Shoot to Thrill (26 page)

There was nothing left to do before dinner, so he refilled

The final stop of his own home tour was at the photo shrine of his son – the only part of the condo he would truly miss. He reverently picked up his favorite picture, the one where he and Jessie were mugging for the camera on the eighteenth green of Woodland Hills Country Club. The little shit had actually whacked a hole in one that day. It was like all the luck he’d ever have was funneled into that very last game of golf, into that very last, eighteenth, cup. God, life was strange.

He ran his fingers over the glass, then at the last minute, decided to put the photograph in the duffel bag along with the gun and the files.

It wasn’t an Irish pub, but Magozzi was happy enough to be within spitting distance of Grace McBride for a change, although she seemed a little distracted. Magozzi took it personally, of course, but there was the promise of great food, the certainty of great wine, since Harley had brought a few bottles from his famous cellar, and scantily clad women already on the stage and weaving through the tables of the restaurant and bar, so the brush-off was mitigated. Slightly.

They were all jammed together in an entry with four thousand of their closest friends, most of whom would certainly get a table before they did, since they had arrived first. Magozzi cozied up to Roadrunner, who was painfully shy at confronting strangers one-on-one, and yet totally comfortable in crowds where he wasn’t likely to be singled out. ‘I don’t get it, Roadrunner. Mr. Foodie at a restaurant that doesn’t take reservations? What happened to the chef’s-table treatment? Where are the minions kneeling at our feet with caviar and foie gras?’

Roadrunner was resplendent and clearly tickled to be out of jeans and back to normal in navy-blue Lycra. ‘Actually, we’ve never been here before. The food could suck, but Harley promised John belly dancers.’

Magozzi looked at him. ‘John? Would that be Special Agent John Smith of the FBI? Mr. Straight and Narrow?’

‘Terrific. Happy to hear you’re all bonding with your old enemies. But the thing is, there isn’t a woman in the world, I don’t care what she can do with her belly, that’s going to risk coming close to Smith with Grace hanging on to his arm like that.’

Roadrunner glanced over at the twosome, heads tipped together as they tried to talk over the din. ‘They cooked together and have been pretty chummy ever since. I think Grace likes him, and you know her, she doesn’t like anybody. Kind of a happy moment to see her moving beyond the tight circle, isn’t it? Like she’s letting go of something.’

Magozzi glowered. ‘It’s just so goddamn precious it makes me want to puke. I mean, he’s good at his job, and he kind of grows on you, but the guy’s a million years old.’

Roadrunner gave him an alarmed look. ‘Jeez, Magozzi, I didn’t mean she liked him like
that
. More of a father–daughter kind of thing.’

‘Uh-huh. Whatever. All I care about is when we’re going to get to eat. I’m starving.’

‘The hostess said half an hour after Harley tucked a wad of bills in her halter top. We’re supposed to wait in the bar.’

‘So where the hell is the bar? Maybe they’ve got pretzels.’

Roadrunner pointed the way, but stayed in the entry, watching the dancers.

‘Thank God. Reinforcements,’ Gino said. ‘What kind of place is this, Leo? They got dancers with little jiggly bellies they sure as hell didn’t get here, ’cause there’s no food and I’m about to eat my hand. Now, I don’t mind showing my face at a farewell dinner for Smith, but for Chrissake I’m not sleeping with the guy, so there’d better be something to eat.’

‘Tell me about it. Six o’clock, latest Mom ever had dinner on the table, and Pop nearly had apoplexy. I’m telling you, the world is going to hell when dinnertime jumps past when the kids go to bed.’

Gino nodded a chin starting to bristle this many hours past the last shave. ‘Let us become inebriated as quickly as possible, and toast the days when you ate supper and still had time for baseball in the corner lot before dark. Do you realize it’s past nine?’

‘I do.’

The bartender brought out a plate of tiny little meatballs on a stick propped on a bowl of white stuff with green flecks and set it in front of Gino with an arrogant flourish. ‘Sir,’ he said snippily.

Gino scowled down at the meager offering and opened his sportcoat to show his gun. ‘Listen, you little puke. I am

The barkeep had a lot of white around his dark eyes when he opened them that wide and backed away.

Surprisingly, it was relatively quiet in the little room off the entry. Most of the patrons collected their drinks and carried them out to the main room so they could watch the belly dancers.

‘Detectives.’

Magozzi jumped at the voice behind him and the hand on his shoulder, and spun to see Special Agent John Smith, who had been standing too goddamn close to Grace.

‘I want you to know it has been a privilege and an honor to watch real law enforcement at work, and I thank you both for the opportunity to witness it. And Detective Magozzi, you are the most fortunate of men. You have the affection of a most extraordinary woman, which is in itself the accomplishment of a lifetime.’

Magozzi felt like a cartoon character with his mouth hanging open like that, and all he could do was nod like one of those stupid plastic birds on the glassy edge of a killer tropical drink. Happily, the bartender returned at that moment with a meat platter of giant meatballs and a gravy boat of the white stuff with green flecks. Gino dug in without breathing.

‘Okay, guys, I don’t know what the hell this is, but it ain’t bad. Barkeep, you’re the man. Give us three big ones of whatever alcohol goes with this stuff.’

‘Well, it’s friggin’ excellent, is what it is. Bring us some of that oo-stuff to go with it.’

Magozzi had his hand around a narrow glass of the oo-stuff when his cell vibrated against his hip. He flipped it open, frowned at the readout, and waited for the caller to identify himself.

When you were a cop and got a call from an unfamiliar number on your personal cell, you didn’t say anything until you knew who was on the other end. A county deputy in Alexandria had made that mistake five years ago while he was running regular rounds of the local bars, checking for underage drinkers. He answered his cell with his name, and a drunken ex-con with a grudge, a snoutful, and a long memory for the name of the cop who had put him in Stillwater promptly shot him in the back. The drunken shooter got twenty years and the deputy got a bagpipe funeral.

‘Good evening, Detective Magozzi. This is Judge James Bukowski.’

That made Magozzi unhappy. The man was getting intrusive, taking advantage. ‘How’d you get this number, Judge?’

He heard the judge sigh just before a belly dancer literally bellied up to the bar next to John and jingled her bells and clicked her little metal clackers at him. Magozzi backed away a few paces.

‘How I got your private number is irrelevant, Detective.

‘I’m listening.’

‘Would you mind giving me your approximate location?’

‘St. Paul. Downtown.’

‘Thank you. Unhappily, it is a bit farther away than I’d anticipated, so I will have to be brief.’

‘Music to my ears, Judge.’

‘I am quite certain it is. Are you familiar with the Woodland Hills Country Club Golf Course?’

‘Just off Minnehaha, right?’

‘That is correct. The man who killed Alan Sommers – the River Bride, as the media refers to him – will be meeting me on the eighteenth green in a very short time.’

Magozzi rolled his eyes and put his forefinger on the cell cover to flip it closed. ‘Excellent. Have him give me a call in the morning, will you?’

‘Alan Sommers died at 11:17 according to the knock-off Rolex he was wearing. The watch face was broken in the struggle.’

Magozzi’s hand tightened on the phone and he felt the slip of sweat under his fingers. No one knew that. Just him, Gino, and Anant. They’d bagged the watch and held it back. ‘Jesus,’ he murmured.

‘Splendid. I have your attention. Now, as I was saying, the killer is meeting me very soon on the eighteenth green. His intent, I am sure, is to kill me, since I threatened to reveal his identity. My intention is that you and Detective Rolseth intercept and arrest him. A little present for both

Magozzi was already heading for Gino and Smith, jerking his thumb toward the exit while he kept talking. Whatever was in his face made both men follow him instantly without question. ‘What you’ve
said
is clear, Judge. What you
mean
is a little murky.’

‘That will change, Detective Magozzi.’

‘You sound almost sober.’ He heard a dark chuckle at the other end of the line.

‘I always sound sober, and never am. I don’t know the identities of all the killers, Detective Magozzi, but I suspect this man’s computer will give you an excellent start in solving all the Web murders you’ve been working on. That Huttinger …
person
…’ his voice was rich with contempt; ‘was not part of this …’

‘Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Part of
what
? What the hell are you talking about?’

‘Patience, Detective. We’re running out of time, but it is important to me that you know those waitresses should never have been attacked. I hope you can believe that. Now. Look at your watch. You have exactly twenty-eight minutes to make it to Woodland Hills. Twenty-nine, and I’ll be dead. Thirty, and your killer will be gone. Please leave now.’

When the line went dead, they were already halfway to the front door, badges held high to carve a path through

Wild Jim flipped his cell closed and laid it on the passenger seat next to him before he got out of the car. He breathed in pond smell from the eighteenth-hole water hazard, and saw moonlight reflecting on the flag stuck in the cup.

He started walking from the parking lot next to the clubhouse, out to the green, and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Hole in one, he thought, remembering Jessie’s last shot from the tee, miraculously skittering into that cup and breaking all the club records, because no one had ever done that before. It was a par-three hole, singled in the father–son tournament for the very first time when Wild Jim and his amazing son, Jessie, had taken home the silver trophy. Had they been talking then? He couldn’t remember. What he did remember was Jessie’s face when the crowd at the green let out a roar, telling the twenty-five-year-old kid he was something special.

He’d never thought of the course being frightening; then again, he’d never been here since that last grand and glorious day of sunlight and applause.

At night, everything changed. Trees laid down shadows on the grass in front of the moon, and men who killed for fun hid behind their trunks, waiting.

John sat in the back of the Cadillac, listening to Magozzi’s and Gino’s scattered descriptions of who Wild Jim was while he stared fearfully out the side window, watching the freeway mile markers flash by at speeds that were really

‘So this man is a drunken judge kicked off the bench who happened to be near the river the night your bride was drowned, and probably saw the body.’

‘That’s about it,’ Gino said pleasantly. He liked high-speed chases, even when they weren’t chasing anybody, and especially in the Caddie.

‘And you believe he saw the killer, why?’

Magozzi looked manic at the wheel with the dash lights hollowing out his face and showing the tension there. ‘Don’t know. It’s kind of hard to explain.’

‘Do we have any kind of a plan?’

Gino turned around to look at him. ‘Hell, no. Usually we make up our plans after everything’s gone down, just to fill in the lines on the report, you know?’

Magozzi swerved around a cone with a blinking light on top and nearly put them in the median. ‘Goddamn road construction,’ he muttered, utterly unfazed.

John tightened his seat belt and cleared his throat. ‘So basically we’re going to some golf course in the middle of the night to intercept some crazed killer who’s going to kill your alcoholic ex-judge.’

Gino punched the recline button and smiled. ‘Well, what do you know. We have a plan after all. Check your load, Smith. You’re going to have to hide behind a tree and maybe shoot somebody.’

‘Yeah, well, there’s a first time for everything.’

Wild Jim Bukowski, fierce believer in law and justice, padded across the short-clipped green in the pair of maroon Uggs he’d taken to wearing when he’d exited the world. He flinched at the sound of a cricket in the grass, and nearly collapsed at the mating call of a male frog in the water hazard. He shouldn’t have been afraid. This was what he had wanted, what he had planned, and now at the end of his journey he felt the rapid heartbeat of fear and wondered if he could find the courage to sustain him.

There was a flutter of leaves in the carefully tended woodland surrounding the green. Wind, or man? He froze close to the flag and heard the pounding of his own heart. There was a breeze, and it whispered terror in the leaves, making his eyes sharpen against the moonlight. It was too soon.

Gino wasn’t reclining in his seat anymore, but sitting bolt upright, frantically trying to program the Caddie’s GPS to find an alternate route that wasn’t closed for construction. Despite the air conditioning, sweat was beading on his forehead. The ninety-mile-an-hour whiz on the freeway had ended abruptly when they’d taken the Hiawatha exit. The highway was down to one lane, jammed with the vomit of cars from the Twins game and the detritus of construction that was so constant and ongoing that Minnesotans called it a season.

‘Damnit!’ Magozzi stood on the brakes and screeched to a halt about a millimeter away from the big bumper of the SUV in front of them. Smith felt the shoulder belt bite into

‘Fifteen minutes, and there’s goddamn construction all the way down Hiawatha. Shit, we’re never going to make it. Next street, take a right, it switches back to …’

Magozzi veered the wheel hard to the right and stomped on the accelerator, pushing the Caddie down the shoulder, and through an obstacle course of cones and barrels, some of which died for the cause.

‘Jesus, Leo! Half the pavement is gone …’