Page 95 of The 6:20 Man

CHAPTER

41

DEVINE LEFT HER ON THE roof and hit the street once more. He had only gone about ten feet when he had an idea. He used his phone to look up the real estate records to see who owned Montgomery’s building.

Bingo.It was owned by the good old Locust Group.

He put his phone away and was starting to walk toward the nearest subway station when two men approached from the shadows.

Detectives Shoemaker and Ekman.

They both looked grungier and even more pissed off than the last time. And that was saying something. Shoemaker took the cigarette out of his mouth and tapped it dead on the pavement with the heel of his shoe.

He’d probably like to do the same to me, mused Devine.

“So, are you following me now?” he asked. “I feel very special.”

Neither man said anything.

“Found Detective Karl Hancock yet?”

“He doesn’t exist,” said Ekman.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Because we think you made him up.”

“And why would I do that?”

Ekman barked, “To make yourself look innocent. An alleged victim of some nutty conspiracy to throw us off the scent.”

“Oh, right. And it worked so well. I mean, you guys spent, what, minutes, going down the rabbit hole because of it?”

Shoemaker said darkly, “Shut up with the smart mouth. Who were you visiting in that building?”

“It’s got nothing to do with what you’re looking into.”

“We’ll be the judge of that,” snapped Ekman.

“No, you won’t be.”

“You think we’re messing around here?” said Ekman, drawing so close Devine could smell his fuggy breath. “You think we screw around with murder investigations?”

“I think you’re trying to do all you can to solve it. At least I hope you are. Have you checked the video feed? Examined the electronic entry log for the time in question? You have a time window you can fit your suspects in. I actually pointed all that out to Detective Hancock.”

The only response was twin glares.

He looked at each of them. “Please tell me you’ve at least done that.”

“There seems to be a little electronic hiccup,” conceded Ekman.

Oh, it’s bigger than a little hiccup, Mr. Homicide Detective.

“Okay. And in case you talk to her again, Mrs. Ewes asked me to meet with them tonight. I already have. She told me about your finding the abortion clinic.” He glanced around, thinking. “But maybe you followed me here from Brooklyn.”

“She shouldn’t have told you anything.”

“Did you explicitly tell her not to? Because I think with that lady, you give her any wiggle room and it’s off to the races. Just my two cents.”