Part 17 (1/2)

That look had stopped him cold. ”You mean because you are a woman, you can naturally fool men and lie to them?”

”What do you think?” she had asked, smiling at him in the way that told him he was being played like a fine violin. Sometimes he enjoyed it, at that moment he hadn't been so sure.

”I'm going down to make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do.”

”Not a good idea,” Bev had said, hopping off the corner of the desk. ”I'll do it, you stay here. We can't have Bell see you walking around when you are supposed to be dying, now can we?”

Dix had agreed with her. She had been right.

”Stay put,” she had said and headed out the door.

When the door closed he had moved behind his desk and taken out his gun, making sure it was loaded and ready to use. Then he had put it on the desktop and sat down. For the first time since the Heart of the Adjuster had been taken, he had a moment alone to think.

And now that was what he was doing.

Thinking, feeling the time tick away like blood draining from a wounded man.

As Mr. Data and Bev had suggested earlier, once he got a moment to review everything, he started back at the beginning, working through how this had gotten started, running over the different things that had happened, checking details, looking for any clue as to who might have taken the Heart.

Anything he might have missed.

He didn't see anything.

He had taken a great deal of precious time going through the crime bosses, making sure that a common thief on the street hadn't taken the Heart and sold it to them. It had been a logical a.s.sumption, especially considering what had happened to Redblock and the nature of crime in this city.

But now that the bosses were eliminated, he reviewed the two remaining suspects.

Arnie Andrews, the husband of murdered actress Marci Andrews, had had a reason to be climbing those stairs at about the time the Adjuster was sitting unguarded. But was he the type to see the gold ball and instantly want to take it? That was going to be a question he had to find an answer to quickly.

Then there was Detective Bell. Bell had bent laws and done favors in most of the ten cases Dix had worked, so Dix knew he was no innocent. But Bell was also a friend. Dix had had a standing invite to go home with Bell and meet his wife and kids and have dinner. Would Bell take something from a friend?

And most important, Bell knew that Dix was looking for the Heart. He might not know how important it was, but he knew Dix thought it important. And if he had taken it, he might have found a way to give it back by now.

But he might not have, either.

Dix was going to have to tread lightly when talking to his old friend. If Bell hadn't taken the Heart, then that just left Arnie Andrews. And with Mr. Data searching Andrews' apartment, that lead was being run down at the same time.

There were clicking footsteps on the stairs and in the hallway and a moment later Bev came back in, brus.h.i.+ng the rain off her coat. ”Everyone is in place and will come up behind Detective Bell. Once he's in the building, he won't be getting out.”

She moved over to the window and glanced out through the rain. ”He just pulled up.”

”Okay,” Dix said, ”stand off to one side. This is between me and Bell.”

Bev nodded, closed the door, and then moved over to a spot near the window where she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. Dix remained seated behind his desk, pretending he had been doing just standard paperwork.

The heavy footsteps echoed through the building as Bell ran up the stairs and through the outer office. He opened the inner office door and then froze, rain dripping from his coat and hat.

”Thanks for coming,” Dix said. ”Come on in and close the door. Have a seat.”

”What is this?” Bell demanded, staring at Dix sitting obviously unhurt behind his desk. ”People coming back from the dead before they die now?”

”I need to ask you some blunt questions, and I didn't have time to go find you,” Dix said.

”Yeah, so,” Bell said, ”you knew where I was.”

Dix shook his head. ”No, I needed you here. And it had to be fast. We are all almost out of time.”

”So you told her to lie to me?” Bell asked, clearly angry, motioning at Bev. ”What kind of friend would do that to another friend?”

”The same kind of friend that would ask you if you took the Heart of the Adjuster I've been looking for.”

Now Bell looked really stunned.

”Sit for a minute,” Dix said, before Bell could say anything more, ”and let me explain why I would even ask that question. And why I had to lie to get you here.”

Bell stared at Dix, then with a glance at Bev, pushed the door closed and sat in the chair facing Dix's desk. He brushed water off his coat and then took his hat off and shook it at the floor.

”Take a look at this,” Dix said, sliding his appointment book toward the detective, flipping it over so Bell could read it. ”The Adjuster with the gold-looking Heart was sitting at the top of the stairs out in the hall, unguarded for about five minutes, somewhere between 4:45 and 5:15. That was when it was taken.”

Bell studied the appointment book, then nodded and slid it back at Bell.

”I know you're a basically honest man,” Dix said. ”Your name does not appear anywhere in either Redblock's ledger or Slippery Stan Hand's records.”

”That's good to hear,” Bell said, clearly still angry, ”since I wouldn't take a thin dime from either of those two slimeb.a.l.l.s.” He flipped his still wet hat onto Dix's desk.

Dix ignored Bell and his actions and anger and went on.

”I don't know how to tell you how important that little-ball is to the continued existence of this entire city. You're just going to have to believe me that if we don't find it in the next ninety minutes, we will all die. You, me, your wife. Everyone.”

”Ninety minutes?” Bell said, waving away Dix's statement like it was a bug flying in front of his face. ”Ah, come on, quit pullin' my leg. This is getting old.”

”I am not kidding,” Dix said, staring at his friend. ”I wish I were.”

Bell stared right back at Dix. Then after a moment Bell said, ”You're not kidding, are you?”

”No.”

”You said this had something to do with the strange weather and this night that will never end?”

”It does,” Dix said.

”And with me and the others coming back alive?”

Dix nodded.

Bell took a deep breath and sat back. ”All right, I can see why you had to ask when you saw this appointment book. You had to talk to everyone who might have come up the stairs at the point the thing was taken, right?”

Dix nodded.

”Makes sense, friends.h.i.+p or no friends.h.i.+p. I'd have done the same thing.”