Silent Treatment

'Don't worry. Evie was the condom queen.The latest box is in the drawer by the bed. It's been there for months. I don'tthink it's even been opened.'

'Well, it's about to be.'

They kissed, gently, longingly. He workedhis hand inside her pants over her buttocks, farther and farther, until hecould touch her new dampness. Instantly, she was wet. She let him stroke herthat way for as long as she could stand. Then she slid down him, pulling hisshorts free and running her lips and tongue over him again and again.

'Go slow, Maura,' he begged. 'I'm reallyout of practice and I want this to last.'

'Where does it say you only get one try?'she murmured, moving up to his lips and helping him slide her pants down.

Completely nude, with wonderfully whiteskin and only the shortest, soft bristles of hair on her head, she was thesexiest woman he had ever been with. She lay stretched out on her belly now,toes pointed. He knelt beside her and ran his hand down her long, silky body,pausing to stroke her buttocks again and again. Then he rolled gently on top ofher, kneading the muscles in her back, spreading her legs apart with his knees.He was so aroused, so large, he ached. He kissed the inside of her thighs andtouched between her legs. She was ready, too — incredibly ready.

'Please, Harry,' she moaned. 'Not thisway. I want to look at you this first time. I want to see your face. I want tosee your wonderful face.'

He kissed her behind the neck and helpedher roll over. She drew her knees up and took him in her hand. For severalmagical suspended seconds they remained that way, their eyes fixed on one another.

'Keep looking at me,' she whispered as sheguided him inside her. 'Baby, please, keep your eyes open. Just a littlelonger. Keep your eyes open and see how happy this makes me. See how much Ilove doing this with you.'

The light of morning was filtering throughthe blinds when the phone began ringing. Harry couldn't remember when they hadfinally drifted off to sleep, but he knew it couldn't have been very long ago.They had made love, then rested, then made love, then showered and ate, andthen made love again.

'If this is you at fifty,' Maura hadgasped at one point, 'I'm sure glad I didn't meet you when you weretwenty-five.'

'You would have been eleven,' he said.

'That's just the point.'

An hour later, as she lay beside him, shegently touched the patchwork of scars covering his back. He had already toldher about Nha-trang.

'Hey, you can tell me the real story now,'she said. 'I'll certainly understand. What was her name?'

The ringing persisted. He reached acrossher for the phone just as she was beginning to stir. The digital display on hisclock radio read 7:50.

'Hello?'

'Harry?'

'Yes.'

'Harry, it's Doug. Sorry to wake you.'

'Hey, I've been up for hours.'

Maura, now almost fully awake, reachedplayfully under the sheet to touch him. He pushed her hand aside, stifling alaugh.

'Harry, what in the hell is going on?'Atwater asked.

From the tension in Doug's voice, it wasclear he was not referring to what was going on at that moment in Harry'sbedroom.

'With what?' Harry asked.

'With those posters, dammit. Harry,please, we're friends. Don't play games with me.'

Harry was wide awake now, sitting boltupright. Maura, sensing trouble, was up, too.

'Doug, you have to believe me, I don'tknow what you're talking about.'

'There are posters on every bulletin boardin the hospital, and in at least two other hospitals we know of. Posters witheight versions of that drawing of the man you think killed your wife. Owen isfurious, Harry.'

Harry groaned and put his hand over thereceiver.

'The posters are up all over the hospital,godammit. It's got to be Concepcion.' He returned to Atwater. 'Doug, I swear,it was a guy I hired to help us out who did it. I told him not to, butapparently he did it anyway. Is it just the pictures? I mean, does the postersay anything?'

'Of course it does, Harry. Listen, I'm notan idiot. Don't treat me like-'

'Doug, please, what does it say?'

Harry could hear Atwater sigh, trying tocompose himself.

'It says that this man is wanted for themurder of Evelyn DellaRosa, and that anyone with information should contact youat the number I just dialed. There's a fifty-thousand-dollar reward forinformation leading to his arrest and conviction.'

'How much?'

'Fifty thousand.'

'Fifty thousand?'

'Harry, Owen is berserk about this.'

'Tell him I'm sorry. I'll be calling toexplain and I'll take every one of them down.'

'It's more than just this hospital, Harry.University has called, and St. Bart's. I suspect there may be others.'

'I'll take care of it, Doug. I'll takecare of them all.'

'Who's the guy who did this?'

'No one you know. Listen, thanks, Doug.Thanks for calling me.' He set the receiver down. 'No one I know either,' hemuttered. 'Maura can you get hold of your brother?'

'I think so.'

'I want to know if there was ever alicensed detective in New York named Walter Concepcion.'

The call from Kevin Loomis came preciselyon time, at nine o'clock. By that time, three other calls had come in as well.One was from a maintenance worker at MMC, one from University Hospital, and onefrom Bellevue. Each of them reported seeing the man in the poster. Two of themwanted an advance on the reward before giving any information. Harry found anotebook in the study and began keeping a log. He also began letting hismachine screen calls.

'Goddamn Concepcion,' he said after eachof the calls. 'Goddamn Concepcion.'

Loomis, calling from a pay phone, wouldsay only that he was willing for the two of them to meet. He sounded tense, butnot excessively so.

'Be at the southeast corner of theintersection of Third Avenue and Fifty-first at eleven o'clock tonight,' hesaid. 'Wear a baseball cap. I'll pick you up.'

He hung up before Harry could ask anyquestions.

Over the next half an hour, there were twomore calls with tips and inquiries about the reward. Maura answered both.Neither seemed that promising.

'We're going to have to develop a systemfor evaluating these,' she said. 'I suppose we should say that if the callercan point the man out to us we're interested. Otherwise, thanks, but nothanks.'

'Maura, I don't have fifty thousanddollars.'

'Hey, first things first,' she said.'Don't you remember hearing the speaker say that at the AA meeting last night?'

'God, I've created a monster.'

The third call was from Tom Hughes. Hewould keep looking, but as far as he could tell, there had never been alicensed private eye in Manhattan or any city in New York State named WalterConcepcion. Harry slammed down the receiver, then snatched it up and calledConcepcion's rooming house. Walter himself answered.

'Concepcion, I want to know who the hellyou are, and why you've stabbed me in the back like this.'

For fifteen seconds there was silence.

'Your place or mine,' Concepcion saidfinally.

Chapter32

'. . I couldn't see the man's facebecause of the way I was tied up, but even through the drugs and the pain, Irecognized his voice. It was my boss, Sean Garvey. He was what we called afloater — sort of part CIA, part DEA, part above it all. It was his job tocoordinate our side of the undercover operation in northern Mexico. But he soldme out, and brought in his friend Perchek to work on me. .'

When the man Harry had known as WalterConcepcion arrived at the apartment, Harry immediately lost control. Withoutwaiting for any explanation, he spun Concepcion against the hallway wall andwas so close to striking him that Maura had to restrain him. Now, he and Maurasat together on the sofa in his living room, listening in stunned silence asRay Santana took them through his three years as an undercover Drug EnforcementAgency operative in Mexico, then his capture, and his torture at the hands ofAnton Perchek.