Blue Molly (Danny Logan Mystery #5) (23 page)

Everyone was already seated when I walked into the conference room. From the happy chatter, I’d have to say the mood was almost festive. I looked at Toni, seated across the table from me, and I just shook my head. She shouldn’t even be here. Her ankle wasn’t broken, and that was a good thing, but it was badly sprained. She’d left Harborview last night sporting a soft cast and crutches along with an admonishment from Pri to rest it for a few days. Her interpretation of “rest” was probably different than Pri’s and she’d been zooming up and down the hall all morning long on her new crutches. I think she was trying to get Kenny to race her, for God’s sake. She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Let’s get started,” I said. “Couple things. First, I want to start by saying you’ve all done a great job on this case. The company performed really well, and I’m sure Mike and Sylvia appreciate what we did.”

“Hear! Hear!” Richard said.

I continued. “Next thing. The buddy system is canceled.”

Doc nodded. “Good.” He turned to Kenny. “No offense.”

Kenny shrugged. “None taken. I was tired of eating grasshoppers and rattlesnake anyway.”

Doc smiled and gave Kenny a salute with the middle finger that means the same thing in Apache as in English.

Toni started to ask a question when the office phone rang. Caller ID: Miguel.

I turned the phone around and punched the speakerphone button.

Miguel was nearly giddy. “Danny, Danny, Danny! Congratulations are in order, my man. Helluva job,
helluva
job!
I talked to the captain this morning, and he said he’s going to recommend a commendation for you to the chief.”

I smiled. “That’s nice. I appreciate the thought.”

“No problem. Plus I’ve got news. I’ve got good news, and I’ve got some bad news. Which one you want first?”

“Good news!” Toni said.

“Hi, Toni!” Miguel said. “You feeling better?”

“I’m okay, thanks.”

“Excellent. Okay. Good news first. Last night after the showdown, we had a CSI Unit do a thorough search of Laskin’s shop. I just went through the listing, and you’ll never guess what they found in one of his desk drawers.”

“I give up.”

“You don’t even want to try?”

“Nope.”

“Geez. What a stick-in-the-mud. They found a file folder. Inside it were these three separate documents: contracts. Each of them reads ‘Offer and Acceptance Agreement for Real Property—King County, Washington.’ Each has a business card stapled to it: a Jeffrey R. Drake, Esquire. Seems the late Mr. Laskin had an interest in purchasing the Lyon Building.”

I perked up. “He did?”

“He did—some kind of interest, anyway. Unless I’m mistaken, there’s no way he would have had these unless—”

“Unless he had something to do with the offers,” I said, and smiled. “It
was
him, then.”

“You were worried about it, weren’t you?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Well, you can rest easy. You got your man.”

“Wow,” I said. “You know, suspecting someone of something and having it confirmed are two different things. It’s always a relief.”

“Damn straight. Now—you want the bad news? Actually, it’s more our bad news than yours.”

“What?” I asked.

“Well, you know that briefcase that the LA Russians brought with them?”

“Never actually saw it, but you mean the one with the $500,000 in unmarked bills?”

“Yep. That’s the one. We never saw it either because it turns out that it’s missing.”

“Really?”

“Believe me, dude,” he said. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”

“Damn. You sure it was there?”

“The DEA UA says it was
definitely
there. Says Mishkin gave it to Laskin, who took the case into the areaway and brought back the Blue Molly. Now, we can’t find the case.”

“It’s gotta be down there somewhere,” I said.

“I know. We’ve got a whole squadron down there now. The DEA is all over us—they’re saying it’s their bust and they want the money.”

“That figures,” I said. “They weren’t even there.”

“Welcome to life in my world,” Miguel said.

We said good-bye and hung up. I was about to say something when a movement in the parking lot caught my eye. I looked out the window and saw a familiar-looking black Hyundai parked in our lot. I watched it for a second, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.

“Son of a bitch,” I said, shaking my head and chuckling. “Oh, Toni? Guess who’s here to see you.”

She glanced at me, then spun her chair around to spy where I was looking. Kenny spun his around as well. Doc and Richard simply stood up so that they could see better.

“What am I looking for?” Richard asked.

“Black Hyundai, third row, second from the end,” Doc said almost immediately.

“Richard,” I said, “that, right there, is a strange little man. You’ve heard us joke about Toni’s husband?” I nodded. “Well, there he is. And the baffling thing is, I warned him once. Doc warned him—practically skewered him with his frog sticker. Toni dangled him upside down over the parking lot and threatened to drop him. But nothing works. This guy doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. He won’t leave Toni alone.” I reached for my coat. “Well, enough’s enough. I warned him about what was going to happen next.” I started for the door.

“Wait,” Toni said. “What are you going to do, macho man? Go down there and beat the shit out of him? Ever occur to you that that might be exactly what he wants? That he might be baiting you into doing just that? He might want you to go to jail, and waving a red flag in front of a macho bull like you would be a surefire way to do it, right?”

I looked at her. “Yeah. But what if I think that it’d be worth it?”

“Oh, come on, Danny. Just relax, okay? Why don’t you sit down and watch for a minute?”

I looked at her without speaking. I had no idea what she meant. “What do you mean?”

“Sit!” she commanded. “Won’t hurt you. He’s not going anywhere.” She turned to Kenny. “We’re ready, right?”

He nodded. “Hell, yeah. We’re hundred percent go.”

I looked at the two of them. “What are you guys up to?”

She ignored me and spun the conference room phone around. She punched in a number and a few seconds later, we heard, “Detective Nguyen.”

“Hey, Tommy, it’s Toni Blair.”

“Hey, Toni. I heard about your deal last night. You come out okay?”

I was confused. I’d never heard of Detective Tommy Nguyen.

“Yeah. I twisted my ankle, but I’m alright. Guess what?”

“I give.”

“He’s here.”

“He’s at your place? Right now?”

“Our office—can you believe it? You guys ready?”

“Hell yes. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

“He’s in a black Hyundai, third row from the front. Second car in from the water. You should block all the entrances.”

“Gotcha. Don’t come down until we’re there. I don’t want you to spook him.”

“See you in a minute.”

She hung up, then turned to me. “See? I didn’t even have to hit anybody.”

I gave her a “What the hell?” look, but she just smiled, then stuck her tongue out at me, again. “Relax,” she said. “Sit down. Wait for the show to start.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, an unmarked police car and two cruisers entered the lot from the south. Right behind them, another squad car pulled in sideways and blocked the lane, while still another did the same thing on the north entrance.

Toni leaned over, but Kenny popped up and grabbed her crutches. He helped her to her feet. Toni turned to me. “Shall we?”

* * * *

Because of her crutches, Toni was about to take the elevator downstairs. But the elevator is in the middle of the building, while the stairs are right outside our door. “To hell with that,” I said. I scooped her up in my arms. My shoulder didn’t hurt at all anymore.

“Danny, you’re going to hurt yourself,” she said.

I smiled. “No, I’m not. We’re good. We’re going downstairs.”

She handed Doc her crutches, and we hurried on down. By the time we reached Rico’s car, the police had him leaned over the hood, frisking him. Bit by bit, they stacked a small pile of contraband into a little pile on his hood. I recognized what looked like a crack pipe, a knife, and, alarmingly, a small revolver. Then, what looked like a bump key, a set of lock picks, then a slim-jim. The more time we spent, the more stuff they pulled out.

“Hi, Toni . . . Kenny,” a short man with dark hair said. “Good to see you guys.”

Toni nodded. “You, too, Tommy.” She pointed to me. “This is my boyfriend and boss, Danny Logan. Danny, this is Tommy Nguyen. He’s in the burglary division.”

“Good to meet you, Danny,” Tommy said, shaking my hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I gave a quick nod. “Well, then, I’m afraid you have the advantage on me. What’s happening here?”

“Last week, I got a phone call from Lieutenant Dwayne Brown. I met with Dwayne and his partner, Gus Symanski, whom I’m told you know, and of course Toni, here, and Kenny.”

I nodded. “When did this happen?”

“Last Wednesday,” Toni said. “When you and Doc were in the areaway finding George Tanner.”

I nodded.

Tommy continued. “I was surprised to see that these two had a videotape that showed Mr. Maroni obviously breaking into a house and then into an automobile. Toni turned over the tape and provided full details. I showed it to my lieutenant. He was interested, but he’s a little leery. He wanted to see if we could recover any of the stolen goods. It took us until yesterday to find out where the suspect was staying and to get a search warrant, but when we went in, the place was full of two things. One, it was full of stolen property. And two, it was also full of the most disgusting, vile child pornography imaginable. We immediately got an arrest warrant, but then we couldn’t find him. Until now! Lo and behold! Apparently, Maroni has a Toni Blair habit that’s done him in.”

I looked at Toni. “You set this up? You guys took the videos?”

She smiled. “Me and Kenny. We followed him. We got lucky.”

I shook my head. “Huh.”

“Anyway,” Tommy said, “so now, we get to do this.” He walked over to where Rico was still bent over the hood of the car, and he looked at one of the officers standing beside Rico. “He’s been Mirandized?”

The officer nodded.

“Okay, then. Turn him around.”

The officer straightened Rico up and spun him around.

“Rico Maroni,” Tommy said, “you’re under arrest for burglary and probably a whole bunch of other stuff, too.” He paused, then he added, “But that’s good enough for now. Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure this is going to violate your parole.”

Rico looked at Toni. He had a confused, hurt look in his eye. Some bad guys are cunning and seem perfectly able to take care of themselves. Others are evil sociopaths, like Pavel Laskin. Still others, like Rico Maroni, are just pathetic losers. The common denominator? All of them lie, hurt, cheat, and steal. Maroni looked sad and helpless, but he was no different.

Fortunately, Toni understood this. Her voice was surprisingly strong. “Rico, you need help. You need to take advantage of whatever counseling they offer, but you do not belong out on the streets the way you are. I hope you’re able to make the most of whatever opportunities you’re given. Good luck.”

Tommy nodded and with that, they marched Rico back to a waiting squad car and drove him away.

I had a meeting set up with Mike and Sylvia for 11:00 a.m. I’d been in a hurry last night to catch up with Toni, so I’d only spoken to them for a few seconds. Now I wanted to wrap things up and present them with our final bill. Plus, I had a few questions for Mike.

After our meeting, I jumped in Toni’s car and drove downtown to Occidental Park. When I got there, our usual spot, the lot on the north side of Washington kitty-corner from the park, was barricaded off, compliments of my blown-up Jeep. I got lucky and found a spot on the east side of the park. I pulled in and as soon as I got out, I spotted Abraham Foster, sitting on one of the same benches I’d seem him on before.

He saw me approach and he stood, smiling broadly. I waved. “I’ve got a meeting! I’ll be back in a few!” I called out. He smiled and nodded, so I hustled on over to the gallery. Before I entered, I looked up the sidewalk. When Laskin had gone over the edge last night, he’d landed about fifty feet east of Sylvia’s Main Street front door, which made it about one hundred feet west of where we’d found George Tanner last week. Laskin fell nearly sixty feet, coming to an inevitable stop at the hard concrete sidewalk. There’d been quite a mess. I looked over and saw that, sometime during the night, the city had cleaned everything up. This morning, it was as if nothing had happened.

“Danny!” Sylvia cried when she saw me enter. She’d been talking to Omar Reynolds, but she smiled broadly and hurried over to me. “How’s our favorite detective this morning? And how’s Toni?”

We shook hands. “I’m excellent, and she’s getting better,” I said. I shook hands with Omar as well.

“We are
so
grateful,” Sylvia said. “But we’re also sorry—we never thought this would lead to both of you getting injured and you having your car blown up! My goodness!”

I chuckled. “It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, that’s for sure. How’s Libby doing? Have you talked to her this morning?”

Sylvia nodded. “I did. It’s been quite a jolt to her system, I’ll tell you. But you’re right—she’s tough! Last night I told her to stay home today, but this morning, she called me. She actually said she was going to come in. I said ‘nonsense’ and in no uncertain terms I insisted that she stay home and recuperate. She finally agreed. She told me that she’d spoken with her mother, who was flying out to be with her for a few days. I think that’s just what she needs. I told her to take as long as she wants.”

I nodded. “Good. She’s earned it.” I looked around. “Is Mike around? I wanted to go through our final billing with the two of you, and I also had a few questions for him—building floor plan questions.”

“He is. He’s downstairs.” She turned to Omar. “Omar, would you be so kind as to excuse us?”

Omar said good-bye, then Sylvia buzzed Mike on the intercom. A minute later, he came upstairs, and I went through the whole handshake/congratulations thing all over again.