“Look, Dev I’m sorry about the shooting, I didn’t mean for it to happen like that.”
“Not entirely your fault, darling.”
“But it is, if I’d been more careful, I should have…”
“Look you can’t be watching over me all the time. How were you to know Nikki, or whoever, was going to attempt a drive-by at high noon on a busy commercial street?”
“Nikki?” she asked, looking at me strangely.
“Or whoever it was.”
“Dev, don’t you remember? My God, it was me!” she said.
“Hunh?”
“Don’t you remem… Dev, it was my gun, I saw her car and thought she was going to shoot me so I, well, that is… Well, you were in front of me and I pulled the pistol from my purse. I meant to shoot at her but it was so rushed it just went off, you know. I was so frightened, I didn’t think to aim, sort of…… maybe.”
“Wait a minute. You mean it was you that shot me?”
She nodded and batted her eyes like that might make it okay.
“And you shot me, when you were pulling me in front of you. The pistol just sort of went off, and my head just happened to be in the way.”
“Yes, exactly,” she seemed to be relieved now that I got it.
“Well, of course, now it all makes sense,” I joked.
“Okay, so now you will come back to work for me and find Nikki, no?”
“Exactly right, no. No, I won’t, Kerri. I got a loose idea of what you and Braco are into here and no, I’m not going to work for you. You can tell old Braco I’m going to be on his ass, and yours too, although I’m sure in your case it’s just part of an average day.”
“We always used to meet right here, to talk. Nikki and I, just the two of us. We called this our private place.”
She casually slipped her right hand into her jacket pocket, the jacket leaning just a bit to the right.
“Oh, please don’t, it would make everything so easy,” I said picking up the.45 from my lap, laying the barrel on the door, and pointing it in her direction. She took a step backwards.
“Dev, I’m beginning to think you really are crazy. I was only going to reach for a cigarette,” she said, then ran both hands through her hair.
“Just keep your hands where I can see them. Kerri, tell Mr. Alekseeva, Braco, that I’m beginning to take all of this very personally.”
“Typical American. This is real life, Dev. It isn’t some movie where you say your silly lines. You think we didn’t see you sitting out there in the street waiting day after day, for what? We could have taken you anytime we wanted, with no problem. At the end of the day you are just a fool, Dev, a fool.”
“Probably. But I may be watching, and from now on you’ll never be sure, will you, Kerri?” I bluffed.
“I think you better go, Dev.” She looked over the roof of my car. “Unless you want that meeting with Mr. Alekseeva now.”
I turned and saw a large red vehicle entering the parking lot. The odds were pretty good it was the same Lexus LX11 that hit Da’nita Bell. The right front bumper was scraped and dented.
Four very large, neckless heads were silhouetted through the tinted front windshield. I waited until they’d cleared the entrance, then quickly exited over the curb and across the park lawn, rolled into the street and accelerated. When she brushed her hair back it must have been some sort of a sign. They’d either tailed us all the way here or they’d been waiting all along, either way it was a setup.
I watched them in my rearview mirror. Everyone suddenly flew out of the car and ducked behind the LX11. One of them actually tripped and just lay there. What a bunch of idiots. Kerri must have fallen for my ‘may be watching’ line and those dumb heads thought I meant it. Now, who was the fool? I didn’t race but I didn’t hang around either. I drove away as fast as prudently possible.
Chapter 39
The next day I was still pondering Kerri’s confession that she was the one who shot me. Wondering at the same time how I get myself into these things? The phone interrupted.
“How you feeling?” Aaron asked when I answered. No hello, no introduction, just the question.
“Thanks for asking, I’m back to about ninety percent, but I’m able to be out and about.”
“Ninety percent, I guess that’s a lot better than the half-assed way you usually conducted yourself before you got sick.”
“You mean poisoned.”
“You weren’t driving around on the River Boulevard yesterday afternoon, were you?” he asked, ignoring my poisoned comment.
“Possibly. I was all over town, running errands after being confined to the bathroom for the last three days. Why? What’s up?” attempting to sound nonchalant.
“Oh nothing much. Just wondering is all. You know a guy named, well actually we don’t know what his name is, that is his real name. The driver’s license said Andrew Quinn.”
“No, I don’t think I know anyone by that name. What am I missing here?”
“I’m not sure. Hard to figure why a guy named Andrew Quinn might have Russian naval tattoos. I suppose he could be a wanna-be Russian sailor or maybe he vacationed once on the Black Sea or something and fell in love with the place. Of course the more we’re digging into him the less we seem to know. No apparent next of kin. The address we have for him is a Holiday station, so that would seem to be bogus. No record of this guy anywhere, yet he has a Minnesota license.”
“And Mr. Quinn would concern me how?”
“I don’t know that it does. Just that someone took the back of his head off with a high-caliber rifle shot over on the River Boulevard yesterday. You may have seen the news reports in between cartoon shows. We have an eyewitness report of a couple of vehicles racing out of there, one a red SUV, the other a blue sports car. Ring any bells?”
Yeah, alarm bells. I remembered the guy tumbling out of the car, thinking he’d fallen. Had he been shot? Who shot him? A shot to the head might be Kerri’s style but she didn’t seem likely.
“Are you suggesting I had something to do with this?”
“No, not really. I know you’re not that good a shot, for starters. But suddenly you never seem to be too far from the action when our Russian friends are involved.”
“Maybe you should check with your pal special agent Kimball Peters, if he can break away from answering phones and whoever’s ass he’s kissing. I’m sure he’d have lots of answers.”
“Yeah, right. Okay, just checking on you. Word to the wise, you might want to keep a close watch on your back.”
“Appreciate the advice.”
“Okay, catch you later, man. Be careful.”
I may not be the brightest bulb on the tree but experience had taught me that if Aaron was concerned, panic on my part would not be out of line. I didn’t panic. But I wondered who had fired that shot, and I thought it might be wise to limit my exposure.
Chapter 40
I was just pulling out of the grocery-store parking lot when I phoned Heidi.
“Hey, thought I’d check up on you for a change. Thanks for your help yesterday,” I said.
“Well, gee, not a problem, glad I could help. You feeling any better?” Heidi asked.
“Feeling great, thanks to you. Look I’m thinking I’ve been sort of a pain in the ass lately and wondered if I could maybe make it up to you. Doing anything for dinner?”
“Dinner? Tonight?”
“Yeah, well that is unless you’ve already got something planned.”
“No, nothing planned. It’s just so out of character for you to be so nice. You’re not thinking of sticking me with the tab or something, are you?” She was only half joking.
“No. In fact, I tell you what, I’ll pick up some steaks and be at your place in ten minutes. I mean if that’s okay.”
“Here, well, yeah, I suppose.”
“It’s not Harold, is it?”
“I told you never to mention that worthless jerk to me ever again.”
“Okay. How about this. I’m going to stop and pick up some wine, get the steaks, give you time to get organized. We’ll just have a relaxing night, let me pamper you for a change.”