Matt Hilton - Slash and burn

'So he did his three years then walked out and into the Felittas' shoes?'

'Not exactly,' Harvey said. 'The syndicates left Dallas alone, but others had moved in. By the time Huffman came back the street gangs were running the narcotics and prostitution. But Huffman wasn't interested in that any more. He saw his future in real estate. You've seen what he's been up to around Little Fork, right? That's only one of his ventures.'

'There are others?'

'Many others.'

'So he has plenty of people in his pocket,' I assumed. 'Plenty of Bolans and Aitkens to pull on if need be?'

'My guess is that there are lots of people at his beck and call,' Harvey said. 'But they're not the ones we should be worried about. The other syndicates owe him. He did time for them. He can probably pull on any of the mobs, ask for their help. We could be going up against some of the top enforcers in the country.'

'Bring it on,' Rink said. He looked like he meant it.

'Mob enforcers aren't usually the type to work outside their frame,' I said. 'It isn't as if every syndicate in the country is going to send their best man. You ask me, there'd be way too many competing egos. They'd probably spend more time fighting each other than they would looking for me.'

'It only takes one,' Harvey said. 'If he's good enough.'

'Yeah.' It was a sobering thought.

Huffman hadn't been talking about only one man. He'd been talking plural. We really had no idea about how many men he was sending against me. But it didn't matter; if they came I'd stop them. Simple as that. I wasn't going to worry about them until they showed up. I certainly wasn't going to run and hide.

'Why Quicksilver?' I asked.

It was Rink who chose to answer. He did so in his usual drawl. 'The pussy is good with a blade. Skilled and very fast, they say. Y'know, as in quick with the silver?'

'We've been there before.' I saw Rink's fingers go to a livid scar on his chin. The scar was courtesy of Tubal Cain, a serial killer who was very good with a knife. Cain made the mistake of abducting my brother, John, and we'd hunted him down. Cain had cut the two of us – he'd almost killed me, but I'd rammed a bone from his stash of trophies in his throat. 'We'll stop Huffman, too.'

'Don't underestimate him, guys,' Harvey cautioned. 'There are stories about Huffman. Apparently his specialty is to slice the throat, but he's also been known to peel off the faces of his enemies while they're still alive. If the stories about him are true, he's as bad a dude as any you've gone up against.'

I sniffed in disdain. But Harvey was right: you should never underestimate anyone, especially when he was the top enforcer of a crime syndicate. Nobody gains that accolade without proving himself.

'Any word from Imogen yet?' Rink asked.

I shook my head.

'Let me have her number,' Harvey said. 'I'll see if her phone can be located.'

Passing Kate's phone over to him, I said, 'I doubt you'll get anywhere. My guess is that Huffman's already tried that.'

Harvey smiled. 'Huffman won't have the contacts I have.'

He handed the phone back after memorising the number. 'Keep that close in case Imogen does get back to you.'

'I'm expecting another call,' I explained, putting Kate's phone in my jacket pocket.

'Huffman?' Harvey asked.

'He's bound to press Kate for a way to contact me. He'll find out that she left her phone back at the motel and guess that I have it now.'

'Maybe we should get rid of it. He could use it to find you.'

'You said he didn't have the contacts you do.'

'And I mean it, but it's easy to find an active phone. Kate's service provider could run a search for hers. I don't doubt he has contacts at that level.'

'We don't have to worry about that, Harvey, because I'm going to find him first.'

'Assuming he's here, that is,' Rink said.

'He's here. It's his home turf; it's where he'll feel strongest.'

'Shouldn't be too difficult to find him,' Harvey put in. 'All I need do is a search of public records. See who owns what and then track back to a registered office.'

'Or we could look in a phone book.'

I picked the yellow pages off a stand by the bed and dropped it next to Harvey. It was open to a page I'd marked by folding down a corner. 'Huffman is supposed to be a bona fide businessman these days. He has his own ad right there.'

Harvey laughed. He closed down his computer and picked up the telephone directory.

'Sometimes the old ways are the best,' I said.

'Tell me about Joe Hunter.'

Robert Huffman had just received a status update from Little Fork, and he was surprised by what he'd heard. Hunter – as he'd already known – had been to le Coeur de la Ville. According to one of the men Huffman had sent there, Hunter had gone in with extreme prejudice. No one was left alive. Huffman's valet, Eric Conroy, was dead. Judge Wallace was dead. Jim Aitken was dead. Even Larry Bolan was missing and presumed dead. With no one left to helm damage control, Little Fork was now swarming with state troopers and agents from the FBI field office at Frankfort. His men were getting out of there and returning to Dallas.

'There's more to this man than meets the eye,' Huffman said. 'Tell me what it is.'

Kate was no longer handcuffed, but she was still a prisoner.

She was sitting in a chair with two men watching over her. Their guns were holstered, but they were an ever-present threat. Kate knew not to stand up without their permission. She only went to the bathroom if one of them went with her. She was given food and water, but the cutlery was plastic and the plates were paper.

'I don't know much about him,' she said.

Huffman was standing over her. But he wasn't menacing her as Larry Bolan had back at the restaurant. He stood with his hands folded, peering down at her with what was supposed to be a kindly smile. Somehow that was much worse.

'So tell me what you do know,' Huffman said.

'I know that you're in serious trouble. Kidnapping a police officer is possibly the least of your crimes, but it'll be the end of you. You've just attracted the attention of the FBI. They won't rest until they find me and you're locked away for life.'

Huffman laughed softly. He unfolded his hands and he showed her the cut-throat razor cupped in his palm. He didn't need to move any closer; the way Kate shrank back from him was enough.

'Who says that anyone will ever find you, Officer Piers?' he asked. 'No one knows you're here. In Little Fork you weren't acting under any jurisdiction. I've checked with a source in the NYPD: apparently you are on vacation, Kate. Your trip to Kentucky was off the books. If I cut you up into little chunks and scatter your remains over the plain out there, who would know where to look?'

'I told colleagues I was visiting with my sister. When I'm not found there, they'll start looking for me. You're the first person that the FBI will come to.'

'Why would they come to me?'

'I told them my sister was having trouble with you.'

'Ah, the unpaid bill she was complaining about?'

'Exactly. I can't believe that this is all a result of a goddamn unpaid bill.'

Kate was pushing for information herself, but Huffman wasn't about to enlighten her.

'If I'm questioned I'll feign ignorance. I've been in Dallas for the last two weeks. I have a hundred people who will swear to that.' Huffman lifted the razor and studied it. 'Now, Kate, let's not waste any more time. Tell me what you know about Joe Hunter.'

'He's just a guy I hired to help me find my sister.'

Huffman used the razor to cut an imaginary loose thread from his tie.

'Just a guy?' He thought of all the death and destruction that the guy had caused in Kentucky. 'How did you find him?'