AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The women wiped their eyes but held on to the water, unopened.
He said, “Anything you want to tell us?”
Neck-straining head shakes.
Neither had asked any questions about Missus’s death. Some jobs are based on not asking.
Milo laid his own business card on the center table. “If there’s anything else you want to say, please call.”
The maids stood there, glassy-eyed.
“We’ll get going now. Could you please open the gate for us?”
“Black button,” said Adelita. She remained in place, as did Irma.
Neither of them budged as we saw ourselves out.
—
The black button took a moment to locate. On the side of a stone post, tucked near the junction with the wall, several feet above the motor that activated the gate.
When we were through, he said, “Ducks? Must be a language problem.”
I said, “The Peabody hotel in Memphis has a twice-a-day ritual. The birds march off an elevator, walk across the lobby, and swim in a fountain. Then they go back. Morning and evening. Apparently it’s a big attraction.”
“Unbelievable. How do you know this?”
“You pick stuff up.”
“Ducks. I verify him in Memphis, he didn’t pull the trigger. But a guy of his means would have no problem hiring someone. And like you said, there’s a precise feel to it. Big money buys the best.”
Leaning against the unmarked, he phoned the hotel, asked for Douglass March, waited. “Okay, please tell him Lieutenant Sturgis from the Los Angeles Police Department called. Here’s my number…that’s it, no additional message. Thanks. By the way, how’re the ducks doing…? Nope, haven’t, just heard about it…yeah, I definitely will if I ever get over there…I believe you, sounds like fun. Bye.”
He hung up. “Mr. March is registered but out of his room. The ducks are in fine form. And notice, I made no cracks aboutl’orange.”
He walked me to the Seville. “Hopefully March will get back to me soon. I’ll let you know and we can do a face-to-face.”
We.Good sign.
I said, “Aren’t most contract executions usually headshots? If not the first bullet, then the coup to the back of the skull?”
“The few pro jobs I’ve seen have been that. But there are always exceptions.”
“Granted,” I said. “But the question is why deviate and two possibilities come to mind, starting with symbolism. You broke my heart, I’ll destroy yours.”
“Dougie gave the hit man instructions? Yeah, I like it. What’s the second?”
This you won’t like.“Who gets training to aim for center mass?”
His face tightened. “Fine, we do. Most departments do. Aim tostop not just to kill, minimize corollary damage. A cop-turned-hit-man? Sounds like a movie.”
I said, “Maybe, but we’re likely dealing with a .38 revolver and what’s the most common type?”
“S and W PoliceandMilitary,” he said. “Note the emphasis onand.Every branch of the military used ’em. Plenty of private citizens, too. There’ve got to be millions of them out there. Lookthatup in the Bible.”
He waited, shoulders bunched, as I ran a search.
“Close to seven million manufactured.”
