‘Why not use a gun?’
‘Guns leave rounds behind. Rounds can be traced. Plus, it’s noisy and it draws a lot of attention. Professional killers. Real pros. They get up close and personal with hits after a while. This woman …’ said Bloch, pointing to a frozen image of the figure in black on the screen. ‘This woman has killed before. She didn’t even run from the pharmacy desk to the cashier. She walked. Took her time. No panic. If …’
‘If what?’
Bloch studied the screen for a long time then said, ‘I’d say she enjoyed those kills.’
The waitress brought over a meatball sub, filled with marinara sauce. Kate’s salad and fries came next and Kate pushed the food away. Her appetite had left the building. Bloch picked up the hoagie and bit into it. Marinara sauce dribbled over the side of her mouth and she wiped it away with a napkin.
‘I thought you were hungry?’ said Bloch.
Kate flipped her the bird. Bloch smiled.
‘I still don’t see how it’s related to the Avellino case,’ said Kate.
‘Well, it might not be. I need to check the sales records and stock reports for Haloperidol and take a look at the pharmacist. He was the main target. Have to be sure this wasn’t a revenge hit for him prescribing the wrong meds or something. I doubt it. All the same, I’d like to rule it out. There’s something else though, relevant to this case.’
Kate waited patiently.
Bloch took another bite of the sandwich. Swallowed it down, wiped her mouth and said, ‘You remember a few weeks ago – motion day? We saw a biker. All in black. A woman. She cut us up and then burned a light right around the corner from here.’
‘Come on. That’s nothing. Coincidence.’
Bloch used her tongue to dislodge a crumb of hoagie that had become stuck in her teeth. She took a long drink of coffee, leaned back and said, ‘I’ve seen her a few times since that day. Black leathers. Black helmet with a tinted screen. I saw her last night.’
‘Where?’
‘Across the street from your apartment.’
Kate froze, her mouth open, then she broke into easy laughter.
‘You almost had me, there. Come on, Bloch. You’re reading too much into this. Why would anyone be watching us?’
Bloch didn’t look like she was joking. She put down her sandwich and put Kate straight.
‘If I was on trial for a murder I committed, I’d be watching the lawyers too. Both sides. Making sure no one figures it all out, and if they get too close – bam.’
Kate thought for a moment, said, ‘You don’t think this case has anything to do with what happened to Eddie Flynn’s investigator?’
‘I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised.’
The conversation trailed off as Bloch ate her hoagie, and Kate picked at the fries. They finished and together made their way back to Center Street. It was dark now, with no wind, but the temperature was already below freezing and falling fast. Bloch had parked in Leonard Street, and it was time to head back to Kate’s apartment together and do some serious preparation for tomorrow.
As they passed Hogan Place, Kate saw Dreyer standing outside with his assistants. They were huddled into their overcoats, their breath misting in the cold, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Their conversation petered out as they saw Kate and Bloch approach. Kate didn’t acknowledge Dreyer – she kept her head down and moved past them. No sooner had they moved out of earshot, Kate heard Dreyer mumble something and it was greeted with a chorus of derisory laughter. She didn’t doubt the laughter was aimed at them.
It didn’t seem to bother Bloch at all.
They stopped at the cross walk for Leonard Street, and Bloch hit the button. This part of Center Street was one-way – all the traffic coming from their left. A truck blew by, and then some cars. On the other side of the crosswalk Kate saw a woman, heavily pregnant, with a big red coat bulging over her stomach. The woman laid a hand on her stomach, protectively, in the manner some pregnant women find comforting. The gesture made Kate smile. That kid was already loved and it wasn’t even born yet. A man with gray hair and a cashmere coat came and stood beside the pregnant woman. The man hit the crossing button again, angrily, as if the traffic light system would only work for him.
A car stopped in front of Kate, at the stop line. Beyond the car, a bus came to a stop. The light changed. Kate and Bloch began to cross the street.
So did the pregnant woman, and the gray-haired man.
Kate and Bloch passed the car. Before they reached the bus, a sound began to roar off the buildings, vibrate through the blacktop before finally landing in Kate’s chest. The noise increased – the volume rocketing – and suddenly Kate knew what it was.
It was a high, mechanical whine accompanied by a base roar of throttle.
A strong arm thrust out in front of Kate, across her chest, holding her back. Bloch had stopped dead, just before the front of the bus. Kate looked to Bloch, then she heard the explosion of sound from a blast right in front of her.
Something dark shot past the bus, the pregnant woman screamed and fell back onto her behind, clutching her stomach, her legs splayed out. The gray-haired man fell forward, first onto his knees, then flat on his face. He didn’t put his arms out to arrest his fall, and there was a wet crunch when his nose hit the blacktop. Kate’s mouth opened but no sound came out. She could still hear that roar and looking to her right, she saw a motorcycle, with a rider all in black, mount the sidewalk and drive straight into Collect Pond Park.
The arm that restrained her disappeared as Bloch ran after the motorcycle. Kate looked back at the scene in front of her. The doors of the bus opened and the driver got out. He went straight toward the pregnant woman who was still screaming. Kate moved forward toward the man lying face down.
‘Oh my God, are you alright? What happened?’ she said, kneeling, her hands shaking, her heart pumping. She touched the man’s shoulders, and then recoiled as a pool of dark blood spread from beneath him.
Footsteps behind her, coming up fast. Suddenly Kate was surrounded. She fell onto her side, pushed out the way by a man in a suit. She looked up, saw it was Dreyer and his assistants. One of them turned the gray-haired man over, and that’s when they began to shout in panic.
The hilt of a knife jutted from his throat. His eyes were open and lifeless, his face a bloody mess. His nose sat at an odd angle, flattened to the right against his cheek by the fall. Kate’s stomach heaved, and she covered her mouth and got up.
Bloch came charging back and knelt down beside Kate.
‘The rider got away,’ said Bloch.
One of the assistant DAs got up to help the pregnant woman, trying to calm her, for the baby’s sake at least. Someone, Kate couldn’t tell who, was on the phone to a paramedic.
Dreyer turned toward Kate and said, ‘This was my witness. We were waiting for him to come in and be deposed.’
‘Who is he?’ asked Kate.
‘His name was Hal Cohen.’
THIRTY-FIVE
SHE
She had timed it just right.
It took a lot of work, but it was worth it. She knew that Hal Cohen couldn’t see Dreyer before five o’clock, because Dreyer was in court along with her. Dreyer would want to depose Hal personally. He would have been a key prosecution witness.