And Lucas shook his head at Sherrill and they hurried out: I didnt want to see that, Lucas said. I dont need it.
A ST. PAUL LIEUTENANT NAMED ALLPORT WAS RUNNING the crime scene at St. Annes when Lucas and Sherrill arrived. He spotted Lucas getting out of the car, and yelled at a patrolman, Send that guy over here.
The patrolman whistled at Lucas to get his attention, and pointed at Allport. Lucas waved, took Sherrill by the elbow, and they walked along the side of the Residence building to a cluster of cops duckwalking around the parking lot.
I heard, Allport said. The nuns an old pal of yours. She gonna be all right?
Shes in the OR. Sos the girl; the girls in trouble.
Ah, jeez. Shes some kid from the neighborhood here. One of the neighbors said her parents sent her here because she could live close to home and its safe.
You figure out what happened? Lucas asked.
Yeah. What there is. You aint gonna like it.
I already dont like it…
No, no. I mean, youreallyaint gonna like it. Theres a girl sitting in by the switchboard, shes talking to one of her friendstheyre doing homework together. So a call comes in for Sister Mary Josephfamily emergency.
She doesnt have a family anymore, Lucas said.
Yeah. Allport looked up at the night sky. But thats what they said. So the girl runs down and gets the sister and the sister takes the call and she listens and she freaks out and she hangs up, and she says to this girl, Lucas has been shot; theyre taking him to Midway. Ive got to go.
What?
So she ran to get her keys and her bag and she ran back out and the girl at the phones says to the other one, I dont think she should drive, and the other one says, Ill take her, and she runs out. Then the girl sits there by the phones, and ten minutes later… or sometimes later… another kid comes in and says therere two people hurt on the sidewalk and to call an ambulance.
Jesus, Lucas said.
And Sherrill said, Itisaimed at you. To Allport: You know Lucass former fiance
ґe was firebombed last
Allport nodded: I read about it. You had guys running all over town, kicking ass.
Lucas looked around at the duckwalking crime scene cops: You finding anything?
Allport shook his head. Nope. Not a thing. Were walking around the neighborhood, looking for the weapona ball bat, or a big stickbut we havent found it yet.
Goddamnit… A thought flew through Lucass head, quick as a scalded moth; he grasped at it, missed. He shook his head, turned to Sherrilclass="underline" Nothing to do here. Im going back to the hospital.
Im coming.
You dont have to.
Im coming. Allport, arms akimbo, said, I hate this shit. If the assholes want to beat each other up, or even us, thats one thing. A nun and a kid?
In the car, Lucas said, Somethings happening, and we dont know what it is.
I knew that a long time ago, Sherrill said.
Lucas shook his head: I dont mean that somebody istrying to get at me, or even get at Weather or Elle. Theres some kind of apparatus here. Somebodys set up a machine, and its not some simpleminded revenge. Its doing something…
TWENTY-THREE
ELLE KRUGER CAME OUT OF THE OPERATING ROOM just after fourA. M. and the doctor, yawning, came to see Lucas, Sherrill, and Weather: Id say the prognosis is goodshes gonna have a few days in the ICU, but there wasnt any direct mechanical damage that I could see. Weve got swelling, but were controlling it. Were going to keep her sedated, keep her quiet, so she wont be talking for a couple of days.
Shes gonna make it, Lucas said.
Unless we missed somethingor if theres just a further natural complication. But its about as good as you could have hoped for, given the circumstances.
How about the other girl? Weather asked.
The doc shook his head: Shedidhave some mechanical damage. I think shes gonna live, were just gonna have to wait and see. She might be fine, she might be… not so fine.
Lucas turned away, suddenly exhausted. Man.
Lets go home, Sherrill said.
Weather said, Ill be back tomorrowevery day until she wakes up.
You got a ride? Lucas asked. Andi Manettte, whod brought Weather over, had left earlier.
Ill get a cab. They can have one here in a minute.
We came in the Porsche, Lucas said. Two seats: Weather smiled; she understood the math.
Out the door, walking to the car, Sherrill asked, Did Weather and Elle have some kind of relationship?
Yeah, they liked each other a lot, Lucas said.
Think Elle will like me? Sherrill asked.
Lucas nodded. She likes almost everybody. You twoll get along fine.
ROSE MARIE ROUX TALKEDTOTHE ST. PAUL CHIEF, AND St. Paul put together a group of four detectives to work with two Violent Crimes detectives from Minneapolis.
You can do what you want, personally, but I want you to stay clear of these guys, Roux told Lucas. Youve set up this paradigm: you think these attacks on Sister Mary Joseph and Weather are aimed at you. Maybe they are, but I want to keep these guys outside the paradigm. I want them to take a cold look at it.
Lucas agreed. Thats smart. But Im putting Del on the street, looking into a few things; and Ill be looking around. Sherrill, Sloan, and Black are going back to Homicide now that were done with McDonald.
DEL AND LUCAS SPENT THE DAY CRUISING THE STREET, talking to druggies, thieves, bikers, gamblersanyone smart enough to take revenge on Lucas by attacking his friends; and checking in every hour with the hospital. No change on Elle Kruger.
At the end of the day, they sat in Lucass office, Del with his feet on the edge of Lucass desk, Lucas with his feet on an open desk drawer, looking for new ideas.
All day, absolutely nothing. Ive never seen it this dry. Usually theres rumors, even if the rumors are bullshit.
Nobody wants to get involved with a run at a cop, Lucas said.
Tell you the truth, Ivebeen thinking of terminatingour friendship, at least for the time being. Maybe take out an ad in theStar-Tribune.
I once talked to a guy, a lawyerdefense attorney whose son was arrested for stealing some stereo gear from a Best Buy, Lucas said. The kid was one of those ineffectual audiovisual freaks, didnt know which way was up. Anyway, the judge gave him six months in the county jail, and this was a first offense.
Oops.
Yeah. And this attorney tells me, he knows it was because the judge didnt likehim, the attorney. Thought he was sleazy, because he did personal injury and DWI and made a lot of money at it. So anyway, the kid does most of the time, like four months, and gets out, and hes okay. But the attorney spent the whole time worrying that he was gonna hang himself in his cell or something.
Something to worry about, with kids like that, Del said.
The attorneyd go down every day to visit the kid, keep him connected. But he still worried. And what he told me was that he decided in the middle of the kids jail term that if the kid killed himself, hed kill the judge. He made the decision, he worked it all out. He wasnt irrational about it, it wasnt a big macho thing. Hed just do it, and try not to get caught. The first thing hed do was, hed wait two years before he made his move. Wait until his sons death was way in the past. Then hed find a way to kidnap the judgehe said that in his fantasies, he had to explain to the judge why he was going to kill him, he couldnt sleep if he didnt do thatand then he was gonna tie him up or chain him to a tree, and douse him with gasoline and set him on fire.
Jesus.
Yeah. He said hed decided this, but when his kid got out okay, it wasnt necessary, so he let it go. He hates the judge, but he says hell get at him politically, he doesnt have to burn him up.
What youre saying is…
What Im saying is, I hope its not something like that, Lucas said. I hope its not somebody I bumped into years ago, took care of business, didnt even think about it. And hes been plotting all this time.