“Mind if I cut in?” he said. “Annie and me were just talking, but she somehow got waylaid when I went to the bar.” He flashed us a big, overly toothy grin. How many teeth did this guy have? “Get it? Way-laid?”
She gently removed his paw as he laughed at his ingenious crack. “Len, how about you just lay off instead?”
He threw me a half-drunk wink. “They just love playing these games, don’t they? It’s all about the tease with these chicks. You should have seen how her eyes lit up when I told her ‘endow’ was the root of my family name. Isn’t that right, babe?”
He went to put a hand on her waist, but she swiveled round so that he grabbed a handful of air instead.
He laughed and tried again, this time getting hold of her with both hands and attempting to maneuver her away from me and over toward the bar and a couple of his SWAT buddies.
The last thing I needed was Lendowski as an enemy, but he was clearly the worse for drink and I could tell that Deutsch’s patience was running thin. But I also knew she realized that if she got on the wrong side of him-especially while they were partners-he was likely to set her career back some, or indeed stall it altogether. I, on the other hand, was part of the furniture and had enough goodwill aimed my way to ride out any macho posturing the big lug felt he might need to inflict upon me.
I moved in, grabbed his wrists, and firmly removed his hands from Deutsch. Then, as low as I could say it and still be heard, “Go back to your buddies, Len. Next round’s on me.”
He swung around viciously and his fist made the air move enough to create a piercing whistle in my left ear as my head jerked away from the blow.
Deutsch judiciously lurched backwards as I feinted the other way to avoid the follow-up, then Lendowski charged into me. I’d already vacated the space at which he was aiming so he hit a couple of suited Wall Street bankers instead.
He disentangled himself, pulled himself upright, and swung a right hook at my head, but overbalanced. All I needed to do was apply the slightest additional momentum to his leading shoulder to send him crashing to the floor-which I did.
Staggering to his feet, he cracked his knuckles and cricked his neck like the stereotype into which he had already fallen. He even gave me the thousand-yard stare, but somehow I resisted the urge to laugh, a reaction that would have done far more damage to our professional relationship than repeatedly punching him in the face.
It was all threatening to turn very ugly, but as Lendowski prepared to charge me again, Nick appeared and grabbed him from behind and said, “Yo, time for a break, big guy.” He ushered him away.
I remembered that Nick and Lendowski used the same gym, and I hoped that they’d built up enough of a rapport for Nick to be able to reason with the guy.
Deutsch moved back toward me. “Thanks. Mia’s a lucky girl.”
I laughed at her insistence on using the name Tess had given her fictional alter ego. “That’s what I keep saying.” I decided against relaying this message, Tess definitely not being the kind of woman who enjoys being complemented on her choice of man by an attractive-and available-professional female colleague. Especially not one who was showing no sign of trying to find someone else to talk to.
We watched Lendowski nod grudgingly at Nick, then head out of the bar.
Annie said, “How does a Neanderthal like that manage to keep his badge?”
“Your mind’s clouded by alcohol. He’s actually a very charming individual. If you’d only give him a chance.”
She eyed me curiously for a second, like she wasn’t sure if I was being serious, then her expression brightened and she actually laughed-a first. “Now why couldn’t they partner me with someone like you instead?”
“You’ve got to earn me, Annie.”
I immediately regretted opening my mouth-even more so given the curious, but not turned off, look in her eyes.
“Earn you. Now that’s an intriguing prospect.”
“And that’s my cue,” I said, with a smile. “Seriously… just ride it out. They’ll reassign you, I’m sure. They’re not blind.”
“I hope they do-I might not hold back next time.”
“Just make sure you’ve got plenty of witnesses around.”
I waved at her, turned and headed for the door. I stopped to tell Nick I was going home, then left. It was getting late and I was physically and mentally exhausted. We all were.
Outside, I saw Lendowski leaning against a wall in the alleyway that ran alongside the bar. At first I thought he was throwing up, but then I realized he was talking on his cell, which probably meant his bookie had called with more bad news.
I gulped a lungful of cold air and stuck out my hand for a taxi so I could reclaim my car from the Federal Plaza parking garage. In less than an hour, I’d be back in my castle, cuddled up with my fair maiden.
Lendowski had sobered up the second he’d heard the voice on the other end of the call, a voice that, although not that of his bookie, filled him with the same level of dread.
He owed his bookie about sixty thousand dollars, and he had no idea how he was ever going to pay it all back. They’d threatened him already, and the fact that they didn’t bat an eyelid about doing that to an FBI agent left him under no illusion about how serious and unforgiving these people were. They had him sweating-not an easy thing to pull off with Nat Lendowski. Then, a couple of months back, he’d taken a call from someone else that knew about his debt. The guy had offered him five hundred dollars a week just to keep tabs on Reilly. Nothing too elaborate. He just wanted Lendowski to let him know if Reilly did anything odd or disappeared for any length of time without explanation.
Lendowski made no real effort to earn the money, but continued to collect the envelopes of used bills from his apartment building’s laundry room every other week. He could have used the money to pay down the debt, but instead he gambled it-and lost. Which meant he was now at the guy’s mercy as well as that of his bookie.
When he’d answered his cell, the guy cut to the chase.
“Hey, Len. It’s time to start earning your keep.”
Len scowled. “What do you want me to do?”
“Reilly,” the man said. “Stay close to him. Imagine your life depends on it.”
With a sinking feeling, Lendowski realized this wasn’t going to be particularly easy, especially following what had just happened in the bar. But at least he could offer something.
“He’s on his way home. I know he’s got some big social engagement out of town tomorrow night. Heard him talking to his partner about it. He’s taking his lady.”
“OK. Good. Anything else, call me immediately.”
The caller hung up.
Lendowski pocketed his phone, then turned and emptied his stomach against the wall.
8
Mamaroneck, New York
The mystery call still had me in its thrall.
I was in two minds about what to make of it. There was a chance it was genuine. The man’s pitch sounded real. On the other hand, I couldn’t ignore the possibility that I was being played. Either way, I had to go to the meet. There was no way I wasn’t going, despite the usual complications, including the main one: I couldn’t tell Nick about it, and he’d probably sniff it out and start hassling me about what I was hiding. It would also be safer having him there, but I’d started this thing on my own and I wasn’t about to jeopardize his career over it this late in the game. I also couldn’t risk spooking the caller if he was indeed genuine and had something of value to say.
I was lying on the bed, deep in thought, wondering about it all, while in front of me, Tess was busy pulling out one outfit after another from her wardrobe and parading them for my opinion.
“What about this one?” she said as she gleefully presented me with a long, shimmering bronze dress that flared out at the bottom. “You said you liked it when I wore it to that gala at the Institute.” Her expression then clouded with thought just as fast as it had brightened up. “Then again-do you think the guest list at the White House might have anyone else who was also at that gala besides us?”