Page 43 of The Accomplice
He stood almost at the center of a traffic intersection. Two lanes of traffic passed in front of him from left to right. West to east. Beside him, twenty yards to his right, two lanes of traffic were stalled at the lights. When the traffic in front of him stopped, the traffic on his right would get a green light and they would pass from north to south.
The red lights brought the vehicles passing from the left to a stop at the crossing. The pedestrian light turned from an orange ‘Don’t Walk’ to a green ‘Walk’ and the Sandman stepped into the road in time with the mother. They were side by side. The two lanes of cars twenty yards to his right began to move.
From beneath the brim of his cap, he watched Bloch and Lake on the other side of the street. If they recognized him, or he attracted their attention, he needed a distraction so he could get away.
It would give him no pleasure to harm a child, but it would not cause him any pain either. If the investigators or the feds saw him now, he would shoulder the mother out of the way, turn the baby carriage to face the moving traffic on his right and push baby Josh toward it.
The investigators, the feds, would all run for the baby carriage. If he pushed it fast enough a car or truck would have no time to stop. They would probably catch a glimpse of the carriage right before they hit it.
Baby Josh made agoo-goosound and kicked at his blue blanket with his little feet.
From below the brim of his cap, he watched Lake.
A countdown started on the crossing lights.
15 …
One of the feds looked his way.
14 …
The Sandman stepped closer to the carriage.
CHAPTER TWENTY
BLOCH
As soon as Bloch saw the door to the loft apartment lying open, she knew the Sandman had left the building. Still, she took no chances. He was cunning, this one. Bloch drew Maggie from a shoulder holster – a Magnum 500. Her weapon of choice. It held only five rounds. If you knew how to use that gun, you only needed to fire it once. Didn’t even matter if her target was behind a cinderblock wall.
She heard Lake coming up the stairs behind her, threw her palm at him to tell him to be quiet and keep his distance.
Then she went inside, checking the corners. A painting of a man stood in the center of the room on an easel. Beyond the picture, blood spotting on the floor that led to a blood pool and a trail. Someone had been badly hurt and then dragged along the floor.
She found the body in the tub. The man had no shirt on, and his face was ruined. Bloch turned and ran out of the apartment.
‘He’s gone, we’ve got a body in the tub. Probably the occupant of the apartment,’ she said.
And then they were hammering down the stairs again, out into the street. They looked around, all four of them now. The feds in blue jeans had seen Lake and Bloch running and had decided to lend a hand.
A third fed crossed the street and came toward them, an older guy.
They stood on the corner, looking around. Bloch didn’t need to study Daniel Miller’s picture in the case file. His image had been in every newspaper, on every news station, on every channel, and on every news website for two years. If she saw him, she would know him, even if he did try to change his appearance.
‘Any sign of him ?’ asked Lake, panting.
The two feds looked around, all of them trying to catch their breath, scanning the faces of the pedestrians on the street. Couples walking hand in hand. Men in suits marching along the sidewalk at speed, joggers, two women in gym clothes in conversation, and the rest of the teeming life that inhabited Manhattan.
‘Better check on the witness. I left her with my partner,’ said the older agent as he came alongside Bloch. He had gray hair, a slash of a mouth and keen eyes.
‘Shit,’ said Lake.
Lilian Parker’s building was across the street. And they all focused on it for a moment.
The traffic in front of them thinned for a red light, just on their right at the crosswalk. There were still some cars in front of them, blocking their direct crossing of the street. A woman was standing on the opposite sidewalk with a baby carriage, talking to a man beside her in a yellow jacket and ball cap. Something about the man drew Bloch’s attention. It looked like they didn’t know each other, but they were making polite, yet stilted conversation. The man wore a blue surgical mask. A lot of people in the city did the same, to protect themselves from Covid or the traffic fumes.
Lake moved toward the crosswalk. The feds followed. The older agent said his name was Miggs, and he was really struggling for breath. Bloch decided to walk with him.
Lake and the two feds continued to scan the faces of passers-by.
