Part 10 (1/2)
”Talk? aBou' what? I don't even know you.”
Flas.h.i.+ng her badge, she told him, ”Now you do. I'm Detective Silvester and this is Detective Franco. I hear you might know somethin' about who capped Dread Knowledge.”
The mope became agitated, dancing, claiming, ”I don't know nothin' about that n.i.g.g.e.r. Ain't nothin' I can tell you.”
”That's too bad. Then I guess I have to take you in on PV.”
”Yeah, right.” He laughed. ”Ain't goin' in.”
”You can come in, talk with me and leave, or you can come in wearing cuffs and not leave. What do you want to do?”
”Neither one.”
The mope turned away. Frank stepped in front of him. As he moved around her Annie grabbed his arm, twisting it into the small of his back. But the mope wrenched his arm loose, taking his eyes off Frank to swing at Annie. In that instant Frank's knee connected with his crotch. The big man gasped and went down. He must have hit Annie because she was recovering from a stumble. Yanking her 9 millimeter free she whacked his elbow with the grip. It made a solid crack and he cried out. Annie yanked his arm back to lock the tie on and Frank jerked his other arm around, getting a twist on it. Annie was ready with a third and zipped the ties together.
The perp was curled on the sidewalk, trying to breathe. Annie bent toward his face. She panted, ”Dumb, Irvin. Very dumb. You just bought a trip to jail for resisting arrest and a.s.saulting an officer.” She tapped his head. ”Very dumb.”
When she straightened, pus.h.i.+ng the hair back from her face, Frank saw her chin was swelling. ”You okay?”
Two men in uniform ran up to them. Annie dabbed her chin. ”Ouch. Dumb, Irvin. Very dumb.” The cops yanked the mope to his feet and Annie told them, ”He's all yours, fellas. We tied him up all nice and neat for you, just like a box of cannoli.”
”Yes, ma'am.”
Both cops were young and white. They glanced at the older women as they hustled Irvin into their unit.
”Sorry,” Annie said, heading for her car. ”Your interview's gotta wait.”
Frank got in and buckled up, asking again if Annie was all right.
The b.u.mp on her chin had doubled but Annie grinned. ”I'm gonna be sore tomorrow, I can tell you that. My chin stopped him but I took it all in my neck.”
Annie gave her attention to the road and Frank relaxed. ”You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
”Fun, huh? c.r.a.p, this hurts like a mother. I better get some ice on it.”
”Pull over,” Frank insisted.
Annie double-parked again and Frank darted into a deli. She got back into the car, tossing Annie a bag of frozen corn.
”Thanks.” Annie held the vegetables against her chin.
”Shoulda got one for your neck, too.”
”Yeah, no kidding. Hey, that was nice work out there.”
Frank shrugged. ”I like the elbow trick.”
”Yeah. An old-timer taught me that. I was trying to wrestle this mope off a chain-link fence one day and this old fart from the backup unit walks up, goes whap-whap with his nightstick and that's that. He looks at me, disgusted, tells me, aGo home, little girl, leave this to the men.'”
”Yeah, I had a couple like that.”
Because she had nothing better to do, for the next five, almost six hours, Frank watched Silvester and Meyers interview their man.
Meyers started off shaking his head. ”Look what you did, Irvin. Hitting a woman. You oughta be ashamed a yourself. Didn't your mama teach you better than that? Huh? And then to let two ladies take you down like that?” Meyers chuckled. ”Oh, man. I wonder what your boys are saying about that?”
”They ain't no ladies,” the perp declared.
Silvester let herself in. She carried a soda and slid it across the table for Irvin. ”No hard feelin's, huh?”
Irvin looked at the soda like it was a bomb.
”All right, honey. This has gotten way out of hand. I just wanted to talk to you. Word is you know something about Dread Knowledge. I was gonna go easy on your PV, I just wanted to talk, but you pulled a dumb on me. Now I know you ain't dumb, and you know you ain't dumb, so the smart thing to do is just answer my question. If you can do that we'll go easy on the charges. I just want you to help me fill in a couple details about Dread. We've got a possible suspect and you might be able to help us pin him down. Is that so hard?”
”Who ya suspect?”
Annie said, ”You know Alphonse Kincaid. Where was he the night Dread got popped?”
”Alphonse Kincaid?”
Annie nodded and Irvin was off.
Kincaid was a rival for Irvin's turf and at the time of Dread Knowledge's untimely demise he was being booked on a larceny charge. Apparently Irvin didn't know this because he took the bait, firmly placing Alphonse at the scene. In painting the lie he admitted his presence at Dread's murder. Over the next couple hours Meyers and Silvester probed his inconsistencies, agreed with Irvin and questioned him so deftly that he believed he had the detectives fooled.
When Irvin admitted he'd been packing a Walther PPK at the murder scene, the lieutenant watching with Frank murmured, ”Beautiful.”
”That your weapon?” Frank asked.
He nodded, grinning at the gla.s.s. ”That Annie. She's whipped cream with a cherry on top. But under all that sweetness?” He slapped his palms together. ”A f.u.c.kin' bear trap. Christ, I could use a couple dozen a her.”
Two hours after the Walther admission, the perp was signing a murder confession. Closing the interview door behind her, Annie danced into the squad room waving the signed paper. Frank clapped and Annie executed a low bow. She had st.u.r.dy, well-turned legs and the deep grace of her bow made Frank wonder if she was a dancer.
”You're good.”
”You're d.a.m.n right I am, cookie.”
Placing a small bottle of Advil on Annie's desk, Frank said, ”Take a couple of these tonight. They'll help your neck.”
Rubbing under her hairline, Annie replied, ”Tonight, h.e.l.l. I'm taking one now.” Dry swallowing a pill, she added, ”Thanks.”
”Just trying to make sure you don't call in sick on me. Want to try the cemetery again tomorrow?”
”You bet. I'll pick you up at nine.”