He inhales sharply. “Warn me next time.”
“It’s been a bad two days. I’m sorry,” I say. “How is that?”
“Considering I didn’t know you knew those words, that works. Now I’ll work magic. Meet me on the second floor, room 222.” He hangs up.
I turn my attention back to Kit. “I’m going to need a couple of guys to follow Marilyn when this is over. Possibly to New Hampshire.”
“I’ll make the calls,” he says, and it’s then that I realize how much I’ve taken charge of Kane’s men. And they let me. Queen Mendez. It does have a ring.
“You want them to follow when she leaves the station?”
“Yes, even if she has police with her, but she won’t. She’s going to decline that. She thinks asking for Kane’s protection is not something that would ever go public, and that it looks good to me, the investigator. Most likely it’s to get me to let my guard down so she can get close to me and Kane and try to kill us.”
“She got a little too close with that sous chef.”
“Yeah well, the hand of death has gotten a little too close to Kane lately. I don’t like it.”
“Agreed,” he says. “Everybody is shaken that we let that happen.”
I don’t ask if Kane was angry. He’s not a blame game kind of man. He’s a fix the problem kind of guy.
Not much later, Kit and I are at Jay’s apartment door and I’m knocking. He answers, and he’s already dressed, with a mug in his hand. I grab it, glance inside, and then back at him. “Is that tea? Are you Mexican or British?”
“Mexicans like tea,” he claims.
Kit grimaces. “Fuck no, they don’t. It’s that chick he’s been dating. She’s a damn librarian who likes tea. Put that shit down. That relationship is doomed. Can you imagine her around, Lilah?”
“Hey hey,” I say. “I mean that is fair and all, but still.”
“We’re leaving,” Kit says. “I need to get back to Kane.” He turns and starts walking.
I motion to Jay. “Put the tea down and move away from the door and inside the hallway.”
I start walking, too.
Jay scrambles and catches up.
With Jay in the driver’s seat of Kit’s car, we drop off Kit at the apartment building again. I slide out of the vehicle behind him. “Take care of him,” I order.
“Always,” he assures me before he heads inside, offering me nothing more. No he’ll be fine. There’s no threat, Lilah. Nothing. And that’s exactly why he ran away before I could ask more. I need to get this job done and get back to Kane’s side. We’re stronger and more lethal together. I climb back inside the car with words similar to those I’d said to Kane last night back in my head: Live together. Die together.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Once Jay has us back on the road, I get back to the business at hand. Convicting Marilyn of murder. “Have you talked to Enrique?”
“Yeah,” he says. “He says Marilyn gives him the creepy vibe. Reminds him of the lady in the village where he grew up who did black magic. He can’t wait to hand her off.”
And sure enough, we pull into the parking lot, and Enrique’s SUV is already there. Clearly, Enrique is eager to get rid of her. Jay pulls in next to them and as soon as I’m out of the car, Marilyn is out of Enrique’s vehicle, rushing toward me.
“I can’t believe they’re making me do this,” she says, her long black trench coat flaring open to expose her black dress pants and blouse. The Black Widow dressing for the role, I think. And playing the upset sweet little angel oh so well.
“Three people are dead,” I say, “I really don’t think it’s unreasonable. They’re covering their asses, not trying to kick you in yours.”
“Right,” she says. “I know you’re right. Let’s just get this over with.”
Indeed, I think.
I motion toward the door. “Head on into security. I’ll catch up.”
She does as I say, and I huddle with Enrique and Jay. “Watch that bitch,” Enrique murmurs low and conspiratorially. “She’ll curse you.”
“She won’t curse me,” I say. “But she might try to kill me. That won’t go well for her.”
“And then Kane will kill us,” he argues. “Watch your back, Lilah.”
“Always,” I say, leaving them outside as I enter the precinct.
Interestingly enough, security has no donuts today. Someone got smart.
Once I get past the stop and frisk, Marilyn and I head upstairs to room 222. Once we’re there, Houston and another tall, dark-haired detective in his forties are waiting for us. It’s Marco Polo, of course, and just another person to clutter up the clutter of this case with more clutter. There are introductions, of course, and confirmation that yes, this detective is Marco. Offers of coffee follow. “You should have some,” I encourage Marilyn. “Then you can say you drank oil and survived.”
She laughs stiffly. “I think I have enough to survive right now. Namely, a killer and the press.”
And a lie detector test, I think.
Thank fuck that is the last of the small talk.
She heads into the room with the technician administering the test. Me, the chief, and Marco head into the observation booth. We line up at the window with the two of them bracketing me.
“By the way,” I say. “I’ve offered her police protection, but don’t go to any effort. She won’t take it.” I glance over at Houston. “She wants Kane’s protection which I believe is because Kane is on the list of fake investors. My take is that she tried to kill us with the sous chef. She wants a second chance.”
“Fuck,” he murmurs.
“Yes,” I say. “Fuck.”
The test begins, and I listen to a few of the questions before I say, “Notice her pause.”
“What about it?” Marco asks.
“She’s asking herself a different question. Like hypothetically, ‘Do you like mushrooms’ when she hates them. That way when she says no, she believes her answer.”
“Agreed,” Houston says. “She’s been trained.”
I back up away from the window and dial Tic Tac. “Just who I wanted to scream at,” he says.
“Pipe down,” I counter. “Not now. Marilyn. There has to be someone military in her background. Maybe a client of her accounting firm. Maybe a family member.”
“I’ve done a surface check on her. Nothing is clicking. Everything we can legally do without a warrant has been done. We need a warrant.”
“Yes, I know,” I say, “But we don’t have time for that process to take place before we act. Keep digging your way, by the books, but we have to do more, faster. Right now, we need Lucas. Do you need to call him, or do you want me to?”
“We do things the right way, Lilah.”