Ace Is Wild (40 page)

DANIEL LOOKED INSIDE MAXINE, BUT THERE WAS
no note, no clue to Vivi’s whereabouts. And how could there be? Vivi’d had no idea where Patrice was going to stash her.

So why had she left Maxine parked outside his house? Because she was asking for a little faith? If that was the case, she was asking a lot. Maybe he’d had enough experience with Maxine to know there was something strange about the truck, but possessed and able to navigate around the city by itself? Too much of a stretch for someone who barely trusted real live human beings.

And yet Daniel went back into the house, collected his gun and Harm’s list, and returned to the truck. Okay, so he was willing to take a chance. In giving herself up to Patrice Hanlon, Vivi had done the same. And yeah, he realized she’d done it to force his hand, but it was still a sacrifice, and she was counting on him to rescue her. Or show up and help her rescue herself, at the very least. What difference if he took his car or her truck?

Maxine’s keys were under the driver’s floor mat, right where Vivi usually left them. And sure, there was a bit of a hesitation when Daniel put the key in the ignition. “C’mon, I need a break here,” he said. “Let’s go find Vivi.” He was too frantic to feel weird about talking to Maxine, not to mention relieved when she started right up.

Harm had given him the entire list of Patrice’s properties. He wouldn’t be able to check out all the locations, but he could hit the most likely. The problem, he realized when he’d reviewed the highlighted addresses, was that they were all likely. All of them were deserted and secluded, and they were scattered around Boston and the neighboring cities, from warehouses down at the waterfront to buildings like Eric’s that were waiting to be rehabbed.

He chose a place not far from his house, but it didn’t feel right when he drove by, which made him roll his eyes because it was something Vivi would say. Of course, she’d actually have something concrete to back up that sentiment. If you could call ESP concrete. He consulted the list again and aimed the truck toward the next nearest address. Instead he found himself driving around, knowing the task was useless and searching his mind for some other way to find Vivi. He needed help, but all his usual sources were tapped out, and he was . . . He consulted a street sign and realized he was almost to Savin Hill, which wasn’t near any of the likely addresses on Harm’s list.

That was when his panic began to burn off and his brain kicked back in. Anthony Sappresi lived in Savin Hill. When they’d spoken after the first murder attempt, Tony had told him he needed something to trade. That implied Tony had information. Vivi had been reading regularly for Tony before Tom Zukey was murdered, and Tony hadn’t been happy when she quit. Voila, Daniel thought. He could trade Vivi for the information he needed to find her. She wouldn’t be happy about reading for Tony again, but hey, she’d still be alive and maybe so would he.

He pulled up in front of Tony’s house, all prepared to make the deal. He rousted Tony out of bed by pounding his fist on the front door and leaning on the bell, and his resolve didn’t waver. Tony was wearing a robe that had been purchased about fifty pounds ago, and Daniel suspected that he slept alfresco, but Daniel ignored the danger to his eyesight and told Tony what he needed. And when Tony asked the obvious question, “What are you going to do for me?” Daniel went blank. Okay, the words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to throw Vivi under the bus. Even to save her life.

“I’ll step down from your case,” Daniel said instead.

“My mouthpiece tells me it won’t matter whether you’re on the case or not. It ain’t looking too good for me.”

“Your lawyer is preparing you for conviction?” Daniel scoffed, laying it on thick. “You need to get a new lawyer.”

“The evidence ain’t gonna change if you’re off the case.”

“True, but a new prosecutor will need time to get up to speed. Your lawyer—your new lawyer can argue that a continuance violates your right to a speedy trial, maybe get the date moved up so the new prosecutor isn’t ready. It bumps up your odds of acquittal, which is a good thing since your odds of acquittal are currently zero.”

Tony thought about that for a minute, then shrugged. “I’m a gambling man. And I ain’t letting no broad take over my turf.”

Daniel stuck out his hand, Tony took it, and the deal was struck. It gave Vivi the best possible opportunity to get out of this alive, and get her life back.

But for Daniel, there was no turning back.

TONY MOBILIZED HIS WISE GUYS AND SENT THEM OUT to Patrice’s properties, and when Vivi wasn’t at any of Daniel’s top picks Tony sent his goons to the rest of the places on Harm’s list. There were dozens. Daniel had to give Tony credit: He accomplished in less than an hour what it would have taken Daniel days to do alone.

“Here you go,” Tony said at a little after three A.M., handing the list back.

Daniel took it, having to calm himself down because he was trying to read so fast he couldn’t focus on anything. “All the addresses are crossed off except three,” he said when he could finally read it.

Tony shrugged, which was dangerous considering the bathrobe situation. “You told me not to send my guys inside.”

Because there was no telling what would happen if two warring crime factions ran into each other with Vivi in the middle.

“Those are the places they couldn’t scope out without going in,” Tony finished.

And he had less than an hour left to figure out which one of the three Vivi was at: an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront, a strip mall in Jamaica Plain waiting to be torn down, and a salvage yard.

“This one,” he said to Tony, pointing to the salvage yard. “Any idea what it is?”

“City Salvage,” Tony said, “as in vehicles are salvaged from the rightful owner and sold piecemeal to struggling repair shops all over the city.”

Patrice Hanlon as Robin Hood, Daniel thought, except the part where she pocketed all the profits. And then it dawned on him.
Chop shop.
That meant cars, some of them stripped down to bare chassis. Just like in Vivi’s last vision of him.

He didn’t remember leaving Tony’s house, or getting in the truck. There was only blind elation mixed with the fierce relief that came with finally being able to
do
something. Remembering he had less than an hour to spare took the air out of his sails.

By the time he got there he was down to thirty minutes, and while the temptation was to go in with guns blazing, he had no idea where in the place Vivi was being held. But he knew she was inside. Gut feeling, he assured himself, nothing to do with any extraneous perceptions unsubstantiated by science. And it had nothing to do with Maxine.

Just to be sure, he parked the truck at the far edge of the lot, and then he had to wait about a minute for Maxine to thrash herself to a stop. She didn’t want to be left out of the fun, he caught himself thinking—not the craziest notion he’d had all night.

City Salvage sat amongst rundown warehouses and empty storage buildings, a big, cement-block rectangle with a semisized roll-up door in one of the long sides. Even if the door wasn’t locked, and he could open it by himself, the hinges were rusted and would make a hell of a noise. There were small windows up high in the walls and no outside lighting. Perfect for illegal operations, not so perfect for breaking and entering without being caught.

The surroundings didn’t offer much help, either, mainly because the surroundings consisted of an expanse of asphalt so old there wasn’t a square foot of it that wasn’t cracked, heaved, or potholed. A lone Dumpster sat almost squarely below one of the small windows, which was propped open.

Daniel did a circuit of the building on foot and that was it. Cracked asphalt, some trash blowing across it by the wind from the harbor, and that lone, conveniently placed Dumpster. Too conveniently—unless his luck was just running that good, and there was no way his luck was running that good. The Dumpster and the open window were a trap. And he had no choice but to spring it.

He hauled himself up onto the Dumpster, and discovered it left him about a foot short of the window. He had to jump and catch the sill, then brace his feet against the rough cement block. His leg protested the entire program, but he ignored the pain and muscled himself up high enough to look in the window.

He couldn’t see Vivi or Hatch. Hopefully that meant they couldn’t see him, and he wasn’t Spider-Man anyway. It was impossible to suction himself to the side of the building indefinitely. It was either up or down.

He chose up, and his muscles weren’t entirely prepared to defy gravity. Funny, he thought, how out of shape he’d gotten sitting behind a desk. Sure, he worked out almost every day, but gym-fit and street-fit were two different things. Mentally and physically. If he hadn’t had the advantage of surprise, and if Hatch had put up any kind of fight, he doubted he’d have gotten the better of the man.

As it was Hatch almost got the better of him, before Daniel got in a lucky punch.

“Thank God he has a glass jaw,” Vivi said.

Daniel pulled one of the plastic ties Hatch favored out of the other man’s back pocket and secured his hands and feet. “You could have helped,” he said to Vivi.

“Whenever I try to help you get mad at me.”

“I get mad when you interfere.”

“In your book those two are the same.”

Daniel stood there, nursing his temper for a minute, even though he knew time was growing short.

“Care to let me free?” she prompted.

“Why are you in such a hurry now? You wanted to be here.”

“Because you didn’t believe me about Patrice.”

“And you couldn’t give me five minutes to get used to the idea, to verify her guilt and decide how to deal with it? It made more sense to put us both in a life-and-death situation?”

“You said to get you a motive!”

“And how is this getting me a motive?”

“You can talk to her—”

“I could have talked to her without you being held at gunpoint.”

“Not if you didn’t think she was guilty.”

“I would have gotten there if you’d given me some time—Jesus.” Daniel scrubbed his hands back through his hair and jumped off the verbal merry-go-round. “I should walk away,” he said. “You and Patrice deserve each other.”

“Well, this is entertaining. And gratifying.”

Patrice Hanlon’s voice. Daniel traded a look with Vivi, both of them coming to the same conclusion even before they heard the sound of a gun cocking. Daniel turned around. The gun was pointed at Vivi.

“I’ve been practicing,” Patrice said. “A lot. I’m pretty good.”

Daniel dropped Hatch’s gun.

Patrice came over and kicked it across the floor, then plucked the pistol from the back of Daniel’s waistband and bent to check each of his ankles. He was tempted to kick her in the head, but she never took her eyes off him. And she kept the gun pointed at Vivi.

“I knew you’d come early,” she said as she stood and stepped back. “I knew you’d find out where we were holding the kook somehow.”

“I’m not a kook,” Vivi said.

“Really?” Patrice said. “That’s what you’re worried about right now?”

“We’re not going to die, so yeah, I don’t like being called names by a two-bit mobster wannabe with no imagination.”

Patrice’s hand tightened on the gun, and for a second Daniel thought she might pull the trigger. She laughed instead. “Still trying to psych me out, I see.”

“Just calling it like I see it,” Vivi said.

Hatch decided to join the party by retrieving his gun from where Patrice had kicked it, and pointing it at Daniel, his hands and feet tied together awkwardly. Patrice stepped in front of him. Hatch didn’t like it.

Patrice didn’t realize how close she came to ending up a casualty. Or maybe she did, because she took the gun— carefully—from Hatch and set it on the hood of a Mustang behind her.

“I appreciate the gesture,” Daniel said to her, “but aren’t you going to kill me?”

“I have to,” Patrice said. “The sacrifice is necessary.”

Vivi caught Daniel’s eye, then looked at Hatch. Hatch, red-faced and pissed off, was staring at Patrice. Patrice cut the ties around Hatch’s wrists and ankles, but she kept his gun, and she stayed between him and Daniel, and they all knew why. Patrice had feelings for Daniel. Sure, those feelings were warped and mixed up, but they existed.

“I’m here now,” Daniel said, “there’s no reason to hurt anyone else.”