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"But?"
Flued at his apron "I didn’t exactly swear that particular night was routine They came in a little late"
"Both of theether?"
"Separate Lucia beat Etch for once She rushed in about nine-fifty, couldn’t believe Etch wasn’t here When he did cory, asked hiot here the saht?’ "
Maia cursed "When did Hernandez come in exactly?"
"Ten o’clock Maybe one, two minutes after"
Maia stared across Presa Street, at the brown Acura waiting in the dark
The fry cook followed her gaze "Aw, hell You got a police tail? You didn’t tell me that"
Maia pulled the rubber band off the oldto unlock here, Mr Flume?"
He shook his head "Sorry,in his eyes
The old cook hobbled back toward the diner, leaving Maia alone with the key and a two-line hway
Used to be Lucia’s
MAIA DROVE SLOWLY, SETTING HER PACE to the Dvořák on the classical station
She knew the best way to lose her tail wasn’t a high-speed chase It was to bore hiht about Franklin White and the patrol nightstick that had killed hireed to ht Souello But it was also conceivable that he would pull over for a cop
Kelsey had been on medical leave Etch Hernandez and Lucia DeLeon had weak alibis for the murder time But motive? The idea that Kelsey, even Kelsey, would kill because Frankie White had hurt his hands and endangered his job just didn’t sit right with Maia Neither did the idea that either Etch or Lucia would kill because Frankie White was ht It took intense, personal rage to hit someone seven times in the head, to destroy their face Whoever killed Frankie White had seen so in him that they hated deeply They didn’t just want to stop hie coh Southtown, circled the blocks, braked to look at street nuhborhood
She studied traffic patterns, counted the tihts, checked out side streets until she found what she wanted
Her third tih the South Presa–Alamo intersection, where the traffic backed up, she put a delivery truck between herself and the Acura Then she swerved into an alley between two cafés and shot through the back parking lot
A hborhood of King Willian of the tail
"Amateur," she murmured
She supposed there was no reason to have shaken the police She wasn’t about to lead the a baby-sitter pissed her off
The Dvořák piece ended
Maia was about to change the channel to rock ’n’ roll when a news break cahts resident had been found shot to death on his porch overlooking the Olmos Basin
The sedate voice of the classical DJ sounded totally wrong to deliver such news: The victim, a retired Bexar County le rifle bullet Police would not speculate whether the shooting was accidental or the work of a sniper, but stressed there was no reason to believe the general public was in danger The na withheld until--
Maia turned off the radio
The 357 in her shoulder holster suddenly felt heavy
She thought about Jaiolf club, the sad siven her
Maybe the neas about someone else How many retired MEs could there be?
She remembered Mike Flu Detective Kelsey’s already gonna killto you
Don’t think that way, Maia told herself Just drive
She turned on Guenther Street In her rearview ray Volvo sedan pulled out fro Stand? She’d been so focused on the obvious tail
No She was being paranoid The police wouldn’t have the ti team surveillance
She took a detour anyway--a sharp left out of King Williaht stretch of South Presa, lined with stucco nightclubs and taquerías She drove south until the buildings fell away and the landscape changed to country She kept watch behind her, but the Volvo had disappeared
She was about to reverse course when she noticed the street sign at the intersection ahead The name hit her like a blast of cold air
Mission Road
Before she could give herself time to waver, she took the turn
Half a nized the twisted live oak from the crime scene photos The barbed wire fence had fallen down, the shrubs were a little thicker, but otherwise the place hadn’t changed
She pulled over, stepped out of the car