Lisa Scottoline - Dirty Blonde

“So?”

“Revolvers don’t have safeties.”

“I knew that.” But Micah could have bought the gun and filed the number off. And she’d know about doing that from the TV show. “So what else did they find on him? A wallet?”

“Yes.”

“Cell phone?”

Russo stopped. “I don’t remember.”

Bet not. Cell phones show who called you last. Cate pulled her chair over to the bed, picked up the fork from the dinner tray, and stabbed a piece of white meat.

“Come on, Judge. Gimme a break.” Russo raised his raspy voice. “I’m starvin’ here.”

“Shut up.” Cate found the foot pedal, raised the top half of the bed, and stuck the chicken in Russo’s face. “Eat this before I stab you.”

“This a trick?” Russo peered down at the chicken, his bruised chin going triple.

“Eat!”

Russo took a bite and chewed, wincing as he swallowed.

And just at that moment, the door to the hospital room burst open.

“You’re throwing me out?” Cate asked, astounded, as Nesbitt hurried her down the hospital corridor, gripping her by the elbow. She’d imagined getting physical with him, but this wasn’t the fantasy.

“You’re damn right I am.” Nesbitt’s graying bangs blew back off his forehead, his trench coat billowed open, and his wool tie took flight. “I cannot believe you, Your Honor. ”

“Slow down.” Cate was whizzed around the nice lady with the dinner cart, like a Ferrari switching into the fast lane.

“Suck it up.” Nesbitt wouldn’t even look at her, leading with his chin like the prow of a battleship. “I cannot believe that you did that.”

“If you’d stop, I’d explain.”

“I want you out of this building as soon as possible.”

“I learned a lot in there, and today. Stuff you should know, if you don’t already, which you probably do and kept from me.” Cate was confusing even herself. It was hard to make sense at this speed.

“What were you thinking?” Nesbitt seemed not to hear, hustling Cate past pastel landscapes, her heels clattering across the glistening floor. He said, “Russo is a danger to you. He thinks you killed his friend and got away with it.”

“His instincts are right. Marz didn’t do it.”

“Did you forget already? The man tried to run you over last night. You were admitted to a hospital.”

“Only for observation.”

“You were unconscious. You inhaled toxic fumes.”

“I’ve been breathing that stuff since I was little.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re crazy.” Nesbitt snorted, propelling her onward. “I opened that door and couldn’t believe my eyes. You were right there, not a foot from him. Leaning over the bed, talking to him, feeding him. ”

“I took pity.”

“You took your life in your hands. The man knows how to fight, to kill. He’s trained law enforcement, remember? They teach us those things at the academy. In fact, we don’t graduate clue school unless we learn it.” Nesbitt’s grip tightened as he steered her past a set of wooden chairs. “Get the connection?”

“He was lying in a bed. He’s got bandages out the wazoo. He couldn’t do anything to me.”

“Of course he could. He’s got a few broken bones. He’s a little medicated. You think that would stop Russo?”

“He can’t even feed himself.”

“You’re a small woman. He was scamming you.”

“No, he wasn’t, and after all, he didn’t hurt me. All’s well that ends well.”

“I told you not to go see him and you did.”

You’re not the boss of me, Cate thought but didn’t say, because it would make her sound immature. Then she reconsidered. “You’re not the boss of me.”

Nesbitt rolled his eyes, on the run. “I’m the boss of him . Russo. He’s my prisoner. It’s my case.”

Cate caught a blurry glimpse of an older patient, tossing in his bed. “Shhh. This is a hospital. People are trying to sleep.”

“Russo is in police custody.” Nesbitt lowered his voice to Controlled Fury. “That cop outside the door isn’t there to protect Russo from the world. He’s there to protect the world from Russo. You lied, and that cop happens to be my nephew.”

He’s got a lot to learn.

“I told my sister, the kid can’t cut it, but does she listen to me? No. Does anybody listen to me? No. That kid is gonna get somebody killed someday.”

“Don’t blame him. I wasn’t in danger.”

“You were, too. You’re like my daughter. I tell her, close your purse, but she always leaves it open. You know why I say that? Because I’m a cop. And I know that if she keeps leaving her purse open, sooner or later she’s gonna get her wallet stolen. But does she listen to me?”

“No?”

“No. But this is worse than purses. This is like driving drunk. You’re in danger and you don’t even know it. You think you’re invincible, that it can’t happen to you, when you’re just lucky it didn’t.” Nesbitt spotted the elevator bank and made a beeline for it. “You’re just lucky that Russo didn’t wrap his hands around your throat and strangle the ever-livin’ life out of you. Or snap your neck. It woulda been quiet and deadly. Over in a split second, nobody the wiser. Before my nephew finished the box scores.”

Cate shuddered. “Kind of graphic, Nesbitt.”

“You think it doesn’t happen? You think nice ladies don’t get strangled?” Nesbitt’s voice got louder again. “It happens. I just left a murder scene in Tacony. A young wife and a three-year-old, a little girl, strangled to death by the husband. It happens every goddamn day.”

Cate heard the anguish in his tone, and suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore. Nesbitt punched the DOWN button for the elevator, and they both fell quiet as a woman nurse wearing a loose, patterned uniform passed by, eyeing them curiously. Her shoes squeaked as she walked away, emphasizing the abrupt silence between them. The elevator arrived and the stainless-steel doors slid open, and they stepped into the long rectangular cab without a word. The doors closed, sealing them inside.

“Look, I’m sorry.” Cate hit the scratched-up button for the ground floor. “It’s just that I felt like I was getting close to something.”

“You might’ve messed up my case against him, too,” Nesbitt said, after a minute. He shook his head. “You’re the victim, asking questions of a suspect in custody. What a frigging mess.”

“It shouldn’t affect the case. I didn’t interrogate him. We didn’t talk about what happened in Centralia. We talked about Marz and Simone.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Nesbitt kept shaking his head. “The issue is what he’ll say you asked him. He had no lawyer present. Better yet, you posed as his lawyer. This is so against procedure, there is no procedure. No precedent. I told you, I’m a by-the-book kinda guy. I gotta tell the ADA, and my case against him might be out the window.”

“What happened to me doesn’t really matter. What matters is what happened to Marz and Simone. Because somebody killed them and got away with it.”

Nesbitt’s head snapped up, his brown eyes flared. “No, they didn’t. Marz killed Simone and he’s dead.”

“Don’t be so sure. If you’d let me tell you what I-”

“And what do you mean, it doesn’t matter what happened to you? Russo’s guilty of attempted murder. We have procedures. Laws. ” Nesbitt looked stricken, his mouth opening, forming a circle like an open wound. “I can’t believe I’m saying this to you , a judge. ”

“You are, and for once, I’m using my judgment. Russo wasn’t a menace to society, he was a menace only to me, because he thinks I killed his friend. And Russo isn’t the point, Marz is. Simone is. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I know what I’m doing. We have to find out who killed Simone and Marz and bring them in.”