her introduced to the public as the hero cop that brought down a serial. Getting her image built up now will only help if we end up going against the mayor publicly with her as the front man. Sound good?”
“What if he asks how Zorno knew about our witness?”
“How ’bout this? I’ll tell him it’s irrelevant. We already have our killer, so case closed. When I tell him that, he’ll just assume we don’t want to dig into it because we’re trying to cover for a bad cop who leaked the info on the kid to Zorno. No harm done.”
I agreed. Gilkyson already knew we were corrupt. What was one more violation on his list of unproved accusations? I nodded to Paul who slipped out.
I stewed while Abdul worked, silent tension between us. He moved up to the head wound but stopped at Zorno’s harelip. “I guess we know what his lip fixation was about.”
“I guess we do.”
Maggie appeared at the door. “Is the boys’ club over yet, or do I need to wait outside?”
“Maggie, we need to talk.”
We were standing in an open area next to Pedro’s apartment building-nobody near enough to eavesdrop. Most of the curiosity seekers had moved on. Only a few die-hards still milled around, waiting for the bodies to be brought out.
A light breeze ruffled the scratchy weeds that stretched up to our thighs. Thousands of nocturnal insects chirped all around us, their song blending together into an arrhythmic drone. A mosquito cloud stayed bug-spray distance from our heads. I looked up at the sky; I spotted the Orbital, the brightest star in the heavens.
Maggie spoke abruptly. “What did you talk about in there?” The dark night sky hid her face from me. I couldn’t see the anger I knew was written there.
“Here’s the way it is, Maggie. You have to decide how committed you are to solving this case.”
“I just killed a man and caused the death of a boy. I think I’m a little committed now, don’t you?”
“Zorno killed that kid, Maggie. You can’t let yourself get all torn up over it. We both made mistakes, but we’re not responsible for the kid’s death. Our hearts were in the right place-you understand me? You never intended any harm toward Pedro. Your conscience is clear.”
“But-”
“Stop blaming yourself and put the blame where it belongs-on Zorno and whoever hired him to kill Lieutenant Vlotsky. They put us on this path. It’s their burden, not ours.”
“I should have been paying attention. If I had stayed awake, Pedro would be alive. You can’t deny that.”
I was getting nowhere. It was hard to talk somebody out of guilt. “Do you want to catch the bastards that hired Zorno?”
“Yes, I want to catch them. What the hell do you think?”
“I know you want to catch them, but how bad do you want to?”
“I want to catch them, okay? Quit beating around the bush and say whatever it is you want to say.”
“I know why Paul’s so interested in this case.”
“Why?”
“Because Karl Gilkyson encouraged him to downplay it.”
“Why would the mayor’s office want to downplay it? Vlotsky’s father works for the city.”
“Because the mayor’s behind this whole thing, Maggie. He hired Zorno.”
“No he didn’t. It was the Army guy, Kapasi.”
I shook my head no.
“Do you have any proof?”
“Not yet, but the mayor wants control of KOP, and this case is related. I have to find out how.”
Maggie looked tired. “I don’t see how there can be a connection between Mayor Samir and this case.”
“Hey, if you’re afraid to stand up to the mayor, I understand.”
I was being unfair, and she called me on it. “Quit the bullshit. I want to catch these guys, Juno. I don’t give a shit who they are.”
“Even if it’s the mayor?”
“How can you be so sure it’s the mayor?”
“I’m sure. Why else would his office try to downplay it?”
“That’s all you’re basing this on?”
I wanted to say no, there were other reasons, but the truth was I had nothing else. “I’ll make you a deal, Maggie. The two of us, we take this case to the end, no matter what, whether it leads to the mayor or not.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “I think you’re crazy with this mayor stuff, but if he is involved, I’ll cuff him myself.”
The bodies were being carried out under Abdul’s supervision, two black bags dragged across the weed tops to the truck. The truck pulled off, and the onlookers went back to their boozing and betting.
I looked at Maggie’s silhouette. “You understand that I won’t be playing by the rules? The mayor is trying to take KOP away from Paul. I can’t allow that.”
“I’ve seen the way you are. I can handle it.”
“We have a deal then? We take this case to the end.”
“On one condition. You can’t keep any more secrets from me.” When I didn’t answer, she said, “You proved tonight that you can’t do this alone. You need me, Juno.”
I flexed my hand. “What do you want to know?”
“I want to know if Chief Chang is dirty. I want to know about his relationship with the Bandurs. I want to
