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Eddie

Before I left the courtroom, I took a second to reassure John Jackson that things were going to be okay. That the rest of the day would be rough, but not to worry. We were going to come back strong in the morning. Al Parish sat in the row behind John. I tapped Al on the elbow as I left court.

‘Walk with me,’ I said.

On my way to the elevator, I opened my phone and hit dial for Denise.

‘We’re in trouble,’ said Al.

‘Don’t I know it. Things are going to work out okay. I promise. I need your team of associates tonight. Same deal as last time. Street clothes. Dressed down.’

‘What are you going to have them do this time? Assault the district attorney’s office?’

‘Not exactly. I want to buy them dinner . . .’

I explained what I needed. Parish didn’t understand why I wanted it, but promised to make it happen. He was getting used to my method of legal practice.

Denise answered my call.

‘You know I said you could work from home today?’

‘Yeah . . .’ said Denise in a tone that said she had never really believed it.

‘I need you to call into the office and copy some documents for me as fast as possible.’

‘You want me to go into the office and Xerox documents?’

‘You and Kate are the only people on this planet who know how to operate that copy machine. Not even the man who built it can get it to work.’

‘How much do you need copied?’ she asked with a sigh.

‘Around eleven pounds . . .’

I made a stop at the store where Ruby bought her gym bag. Checked the photos Lake sent me. Zoomed in. I walked around the aisles until I found the exact same bag hanging on a rail. There were only two left in the store.

I smiled.

When I exited Target, I then hailed a cab and got dropped off at Lake’s Aztek, still parked across the street from Ruby’s building. I got into the passenger seat.

‘You been shopping?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I was going to get you some snacks, but they only had human food. Has he come out yet?’

‘Not yet.’

‘How long has he been in there?’

‘An hour.’

My phone buzzed. Message from Tony Two Fucks.

The Angel has checked in at the Clock Tower Building.

I had too many plates spinning in the air. It was time to start catching some of them.

‘What’s Christmas doing in there? Should we go check on her?’ I asked.

‘He’s talking. He likes to talk. I don’t think he’s going to harm Ruby. Not yet. He gave me his word.’

‘And you trust him?’

Lake shrugged, rubbed the steering wheel rhythmically as his heel bounced on the floor. As a naturally anxious man, it was hard to tell when he was genuinely worried or just conscious.

‘I want you waiting outside for when he comes out. Tell him to meet me at seven thirty tonight. I’ll be at 102 Norfolk Street – the Lower East Side Toy Company.’

‘What the hell are you doing? You’re going to meet a man that wants to kill you?’

‘I’ve met a lot of people that want to kill me. My ex-wife, for one. Look, it’ll be okay. I don’t walk into any place that I don’t know how to walk out of. Just set it up. After you talk to him, stay on Ruby. Kate thinks Ruby is at the heart of all of this. She saw the real killer that night. Somehow took the gun, planted it in John Jackson’s home. She has access to that house. And she did it all to blackmail the real killer into paying her a quarter of a million dollars. I don’t know how she got John’s DNA, and there’s no way to prove any of this. If Kate is right, and I think she is, then Ruby should be halfway to Rio by now. Why is she still here? I have a feeling she’s going to make some moves and we need to be there.’

I left the vehicle, was about to close the door behind me when I stopped, leaned down and said, ‘You know, the best place to look at this car is from the inside. And even that makes me feel ill.’

Lake gave me the finger.

As I stood on the street looking for a cab, I called Bugs. My guy who moonlighted as a tow-truck driver with his buddies, playing the part for me during the Jayden case against Sergeant Ben Gray.

‘How would you feel about coming out of retirement?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know, Eddie. I can’t do any more time. I’m too old for breaking and entering.’

‘I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. I need you and a couple of your buddies tonight – Karl and Little Sacks. I’m paying fifty grand. What do you say?’

‘For fifty grand I’ll break into Fort Knox.’

‘Relax, it’s not that big a deal. Just some light B’n’E. There’s two jobs. First one is real easy,’ I said.

‘What’s the first job?’

I waved down a yellow cab, said, ‘I need you to break into my car.’