Deceitful Moon (23 page)

“No
,
no. I’m your man, baby. I want to see your face.”

“I’ll show you everything, do everything
, w
hen you let me in.”

The lobby door, two floors down, closed with a thud
,
and she heard footsteps coming up the stairwell. More than one set, in a hurry to boot. She couldn’t be seen
.

“Now or never,” she urged calmly.

The chain rattled
,
and then the door opened. She walked in.

Stella took one more step
and
pulled her purse tight. He
was on her
like lions on meat
. He spun her around and slammed her face
-
first into the wall, his groin pressing against her buttocks with unbelievabl
e
force. Ignoring the pain, she laughed. “Wait. Wait. Let me get ready.”

“Your friend should have told you more about me,” he snarled.

“Oh
,
she did.” Stella reached back, grabbed his woody, and twisted. The yelp of pain was amazingly gratifying, but he hung in there like a bad hairdo, pressing harder. She twisted again, he screamed
, and this time backed away.
She pulled the gun, whirled
,
and stuck the barrel up his nose.

“I think I’ll take over now.”

Chapter
-40

Manny crouched on the left side of the door
with
Sophie
to his right. Sergeant Wang and three other uniforms positioned themselves in a half moon behind them. It had been a minute or so since the mystery woman had entered the apartment, but they had heard nothing
from Ross and Wymer. He
was getting nervous.

There was a sudden thud against the wall followed by excited yelling, and with the suddenness of a Florida thunderstorm, the door
burst
open.

Detective Ross
looked
at Manny. “Well, that wasn’t too tough. This woman is supposed to be ou
r
perp?”

Manny cruised through the door and almost into laughter. Big Frank Wymer was sitting on the worn velour sofa, flabby leg draped over the midsection of a young woman who was half dressed in black lingerie and a short leather skirt
. She was
handcuffed to his thick right arm. The woman’s eyes were wet, but spitting fire
,
as she struggled helplessly against the leg that must have weighed as much as she did.

“Hey
,
Manny. Look what I found
.
Can I take her home? I don’t think the
wife
will mind too much.”

His captive started to speak
,
but was having trouble catching her breath. “Get-t-t that-t thing
. . .
off
. . .
me!”
s
he panted.

“Are you going to behave?” asked Manny. “If not, he’s got another leg.”

She nodded with the enthusiasm of
a
lottery winner. Manny motioned to Wymer
,
and he moved his leg. She gasped for air, and then jumped up, darting for the door, forgetting about the cuffs
.
S
he was jerked unceremoniously back to the couch,
long legs
flying over her head. A few seconds later, she was
again
pinned
by
the leg from
hell
.

“That wasn’t nice
.
” Manny slid the
maple
coffee table over
and sat close to her.
“What’s your name?” he
asked
. “And how old are you?
”

“None of your business
,
and I don’t remember
.
Get lard ass’s leg off me
,
and let me go
. I didn’t do anything
.
”

“
That’s not going to happen
. What are you doing here?”

She gave Manny a sour look. “What the hell does it look like I’m doing, cleaning the
freakin’ carpet
?”

“I think she broke my wrist,” complained Wymer. “Can someone get me some ice?”

“The gentleman that lives here didn’t call you, or anyone else. So I’ll ask again, why are you here?”

“
Some
gentleman. I got this one l
ike I get all of my appointments. I got a message from my
. . .
business associate
. . .
to be here at 10:30.”

“Does this look broken to you?” moaned the big detective.

“How did your business associate get the message to be here?”

“I guess from the bulletin board at the church. How the hell do I know? I just go where I need to go
.
”

Sophie leaned over to Manny. “There was nothing dangerous in her purse, unless you count cherry
-
flavored condoms and a small whip. I kinda like the whip
;
it’s cute.”

“Nothing else?”

Sophie shook her head. “That’s it, want to see?”

This was beginning to stink like
roadkill
on
a
hot day. He hated
it
. It was becoming obvious they had been set
up. In a big way. But the caller had been right about the time and the place
and e
ven what the woman was wearing.

This made no sense.

He stood up and paced to the apartment
’
s front window, then turned back to the young hooker. “Listen, I don’t care about the prostitution thing, not tonight
.
I just need some answers.”

“What do I look like, the Internet? I got nothing.”

“I don’t think I want her after all,” said Wymer. “She’s too mean. Just like the wife.”

Manny ignored him and bent closer to the girl
’
s face. “I wanted to do this the easy way
. . .
” He turned to Ross and Sophie. “Detectives, take her downtown and book her as an accessory to murder and anything else that you can think of.”

The young
prostitute’s
eyes grew the size of small tire
s
. “Murder? What? I didn’t
. . .
Al
l
right, a
l
l
right.” She looked at Manny
,
and he saw the
scared
little
girl that had become a woman long before
her time
. His heart broke
a bit
. He wondered what
had
happened
to her
and promised himself to find out
, b
ut not tonight.

“Frank, take the cuffs off, and for God’s sake
,
lift that tree stump off her.”

Wymer swung his leg off her for a second time
and
unlocked and removed the
handcuffs
, rubbing his wrist. “I think a bag of M&Ms would help ease the pain.”

“My name’s Shannon and I’m
. . .
seventeen
. And I didn’t kill nobody. I don’t even like to see
no
dead animals.”

“Fair enough
,
Shannon. Tell me how you got this gig.”

“I called my contact and he said he got a call from some woman asking for someone like me, tall and stuff, to show up here, wearing all black, including this hoodie thing, which is so not cool, but he said the trick would be triple my normal fee. I need the money
,
so it’s all good.”

She gave Manny a pathetic look. “I’m not gettin’ paid, am I?”

“No, but maybe we can swing a good meal
.
”

“Do you like M&Ms?” asked Frank.

Manny gave him a look, and he shuffled over to his partner.

“Anything else?”

“I swear. It was just like always.
He calls, I go.”
She
wa
g
ged
her head. Then her eyes brightened. “Wait! My contact said the phone number on his caller ID was strange
-ass
.”

“Strange? Like how?”

“I don’t like giving away this stuff. I could get hurt.”

“I promise, you won’t get hurt. We
’ll
make sure you don’t
.”

“You cops always say that. Whatever. Anyway, like I said, the call came from a strange place.”

“Where?”

She looked at Frank. “I’d like some of those M&Ms.” Then back to Manny.

“It came from the ICU at Eagle Memorial Hospital.”

Chapter
-41

Standing on the stoop, outside the apartment complex, Manny’s mind raced. They had been set up, of course, but it didn’t make sense. Why? What purpose? And why give them the right place and time
,
but not the unsub?
It was almost like a chess game
with a third player countering each move.
He hated where this was leading
. He’d called dispatch to send a unit to Gavin’s room, just to make sure he and Stella w
ere
safe. Maybe the call originated from the man
,
or woman
,
who
shot Gavin
. . .
in fact, that was a sure bet. Manny tried to fight the story that logic was trying to sell him, but the knot in the pit of his stomach refused to allow him to win that fight.

Could what
I am
thinking even be conceivable?

He wanted to talk to Mike again about his back
-
up weapon, where it was the last time he saw it, but
maybe
he
already
knew that answer.

If Shannon w
as
telling the truth
,
and he was sure she was, there was no
denying
the
possibility
that Stella saw something, or someone, that didn’t
belong
at
the
ICU
.
He
closed
his
eyes
and gave in
to the thought
s
.

Was Stella involved?

It sounded alien, contrived
, e
xcept
for a
persistent
ring of truth
.

Stella involved? A few days ago that was pure fantasy. He’d known her for
seven
teen years. She’d been a great mother and wife. Supportive, witty, practical. She loved her family. Maybe dealing with Lexy’s death had been too much
.
But he hadn’t
noticed
anything different in her behavior. She had changed her hair, lost a little weight
,
but nothing drastic.

Sophie drove the car to the front of the building, got out
,
and stood on the sidewalk. “Hey
,
Ross and Wymer took Shannon out for a
late supper
and then are going to take her home.”

“Good. Remind
me
to check on her when we get a minute to breath
e
.”

“I know this is tough, but we have to talk to Stella
to see if she saw anything. I mean, come on
;
it was right on that floor. The nurse’s station is only fifty feet away
,
” said Sophie,
reaching to adjust her leg holster.

He nodded, face tight
-
lipped, watching
her wrestle with the holster
. Manny
had another thought.

“Do you know what kind of back
-
up weapon Mike
carried
?”

“Yeah, I do. We bought ours at the same time. It was a Firestorm .22. Why?”

Suddenly all of the pieces clicked together.
His stomach clutched
even harder
,
and a small wave of nausea washed over him.
It
was
becoming
all too clear. Hadn’t he suggested to Sophie
that
the person who shot Gavin
could be
a woman? And all of the victims were shot with a .22.