by Kylie Brant
Cruz drove silently for a time. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively mild. “I would have taken you home this morning, you know.”
She took a deep breath. The time for the showdown had arrived. “I know, but I was up early, and didn’t see any need to wake you.” She shrugged. “You already had a stop to make at your parents’ this morning. It was best that I left when I did.”
“No, dammit, it wasn’t best.” He bit out the words. When she looked at him cautiously, his face was grim. “I was hoping to find you there when I woke up. I didn’t like finding that you’d snuck out, like a thief in the night.”
Her eyes stared unseeingly out her side window. “I’d hardly describe it that way.”
“Wouldn’t you? How would you describe it?”
She looked over at him warily. His jaw was clenched and a telltale muscle was jumping in it. “I left a note.”
“Ah, yes, your note. The next time you’re in my bed, Maddy, you’ll stay there where you belong. You will not be gone at first light, just because you’re running scared.”
One eyebrow climbed at his chauvinistic assumption that she would return to his bed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The look he turned on her then was like none she’d ever seen on his face before. Implacable male pride was there, as well as a primitive possessiveness. “You scared yourself last night.” He made a gesture, dismissing the denial on her lips. “But I won’t let you pretend that nothing happened. I won’t let you erect a barrier between us as easily as the guise you put on each day to face the world.”
“Nothing scares me, Martinez, so save the psychobabble,” she retorted, her temper flaring to meet his own. “I needed to go home, I went. Don’t make more out of it than it was.”
Out of what? he wondered grimly. Out of her leaving, or out of the night they’d spent together? Somehow he thought she meant the latter. And he didn’t like the feeling that she was dismissing it, dismissing him, so easily.
“By the way, your machine came on as I was leaving,” she said in a studiedly casual voice. “Sounded to me like you knew where Tommy was all along.”
Cruz was silent for a moment, but his mind was racing. “I did,” he admitted finally. “Is that what had you running out before dawn this morning? You were upset I didn’t tell you where he was?”
She gritted her teeth at his choice of words. So far this morning it had been amazingly easy to resist his appeal. Each time he opened his mouth she was tempted to punch him. “We’ve already discussed why I left. But I would like to know why you kept his whereabouts from me.”
It was a long moment before he spoke again. “I was trying to protect him. I was the one who gave him an idea of where to go to lie low for a while. But Tommy has a hard time staying put, especially when the whiskey runs out. He thinks he was spotted by Valdez, and he’s convinced he’s in danger.”
“What do you think?”
He sighed. “It’s hard to tell. Tommy can’t even remember where he was when he thought he saw Valdez. But he could be right. So I’ve arranged to place him elsewhere.”
She frowned. “How do you know this place will be any safer than the last one? Or that Tommy doesn’t have more information to give us on Valdez? I think we should talk to him again.”
“No.” His response was firm. “Every time we’re seen with Tommy we’re increasing the danger for him. He’s safe anywhere I place him, if he remains drunk enough to stay put.”
She looked at him askance. “You’re seeing to that, too, I suppose.”
He gave her a hard look. “Damn right I am. We realized how dangerous Valdez was. Everyone on the street was scared to talk about him. But I went to Tommy because I knew I could count on his need for alcohol being greater than his need to stay alive. Now it’s my job to keep him alive, and I’m going to do it.”
Frustration slammed into her. There was no way she could be sure of Cruz’s real motives for hiding Tommy away. He could be worried for his safety, as he claimed. Or he could be keeping the man as far from her as he could so that she couldn’t quiz Tommy about Cruz’s possible involvement in the gun supply scheme.
She weighed her options, and had to admit they were limited. Cruz was the only one who could lead her to Tommy, and he’d refused. And it didn’t sound as if the snitch would be in very reliable shape if she did find him. Her time after-hours would be better spent tracking down the source of Cruz’s second income. But she didn’t like feeling outmaneuvered, and her voice was full of sarcasm when she spoke. “Is there anything else you’ve decided to keep from me? Given your superior wisdom about what’s best for this case, I mean?”
His next words were laden with meaning. “I think it’s your turn to tell what you’ve been keeping from me.”
For just a second she froze, her mind flashing to the secret investigation she was doing. But then he spoke again and she relaxed, if only for an instant. “You still haven’t told me the truth about why you left this morning. Maybe you haven’t admitted it to yourself, either.”
“Last night was a mistake,” she said bluntly, with ironic understatement. “And it won’t happen again. I’m not going to risk the integrity of this case by getting involved with my partner. We need to focus all our energy on finding Valdez and stopping the gun supply. Any involvement of a more personal nature is out of the question.”
Cruz turned into the parking lot of the library a little more sharply than necessary. Involvement? he repeated in a silent, savage echo. Personal? He wanted to force her to realize just how ridiculous her words were. But one look at her set face was enough to tell him that all efforts would be in vain. In truth, he’d been half- anticipating this since he’d wakened to find her gone. But it didn’t make it any easier to take, and it didn’t improve his temper.
“All right,” he agreed after a time. “You win.”
She cast a wary glance in his direction. “What do you mean?”
“If you want to believe that this case is the only thing that sent you running from my bed this morning, I’m not going to argue with you anymore.”
“How kind.” Her voice dripped with ice.
“But when the case is over, what excuse will you use then, Maddy? What other reason will you find for us to stay away from each other? Because manufacturing another excuse is a hell of a lot easier for you to deal with than facing what’s between us, isn’t it?”
Without waiting for an answer he opened the door and got out of the car. After a moment Madeline did the same, following him across the parking lot. They walked without a word into the brightly lit library. It took several minutes to find the table where Ricky was seated. He saw them coming and jumped up, leading his little sister away. A few minutes later he came back, and they all sat at the table he’d vacated
His eyes went in the direction he’d taken Rhonda. “I don’t have much time. I don’t want Rhonda to see you again, and there’s no telling how long she’ll sit back there with the book I picked out for her.”
“Just tell us what has you so worried,” Madeline said softly. Her eyes were wide and sincere when she reached across the table with one hand and touched one of his. “We want to help Ramsey, Ricky. If he’s in trouble like you say, we might be the only ones who can help him.”
“Just trust us, Ricky.” Cruz’s voice was soothing. “Tell us what has you so spooked.”
The boy took a deep breath, then began speaking, his voice low. “That time you came to the apartment, you brought that picture? Well, I asked Ramsey about the man in it, and he got real mean, you know? Started shoving me around and yelling at me.” He stopped here, his voice breaking.
“Where was your mom when this happened?” Cruz asked.
“At work. Anyway, I didn’t say no more then, ‘cause he was real mad at me for even letting you in. But I knew something was wrong. I could tell by the way he was acting. So…” He took a deep breath, “I started following him.”
Cruz and Madeline exchanged
a glance. “You went after him when he was with the gang members?”
“Yeah, I could only go when our neighbor could watch Rhonda. I just started hanging out where I might hear them talking.”
“And did you hear anything?” Madeline asked.
“Not until I started following him to Cantoney’s place. I was on the fire escape one day, and I heard the whole plan. Only the guys were talking about Ramsey-he wasn’t there. They’d sent him out to buy beer.” His eyes met theirs, solemn and scared at the same time. “The Lords are gonna get the guy who shot Ramsey. They already have a fancy gun they’re gonna use. I saw Dirk showing it around to the guys. And Cantoney, he’s got the whole thing planned out. He’s gonna get Ramsey’s fingerprints on the gun. If he ever gets caught, he’ll make sure the cops find the gun and Ramsey will get blamed for it. Then he said, like Ramsey’s just a kid and probably wouldn’t serve any hard time.”
Madeline exchanged a grim look with Cruz. But there was more. Ricky went on, “I told Ramsey about it when he got home. He said he knew all about the plan, but I could tell he didn’t, you know? And he got real mad, told me to shut up and that I’d better not follow them anymore, or else he’d tell Dirk about me.” He shook his head. “I never seen him like that before. I really thought he’d hurt me. I asked him to think about what would happen to him if the cops traced the shooting back to him, and he said Dirk would take care of us.” He snorted. “I don’t think Dirk is gonna take care of no one but himself. Or he wouldn’t be mixing Ramsey up in this. And I read about a kid, he was only fourteen, and he shot someone and got tried as an adult.” He raised his scared eyes to theirs. “That could happen to Ramsey, couldn’t it? He could go to prison for a long time, couldn’t he?”
Cruz nodded soberly. “He sure could, Ricky. And the way Dirk has this set up there would be no reason for the police to look any farther for a suspect. They’d have Ramsey, a motive and a murder weapon.”
“All that’s missing is opportunity,” Madeline murmured. “Ricky, did you hear enough to figure out when this is going to happen?”
The boy shook his head.
“All right then.” Cruz smiled at the boy. “You did good, calling us like this. Real good.”
He looked uneasy. “If Ramsey finds out I talked to you, I don’t know what he’ll do to me.”
“We won’t tell him,” Madeline said honestly, “but Ricky, I can’t promise he won’t figure it out. With what you told us, though, we might be able to stop the shooting before it happens. And then Ramsey won’t get into any trouble. Okay?”
Ricky nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“You take Rhonda home soon, and stick close to the apartment until this blows over,” Cruz suggested. “Don’t try to follow your brother anymore. Make him think that you listened to his last warning, and he might never suspect you talked to us.”
“We’ll be in touch,” Madeline promised. They left him sitting at the table, looking very young and uneasy. Once they were outside she spoke. “Where’s the most likely place for Cantoney to keep the weapon?”
“Well, he’d be stupid to keep it at his apartment. A violation of parole like that would send him right back to prison.”
“But he is a control freak,” she reminded him. “What are the chances he would allow one of his men to keep it?” They looked at each other and said simultaneously, “It’s in his apartment.”
“It’s got to be,” Cruz stated with certainty. “I know Cantoney too well to think he’d let someone else hide it. Dirk probably has been milking this plan, getting all the members together and bragging, building himself up.”
“There’s no way of knowing how long Cantoney has had the weapon,” Madeline said. “There’s really no time to lose.”
“Well, we’ve got an eyewitness who can place the gun in Cantoney’s hands, in Cantoney’s apartment, and who heard what he was planning to do with it. We’ve got enough to get a search warrant.”
“Let’s just hope that we’re in time,” Madeline said grimly. “Because if he goes ahead with this plan, all signs will point to Ramsey. Any attempt then to nail Cantoney for it and he’ll make sure that Ramsey is framed.”
The drive back to the district headquarters was made in record time, and still it seemed endless to Madeline. Neither of them spoke, for which she was grateful. The scene with him earlier, before they’d met with Ricky, had been tougher than she’d expected. She knew her argument had seemed in character for her, but his response to it had surprised her.
Outraged ego she could have dealt with. An easy dismissal, that of a man who could have any woman he wanted, would have been expected. But she hadn’t counted on his insights, and she damned them, and him, for hitting so close to home.
Several times Cruz started to speak, but one look at her colorless face, at the mauve shadows beneath her eyes, was enough to make him hold his tongue. He was normally a very patient man, but for some reason patience didn’t enter into his feelings for Maddy. After last night it infuriated him that she’d so quickly thrown up still another wall between them. She hadn’t been an easy person to get close to, but he knew more about her than she thought. He’d suspected that the fire in her hair was matched by an answering flame in her personality, and he’d been proven right. She had a quick wit and a temptingly short fuse. Last night had brought out the flame he’d suspected was there, buried but ready to burst forth, given enough coaxing.
Just the memory of their time together was enough to make his jeans uncomfortably tight. She’d been everything he’d hoped for, everything he could have imagined. And the thought of having to wait as long as this case took to solve before having her again was enough to make him grind his teeth in frustration. But wait he would.
# # # #
Madeline sat at the desk and typed up the search warrant. Cruz sat by her side, playing a little solo drum piece on the desk top.
“We are on our way, Maddy, I can feel it. We’re going to get into Cantoney’s apartment, we’re going to find that gun, we’re going to stop another kid from dying, and stop Ramsey from ending up in prison…”
“Slow down,”she answered. “Let’s get the warrant signed first. Then we’ll see about the rest of your prophecies.” Could he be this good a liar? she wondered dismally, if he had a stake in the outcome? He’d have to be very sure indeed that his link to the suppliers was well hidden. Or that he’d be able to destroy any evidence that would provide that link.
“Wait and see. I’m right on this, I know it…” The phone on his desk rang then and Cruz snatched it up. “Lieutenant Niles,” he said aloud, casting a telling eye to Madeline and holding up crossed fingers. “What did you find out from the lab work from Stover’s room?”
She was aware that she was holding her breath. Watching Cruz’s face was an exercise in frustration. He said little, mostly listened. Toward the end of the conversation he said, “You’re kidding. What was it? No, I’m afraid not.” After a couple more minutes he said, “Yeah, I think we’ll do that. Thanks for the call. You bet.” He hung up the phone.
“Well?” Madeline prompted at his silence.
“Niles’s men have been busy. They tried tracking the woman who put up Stover’s bail. The address on the ID she showed didn’t pan out. She hasn’t lived there in several years. She’s got a record for prostitution, but she hasn’t been seen in her old territory since Stover’s release. They’re still looking.”
“She’s probably long gone,” Madeline said gloomily. “It’s sounding more and more as if she was given the money to get Stover out so that he could be killed. She’d be a fool to risk staying around after the murder. What about Stover’s room?”
“Fingerprinting it was almost a bust,” Cruz said. “They found no trace of Valdez’s prints on any of the surfaces there. But-” he held up a finger “-they did find a ballpoint pen under the bed with prints that matched Valdez’s.”
“That could place Valdez at the scene,” she said hopefully. “Doesn’t make him guilty
of murder, though.”
“Three guesses what the lieutenant said the murder weapon was,” Cruz said, “and the first two don’t count.”
“No contest. It was an AK-47.”
Chapter 13
Cruz nodded. “That’s the word from forensics.”
Madeline thought for a moment. “Any lead from the pen with Valdez’s prints?”
“Apparently not. It did have some advertising on the side-Andersen Steel.”
“Pretty big time,” she noted. Andersen Steel was a well-known company in Philadelphia. It had been in the same family for several generations. She remembered some negative publicity they’d received a few years back, when they’d followed the lead of the other huge steel conglomerates and moved much of their manufacturing overseas, to take advantage of cheaper labor. But it was something else that was puzzling her mind about Andersen Steel, and she paused in her typing, thinking hard.
Cruz frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Andersen Steel.” She slapped the top of his desk as the connection with that name finally came to her. “They own Wynn Construction.”
“How do you know?”
She shot him an impatient glance and he held up his hands placatingly. “Forgive me for doubting you. You read it in some obscure article years ago and still happen to remember it. Why am I not surprised?”
“The point is,” she informed him, excitement creeping into her voice, “now that pen does have significance. Valdez’s parole officer said he’d worked for Wynn Construction for several weeks before he disappeared. It wouldn’t hurt for us to go to Andersen Steel and ask some questions.”
“Later,” Cruz said, indicating the search warrant she was working on. “We’ve got something more pressing to attend to.”
Nodding in agreement, Madeline went back to her typing. Ramsey was their first concern. Valdez would wait.
It was close to noon by the time they’d gotten the warrant signed. But when they reached Cantoney’s apartment it was apparent from his appearance that they’d awakened him. He answered the door in jeans and an open shirt. A flicker of unease crossed his face when he recognized them.