The Frenzy War (27 page)

“Too bad our computers weren't online before we came out here. We could have come armed with a little intel.”

Willy took two clear plastic containers filled with food out of the paper bag.

“What's that?” Karol said.

“Arroz con habichuelasy pollo”

“
Chicken and rice and beans?”

“You know your Spanish food. That's good. Maybe you can cook it sometime.”

“Now that you're back, do you want to call Landry, or should I?”

Willy handed her the containers and plastic forks. “Let me do it. Keep it lieutenant to lieutenant and all.”

Mace saw Cheryl waiting at the bar as soon as he entered
Maz Mescal on East Eighty-sixth Street. Before moving to Brooklyn, they had frequented the Mexican restaurant often when they had lived in the neighborhood. She sat on a stool with her legs crossed, sipping a margarita.

When she saw him, she sucked on her stirrer. “Why, Captain Mace, whatever brings you here?”

“The tortillas,” Mace said. “Shall we?”

Cheryl slid off the stool, and Mace took her arm and guided her to the dining area, where a host seated them.

“It's been a long time since we ate here,” Cheryl said.

“It's been a long time since we ate anywhere alone.”

“What's the occasion?”

“Maybe I'm feeling nostalgic. Or maybe what I have to say couldn't wait until I got home.”

Her expression cooled. “You heard.”

“Warden Strand thought it appropriate to notify me.”

“Since you were the arresting officer.”

He smiled. “You're good at this.”

“I'll be perfectly safe, my love.”

“I know you will be, because you're not doing that interview.”

A server set a bowl of tortilla chips and some sauces before them. “May I get you a drink, sir?”

“I'll have what she's having.”

“Very good.” The man walked away.

“This really isn't the time for you to start behaving like a Neanderthal,” Cheryl said.

“Not a Neanderthal,” Mace said. “Just a concerned husband and father.”

“You never interfered with my career before.”

“You never tried to interview a serial killer who had an ax to grind against me before. At least, not as far as I know.”

Cheryl leaned forward. “I never had the opportunity before—and it's a rare and exceptional opportunity. I've pretty much been filing sound bites since I started this job last year. This is the first chance I've had to make a significant splash, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm not getting any younger.”

“In case you've forgotten, Gomez murdered five women.”

“How could I forget? I lived that story for two months.”

“I called Colleen on my way over here—”

“You did
what?”

“As the arresting officer, it's appropriate for me to make certain inquiries about my convicted felon.”

“You're dangerously close to stepping over the line, mister.”

“Here's a news bulletin for you, Mrs. Mace: when my family's concerned, I hop, skip, and jump over that line like it isn't even there. We have a beautiful little girl at home who needs her mother.”

“That little girl needs her father too, and I didn't stand in your way when you accepted your current mysterious assignment, which, I might add, you've told me nothing about.”

“Colleen told me that Gomez requested you do the interview.”

“He insisted on it.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I spent even more time on camera covering the Full Moon Killer than you did?”

“Or maybe he sees this as the perfect opportunity to strike back at me by hurting you.”

“You're being ridiculous. Security will be through the roof; the station's legal team is making sure of it.”

The server returned with Mace's drink. “Are you ready to order?”

“Yes. I'll have the number seven, and my wife will have the number nine.” They always ordered the same thing.

Cheryl raised one finger. “Just a moment. I think I'll have the number four instead tonight.”

“Yes, ma'am.” The server departed.

“You're not doing that interview,” Mace said in a blunt tone.

“The hell I'm not.”

“We'll see about that.”

“What are you going to do, arrest me?”

“You're being stubborn.”

“And you're being unreasonable, not that it will do you any good. This isn't 1950.”

“If you're determined to go through with this, I'm going to be there.”

“As the arresting officer? How quaint. Here's a news bulletin for you, Captain: I don't care. What's a little more quality time between a husband and wife?”

Mace searched for a retort but came up empty-handed.

“Now, why don't you tell me all about your first day on your new job?”

The ring tone of Willy's cell phone sounded at quarter after
seven. Checking the display, he answered. “What is it, Lieutenant?”

“Start calling me Ken now that we have the same rank,” Landry said.

“Maybe once I start feeling like a lieutenant.”

“I'm knocking off for the night.”

“Aren't you the fortunate soul?”

“Candice is holding down the fort. Any idea how long you and Williams are staying at it?”

“At least until 2100 hours. We've had a little activity here but nothing major. Two lookouts replaced the two out front, and I spotted two more in the back.”

“Do you want me to have Shelly and Norton cover the rear?”

“No, thank you.” He glanced at Karol. “We've got it under control.”

“Tony's having dinner with Cheryl, but he's coming back. Call me if you need anything.”

“You got it.”

“If you two pull a late night, adjust your schedule accordingly tomorrow. Just keep me posted.”

“Copy that.” Willy set his phone down. “Landry says if we stay up all night we can come in late tomorrow. Guess what we're doing?”

Karol smiled. “Surprise me.”

Willy raised his eyebrows. It was the first time all day Karol had flirted back with him. “Heads-up,” she said.

Willy looked out his window as a taxi parked at to the curb outside the funeral home. The lobby lights in the building
went dark, and Gabriel, Raphael, and a third man exited the building. “The Domini boys. Who's that with them?”

“I have no idea,” Karol said. She raised her camera and took several shots as Raphael locked the door and shook hands with the other men. Then Gabriel and the unidentified man got in the taxi, which drove off. Raphael walked in the opposite direction, passing the lookout stationed on that side without saying anything to him. “Our orders were to follow Gabriel if they both left.”

“Yeah.” Willy started the engine and pulled out of the parking space, his head darting in both directions, searching for the opportunity to make a U-turn. “Hold it.”

“What?”

“Raphael's coming back.”

Karol looked out the windshield. “What the hell?”

Raphael returned to the funeral home and unlocked the door.

“Maybe he forgot something,” she said.

The two lookouts followed Raphael, who opened the door and went inside.

“Uh-huh,” Willy said with a skeptical voice.

Raphael punched a code into an alarm pad and turned on the lobby lights. Then he and the lookouts retreated from view. A moment later, the lobby lights turned dark again.

Willy backed into the parking space. “If you ask me, Raphael's keeping secrets from Gabriel. Maybe he's running a late night card game: werewolf poker or something.”

They sat in silence, waiting. Ten minutes passed.

“They're not coming out,” Willy said. “And they left
that front door unlocked.”

“Not exactly the actions of werewolves hiding from their slayers,” Karol said.

“More like the spider inviting the fly to be supper.”

“What should we do?”

“Sit tight and see who shows up to be supper.”

M
ace walked the two blocks from the Fifth Precinct parking lot to the building on Mott Street in cold darkness. Manhole covers spewed steam into the frigid air. The rest of his dinner with Cheryl had been strained, and she took a cab home to Brooklyn.

The memory of his last interview with Rodrigo Gomez burned strong in his mind. The Full Moon Killer had confessed feeling kinship with the Manhattan Werewolf, and Angela Domini had confirmed to Mace that Gomez was a repressed Wolf, even though Gomez didn't know it at the time. Gomez had thanked Mace for arresting him, for the good of society. It had been a striking change from when Mace had arrested the serial killer and testified against him in court. Who knew what other metamorphosis had occurred within Gomez's brain and body over the last two
years? If he had come to understand his true nature and had learned how to transform into a Wolf hybrid, conventional security could not protect Cheryl from him.

Mace used his key to unlock the front door of the building, punched a code into the alarm pad for the second door, and crossed the narrow lobby to the elevator, glancing at one of two security cameras that covered the lobby. He boarded the elevator, which rose, and wondered where this investigation could lead. If his team located the cell of Torquemadans and took them alive, were they signing the men's death warrants by turning them over to the government? He understood the need for a covert task force, but no matter how he rolled the term around in his mind, it equated to a secret police force. He wanted to protect the Wolves as much as possible, but he did not like the idea of being the equivalent of the KGB.

I have to control the situation,
he thought as he exited the elevator. His key card admitted him to the squad room, and he made his way into the office area.

Shelly and Norton sat facing each other, slouched in their seats.

“There he is,” Norton said with a tired smile.

“You know, you two don't have to wear suits,” Mace said.

“Actually, we do,” Norton said with a hint of resignation. “But you don't.”

Mace shrugged. “It's a hard habit to shake.”

“I'd have no trouble doing it,” Norton said.

Candice came out of the office, her coffee mug in hand.

“Long day, Detective Sergeant?”

Candice made a noncommittal expression. “Not really. I shouldn't start feeling it until after nine.”

“Well, you're not scheduled to start until four tomorrow. Even if you come in early, I don't want to see you before noon.”

She smiled. “Oh, you're going to deny me all that OT at my new pay grade?”

“Yes. How did everyone do today?”

Norton tapped a stack of papers. “I've got a long list of all the Catholic churches in New York City, nearby New Jersey, and surrounding areas of New York within a one-hundred-mile radius, with contact information for each.”

“And I've generated a list of seventeen hundred single males from other countries who have entered the US alone over the last three weeks, either by plane or boat,” Shelly said. “I hope to cut that list down to two hundred tomorrow by using certain determining criteria. I assume you want me to trace their travel and hotel records to further eliminate those we show are nowhere near New York City.”

“You read my mind.” Mace looked at Norton. “I want you to start knocking on church doors.”

“It's against bureau protocol for a special agent to conduct a potentially dangerous investigation alone,” Norton said.

Mace knew that Norton wanted to keep an eye on things in the office. “That's fine. You and Shelly work on the list of foreigners together tomorrow. When you're finished, the two of you can go church hunting.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I got nowhere with the alarm company,” Candice said.