“That’s their story and they’re sticking to it?”
“For now. They mentioned that they’ll probably fly a couple of Mendez’s vice squad pals over for a closer look, to make sure he wasn’t up to something they didn’t know about.”
Bradley nodded thoughtfully, spent some more time looking out the window. Finally he said, “So what was Mendez doing in the bank? Why was he wearing the cable repairman’s coveralls?”
Parker said, “We talked to Ross’s neighbours. There was a cablevision truck parked in front of his house the day before the bank was robbed. A man answering Mendez’s description was seen entering the house. We think he was putting some kind of pressure on Ross — blackmailing him, maybe. Trying to involve him in his money laundering schemes. If Samantha was involved with Mendez and Ross knew about it, it’d explain why Ross took such a risk to hold on to the briefcase during the robbery.”
Bradley said, “Okay, I’ll buy it. What else have you got on your plate?”
“Lunch,” said Willows.
*
Parker wanted to try a new Hungarian restaurant on Broadway, off Main, that a friend had recommended. At Main and Eighth, she braked hard and pulled the unmarked Caprice up to the curb. Willows rolled down his window, and the thin blonde woman in fish-net stockings and red leather shorts turned towards him, smiled a crooked smile.
Willows said, “How you doing, Honey?”
Honey cocked a hip, scratched an arm. “Real good, up until now.”
Willows hit the gas, eased the unmarked car into the noon-hour traffic. He gave Parker a rueful grin. “Tell me something — why is it that the only things that don’t change are the ones that should?”
Parker said, “Maybe because that’s the way we want it, Jack. I mean everybody. Even you and me.”
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