“Not Wendell.”
“Wendell is a follower, not a very bold type. Easily influenced. I inherited him on the force-should have sent him packing.”
“But who do you think attacked them-and almost killed Dillon?” she said softly.
“Charlie, you know I can’t make that kind of premature call. It muddies the waters. Makes a case harder to work.”
“But that’s the problem. You’re not working this case. Your own future is at stake and your hands are tied. You’re not allowed to dig out the facts.”
“And that is as it should be.”
“I wouldn’t be worth a damn as a cop. I’d be champing at the bit all the time, wanting to hurry up an investigation, get to the bottom line.”
Harper looked at her a long time, a look so intimate that Dulcie looked away, embarrassed.“You might,” Harper said, “make a good cop’s wife.”
Charlie’s face went totally red.
“Well,” he said gently, “you can cook and clean. Repair the roof and the plumbing, feed and care for the horses, even train a dog or two. In fact, come to that, you’re not a bad shot, either.” He reached to his belt. “I’ll try the radio, see if we can get a line on Clyde-though I doubt we’ll get much, this far underground.”
Charlie leaned forward to tie her shoe, as if getting control of herself.
Harper’s hand was on his radio when, atop the bunk, Joe Grey froze, watching the short stair and the black cellar beyond. A faint brushing sound, too faint for human ears. Hissing, unable to avoid a low growl, he took off up the steps and up the stairs beyond.
Behind him, Harper extinguished the light and palmed his automatic. Charlie moved to follow Joe, but Harper pulled her back, shoved her to a crouching position at the side of the fallen door. Only Dulcie followed him, racing into the night.
The two humans waited, frozen and silent, the shooters crouched and aiming. And Dillon and the kit slept innocent and unaware.
24 [????????: pic_25.jpg]
DRIVINGthe old green Plymouth, Clyde tried every evasive tactic he’d ever learned from Harper or from watching cop flicks, ducking into driveways, doubling back to slip down an alley, making sure the black convertible was there behind him. With both of them running dark, he prayed no late-hour pedestrian or innocent animal hurried into the street. Crossing Ocean, Crystal stepped on the gas, but at the next intersection she held back as if wary of the brighter streetlight. Glancing back, he lifted a bag of cleaning rags from the seat beside him, let it be seen through the windows as if a passenger had stuck her head up. When Crystal speeded up, narrowing the distance for a better look, he dropped the bag on the seat.
In his rearview mirror, he couldn’t see her passenger. Was he lying low or had he bailed out?
Maybe he’d picked up another car, would come slipping out of a side street to cut him off, thinking he had the child.
Or had Crystal’s passenger spotted Charlie and Dillon, and was on their tail? They’d be high in the hills now, driving alone on empty, lonely roads, winding toward the Pamillon place. Harper might be following them, or he might not. Clyde was glad he’d given Charlie a gun, glad for their evenings, after hamburgers or Mexican, when he’d taken her to the police range and taught her the proper use of the weapon-glad, he supposed, for Harper’s later training, on the nights Charlie went up there to work with the pups. He didn’t know how he felt about that.
His relationship with Charlie, though they’d had their moments, seemed to have settled from hot romance into an easy and comfortable friendship.
Was that his fault or hers? He took two more corners, Crystal still on his tail. She’d bolt when she saw where he was headed. Lifting the ragbag again, he dropped it as an oncoming car swerved toward him, its lights blazing on high, moving fast. He tramped the gas, did a hard peel across the intersection on two wheels and down the side street, his rearview mirrors catching the lights as the car screamed on his tail.
It sideswiped him hard, knocking him into the oncoming lane. He managed to spin a U. It hit him again, sent him over the curb and across the sidewalk. The police station loomed half a block ahead. He hit the gas hard. He thought the car was turning away when it spun and hit him broadside-sent the Plymouth sideways into the department’s plate-glass window, exploding glass. He threw open the door as a shot rang, and dove in a flying lunge toward the swinging glass doors and through them, nearly trampled as cops came boiling out. Two guys jumped over him where he sprawled. A young corporal stepped on his hand. Three more shots rang out,bing, bing, bing.A small-caliber rifle. He saw its flame blaze from an officer’s hands, aimed to stop the driver. When it didn’t stop him, two patrol cars took off, on his tail.
And two officers grabbed Clyde, jerking his arms behind him, slapping on cuffs. Those two new rookies. He shouted, but no one paid attention. The dispatcher was busy calling the sheriff for assistance. The whole force was in action. Detective Davis spun him around, took one look, looked disgusted, and unlocked the cuffs.
At least he was inside the station, out of the line of fire-maybe.
The offending car was gone, four squad cars scorching after it. He hadn’t seen what happened to Crystal; the black convertible had vanished. He sat down on the nearest desk, watching through the shattered window as Davis joined Hendricks, assessing the damage to the building. In a few minutes, two officers came up the street, marching a tall, good-looking guy beforethem, strong-arming him into the station. Baker. Stubby Baker. Clyde looked him over and went out to look at the Plymouth, his shoes crunching shattered glass.
Shoving through a crowd of onlookers, some in pajamas and robes, and several homeless with their backpacks, who seemed to greatly enjoy the entertainment, he scanned the street for Crystal’s convertible. But she’d be long gone. The left side of the Plymouth was totaled.
Moving back inside, he watched as Baker was booked and printed. The well-made, darkhaired man was wide-eyed with surprised innocence. Clyde prayed that Charlie and Harper and Dillon were safe, and he worried about the cats. He’d learned long ago not to argue with cats. Hardheaded and stubborn, they had bulled their way into Charlie’s BMW. He guessed, after rescuing Dillon, they had a right to be in on the action-but they were so small and easily hurt. If he let himself worry about them, it tied his belly in knots.
Detective Davis sat down on the desk beside him, her dark eyes appraising.“What’s going on, Damen? Why did he ram you? Why was he chasing you?”
He laid out as much of the scenario as he could reveal, told her that Charlie had found Dillon Thurwell in Crystal Baker’s apartment, that Dillon had been locked in a cellar, that when Charlie got her out, Baker and Crystal followed and pulled a gun on them. He described his and Charlie’s ploy to get Dillon away, their vehicular shell game. He didn’t mention Harper.
Davis pushed back her short, dark hair.“So where are they now?” Her brown eyes were unreadable. He saw Officer Wendell beyond her, quietly listening.
“I don’t know where Charlie took her. Maybe up the coast. Crystal was after them. Black Mercedes convertible. She was on my tail until Baker started ramming me.”
“And where’s Harper? He’s staying with you.”
“I-we started out together. He’s in another car.”
“Is Charlie carrying?”
He nodded. The department knew he’d had Charlie on the range.
Davis sighed.“If you know anything that you’re not telling us…”
He looked evenly at the solid, sensible woman.“I want Dillon safe, we need to find Dillon.”
“Can you tell me anything more?”
He glanced toward Wendell. Davis widened her eyes.
“I don’t know anything more, Juana. I want Dillon and Charlie and Harper safe.“Iwant the cats safe,he thought.I want Joe Grey back in one piece.
Joe was so enraged by this scam against Harper, that Clyde had no idea what the tomcat would do. He looked solemnly at Davis.“You going to arrest me?”