"A friend of the dead man's son.
Together we're trying to find out who killed his father. Please tell your friend that. And take the money."
He did. She watched him as he lifted his coat and several layers of clothing underneath and stuffed the bills in a pocket. Then, glancing furtively around him to make sure no one was watching, he hurried away.
He didn't answer. He just kept on running.
Kelly leaned against the Buick and cursed herself. How stupid could she be? Of course he wasn't coming back. And neither would his imaginary friend. She'd been had.
Common sense told her to leave. This was another of those humiliating failures that were best forgotten. She wouldn't even mention it to Nick.
He'd never let her live it down.
So why wasn't she leaving? Why was she standing there like an idiot, hoping that Ralph would come
back.
With his friend.
Half an hour later she was still there, watching the parking-lot entrance where Ralph had disappeared. Then she saw him, hurrying toward her, his head bent against the wind. Trying to keep up beside him was a short, heavyset man with grimy cheeks and thin gray hair going in a dozen directions. He looked as destitute as Ralph.
"This is Ben," Ralph said when both finally came to a stop. "Show him the money."
Kelly smiled at Tom Cruise's famous line coming from Ralph's mouth.
Taking several bills from her purse, she let him see them. "Here's sixty dollars, Ben. That's all the money I have on me right now. If you give me the information I need, I'll see that you get more."
"You just said you didn't have
no
more."
"Not on me, but I can get it. I guess you'll just have to trust me."
She held his hard gaze.
"The way I trusted Ralph when he left with my money earlier."
Ralph gave him a nudge. "I told you she
ain't
no
cop."
"I'm a friend of Nick
Mcbride
, the son of the murdered man." When Ben didn't answer, Kelly added, "Ralph tells me you were here the morning Patrick
Mcbride
was killed. Is that true?"
"I don't lie," Ralph protested. Once again he nudged his friend. "Tell her I don't lie."
"He
don't
lie."
Ralph let out an exasperated sigh. "Tell her what you saw, stupid."
Ben looked toward the entrance of the parking lot. "I saw a man walk to that row of cars over there." He pointed a grimy finger somewhere above Kelly's shoulder.
Kelly said a silent prayer. Maybe, just maybe, her streak of bad luck was over. "Then what happened?"
"Someone was hiding behind a car, jumped up and stabbed the man."
Kelly frowned. This wasn't adding up. The police report had clearly stated robbery as the motive, but the way Ben explained it, the stabbing had taken place first. Was he lying to her? Telling her what she wanted to hear for a fast buck? "Didn't the killer ask Mr.
Mcbride
for his wallet?" she asked.
Ben shook his head.
She studied his face. Clear, unflinching eyes stared back. He was telling the truth. "Did you get a good look at him?" She kept her fingers crossed.
"Him?"
Ben laughed, showing two missing bottom teeth. "It wasn't
a him
.
The killer was a broad.
A woman."
Thirty-Nine.
Kelly stared at him. "Did you say woman?"
Ben nodded.
"Are you sure? No one said anything about a woman."
"Yeah, I'm sure," he said defensively.
"Can you describe her?"
"I didn't look at her. I was too damn scared."
"Please, Ben. You must remember something--her clothes, the color of her hair. Was she big? Small?"
"Not big, just strong.
Stronger than that
Mcbride
was, that's for sure, and he was no slouch."
"Can't say for sure.
She had a hat on, one of '
em
ski things pulled down low, but ..." He squinted his eyes, deepening the lines around them. "I think I saw blond hair. Yeah, that's right." He nodded several times.
"I'm pretty sure she had blond hair."
He shook his head. "No, and she wasn't one of us either.
Them
cops say a homeless man killed that casino employee, but it
ain't
true. Bastards always pin the stuff they can't solve on us."
Ben shook his head again. "She didn't hang around long. She stabbed him, pulled the knife out and started to leave. Then she came back, took his wallet and ran out."
She had come back for the wallet. Not because she wanted it, but to make it look like a robbery.
"Ben." She hesitated, afraid her next question would send him running and she would never see him again. "Would you be willing to tell what you saw to Mr.
Mcbride's
son?"
He glanced around him, suddenly uncomfortable. "I don't know. What if she comes after me?"
"She won't. Nick will protect you."
The suspicious look came back. "How can he do that?"
"Because he ... he's a homicide detective."
Ben gave a violent shake of his head and started to back away. "No, no way. I
ain't
talking to
no
cop."
"Ben, listen to me." She put up her hand, but made no move to stop him physically. "Nick isn't like those cops who harass you all the time.
He's different. He's a good man. All he wants is to find his father's killer."
"Then how come he
ain't
here himself?"
"Because he's been suspended."
Now he was more curious than suspicious. "What'd he do?"
"Some things he wasn't supposed to and the guys at the top didn't like it."
He seemed to relate to that and glanced at Ralph, who shrugged. Kelly took advantage of his indecision to pressure him a little more.
"If you help us.
Nick might be able to find you a job. Both of you," she added, including Ralph in her offer.
The shrewd eyes were suddenly filled with keen interest. "What kind of job?"
"You'll have to talk to Nick about that, but he knows a lot of people in
In order to reopen the investigation of Patrick's death, the
He took his time answering, fidgeting with the zipper of his faded blue parka and glancing around him apprehensively. After a while he nodded.
"Yeah, I'll talk to him."
He pointed behind him.
"Under the boardwalk.
Across from Bally.
Just ask for Ben."
She thought of the three
Encantado
employees and how quickly they had disappeared. Could she trust Ben not to run away? Or would he change his mind later? His expression revealed nothing. She would just have to take a chance that he was a man of his word.
Ten minutes later, she was back on the Atlantic City Expressway headed west to
Mcbride
? Granted, he had been caught by surprise, but still ... And then it hit her.
The shock caused her to swerve into the left lane, in front of a passing car. A long, angry honk snapped her back. She gave a twist of the wheel and got into her lane, then pulled over to the shoulder and stopped the car.
She sat there for several seconds as cars whooshed by. Why hadn't she thought of it before? The woman who had killed Patrick
Mcbride
and who had tried to kill her on Saturday night wasn't a woman at all.
It was Enrique.
Forty.
-Nick had just finished talking to his friend at the DMV and was about to try Kelly when his phone rang.
"How're you doing, kid?"
Nick almost shot out of his chair. "Joe?"
"Surprised, huh?"
Nick tried not to get too excited.
"A little."
"I've been doing some thinking."
"I'm listening."
"I'll need some guarantees first. Nick. Not for me.
For my kids."
Joe didn't scare easily, which meant that whatever he had to tell him was serious. "Tell me what you want."
"Safety for the three of them.
Not tomorrow, not after I talk to you, but right away.
This morning."
"That's a little short notice."
"Now, Nick. Or I don't talk."
Nick thought quickly. He had an idea but didn't know how well it was going to be received at the other end. "Do the kids have passports?" he asked.
"Yes. We got them a couple of years ago, when
me
and Dottie took the family to
Nick remembered the vacation, the last one for Dot, who had been celebrating her forty-fourth birthday. "Good. Are you being watched?
"I'm not being watched. And my phones are clear. I just don't want to take any chances."
"All right.
Give me a few minutes and I'll call you back." He took down Joe's cell phone number, and immediately called his sister in
Navy.
She sounded her usual cheerful self when she answered the phone but sobered instantly when he told her what he wanted.
"It's all coming together, sis, I swear. But Joe won't talk until his kids are in a safe place."
"What about his niece? She loves those children as if they were her own."
"That's the first place Webber will go looking for them."
Another groan, a little weaker this time.
"I don't know. Alex is at sea right now."
"Please, sis, you've got to help me out. You know I wouldn't ask you to do this if I thought you were in any kind of danger. Webber doesn't even know you exist, much less where you are."
A sigh reached him from four thousand miles away. "All right," Kathleen said. "I'll do it. I'll take them in."
"Thanks, sis.
I'll call you again after I've made the arrangements."
His nerves tingling as if he was on
a caffeine
high, Nick called Joe back. "It's all set, Joe. Where are the kids now?"
"Danny has a class at
"This is my day off so it's hers, too."
"Good." Nick was silent for a moment while his mind worked out the logistics. "What time does Ron get out of school?"
"Two o'clock. He usually gets here at about two thirty."
"Take the two kids and meet me at
"Call him and tell him I'll meet him outside
"Where are they
going.
Nick?" Joe's voice was heavy with worry.
"To
Kathleen has agreed to take them in until this mess is over."
"God bless her."
"Yeah, she's a good kid--and a sucker for people in trouble." Nick glanced at his watch. "I'm going to call the various airlines and see
what's the earliest flight I can get
. They'll probably fly into
Aviano
."
"
Thanks,
Nick. I feel better now."
"Good. I'll meet you at the airport at five."
"You did what?" Nick bellowed over the phone.
"Don't shout." Kelly held her phone away from her ear as she drove.
"You'll bust my eardrum."
"I'm going to do a lot more than bust your eardrum, Kelly. I'm going to skin you alive. You gave me your word you would stay away from
"I did it under duress. It doesn't count."
"
Dammit
, Kelly."
"Are you going to keep on yelling at me? Or do you want to hear what I found out?"
He let out a long breath. "What did you find out?"
"I know who killed your father."
There was a long pause, followed by a single word.
"Who?"
"Enrique."
She told him about her conversation with Ben and Ralph and why Ben had been afraid to come forward at the time of the murder. "He thought it was a woman, but it wasn't. It was a man all along, a man disguised as a woman. Considering how well Enrique can change his appearance, that wouldn't be very hard. He probably kept most of his paraphernalia."