Marx put away his phone, then climbed out of the passenger seat to join us. He glanced at me, but studied Jonna.
“We’re ten minutes out. You remember what we talked about?”
“Sure.”
“All you have to do is be visible. If Levy sees you and believes you’re alone, he’ll be more likely to stop. Once he’s out of the car, you go into the house. Cole will carry the ball.”
“I know.”
Marx waved toward the equipment.
“We’ll be able to hear everything you say. If you try to warn him, our deal goes out the window.”
“I’m not going to warn him.”
“So you know. We have your statement on tape now. We might not be able to convict Levy with it, but we’ll sure as hell go after you. Get back in the house. An officer will be inside to take care of you.”
“If I wanted to warn him I wouldn’t have agreed to do this. Relax.”
The plus-one laughed, but Marx ignored him.
“Something else I want you to know. Your safety is my number one concern. You won’t be able to see them, but we’ll have three sniper teams watching every move Levy makes. We will be watching him. If he shows a weapon or makes a threatening move toward you, we will put him down. We won’t give him a chance to hurt you.”
“Everyone will be watching him.”
“You can count on it.”
“I am.”
I patted her leg. The woman had committed murder with a cold-blooded obsession that had bought her a ticket to the psych ward, but I patted her leg. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped.
They let us out of the van in a Rite Aid parking lot in Hollywood not far from La Brea. Two men in civilian clothes who were probably D-team tactical operators were waiting in a green Chevy TrailBlazer.
Marx said, “That’s your ride. We’ll see you on the other side.”
The TrailBlazer barreled up La Brea, then onto the residential streets twisting up into Runyon Canyon. Jonna did not seem nervous. She made a soft, breathy whistle, singing to herself. Da-da-daa, da-da-daa. Staring at nothing and singing until we reached the house.
46
THE SWAT planners had made a good choice. The house was an old canyon cabin isolated by a curve in the road. It had probably been built in the twenties as a hunting lodge and later expanded, but it hadn’t been maintained in years. Jonna’s white Neon was parked beside it. The man who brought it was inside the house, where Jonna would wait until Levy was spotted. When the surveillance elements identified Levy, they would radio the man in the house. Then it was up to Jonna. All she had to do was let Levy see her so he would know she was present. Once Jonna was safely back inside the house, the rest would be up to me.
They dropped us by the Neon, then quickly drove away.
I said, “Don’t look around for the surveillance teams. You won’t see them, but someone might see you looking for them.”
“What happens if he doesn’t come?”
“We’ll be bored. You’d better get in the house. If he sees me out here with you, we’re screwed.”
I waited until she was inside, then moved into a gnarled clump of scrub oak on the opposite side of her car. If Levy stopped anywhere at the front of the house, I would be able to approach him without being seen. I wanted to surprise him.
I settled in to wait. Levy would come or not. Might be ten minutes, or never. The occasional car passed without slowing. Local residents. Construction workers. First-time hikers trying to find the park who took the wrong turn. None of them was Levy. I listened to thrushes and mockingbirds. None of them was Levy, either.
The trees whispered behind me, followed by a voice that wasn’t much louder.
Pike said, “Good spot.”
He settled onto the earth beside me.
I said, “Marx is really pissed right now. I’m wired.”
“You think I’m trusting someone else to cover your back?”
We fell silent. Marx would be cursing. He would be livid, but the blond plus-one would be trying not to laugh.
Jonna Hill stepped out of the house eight minutes later and went to the Neon. That was my signal and also the bait. A brown Dodge sedan crept around the curve, slowing to look. Levy was hunched over the wheel. He slowed even more when he saw Jonna, and stopped in the middle of the street. His head swiveled, searching the area.
Jonna stepped away from the Neon. She wasn’t supposed to go into the house until he got out of his car, and didn’t. Her lips moved as she studied the Dodge. She was singing again. Da-da-daa, da-da-daa.
The three sniper teams would be on him with telescopic sights, ready to rock if a gun appeared. If any of them saw a gun, that shooter would touch off a.30-caliber round traveling at 2600 feet per second. We didn’t want him dead. We wanted him alive, but that’s the way it would be if he made the wrong move.
The Dodge swung in a lazy arc and parked directly between Jonna and me. Levy got out, no more than a car length from her and two lengths from me. His coat and pants were wrinkled, as if he had been sleeping in them.
Pike sighed a whisper.
“Perfect.”
Jonna did not return to the house. She should have immediately gone inside, but she didn’t.
She said, “How did you find me?”
Levy responded as if this was the most natural moment in the world.
“You had me worried. Why didn’t you answer?”
I slipped from the trees, and he didn’t hear me until I was directly behind him.
I said, “Worried about what, Alan?”
He stumbled sideways so dramatically I thought he would fall, then spun in a panicked circle. I held up my hands, showing my palms and taking a step back.
“Don’t have a stroke. Everything’s cool. How’d it go at Leverage?”
When he realized he was still alive, he pulled himself together. He glanced past me to see if anyone else was coming, then at Jonna, then up and down the street. Frightened.
“The meeting got canceled.”
“Good. We have a lot to talk about. Jonna, why don’t you go inside, give us a chance to talk?”
Jonna said, “No.”
Levy glanced at Jonna with bug eyes. Jonna had moved closer. She was staring at him, and I didn’t like the way she was staring. Marx wouldn’t like it, either. The snipers would have a more difficult time with Jonna outside.
Levy said, “I can talk to her alone. You didn’t have to wait.”
I edged toward Jonna, trying to put myself between her and Levy, but Levy backed away. He hooked his thumbs on his belt under his jacket. I didn’t see a gun, but the shooters would be on high alert.
“Yeah, I did, Alan. My new best friend here, Jonna, and I have already talked. I know what happened.”
Levy glanced at her again and continued backing away.
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you do. Killing Lionel Byrd.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Alan, please. I caught you in one lie when you drove up. You told me you never met this girl, but you asked her why she hadn’t answered, you told her she had you worried.”
“I didn’t say anything like that. You must have misheard.”
Jonna said, “Yes, you did.”
I took a step after him, trying to keep up the pressure. I wanted Levy focused on me, not her, and I was still trying to get between them.
“Here’s what’s going to happen-you can pay me to keep your filthy little secrets, or we’ll go to the police. I’m thinking two million dollars, one for her, one for me. Sound good?”
Levy glanced up and down the street again as if he sensed the police were watching and knew he was being recorded.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t understand why you’re trying to do this, but I’m leaving-”
He suddenly veered toward the Dodge, and then Jonna said something that stopped both of us.
“I taped you, Alan.”
Fear played over his face as his eyes bulged.
“The day you gave me the pictures of the dead girls, I had a tape recorder under my shirt. I gave it to him. I let him listen.”