Getting Rid Of Bradley

Chapter Four

“So then she said, ‘You mean that hood is following my sister?’ and tried to take off after you,” Anthony told Zack an hour later. They were back in the squad room, their feet propped up on their desks in the thin warmth of the dusty late-afternoon sunlight that filtered through the dirty windows. “I almost let her have you. I was hoping she’d rip that damn jacket off you and shred it. But then I remembered you were my partner, and I saved you.”

“Thank you.” Zack was stretched out in his desk chair, feeling every bruise that Lucy had given him that afternoon. “I gather she did finally talk to you?”

“Of course.”

“There’s no ‘Of course’ about it,” Zack said. “Lucy told me about her sister. You’re lucky you’re still in one piece.”

“We had coffee in the diner.” Anthony stretched and put his hands behind his head. “She was no problem at all.”

“You get the mean one, and she drinks coffee from your hand. I get the nice one, and she tries to beat the tar out of me. God, to have your luck.”

“It’s not luck. It’s charm,” Anthony said. “You don’t have any.”

Zack gave up. “So what does Tina Savage know about Bradley Porter?”

“That he’s a womanizing, weak-kneed, slime-covered scum who made her sister cry, so he should be shot, strangled, drawn, quartered, and castrated. I don’t think she likes him at all.”

Zack scowled. “He made Lucy cry? I’m with her, then.”

“But the problem is…”

“He’s not our Bradley.” Zack nodded. “I know. Lucy explained that. I’d hoped for a while there was a chance he might be, but she says it’s no-go.”

“I know,” Anthony said. “But I floated the possibility by the sister anyway, just to see what she’d say.”

“And?”

Anthony grinned. “Oh, she’s in favor of it. The thought of Bradley in jail for bigamy, embezzlement and tax fraud perked her right up. She was completely cordial by the time she’d thought it through.” Anthony shook his head. “This is a waste of time, Zack. Granted somebody shot at you today, that still doesn’t necessarily tie Lucy Savage’s Bradley Porter with our John Bradley.”

Zack scowled. “He’s not Lucy’s Bradley. He’s nobody’s Bradley, the rat. And there’s got to be a tie. Come on, Tony. We get a tip that John Bradley’s going to be at the diner, and Bradley Porter asks Lucy to meet him there on the same day? That’s too much of a coincidence.”

“Maybe.” Anthony leaned back. “I’m not convinced.”

Zack stared at the ceiling while he thought. “So what have we got? We’ve got John Bradley somewhere in the city with a million and a half in embezzled government bonds. We’ve got Bradley Porter somewhere in the city with an unidentified blonde. We’ve got an unidentified female caller who tips us that John Bradley will be at the diner. We’ve got Bradley Porter’s letter to Lucy telling her to meet him at the diner, or we will have as soon as she remembers what she did with it. And we’ve got somebody shooting at Lucy.”

“Or you,” Anthony put in. “Don’t underestimate your unpopularity.”

“Or me,” Zack amended. “Hell of a coincidence, though, to get shot at when Lucy’s right beside me. So what have we got?”

“We have nothing.”

“The two Bradleys have got to be in it together,” Zack said.

“I suppose it’s remotely possible,” Anthony said. “If Bradley Porter is keeping a blonde on the side, he could probably use a couple of government bonds. But it’s hard to believe that John Bradley would steal the bonds in California and then come clear out here to share with Bradley Porter out of the goodness of his heart.”

“Blackmail?”

“Let’s not make this any more complicated than it already is. Here’s a good question. Why would somebody try to shoot Lucy?”

“Bradley’s mad at her about the divorce,” Zack said.

“So he shoots at her on the street? I don’t think so.”

“Here’s a better one. Why is somebody trying to break into Lucy’s house?”

Anthony jerked his head up, suddenly interested. “Somebody’s trying to break into her house?”

“There are scratches on her locks, and the next-door neighbor saw somebody sneaking around the house. Granted, the next-door neighbor is not totally wired, but even so, if she says she saw somebody, I bet she did.”

“You interviewed the next-door neighbor?”

“No.” Zack looked pained. “She won’t talk to me. She thinks I’m a punk. I had the patrolman ask her.”

“A punk. That’s not so bad.” Anthony grinned at him. “At least punks are young.”

“Thank you.”

“So you think somebody’s trying to break in to get Lucy?” Anthony shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. There are a hundred easier ways to grab somebody than breaking into a house. Hell, you grabbed her on the street today.” Anthony looked at Zack’s lip. “Well, it might not be that easy. She does seem to have a fairly healthy sense of self-preservation.”

Zack gave him a dirty look. “I was trying not to hurt her. If I’d wanted her, I’d have had her. Hell, anybody could have grabbed her.”

“So they’re breaking in for something else.” Anthony leaned back in his chair. “Like to get a million and a half in government bonds that John Bradley gave to Bradley Porter who put them in the silverware drawer and then forgot to take with him when Lucy kicked him out? I don’t think so.”

“Wait a minute.” Zack swung his chair around and planted his feet back on the floor. “He couldn’t get in. Tina put locks on. She wouldn’t let him in.”

“So he just went meekly away and left a million and a half there? No,” Anthony said. “I bow to no one in my respect for Tina Savage’s temper, but I’d walk over her in a minute if it meant a million and a half. Particularly a million and a half that could put me away if somebody else found it. Like my ex-wife. No.”

“Something’s in that house, and the two Bradleys are involved.” Zack drummed his fingers on the desk. “I’ve got to get her out of that house until we find it. Only the dummy won’t go.”

“Can’t she stay with her sister for a while?”

“No. She won’t go without Einstein and Heisenburg and Whosis. She won’t budge at all.” His scowl changed suddenly. “At least I hope she hasn’t budged.”

“Einstein?” Anthony said, but Zack ignored him to flip through his notebook until he found the page he wanted and then dialed the number he’d found.

“Lucy? This is Zack Warren.” He listened for a moment. “I’m fine, thanks. I was just checking to make sure you hadn’t gone out.” He listened again, looking exasperated. “No, I don’t trust you. Because you’re a flake, that’s why. Now, listen, did Bradley leave any papers behind? He did? Have you looked at them? Great. Did you find any official-looking certificates? No, I’m not patronizing you. Did you find any government bonds? A lot of them. About a hundred of fifty, to be exact. Oh.”

He covered the receiver and spoke to Anthony. “She packed up all his stuff. No bonds.”

“I gathered that,” Anthony said. “Maybe he hid them. Did she check the cookie jar?”

Zack ignored him. “Lucy, do you have a safe anyplace in the house? Any place where you keep your valuables? No?” Zack sighed and tapped his fingers on the desk. “Listen. We’re going to have to come over tomorrow and search your place. Yeah, sometime tomorrow. Now, listen to me. Stay in that house and don’t answer the door tonight. And stay away from the doors and windows. Those lace curtains are a joke. When the lights are on, anybody can see in. Why? Because I said so. What do you mean, who do I think I am? I’m the guy who saved your life today. Yes, I did, damn it. What?” He listened to her again, frowning. “I told you, you did not beat me up. Thank you. Now stay inside that house. Good night.”

He hung up and glared at the phone. “I don’t know why I worry about that woman. She could argue any attacker to death.”

“I thought you were never going to worry about anybody,” Anthony said, trying to suppress his grin. “I thought responsibility meant death. And what’s with you calling her ‘Lucy’? The two of you are on a first-name basis already? What’s going on?”

“She has a dog that does a dog joke.” Zack rolled his eyes in disgust. “It’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. She’s all alone in that big house with three of the most un-vicious dogs that ever barked. She was married to a rat, and now somebody’s taking potshots at her. Somebody has to look out for her.”

Anthony began to laugh. “Zack, she split your lip and gave you what the doctor calls a minor concussion. He said you should be home in bed. You’re talking about a woman who beat you up in an alley.”

“She did not…”

“All right, all right. So what’s the plan? To search the house tomorrow?” Anthony shook his head. “I hate to tell you this, but we’ve still got paperwork from Jerry this morning to finish. I can put it off for a little while, but not the whole morning. Isn’t there some way we can short-circuit this search thing?”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “We can go to interview Bradley Porter first and see if we can get him to spill everything he knows. Lucy told me he’s a branch manager of a bank out in Gamble Hills. Nobody knows where he’s staying right now, but he’ll be at work tomorrow. We can start with him first.” He stared at the ceiling again. “Actually, I’m really looking forward to meeting him.”

Anthony narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“I want to see what a rat like that looks like. You wouldn’t believe what a sweetheart Lucy is.”

“A sweetheart?” Anthony grinned. “She beat you up.”

“She did not…” Zack closed his eyes and gave up. “Forget it. I’m sore. My head hurts. I need a hot bath and a beer. I cannot argue with you anymore. You win. She beat me up.”

“When you can’t fight, we’re definitely finished for the day.” Anthony stood. “Want some help getting down to your car, old man?”

“Drop dead,” Zack said, and got up carefully, trying not to groan from his bruises.

Before Lucy went up to bed, she found the phone table on its side and the receiver thrown off its hook.

“Did you do this?” she said to Einstein as she righted the table, and he immediately turned and walked away. “Most nights I wouldn’t care,” she said to his swaying rear end. “But tonight I thought maybe I might actually get another call from him.”

Einstein turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder.

“Right,” Lucy said. “That is pathetic.”

Then she put the phone back on the table and went up to bed.

LUCY GOT UP TO RUN at eight on Friday morning, but she stopped at the front door.

She wasn’t supposed to go out. Every muscle in her body wanted to run, but she wasn’t supposed to go out.

Zack Warren had forbidden it.

“I don’t believe this,” she told the dogs. “He just says ‘Stay put,’ and I stay put. And today was supposed to be the first day of the rest of my independence. If I had any backbone at all…”

On the other hand, he said he was coming by to search the house. She had to be home for that. It was her civic duty. Sort of.

Also, she didn’t want to miss seeing him again.

She sighed and started to run up the stairs. Two steep flights. About a thousand trips up and down should do it.

But just for today. Tomorrow, she was going out to run like a rational human being, no matter what Zack Warren said.

“HE TOOK TWO WEEKS OFF?” Zack glared at the immaculate matron behind the mahogany manager’s desk at Gamble Hills First National. She wore her dark hair styled like a helmet, and she glared back at him militarily through horn-rimmed glasses.

Zack scowled at her. “How can a bank manager take two weeks off?”

“He was getting a divorce.” She jerked on the cuffs of her navy polyester suit jacket for emphasis. “He was very disturbed about it. The past two weeks, he couldn’t concentrate at all. Mr. Porter was always very efficient, so it wasn’t like him. Not at all. We all understood that he needed a little time off.”

“We appreciate your help, Mrs. Elmore,” Anthony said, trying to reduce the fallout from Zack’s scowl. He was rewarded with a slight smile and a nod. “We have just a few more questions and we’ll go. We know how busy you must be with Mr. Porter gone. Now, his last day was yesterday?”

“Day before yesterday.” Mrs. Elmore lowered her voice. “Yesterday was the Divorce.”

“Ah.” Anthony smiled at her in sympathy. “This must make a lot of extra work for you.”

The woman smoothed her jacket and smiled complacently. “I don’t mind. It’s the least I can do for the poor man.”

“The poor man?” Zack said, thinking of Lucy.

Mrs. Elmore glared at him.

“Zack, why don’t you go over there and interview somebody?” Anthony jerked his thumb toward the tellers.

“Fine.” As Zack wandered off, he could hear Anthony saying, “That’s terrible. Mr. Porter must have been very upset for the past couple of weeks. Did he say anything…”

“Hi.”

Zack turned around to see a very young, very blonde teller smiling at him.

“Can I help you with anything?” Her smile deepened.

“Full service banking?” Zack said and grinned.

“Well, we try to please,” she said, dimpling at him. “I’m Deborah.”

“So tell me, Deborah.” Zack leaned on the ledge across from her and smiled into her eyes. “What’s it like to work for Mr. Porter?”

“It’s boring,” Deborah said. “And I don’t talk about my employers.”

Zack showed her his badge. “I’m one of the good guys, Deborah. Tell me about Mr. Porter.”

“You don’t look like a good guy.” She smiled at him again.

“Mr. Porter, Deborah. Concentrate. Other than boring, what was he?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. He came in, worked hard, and went home.”

“Ever make a pass at you?”

Deborah chortled. “Mr. Porter? Not a chance. He was so crazy about his wife, he didn’t even know there were other women on earth.”

Zack stopped smiling. “But he just got divorced.”

“Oh, that was her idea.” Deborah looked around and dropped her voice. “Long overdue, if you ask me. I mean, he would have bored me to death. I met her at the Christmas party. She was really nice. Quiet, but nice. Mr. Porter showed her off like she was something he owned, but he was crazy about her. You could see it. I mean, Evan Hatch just asked her to dance, and he was furious about it. He hasn’t spoken to Evan since.”

“Evan Hatch?”

Deborah jerked her head to her right and Zack stepped back to look at the teller two windows down. He was about five foot four, a hundred and twenty pounds, and bald.

Zack frowned at Deborah. “Porter was jealous of him?”

“He was jealous of everybody. I told you. He was crazy about her.”

Zack tried again. “I thought I heard the divorce was because he’d had an affair.”

“No way,” Deborah said. “It was his wife and nobody else. And listen, he had his chances. I mean, have you ever seen him?”

Zack shook his head.

“Check out his picture. It’s over there.” Deborah nodded her head in the direction of the big glass doors.

“He’s really great looking. Believe me, a lot of women were interested.” She cocked her head. “Not me. I like my men a little rougher, not as handsome, if you know what I mean.” She smiled at Zack again.

“And I even shaved,” Zack said.

“What?”

“Nothing. So aside from being boring, he was the perfect boss?”

“Well, he was a nitpicker.” Deborah made a face. “But we got used to it. And then about two weeks ago, he really let up and stopped watching us all the time. It would have been really nice, except he was so grumpy. That’s when Mrs. Elmore came around and told us about the divorce. She said we should be understanding.”

Zack squinted back at Mrs. Elmore. “She doesn’t look like the understanding type.”

“She’s not,” Deborah said. “Unless it’s Mr. Porter.”

“Oh.”

“The divorce may have depressed Mr. Porter, but it cheered Mrs. Elmore right up. When he comes back, he’s not going to have a chance.”

“Maybe I won’t arrest him then.” Zack gazed over his shoulder at Mrs. Elmore. “That could be punishment enough.”

Deborah’s mouth dropped open. “You’re going to arrest him?”

“No.” Zack turned back hastily. “That’s a little police humor. Very little. Did you notice anything else different about Mr. Porter lately? Besides the grumpiness?”

“Nope. The grumpiness was it.”

“Okay, listen. Here’s my card.” Zack handed it over. “If you think of anything else, call me, please.”

“Anything?” Deborah batted her eyelashes at him.

“Anything about Mr. Porter. You should be ashamed of yourself, trying to pick up a cop on duty.”

“Don’t you ever get off duty?”

“No. I live for my work.” Zack turned to see Anthony waiting patiently by the door. “Well, I’ve got to go, my driver is waiting. Thanks, Deborah. You were a great help.”

“Anytime,” Deborah said. “Really.”

On his way out the door, Zack stopped by the gallery of employee portraits that Gamble Hills First National had assembled to give the customers a nice feeling of family as they parted from their money. Among the dozen or so faces, Deborah dimpled, and Mrs. Elmore grimaced and, at the very top like the Big Daddy of banking, Bradley Porter stared down and was not amused.

He was classically handsome-thick wavy blond hair, a straight Roman nose, a chiseled chin with a hint of a cleft, and the coldest grey eyes Zack had ever seen.

What the hell had Lucy been thinking of to marry this… this… fish?

“Zack?” Anthony called from just inside the door. “You ready?”

She needed a keeper. Not him, of course, but still…

“Zack?”

“Yeah.” Zack followed him out to the car.

“Another blonde?” Anthony said when Zack got in the car beside him. “Is this a trend for you?”

“Blonde?”

“The teller.”

“Deborah? No. Blondes are too dangerous. I’m only interested in brunettes. Like Mrs. Ehnore. Drive and tell me all about her undying passion for Bradley Porter. And then tell me what motel she’s been meeting Mm at so we can go get him.”

Anthony put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot “We can’t go get him. He’s in Kentucky.”

“ Kentucky?” Zack scowled at him as if it were his fault “What the hell is he doing in Kentucky when we want him here?”

“Communing with nature to heal his tortured soul. Or something like that. He’s brokenhearted. His wife, who is cold and unfeeling, did not understand him.”

“He said that? The rat. Drive to Kentucky.”

“I don’t think so. We have reports to fill out And we do not have any conclusive link between our Bradley and Lucy’s Bradley.”

“He’s not Lucy’s Bradley.” Zack tapped his fingers on the window edge. “I tell you what Let’s search the house. We’ll find the link. Trust me on this one. I’ve got…”

“Reports to fill out,” Anthony said.

“Oh, hell,” Zack said.

THE SHOWER FELT wonderful.

The hot water stung Lucy’s body and made her skin tingle, which made her think of Zack, which made her tingle more.

It was ridiculous. He’d mugged her in an alley, then he’d argued with her in her living room, and now she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was particularly ridiculous to be looking forward to seeing him again. Of course, that was mostly because he was coining to search her house, and when he didn’t find anything, then he’d have to admit that he was wrong and she was right and that the only criminal thing Bradley had ever done was bring that blonde into her house.

Lucy tested herself for pain on the last thought. Did that hurt anymore? Maybe it never had. Maybe the emotion she’d felt was more repressed rage that Bradley had brought that woman into her house. She was going to have stop repressing her rage.

She definitely wasn’t feeling any pain over Bradley’s blonde anymore.

And she’d lost the feeling she’d had that the house had been contaminated. That really went when she threw Bradley’s chair down the stairs. That had been a wonderful moment. For just a moment, she’d felt totally out of control.

Like Zack.

Zack. What did she see in him? The man was a patronizing maniac who thought he had a hot line to the universe. Trust his instincts. Ha, as Mrs. Dover would say.

Well, sort of ha.

Actually, she was willing to bet that he had great instincts for some things. In fact, she was willing to bet that he had better instincts than she’d ever had. She was willing to bet…

Lucy stuck her head directly under the water from the showerhead, trying to wash Zack out of her mind.

Think about something else. Think about anything else.

Well, there was exercise. Like running the stairs instead of the road because some maniac with incredible instincts…

Try again.

Running the stairs was terrific for your heart, but murder on your quadriceps. Lucy glanced down to look at hers only to stop, horrified, all thoughts of Zack gone, as she stared at the water as it swirled into the drain.

It was black. The blackest water she’d ever seen.

Which meant her hair wasn’t anymore.

“Oh, no,” she moaned and leaned her head against the shower wall.

It left a big black smudge when she stood straight again.

Five minutes later, her body wrapped in a full-length white terry-cloth robe and her head in a terry-cloth towel, Lucy stood in front of her bedroom mirror and prayed. Then she took a deep breath, pulled the towel off her head, and stared at her hair in the mirror.

It was a strange color, like very bad moss; a sort of intensely dull, dark grey-green that absorbed all the light and energy around it.

“My hair has turned into a black hole,” she said to the mirror. “Complete absence of light.” She looked down at the towel. It was covered with black smudges. “How long before this washes out of my hair? How long before I’m a horrible blonde again?”

As she stared at herself, a new and even more horrible possibility hit her.

How long before it falls out?

Einstein waddled into the bedroom and stopped to stare.

“ Independence is not working out for me,” Lucy told him.

“THE LAB REPORT IS IN,” Zack said when he joined Anthony back in the squad room. ‘ “The brick wall did not help the bullet at all.” He tossed the report to Anthony who was typing a report of his own. “As always, Patricia will be glad to hazard an unofficial guess if we ever find another.38 to match, but she says no way will we ever have anything to take to court based on the bullet from the wall.”

Anthony shoved the report out of the way and went back to typing. “So we have nothing.”

“Not exactly. We have Lucy.” Zack sat on the edge of his desk. “And Lucy’s house, which we’re going to have to search now that we can’t find Bradley the rat. I need to talk to Lucy again anyway.”

“Is this an instinct?” Anthony hit the return carriage.

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I have a real instinct about Lucy Savage.”

“So now the only question is, What kind of instinct?” Anthony grinned while he typed.

“What? Oh, no. Not a chance. I can’t even imagine her naked.”

“What?” Anthony stopped typing and started to laugh. “I don’t believe it. You were the one who once described Queen Elizabeth naked.”

“That was in college.”

“Yeah, but I’ve never forgotten it” Anthony shook his head. “So now you’ve lost the ability to imagine women naked? That’s a bad sign, Zack.”

“I haven’t lost anything,” Zack snapped. “And it’s just with Lucy. It’s her fault. She’s just not that kind of woman.”

“And Queen Elizabeth is? I don’t think so. I think you’re attracted to her. You respect her. This could be it Love. Marriage.” Anthony paused. “Maturity.”

“Don’t be juvenile. Did you try those phone numbers that Elmore gave you for Porter? The motel in Kentucky and the one for the place where he’s been staying here in town?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago. He has a room in Kentucky, but he’s not answering. The one here is a hotel in Overlook. The room is rented to a guy named John Beulah. And the phone is busy.”

Zack frowned. “What would Bradley Porter be doing registered under an assumed name in a hotel in Overlook?”

“Saving money? It’s definitely the lowest of the low-rent districts.”

“Well, then, that’s our next move.” Zack stood. “Let’s check out the hotel right away before whoever it is gets off the phone. I love Overlook. It always makes me feel like a real cop- paranoid.”

“I have to finish this first.” Anthony frowned as he typed. “It’s almost done. Patience.”

“And after the hotel, we can hit Lucy’s place,” Zack said. “I think we’re making progress.” He started to pace. “Could you hurry up? We’ve got things to do here. I want to get to Lucy’s before lunch.”

“Just a minute. Just one minute. Amuse yourself.” Anthony’s phone rang and he answered, “Taylor, Property Crimes.” Then he looked grim, and said, “Right away,” and hung up. “We have a gunshot victim. Female.”

Zack’s heart stopped for a moment. “Not Lucy. Tell me I didn’t leave her alone for some creep to-”

“Not Lucy. Not unless she went blonde again and checked into a hotel in Overlook.”

Zack shook his head, relieved. “No. Not a chance. The dogs wouldn’t like Overlook.” Then he stopped. “Overlook? It can’t be.”

Anthony nodded. “Same room number as our rat Bradley. After I called, the desk clerk went up to check and found her unconscious, still clutching the phone. He called the rescue squad, and she’s on her way to Emergency now.”

“I’ll be damned. He’s shacked up with the blonde in the slums, and then he shoots her and leaves for Kentucky? This makes no sense. Wait. How did they know this was our problem?”

“Because they found your name and phone number on a paper in her purse. Detective Warren. Property Crimes. And you’ll love this part…”

“Come on, come on.”

“Shot with a.38.”

Zack smacked his hand on the desk. “She’s our phone tip. John Bradley found out, shot at us on the street, and then went back and shot her. So where is Bradley Porter in this? This makes no sense, but at least it’s a connection between Bradley Porter and crime. Let’s go.”

“What about Lucy? Aren’t you going to call her?”

“And tell her what?” Zack grabbed his jacket. “She’ll keep. Let’s go.”

“What did you do, hypnotize this woman?” Anthony said, but he picked up his jacket and followed him out the door.

IT WAS EARLY AFTERNOON when Lucy’s phone finally rang.

“Hello?” she answered, trying to sound nonchalant.

“You didn’t call me last night,” Tina said. “I got your message on the machine and called you back, but all I got was a busy signal. What happened?”

“I forgot,” Lucy said, trying not to feel disappointed. She curled up in her blue overstuffed chair. “And the busy signal was Einstein. He knocked the phone table over.”

“Why you don’t have everything bolted to the floor in that place is beyond me. If you must live with a herd of animals, you should be prepared. Anyway, tell me about the mugger. You really beat one up? That’s terrific!”

“Well, sort of.”

“You only ‘sort of beat him up?”

“No, it’s only sort of terrific. I really beat him up. His lip looked awful. Of course, he keeps swearing that I didn’t beat him up-”

“You talked to this creep? That means the police got him. Good!”

“Well, in a manner of speaking. I sent some policemen after him, but I didn’t realize what had happened until he showed up at my door-”

“Who?” Tina asked, confused.

“Zack. He…”

“Who’s Zack?”

“The guy in the alley,” Lucy said, and Tina groaned.

“And now you’re on a first-name basis with him and you won’t press charges because he’s told you about his horrible childhood in reform school. Lucy, you are too damn nice!”

“Not exactly-”

“Forget it. I’m coming over, and we’re going to the police and get this Zack character sent up the river for life. I know a cop now. That suit in the diner yesterday turned out to have a badge. You stay there. I’ll call him and Benton.”

Lucy sat up straighter and clutched the phone. “No, Tina-”

“Do you think the police will be able to find him?”

“Probably. He works for them.”

There was a short silence. “What?” Tina said finally.

“He’s a cop,” Lucy said.

“You beat up a cop?”

“That depends on who you talk to. From my point of view, yes. From Zack’s, no.”

“Zack.”

“Zack Warren. Detective Zachary Warren.” Lucy relaxed into her chair again. “He has blue eyes. You remember. He was the black leather in the restaurant yesterday.”

“Don’t do this,” Tina said.

“What?”

“We’ve got to talk. Meet me for lunch at the Maisonette.”

“I can’t. Zack told me not to leave.”

“What? He just told you…”

“He thinks somebody’s trying to kill me.”

There was another silence.

“Stay there,” Tina said finally. “I’m coming over with Chinese takeout, and you are going to tell me everything.”

“All right,” Lucy said. “But I better warn you. My hair is…different.”

“Different,” Tina said. “I can’t wait.”

“She’s unconscious.” Zack slumped, defeated, in a plastic chair outside the hospital-room door. “Of course, she’s unconscious. She’s been bleeding into the carpet for hours. No ID. Nothing. This is making me crazy.”

“You were already crazy.” Anthony checked his watch. “Come on, we have things to do. The desk clerk just identified John Bradley as the man who used the room. We have to get a picture of Bradley Porter to him, too.”

Zack stared into space. “Bradley. Rat Bradley. I wonder where he is now?”

“Well, not back at the hotel. Let’s go check out the room. Forensics hasn’t found anything so far, but maybe…”

“I really want to arrest him,” Zack said. “Attempted murder is as good a reason as any.”

“Better than most,” Anthony agreed. “Now move. We need to get started on this. It’s looking like it will take us the rest of the day and most of the night, as it is.”

“Rat Bradley,” Zack said, and Anthony gave up and pulled him to his feet and out the door.

TINA BROUGHT HER a baseball bat.

“Thank you.” Lucy looked at it doubtfully. “You haven’t signed me up for intramurals or anything, have you?”

“Of course not. It’s for your protection.”

Tina marched through the living room and dining room and into the kitchen, while Lucy trailed behind her with the bat. She dumped two bags of Chinese food on the kitchen table, and then took the bat from Lucy and propped it by the back door. “If anybody tries to break in here, you hit him with this. Hard.”

“Tina, nobody is trying to kill me. That’s Zack’s fantasy, not reality.”

“Tell me about it.” Tina opened the first carton of food.

An hour later, she was still curious. “So he really thinks somebody was shooting at you?” she said as she polished off her Mu Shu pork.

“Yes. Isn’t that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Tina thought about it. “No. Not if there were marks on the locks, too. He’s right. You stay inside.”

Lucy shoved her plate away, exasperated. “What is it with you two? I don’t even talk to my dogs the way you two talk to me.”

“Well, you should,” Tina glared at Einstein who was eyeing the Mu Shu pork carton. “They’d have better manners. So what’s Zack like?”

“Erratic. Quick temper. Never still. Gorgeous blue eyes. Very short attention span. Not my type at all.” She stopped and then added primly, “Although I have had some inappropriate thoughts about him. Very inappropriate. Not that I’ll ever do anything about it. Still, the dogs like him.” She pulled her plate back and scooped up some garlic chicken while she contemplated Zack. “He’s sort of bossy, but I like him.”

Tina grinned. “Imagine my surprise. I’ve changed my mind. I think you should do something about it.”

“About what?”

“About this thing you have for Zack.”

Lucy shook her head. “Not a chance. My hair alone would send any sane man screaming into the street.”

Tina looked at Lucy’s moss-colored hair. “Maybe if you wear a lot of forest green. Maybe he’s a Tolkien fan.”

“Maybe I’ll kill myself,” Lucy said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tina said. “I brought Haagen-Dazs. Triple Brownie Overload.”

“Maybe I’ll live,” Lucy said.

WHEN TINA FINALLY LEFT Lucy’s house at eleven, Zack still hadn’t called.

It was for the best, Lucy knew. After all, she’d just gotten divorced. After all, he was too much of a loose screw to ever be good for her.

After all, her hair looked like a bad carpet.

“Tomorrow is another day,” she told the dogs. “And it’s the first day of the rest of my independence. The heck with Zack Warren. The heck with all men. It’s easier to be independent without them anyway.”

The dogs looked skeptical.

“Oh, forget it,” Lucy said. “Let’s go to bed.”

“OF COURSE, IT WON’T GO into court,” Anthony said at eight the next morning as he hung up the phone. “But Patricia and the lab send you their best wishes and the considered opinion that the bullet from the blonde is a match for the bullet that missed you.”

“I think it’s time we talked to Lucy.” Zack picked up the phone and dialed. “I was going over there later today, anyway.”

“That explains why you shaved two days in a row. We’re all grateful.”

Zack ignored him. “Come on, pick it up,” he said into the phone. “I told you not to answer the door. It’s okay to pick up the phone.” But after the twelfth ring, his annoyance faded and turned to cold fear. “She’s not answering.”

Anthony grabbed his jacket. “Let’s go. Looks like she opened the door, after all.”