Michael Connelly - Blood Work

“We got more than we had before… I never said the guy was going to give us the shooter’s goddamn address.”

“Yeah, well, we already figured out what the CI on the hat means. Complete Idiots-that’s what the shooter probably thinks of us.”

“If he does, he was already thinking that before tonight.”

Arrango didn’t have an answer for that.

“You know,” McCaleb said, “you ought to think about your witness. Ellen Taaffe.”

“To hypnotize like that?”

“That’s right.”

Arrango barked a command at Walters to stop the car. He popped his door open and jumped out. He came up close to McCaleb, their faces inches apart. Close enough for McCaleb to smell his breath. He guessed that the detective kept a flask of bourbon in the glove compartment.

“Listen to me, bureau man, you stay the fuck away from my witnesses. You just stay the fuck away from my case.”

He didn’t back away when he was done. He just stayed there, his whisky breath burning McCaleb’s nose. McCaleb smiled and nodded slowly as if he had just come into possession of a great secret.

“You’re really worried, aren’t you?” he said. “You’re worried I’m going to break this. You don’t care about the actual case, about the people killed or hurt by this. You just don’t want me doing what you can’t.”

McCaleb waited for a response but Arrango said nothing.

“Then be worried, Arrango.”

“Yeah? Because you’re going to break this one?”

He laughed in a fake way that had far more venom in it than humor.

“Because I’ll let you in on a little secret,” McCaleb said. “You know Gloria Torres? The victim you don’t give a shit about? I’ve got her heart.”

McCaleb tapped his chest and looked back at him.

“I got her heart. I’m alive because she’s dead. And that cuts me into this in a big way. So I don’t care much about your feelings, Arrango. I couldn’t give a fuck about stepping on your toes. You’re an asshole and that’s fine, be an asshole. I’ll put up with that. But I’m not backing out of this till we get this guy. I don’t care if it’s you, me or somebody else. But I’m in this one for the whole ride.”

They just stared at each other for a long moment and then McCaleb raised his right hand and calmly pushed Arrango away from him.

“I gotta go, Arrango. See you around.”

HE DREAMED of darkness. A moving darkness, like blood in water, with darting images in the periphery that he couldn’t grab onto with his eyes until they were gone.

Three times in the night he was awakened by some interior alarm. Sitting up so fast he grew dizzy, he would wait and listen and there would be nothing but the sound of the wind through dozens of masts in the marina. He would get up and check the boat, look out across the marina for Bolotov even though he thought it unlikely the Russian would ever show up. He’d then use the bathroom and check the vitals. Status quo each time and he would return to the dark waters of the same indecipherable dream.

At nine o’clock Friday morning the phone woke him. It was Jaye Winston.

“You awake?”

“Yeah. Just getting a slow start today. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that I just heard from Arrango and he told me something that really bothers me.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“He told me who you got that new heart from.”

McCaleb rubbed a hand across his face. He had forgotten that he had told Arrango.

“Why does that bother you, Jaye?”

“Because I wish you had told me everything. I don’t like secrets, Terry. That asshole calls up and makes me feel like an asshole because I’m the last one to know this.”

“What’s the difference whether you knew or not?”

“It’s kind of a conflict of interest, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s not a conflict. You ask me, it’s an enhancement. It makes me want to get this guy even more than you people. Is there something else that’s bothering you? Is this about Noone?”

“No, it’s not about that. I told you last night, I stand behind doing it. The captain gave me some grief already today but I still think we had to do it.”

“Good. So do I.”

There was a tentative silence after that. McCaleb still thought there was something else she wanted to say and he waited her out.

“Look, just don’t go off cowboying on this, okay?” Winston said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure. I just don’t know what you’ve got planned. And I don’t want to have to worry about what you’re up to because of your ‘enhancement,’ as you call it.”

“I understand. It’s not even a point of contention, Jaye. As I’ve said all along, if I get something, it goes to you guys. That’s still the plan.”

“Okay, then.”

“All right.”

He was putting the phone down when he heard her voice.

“By the way, the bullet went to your man today. He’ll get it tomorrow if he works Saturdays. If not, Monday.”

“Good.”

“You’ll let me know if he gets something, right?”

“He’s going to tell you first. You sent the package.”

“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Terry. He’s your man, he’s going to call you. Hopefully, he’ll call me real quick after.”

“I’ll make sure he does.”

Again he was putting the phone down when he heard her.

“So what are you going to do today?”

He hadn’t really thought about it.

“Well… I don’t know. I’m not sure where to go. I’d like to reinterview the witnesses on the Gloria Torres thing but Arrango pretty much threatened me if I went near them.”

“So what’s that leave?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking about just hanging around the boat today, maybe take another run through the books and the tapes, see if anything comes up. I was quick on the first read-through, but not thorough.”

“Well, that sounds like a boring day. Almost as bad as mine’s going to be.”

“Court again?”

“I wish. Trial’s in recess Fridays. That means I get to spend the day doing paper. Catching up. And I better get started. I’ll see you, Terry. Remember what you said. You’ll call me first with the news.”

“You get the news,” he agreed.

She finally hung up and he flopped back on the bed, the phone clutched to his stomach. After a few minutes of trying to recall the dreams of the night before, he lifted the phone and called information to get the number of the emergency room at Holy Cross.

After calling and asking for Graciela Rivers, he waited nearly a minute before she picked up. Her voice was clipped and urgent. He had obviously called at a bad time. He almost hung up but guessed that she might figure out it was him.

“Hello?”

“I’m sorry. I must’ve caught you in the middle of something.”

“Who is this?”

“It’s Terry.”

“Oh, Terry, hi. No, it’s not a bad time. I just thought it might be something about Raymond. I usually don’t get calls here.”

“Then I’m sorry I alarmed you.”

“It’s okay. Are you sick? You don’t sound like you. I didn’t even recognize your voice.”

She forced a laugh into the phone. He thought she felt embarrassed that she didn’t know his voice.

“I’m lying on my back,” he said. “You ever do that when you’re calling in sick? You know, it makes you sound like you really are sick.”

This time her laugh was legitimate.

“No, I never tried that. I’ll have to remember.”

“Sure. It’s a good tip. You can use it.”

“So what’s up? How are things going?”

“Well, on the case not so good. I thought we had something yesterday but then we hit a bit of a stall. I’m going to rethink things today,”