David turned around. Four tables were occupied but nowhere near them. "You know we could get fingers from the other two."
"This is true. We could, and we should. You fucked me over on the cave-dwellers."
"You're crazy. I didn't fuck you over."
"Yes, you did. You got spooked before the others were done. How am I supposed to trust you if you get scared so easily?"
He smacked the table. "Jesus, you know what happened. We had to go."
"All right, fine. We finish up tonight. You can get their fingers. Whatever." Brandy sulked. She'd done it with him, and he hadn't bought her a bag or a disc or anything. He was fucking her over. Killing one guy was not good enough. How was she going to go on TV as the girlfriend of a serial killer now? "I'll never trust you again," she muttered. He snorted in reply.
The waiter came with the pizza.
"Hurry up. I have to go home now, or I'll get in trouble," he said.
Boys! She shook her head. "You can't do this to me. You made a promise."
"So what?"
She put a slice of pizza on his plate and took one for herself. "If they find him, and he isn't dead, he'll tell. You don't want your mom to find out, do you?"
David shook his head. "You're a real pain in the ass. I said I'd finish it up tonight."
She looked at him with those big eyes. "I'll come with you," she said. She ate the first piece quickly and took two more.
"Yeah, thanks." He glanced at his watch again.
She stared at the pizza on his plate. "Aren't you going to finish this?"
He shook his head again. "I have to get home," he said softly.
"Why go home? Why not go from here." She took the last two slices of the pizza with a little smile. "If the cops come back, you won't get a chance to get out later."
"Okay, you're right. Let's do it now." He raised his hand for the bill.
Fifty-eight
Mike was in the middle of a clot of smoking men in the squad room. April went out and caught his eye. She didn't say anything, just returned to her office. Seconds later he joined here there, smelling like a smoker.
"New?"
"I just talked to the ME. Pee Wee died of a head injury."
"No surprise there." Mike sank into a chair.
"Yes. Surprise. Dr. Gloss thinks Pee Wee may have fallen, or been hit on the head earlier in the day, then wandered around for hours. He says the attack in the park isn't what killed him. The earlier head injury was the cause of death."
"Wow." Mike inhaled, exhaled, sucked on his mustache. "Where does that get us?"
April gave him a grim little smile. "Quite a ways. We have some evidence on Brandy and David."
"Those kids? Ah Jesus. What does he have?"
"Nail polish for starters. Black nail polish chips on Pee Wee's body. Brandy was wearing a color like that yesterday when I talked to her in the park. Dr. Gloss told me Pee Wee's finger was cut off when he was still alive. That's something."
"And she was cool as a cucumber an hour ago."
"There's more. Hey, stop him for me, will you?" Behind Mike, April saw that Baum was getting ready to go downtown with his warrant request to search Dylan Rodriguez's apartment. The man was so slow filling in a form, this time he'd gotten lucky. He wasn't going to have to hang around the courts waiting forever for a judge to give his autograph. They had new suspects now and new apartments to search.
Mike followed her eye and called out the office door. "Hey, Woody."
He trotted into the office looking pleased not to be banished anymore. "What's up?"
April liked having the floor. "Woody, you're off the hook on Dylan's warrant request. And hold on for this one. Brandy and David were Pee Wee's attackers."
"They were?" Woody was surprised.
"Yeah. That puts them in the park last night. When I spoke to John, I thought I'd feel him out about trying another search for Maslow." April swiveled back and forth in her chair. "You know, Mike, that whole story you told me about tunnels in Vietnam made me think, I don't know, maybe Maslow is there, under the ground somewhere."
Mike nodded. "I thought of that. Drainpipe or something."
"And Peachy never had a chance to search because she got distracted by dead smells, and then we got distracted by Pee Wee's homicide. We never looked for Maslow, either over or underground. So I thought we might take Peachy out and try now. Those kids must have gone out to Zumech's place last night and stolen his body parts to throw Peachy off track."
The two men stared at her. Mike chewed on the ends of his mustache. Woody made faces. "Body parts?"
April checked her watch. "I've got people out watching the buildings where they live. But we should get going. John is on his way into the city with the dog. But who knows, maybe we won't need her. We'll bring Brandy and David into the station. If they're involved in the Maslow disappearance, we'll know soon. I also have a BOLO out on Dylan Rodriquez."
"Body parts, querida?"
April gave him her deadpan look. "John Zumech kept body parts in his garage for training the dogs. Brandy and David knew all about it."
"Okay, I gathered this morning that John had some personal concern about this. And then David told me all about his father's Mercedes. I didn't put the two together."
"This gives me the creeps." April swiveled angrily. She knew what Mike was thinking. She'd talked to the girl and boy yesterday, let them go. He'd questioned them again today and hadn't been alerted to the danger. Both of them had missed the signals. She was not able to comfort herself with the fact that it happened all the time. It wasn't unusual to come back and question a suspect many times before getting the real story. It wasn't always so easy to nail someone. But in this case, Pee Wee might not have died. And somewhere Maslow might still be out there.
Mike gave Woody the Owens' number to check the garage. "Find out if David took the car out last night, will you?"
It was time to move. April touched his arm. "Did you ask David's and Brandy's mothers if there were any firearms in their homes?"
"Yes, April. I did. Neither family has an interest in guns. In fact, David said he's terrified of them."
"Well, Brandy is interested."
"Her mother said they both hated guns. Put on your vest anyway," he ordered.
"Okay, I'll borrow one for you."
"I don't need one," he protested.
"Rules is rules. I'll borrow one for you. You'll wear it."
He smiled. "It's nice to be together."
"Yeah, sure. How much backup are you thinking?" "They're just kids," Mike said. "Little crazy rabbits. We'll keep this thing low-key. The fewer people the better. What do you say?"
April nodded. They could call in for backup if things got hairy. Good thing Iriarte had gone home. One fewer person to worry about.
At eight-forty-five an astonished Janice Owen opened her front door to April, wearing navy slacks, and a jacket with "POLICE" in big yellow letters across the back.
"Mrs. Owen, I'm Sergeant Woo," April told her.
A tall man with blond hair, wearing a well-cut dark suit, appeared in the doorway beside Janice Owen. "What's this all about?" he asked, looking very surprised.
"Mr. Owen, I'm Sergeant Woo." April introduced herself again. "This is Detective Baum." Woody was standing behind her. He inclined his head but didn't say anything. He, too, was wearing a police jacket. The couple was horrified by them.
"Yes, yes. Hello. What's going on? Where's David?" He looked panicky.
"Do you mind if we come in?" April said gently.