"Now I'm with you on thinking the same guy did both of them. Damned if I can really say why, it's just a feeling and it's got nothing to do with the description from the liquor store matching the description from the hotel clerk."
"If you'd listen," Durand began, but Stepovich slapped the table.
"Damnit, let me finish. Hear me out. I don't think it's our gypsy. Think about this. One killed with a gun, one killed with a knife. That's weird. Because killers choose a weapon and stick to it, because it's the weapon that makes them feel the best, most powerful, most in control. Now I know the Gypsy didn't have his knife when the old woman was killed. But it was done with a knife very similar to his, and maybe in his room. Why? Frame-up? It's not a hell of a lotto go on, Durand. I admit that. The only thread I can see hanging loose is our gypsy. Only I got no idea of how to find him."
"You done?" Durand demanded impatiently.
"Yeah. I guess." Stepovich waited for Durand to blast his fragile theories to pieces.
"Good. Because here's one more thing that doesn't fit. The witness from the liquor store has changed his story. Now he says the killer wasn't a gypsy at all,but some skinny pale dude. No one wants to believe him, so the warrant is still out for the Gypsy. They all figured someone got to the witness and made him change his story-"
"Or," Stepovich interjected, "he was lying before,for whatever reason, and now he's telling the truth.Datruth.Damnto talk to that gypsy. He's the key."
"That's why Ed turned you on to Madam Moria,because he thought she might have a line on other gypsies in town?"
"Yeah." Stepovich took a sip of beer. Half of it went down before he choked. He coughed, couldn't form the question, but Durand answered it anyway.Sanyway. Somethingously like a blush rose on his face.
"So," Stepovich asked heavily. "How long you and Ed been getting together and comparing notes?"
Durand spoke like the words were being dragged out.
"It's not like that, Stepovich. What's between me and Ed goes way back; it's not just this gypsy thing.Sething. See my Dad's friend, a long time ago. Went through the academy together, I guess, then kind of lost touch. Or didn't get along. Ed's a lot like you,sort of free and easy with procedure, and my dad wasn't like that. Anyway. I'd forgotten all about him,but my mother hadn't. Mom called him when I got out of the academy, before I was even officially hired,and begged him to use his pull to get me partnered with somebody decent. Somebody he thought I'd be safe with. I guess he chose you." Then, as the anger washed over Stepovich's face, Durand added, "Look,I didn't know about it until after it happened. Pissed me off, that she thought I couldn't make it on my own. It isn't the kind of thing my dad would have liked either. My dad wasn't the kind of cop who took favors, or did them. I could have done okay on my own. I thought you knew about it and that was why you were so shitty to me, you thought you were babysitting or something."
"This is the first I ever heard about it," Stepovich began.
"I know," Durand cut in ruefully. "A couple days ago, Ed called me up, asked how we were getting on,and I lit into him. And he said you didn't know a damn thing about it, that he figured I'd have to earn your respect on my own. So then I felt like a real jerk for all the times I'd tried to show you I was so tough and so smart I didn't need your help."
"Makes two of us," Stepovich muttered.
"So," Durand said at last. "You get anything from Madam Moria?"
Stepovich swirled the last of his beer in his glass,then drank it down. Abruptly, he held his mug up and waved it, hoping the waitress would notice they needed refills. He took a deep breath, looked up and met his partner's eyes. "You ready to hear some really weird shit?" he asked him.
And at the end will be the place
Whence the owl has flown,
And I'll dance for you the Gypsy Dance
That you have never known.
"GYPSY DANCE"
The fight didn't have a beginning as far as Daniel was concerned. The first he knew of it, he was on his hands and knees, trying to get up, feeling bits of glass embedded in the back of his head, and knowing that a pointed-toed boot was coming, but also knowing how to avoid it. His Lore lei shrieked, and the red-haired waitress rushed in their direction with an upraised tray, and all he could think, stupidly, was that most dogs will run if you shout at them, but some will slink back later to bite you from behind. Daniel should never have walked away from him; he should have crammed his money down his throat and made him choke on it.
The boot was coming, and as he rolled onto his side and grabbed it, throwing the man off balance, his Lore lei came up out of the booth like a wildcat,throwing salt, pepper, sugar, and herself at his attacker. One of the man's wildly flailing arms caught her across the face, and sent her sprawling against another table. The redheaded waitress smacked the man once across the ear with the tray, driving him to his knees, and then dove after Lore lei, screaming,"Laurie! Stay clear of this, you'll only get hurt!"
The sight of her thrown against the tables brought Daniel staggering to his feet. His knife came into his hand and he opened it slowly, savoring the ratcheting sound and the widening of the other man's eyes. The vermin was clutching a chair, and as Daniel came toward him, he lifted it, not as a weapon but as a shield.
"You wanted to know what she'd cost?" Daniel asked him softly, in a language he hadn't spoken in years."She would cost both your life and mine, and still I wouldn't let you touch her."
The man glanced about wildly but there were few other customers at this hour of the night, and all of them were hastily retreating out the door. The waitress had gripped Lore lei by the wrist and hair, and was forcibly holding her back. Daniel saw in his attacker's eyes that he had never expected it to go this way, that he had thought he would surprise them and take the girl quickly. He was regretting his impulse, but now it was too late. And Daniel saw, too,that the man knew nothing of this kind of fight, and that made him smile.
He came forward smoothly, knife low, the even balance never leaving his body from step to step. When the man threw the chair at him, he sidestepped it as lightly as a cat. "Hey, man, I'm unarmed! I don't got a knife or nothing!" the man protested as Daniel and his knife came closer, and it made Daniel's smile wider to hear this man beg him to follow rules of honor. Even as he lowered his knife, he knew what would come next.
He was ready when the man leaped. Suddenly Daniel wasn't where the man thought he would be,but the knife's pommel found him as he passed,sending him crashing into yet another table. And Daniel followed, his fingers closing like talons on the man's throat. The man's fists were hammering at Daniel's body, but there was desperation rather than strength behind them. If that was the best he could do, Daniel could stand it for the short time it would take him to choke the man unconscious. The man's blows lost strength rapidly, and Daniel knew he was winning when his enemy's breath began to rattle and he reached up to claw hopelessly at Daniel's closing hand. With his other hand, Daniel closed his knife and slipped it into his back pocket.
"Enough. Break it up!"
The man's tongue was starting to breach his lips.Hislips. Hisre very wide, and a blood vessel had broken in one.
"I said, break it up!"
Daniel didn't realize the voice had spoken to him until he was literally lifted off his feet by the back of his jacket. There were other voices, the waitress exclaiming, "Thank God! What took you so long?" And Lore lei crying out, "Ed, if you hurt him, I'll never forgive you and I'll tell my dad."
"Let go of him, dammit!" the voice roared right in his ear, and Daniel did. He watched in a sort of wonder as the man slumped to the floor. For several long moments, the unconscious man didn't move, and then he made a wheezing noise, and then another.