Anderson was scanning through one of his notebooks; he found a page and held it up to the screen. "Look at this," he said. He tapped an address in the notebook and touched an address on the screen. "She lived just a couple blocks from Rose E. Love, and at the same time."
"All right, I'm going down there," Lucas said. "Get onto Del and some of his narcs, tell them I might need surveillance help. I'll look the place over now. It's too much to hope that they'll be there."
"You want me to start some squads that way, just in case?"
"Yeah, you could start a couple, but keep them off the block unless I holler."
Leo pulled into Barbara Gow's driveway and Aaron lifted the garage door. Leo rolled the car inside but left the engine running. Sam stepped out of the house carrying a chopped-down shotgun. Leo had cut the gun down himself. What had been a conventional Winchester Super-X, a four-shot semiauto, wound up as an ugly illegal killing machine that looked as much like a war club as a shotgun. Sam opened the car door and slipped the shotgun under the passenger seat, and then helped Aaron load a six-foot chunk of railroad tie into the cargo space. They'd sharpened one end with an ax and screwed handles to the top. When it was in, Aaron slammed the tailgate and he and Sam got in.
"You want to leave the garage door up?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. If we gotta get off the street in a hurry when we ' come back, it'll get us an extra minute."!
Lucas cruised by the side of the Gow house, moving as / slowly as he could without being conspicuous. There were lights on in both front and back, probably the living room and the kitchen or a bedroom. The upper floor was dark., He turned the corner to pass in front of the house and saw that the garage door was up, the garage empty. As he passed, a shadow crossed the living room blind. Someone inside. Since the car was gone, that meant more than one person was living in the house…
He picked up the handset and put in a call to Anderson.
"Get me the description of the woman who was seen with Shadow Love," he said.
"Just a second," Anderson said. "I've got the notebook right here. Can't get Del, he's on the street, but one of his guys has gone after him. There are a couple of squads wait- j ing out on Chicago." j "Okay."
There was a moment of silence. Lucas took another corner and went around the block. "Uh, there's not much. Very small, barely see over the steering wheel. Indian. Maybe an older woman. She didn't seem young. Green car, older, a wagon, with white sidewall tires."
"Thanks. I'll get back to you."
He took another corner, then another, and came back up along the side of Gow's house. As he did, a man walked out of the house across the street from Gow's, leading a dog. Lucas stopped at the curb as the man strolled out to the sidewalk, looked both ways, then headed around the side of his house, the dog straining at the leash. Lucas thought about it, let the man get a full lot down the opposite block, then called Anderson.
"I need Del or a couple of narcs in plain cars."
"I got a guy looking for Del; we should have him in a minute."
"Soon as you can. I want them up the block from Gow's place, watching the front."
"I'll pass the word."
"And keep those squads on Chicago."
The dog was peeing on a telephone pole when Lucas pulled up next to the night walker. He got out of the car, his badge case in hand.
"Excuse me. I'm Lucas Davenport, a lieutenant with the Minneapolis Police Department. I need a little help."
"What d'you want?" the man asked curiously.
"Your neighbor across the street. Mrs. Gow. Does she live alone?"
"What'd she do?" the man asked.
"Maybe nothing at all…"
The man shrugged. "She usually does, but the last few days, there's been other people around. I never seen them, really. But people are coming and going."
"What kind of car does she drive?"
"Old Dodge wagon. Must be fifteen years old."
"What color?"
"Apple green. Ugly color. Never seen anything like it, except in those Dodges."
"Huh." Lucas could feel his heart pounding harder. "White sidewalls?"
"Yep. You don't see them like that anymore. Bet she don't drive a couple thousand miles a year. The tires are probably originals. What's she done?"
"Maybe nothing," Lucas said. "Thanks for your help. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this to yourself."
As Lucas started back to the car, the man said, "Those other people… they left about five minutes ago. Somebody drove up in her car and somebody else opened the garage door, and one minute later, they left."
Lucas called Anderson: "I got something," he said. "I'm not sure what, but the Crows may be on the street."
"Sonofabitch. You think they're hitting somebody?"
"I don't know. Don't let those squads get away, though. I don't care what happens. And get me Del's man."
"I got Del. He was maybe a mile away, he oughta be there anytime."
"All right. Tell him I'll wait at Twenty-fourth and Bloomington, right by Deaconess Hospital."
Del was waiting when Lucas arrived. The street was empty, and Lucas crossed into the left lane until their cars were door to door. Both men rolled their windows down.
"Got something?"
"Could be heavy," Lucas said. "I think I got the Crows' hideout, but they're on the street."
"What do you want from me?"
"I was gonna ask for some surveillance help, but if the Crows are on the street… I'm going in. I need some backup."
Del nodded. "Let's do it."
"Let me introduce you to Lucy," Drake said. He turned toward the back and called, "Lucy? Darling?"
They were standing in front of the fireplace, glasses in their hands. A moment after he called, Lucy appeared from the back. She was tiny, blonde, shy, and wore a pink kimono.
"Come over here, darling, and meet a friend of mine," Drake said.
"Cop," Leo said.
"Shit. He's going in," Sam said.
Drake's house was on a long loop road, to the left. The cop had just turned into the loop, then stayed to the right. If he continued along the loop, he'd pass Drake's house on the way back out.
"We gotta wait," Sam said. He pointed at a supermarket parking lot. "Pull in there. We can watch for him to come out."
"What if Clay leaves?"
Aaron looked at his watch. "He's only been there a half-hour. He usually stays two or three. This is not something you do quick. Not if you can help it."
Lucas and Del left their cars just down the block, and Lucas led the way to the porch. Del took a short black automatic out of a hip holster and stood to one side of the door as Lucas knocked.
He knocked once, then again.
A woman's voice: "Who is it?"
Before Lucas could answer, Del piped up, in a childish falsetto, "StarTribune."
There was a moment's hesitation and then the door started to open. As it opened, Lucas realized that it was on a chain. A woman's eye appeared in the crack. Lucas said, "Police," and the woman screamed, "No," and tried to push the door shut. She was small and dark and not young, and Lucas knew for sure. As she tried to push the door shut he rocked back and kicked it; the chain ripped off and they were inside, the woman running awkwardly toward the back. Lucas was on her, punching her between the shoulder blades, and she went down on her face in the hallway. Del was braced in the entrance to the living room, his gun in front of him, scanning.
"You don't fuckin' move," Lucas snarled at the woman. "You don't fuckin' move, you hear?"
Lucas and Del went through the house in thirty seconds, rotating down the hallway, clearing out the two bedrooms, then taking the stairs, cautiously, ready… Nothing.
At the top, Lucas heard the woman on her feet, and as Del held the stairs, Lucas shouted, "Wait here," and ran back down. Gow was headed for the front door when Lucas; hit her again. She yelped and went down, and he dragged her to a radiator and cuffed her to it. Del was still waiting ' at the top of the stairs; Lucas came and they cleaned out the second floor. Nobody.