“Charming.”
“Hey, don’t blame me. You’re the one sleeping with them.”
“God, if only I’d known.”
“I think we’re back to you being taken advantage of.”
Aaron pulled up in front of my place then walked me to the front door, slowly. I could move but only gingerly. I unlocked the door but it wouldn’t open.
“Oh God, I forgot I got a chair pushed in front of the door.”
“A chair?”
“Yeah, little extra security.”
“Wow, high tech. I suppose an alarm system would just be too run of the mill for a super sleuth like you.”
We walked around to the back, I unlocked the door and stepped in. Aaron glanced at the trunk in the middle of the floor I’d shoved against the door a couple of nights back.
“Amazing.”
I didn’t comment.
“You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, all things considered. I’m thinking of lying down, on my stomach.”
“Want me to do a walkthrough, just in case?”
“No, thanks, but not necessary.”
“Sure?”
“Very.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to your own devices. Keep your outside lights on all night. I’ll have district run a squad car past from time to time. You know my number if you need anything, but nine-one-one will be a lot faster if it gets hot. Might want to carry some protection with you, just in case.”
“A condom?”
“If you think you’ll have a use for it.”
“Aaron, I just want to say thanks. Like I said, if it wasn’t for you I might be splattered all over the street.”
“Yeah well, you know how the city is about litter.”
Chapter 56
I was home no more than twenty minutes, getting a little more paranoid with every passing minute. A bomb blast will do that to you. At the half-hour mark I phoned Heidi.
“Can I come to your house?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I think so, just wigging out a little sitting around over here alone. I need a place to camp for three or four days until I get a little more mobile. Would it be too much of an imposition?”
“I’m on my way,” she said without the slightest bit of hesitation.
“Call me when you’re two minutes away. I want you to pick me up on the next street over.”
Heidi called, amazingly, just as I instructed. I left via the back door, through the neighbor’s yard, and out to the street. I was moving slowly and was just walking to the sidewalk as she pulled up.
“Hop in, lover boy,” she smiled.
“God, I don’t think I’d even be able, the lover boy part I mean,” I said tossing an overnight bag in the back before positioning my foam donut cushion and carefully climbing in. It was going to be a few days before I got to the hop-in-andout stage.
“Wow, you are banged up, oh pardon the pun,” she giggled.
“Well maybe I could, bang that is.”
“That’s better, see you’re already coming around.”
She pulled away from the curb. About fifteen feet farther on there was a large blackened area on the asphalt. Bits of chromed plastic and glass twinkled in the gutter as we drove past, remnants of my car. It was very uncomfortable to look at.
“You okay?” she asked after we’d gone a few blocks.
“Yeah, but I’m beginning to take this seriously. I’m gonna get the bastard that did this to me.”
“Let’s get you better first. You up for a trip to the grocery store to get a few things?”
“I think we better, I’m not gonna get back to normal on a diet of Oreos.”
“Especially since I don’t intend to share my Oreos with you.”
Heidi’s idea of a few things and my idea of necessities seemed to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. She tossed necessities like three packs of Oreos, eight ounces of maple syrup, and cherry-flavored ice cream into the cart. I, according to her, got boring things like flour, fruit, olive oil, and pasta. We left the store with six bags’ worth of a few things.
“Man,” she said as we exited the parking lot, “I don’t think I’ve ever bought that many groceries in my life.”
“I’m not surprised. Both of us are going to be eating well and eating healthy. I’ll have dinner ready for you when you come home the next couple of days. It’ll give me something to do, okay? Say as long as we’re in this mode, stop at the wine store, we might as well stock up.”
I was a little slow getting dinner ready. I was in a strange kitchen for one thing and well, I was moving a little slow. I served up two salmon fillets in a brown sugar chipotle glaze with a side of angel hair pasta, just after our fresh green salad with a light balsamic vinaigrette.
“Mmm-mmm, this is really good. Where did you learn to cook like this?”
“I’ve slept with a lot of women who worked in restaurants.”
“No, seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Do you think it’s really necessary to wear that gun? You know when you’re cooking or just hanging around the house.”
“Let’s hope not. But I’ve been shot, blown up, chased, and assaulted in the past couple of weeks and I’d just as soon hedge my bets. Besides, I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“Really?”
“No, not really, I was just kidding on that one. I’m just worried about me.”
She poured herself another glass of wine, leaned over, gave me a kiss on the forehead then dashed out of the kitchen saying, “Thanks for doing the dishes and cleaning up.”
Chapter 57
It was perhaps indicative of my physical state that I slept in Heidi’s guest room. Secure with extra pillows propping my butt into the air in my new favorite position. Heidi didn’t wake me whenever it was she left for her office. I dressed in loose-fitting jeans and a T-shirt. I left the shirt untucked covering the.45 on my right hip. I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast, doing everything I could to avoid the series of stretching exercises that were floating out there in my not-too-distant future when the doorbell rang.
I thought about not answering it. Then decided it would be best to at least see who it was. If it was a neighbor I could ignore them. If it was Braco Alekseeva, I’d just shoot the bastard.
It was I.C.E. agent Billy Hale.
I opened the door, Hale smiled.
“Agent Hale.”
“Hey, heard about your big bang. How you doing?”
“Getting better, come on in,” I said.
He carried a waxy white paper bag, the kind from a bakery. I could only hope.
“Picked up a couple of rolls for you, hope that’s okay.”
It was. There were four of them, with more cinnamon caramel than roll.
“You got time for coffee?”
“I was hoping you’d ask,” he said.
“So, tell me what happened,” he said, a cinnamon caramel roll crammed in his mouth, and I did.
“What I can’t seem to figure out is why.” I said finishing up my story.
“Well, I’d say you touched a nerve somewhere. Question is where? What? Maybe even who? Your buddy LaZelle filled me in a little. Right, wrong, or indifferent you’ve bumbled into more action than we’ve been able to generate on that snail paced Task Force over the past eighteen months.”
“I don’t know, was your intent to generate car bombs? If it was, yeah, I’m way ahead of you, but otherwise, I don’t know. Despite whatever friction I seem to generate between Peters and myself, from what I saw you got a hell of a list of bad actors up here and down in Chicago.”
“Yeah, great. We had that list twelve months ago. You hear any talk about actually doing anything? Arresting or charging anyone?”
“Well, no not really.”
“Exactly. We just continue to gather more and more information. Whoever took out that moron Sergie, they should get a medal. These guys, the rest of them, Braco, ‘The Butcher,’ God, we arrest any of them they’ll be lawyered up so fast, it’ll be a decade just to get the legal right to charge the bastards, let alone prosecute.”