Джеймс Паттерсон - Ambush

It didn’t matter now, because they were both gone. I hated to be selfish, but that mainly meant they couldn’t help me with my case anymore.

I was at a loss.

Then Trent strolled into the room and plopped down on the couch next to me. If there was such a thing as a ray of sunshine, it was Trent. He was the youngest of my boys, with bright brown eyes and the darkest complexion of any of the kids. When we adopted him, there was very little information about his family or circumstances. He was only three weeks old at the time.

From the first days, Maeve and I just fell in love with him.

He had a real sense of humor, too. More than once I found him lining up his brothers, then standing between them and singing the Sesame Street song: “One of these things is not like the others.”

Trent said, “Whatcha doing, Dad?”

“Nothing, bud. Just enjoying the view.”

“Is something wrong?”

I smiled at the boy and rubbed his head. “No. Just thinking about work.”

“You always tell us that family is more important than work.”

I said, “It is.”

“Well, we’re doing great as a family.” He smiled and held up an algebra test. It looked like a foreign language to me, but I understood the teacher’s comment at the top. Sister Agnes wrote, “Very impressive, Mr. Bennett. We need to find something more challenging for you.”

The nuns could be formal, but they never gave false praise.

“That’s great, Trent. You never fail to amaze me. I love that you have your own way of doing things. It’s very logical. You’d be a good philosopher.”

“But I like math.”

“You could be a philosopher like Pythagoras. He was also a mathematician.”

“You mean the Pythagorean theorem?”

“Yes, exactly. I have no idea what the theorem is, but I’ve heard of it a couple of times.”

Trent said, “It has to do with a triangle. The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.”

I just stared at him. Eddie was so brilliant that sometimes I forgot how smart some of the other kids were as well.

“Now, there’s good news and bad news, my boy.”

“What’s the good news?”

“I’m gonna buy you that new baseball glove you’ve been looking at and take us out for a nice dinner. All of us.”

“Super Tacos?”

“I guess, if that’s where you want to go. We live in New York City. There are a thousand great restaurants, and you want to go to a taco place.”

“Is that okay, Dad?”

I laughed. “Of course. It’s your night.”

Trent gave me a sly smile and said, “Okay, what’s the bad news?”

“I’m going to have a talk with Sister Agnes, and your work is going to get a lot more difficult.”

Trent gave me that beaming smile and said, “Bring it.”

Announcing new plans for dinner caused quite a stir in the household. Mary Catherine seemed relieved that we were all going out. I pulled her aside to tell her about my conversation with Trent.

Mary Catherine said, “That little shit.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“He acts like all he cares about is baseball and sports, but he’s been hiding this from us for so long. He lets us focus on Eddie being some kind of genius, while he’s smart enough to coast along.”

“Why do I think we’re looking at this from two entirely different points of view?”

“Don’t be silly, Michael. I’m thrilled. I just like to think I’m the slyest one in the family. I’ll have to keep an eye on that one.”

No one could ask anything more than to have a fiancée with a great sense of humor. It was just one of the many things I was grateful for. And she took my mind off my problems for a few minutes.

We were going to make the trek to Super Tacos on foot. It was only a few blocks away, on West 96th Street. I was going to throw in a surprise visit for dessert at 16 Handles. Everyone loved the frozen yogurt there.

Just as I had the younger kids lassoed and ready to get on the road, I noticed Juliana sulking on the balcony. The wind whipped her beautiful long hair behind her. She looked like a model, which I was sure hadn’t escaped her.

Mary Catherine stepped out onto the balcony, and I just watched the two of them interact for a minute. Mary Catherine put her arm around Juliana’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

As they stepped into the living room, I innocently asked, “Everything all right?”

That made Juliana cry and rush into her bedroom.

Mary Catherine waved me off and said, “For a change, it’s not your fault.”

“What is it?”

“Her boyfriend, Carter, broke up with her.”

“I didn’t realize they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Apparently, neither did he. Juliana found out he was dating other girls. Two of them right from the set of their show.”

“I better go talk to her.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I’m her father. I never have any good ideas. But I’m going to do it anyway.”

I lightly tapped on the door to Juliana and Jane’s bedroom.

I heard a muffled sound and eased into the room. Juliana was lying facedown on her twin bed. I think I heard her say, “Please leave me alone.”

As a father, I took that to mean, Sit on the side of the bed and talk to me for a few minutes, Dad .

After I sat silently at the foot of her bed, she rolled over and looked at me. She said, “I guess you were right about Carter.”

“No, sweetheart, I wasn’t. I was worried about him being too mature for you, but he proved he was not mature enough. I just hope you see that you deserve much better than a guy like that.”

She sat up on the bed next to me and leaned her head against my shoulder.

Juliana said, “It just hurts so bad. I thought we had something real.”

“You did. He was just too stupid to realize it.” I put my arm around her and wiped a tear off her cheek with my finger. “There’s nothing I can say right now that’s not a stereotype of something every dad would say. But you are so beautiful and so smart that you’ll have your choice of men across the city. And you’ve always got this guy, who loves you no matter what.”

She squeezed me, then mumbled, “Thanks, Dad.”

I patted her on the back and said, “Do you feel like going to Super Tacos with us? It’s up to you. No one will force you.”

She sniffled and said, “I heard Trent might be some kind of brainiac like Eddie. I can’t miss a celebration for that. Can you give me a few minutes?”

“As long as you need, sweetheart.”

I kissed her on the top of her head, and somehow I was the one who felt better.

My ad hoc task force on homicides had attracted some attention. While I was briefing the forensics people and some of the detectives involved, I noticed Internal Affairs inspector Alice Witcroft slip into a seat at the rear of the conference room.

Roddy Huerta had been true to his word and not mentioned to anyone that I had cut a deal with Julio Laza just before he was murdered. He sat, in his usual suit and tie, making notes as I spoke.

I had to give him credit because he didn’t even shoot me any sidelong glances when I talked about the murders and failed to mention Julio and his cousin Willie Perez. Of course, there was no evidence that the two Dominican gunmen were murdered by our suspect. But I still believed it deep down.

When I asked if anyone had anything new, Cassie Max was the first to speak up.

She said, “I’ve done nothing but look through surveillance videos in the areas of my two homicides. I have a couple of shots that don’t show a face but do show a woman with long brown hair, about five foot seven, who seems to have something strapped across her that’s not a purse.”