by Dan Mahoney
“Angelita, this doesn’t look good,” McKenna said.
“I don’t care. What part of him is next?” she asked calmly.
McKenna thought he could speak Spanish fairly well, but during the next ten minutes he learned some new words from Angelita as she stared at the bits and pieces of Mulrooney. He had never seen her so enraged. Mendez was standing next to them and McKenna thought of asking him what she was saying, but Mendez just shook his head when McKenna caught his eye.
Then Angelita surprised him when she turned suddenly and hugged him. She began sobbing like a little girl while McKenna patted her back and stroked her hair. It went on for five minutes before she stopped.
“I’m okay now and I’m always gonna be okay,” she said as she dried her eyes. “Just promise me that after today you’ll never mention that man’s name again to either me or Janine.”
“That’s a promise. What do you want to do now?”
“You can take me to Bellevue.”
The hospital? She certainly needs some medical attention soon for that jaw, but why Bellevue? McKenna wondered. “Wouldn’t you rather go to Beth Israel?”
“No, Bellevue. We should be with Patti and Johnny. We owe those two everything, and we’re going to be paying back Patti Pao for the rest of our lives.”
Amen! That’s a debt we’re certainly going to pay, McKenna promised himself.
Sheeran offered to drive them and McKenna was happy to accept. He sat in the back next to Angelita with Janine on his lap.
“Daddy, there’s something important I forgot to tell you,” Janine said.
What now? McKenna wondered. “What is it, baby?”
“Happy St. Paddy’s Day.”
Also by Dan Mahoney
Hyde
Edge of the City
Detective First Grade
ONCE IN, NEVER OUT. Copyright © 1998 by Dan Mahoney. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mahoney, Dan.
Once in, never out / by Dan Mahoney. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-4668-0385-5
I. Title.
PS3563.A36405 1998
813'.54—dc21 97-40422
CIP