Page 46 of The Accomplice
And right then he thought of a way to make sure of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
EDDIE
No one was really sure what breed of dog Clarence was. Harry had adopted him from the street, or Clarence had adopted Harry, one or the other. He wasn’t a large dog, but there was some Labrador in there for sure, and probably a few other things too. He wore a high-tech collar with a GPS signal built in and synced to Harry’s phone. His brown leather leash was too thin and too long for sure, but he never strained at it while we were out walking the streets. Clarence never wanted to be too far from Harry. It was past eleven, a big potato moon filled the night sky, and the sidewalks were quiet. Which is when Harry walked Clarence and I came along for the air and the talk.
Clarence stopped outside the entrance to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, cocked his leg, sending a stream of urine toward the front door.
‘Good dog,’ said Harry as we walked on, toward Central Park.
A vapor cloud hissed from a nearby manhole, but it didn’t bother Clarence. He was a city dog, used to the vagaries of life in Manhattan, like jackhammers, the constant roar of traffic and horns and people. Lots of people. It had been a hard two days and I was bone tired, but there was no chance of sleep. My mind was a hot rod at six thousand rpm, spinning its wheels on a drag race start line.
Bloch had come by the office earlier and told me to add four more names to the Sandman’s body count. Two FBI agents, one of them dead from a heart attack. A local artist who happened to occupy an apartment the Sandman wanted to use, and Teresa Vasquez – one of the witnesses in Carrie Miller’s case. Bloch had slouched in my clients’ chair. That’s not like her. Normally she sits up straight, arms on the rests, hands relaxed, eyes keen.
‘You look tired,’ I’d said.
She nodded.
‘I was talking to Bill Seong at the courthouse. He wanted to warn me about Gabriel Lake. It seems Lake lied to us. He’s not consulting on the case for the feds. Whatever he’s doing he has no authority, and in fact Seong thinks he’s dangerous. Turns out he went a little crazy during the shootout in that house, didn’t even try to escape. Instead, he killed everyone in that property. Made sure of it, you know ?’
As I spoke, her boot heels went flat on the carpet tile, and she pushed herself up a little straighter.
‘I heard about the house, that doesn’t worry me. He’s been through hell. You can see it. But he won’t hurt us,’ she said. ‘He lied about the feds because he needed access to the Sandman evidence, which we have because of Carrie’s case. And there’s only one reason he lied to us.’
The economy Bloch put into her speech made some people cold toward her. It was an unfair judgement. If I was walking into hell the first person beside me would be Bloch. You can’t buy that kind of friendship. Her ferocity was only matched by her quick mind. I knew the reason Lake had lied to us, and Bloch had come to the same realization, just as fast.
‘He doesn’t want to catch the Sandman,’ I said. ‘He wants to kill him.’
‘If we find him, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.’
That was good enough for me.
‘Go see Kate before you turn in,’ I said. ‘We got our asses handed to us in court today. She needs to know that it’s not her fault if this all continues to go to shit. She’s at home working.’
Swiveling the chair around, Bloch got up and headed for the door.
‘Go easy on her. She really is having a rough time. On top of everything else, she thinks her asshole neighbor—’ And then I stopped talking when I saw Bloch’s expression harden. I shouldn’t have told Bloch.
‘Her asshole neighbor did what ?’
‘She thinks he stole her TV.’
Without another word, Bloch left. A shiver went through me. I would not want to be Kate’s neighbor. Bloch left straight away and I sat in my chair, thinking. That is until Harry showed up with Clarence, asking if I wanted to go for a walk to clear my head.
Now, I glanced up at the night sky, framed by the canyon of buildings. Harry and Clarence walking beside me.
‘I hope Lake is as good as Bloch thinks he is,’ I said.
‘So do I,’ said Harry. ‘But I have a feeling no matter how good he is, Daniel Miller is always going to be one step ahead. He’s clever, this one. Maybe smarter than any killer we’ve met so far.’
‘Maybe, but is he smarter than Lake and Bloch combined ? I don’t know. I wouldn’t bet against those two, but I’d prefer it if we had an extra pair of legs chasing down Carrie Miller.’
‘Any word from Peltier ?’
‘He’s looking for her, or so he said on the phone tonight. He’s more a part of her world than either of us. You know, rich ? Who knows how rich people think or where they would go ?’
‘She wasn’t always wealthy. Remember that,’ said Harry.
