Part 14 (2/2)
”Don't tell me. No Howard Snow.”
”That's right, and I ran a registration check on vehicles registered to Snow. I came up with two: the one we towed in after the blast, which was his wife's, and his, a big gray Hummer.”
”That's good work. Why don't we put out”
”A bulletin? Already did.”
”All right. Great. What else do you have?”
”Just this.” He handed me a slip of paper with a name and address written on it. ”This guy. He's a friend of Snow's. An old college roommate. He lives here in town. Might be worth checking out.”
I took the slip of paper. ”Okay. Nice work, Dominic. I think we will go pay him a visit now. Carlos, you ready?”
”Sure. Let's roll.”
On the elevator ride down to the lobby, I thanked Carlos for keeping his mouth shut about Ursula. He shrugged it off as no big deal, but I knew it must have been killing him not to say something.
”No, seriously,” I said. ”You saw how freaked out he was about me just seeing Ursula naked. Can you imagine if he knew....” I let it go at that.
”I wouldn't worry about it, Tony. I think a lot of it is that he's just nervous about the wedding. He is in love with Ursula and the fact that she is, what's the word? Unspoiled? I think he wants their first time together to be a completely new experience.”
”It will be. Besides, it is not as if he didn't see her naked first. He was there when Lilith reconst.i.tuted her from a pile of bones.”
”Give him time. He'll chill.”
”Yes, well I hope he chills before he gets a chance to ask Ursula about last night. I mean, you know the girl cannot lie. She'll probably tell him everything.”
Carlos smiled at that. I know he was thinking how much he would love to be there when that happened. Me? I hoped I would be out of the country.
The skies were blackening as we pulled up to the curb across the street from the residence on Monroe Street. We saw no sign of Snow's Hummer, but through an upstairs window, we could see someone was home. Carlos shut the motor off and we settled in for the wait.
Normally, when we go on a stakeout Carlos takes along a supply of snacks to help pa.s.s the time. Though we did not expect our hunt for Howard Snow to turn into a stakeout, Carlos came prepared just the same. He reached over my lap and popped open the glove box. Out spilled a cache of Snickers, Twinkies and Three Musketeers bars.
I pointed at the Three Musketeers. ”Those are new.”
”Yeah, I started getting into them after the McMurray stake out.”
”Really? I hadn't noticed.”
”Right, see that's the difference between you and me. You don't pay attention to the little things.”
”Oh? And you do?”
”Yes.”
”In what ways?”
”Well, let's take you for instance.”
”Me?”
”Yeah.” He pointed at my feet. ”You're wearing two different colored socks today, one black, one navy.”
”What?” I looked down, pulled my pant cuffs up and noticed he was right. ”I was running late this morning. Must have grabbed the wrong mate.”
”Of course you were. That explains why you forgot to shave, too.”
I reached up and stroked my chin whiskers. Once again, he was right. ”Hardly a keen observation.”
”Okay. How about your watch?”
”What about my watch?”
He pointed at it. ”It stopped last night at 9:05.”
I looked. ”No it didn't. It's right on time.”
He shook his head and gestured at the clock on his dash. ”Tony. It's 8:54.”
I tapped my watch crystal. ”I'm running fast.”
”Are you?”
A closer look and I could see he was right. The second hand had stopped moving. ”Oh.”
”Yes, oh.”
”All right, smarta.s.s. What else you got?”
”Oh, nothing, only that I know you and Lilith did it last night.”
”What?”
”Or should I say Lilith did it. You just laid back and enjoyed the ride.”
I looked at him in absolute wonder. ”No. No way. I don't believe it. You could not possibly know that.”
”It's true, though, isn't it?”
”It is, but how...how did you know?”
”I told you. It's the little things I notice.”
”The little things.”
”Yup.”
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