a sham. At this point, even though Pablo was a piss-poor witness, she strongly suspected the rape charge had been trumped up.
Everything kind of happened all at once after that.
Danni had a written Miranda warning in her inside jacket pocket. She figured that putting the document in front of Sandra at that moment might bring home the seriousness of the situation to her.
The two men in the living room who had seemed to be ignoring everyone drew their weapons as soon as Danni’s hand moved toward her inside pocket. The guns were pointed at Danni and Henry.
The fat man in the kitchen slammed the pan he was holding down hard on the stove and stormed into the dining room.
“Put your hand on the table slowly,” the fat man said. Danni followed his directions. She was going to explain her intentions but thought better of it.
“You oughta mind your manners, lady,” the fat man shouted. He had his own piece out now and was pointing it at her head, just inches away. “This isn’t the sticks. You don’t come around here bullying people in their homes and threatening to arrest them. My sister was nice enough to let you in. I’m not going to let you out.”
Henry had been a passive presence up to that point. Now he stood up slowly, his hands in the air to let everyone know he either didn’t have a gun or wasn’t planning on using it if he did.
“Can we all just calm down for a minute?” he said in a low voice. He looked directly at the fat man who had recognized him initially. “I’d like you to know why I’m here. I’m here for Julian Reardon, the kid who’s accused of this rape. His mother grew up just a few blocks from here. She’s one of us and that makes Julian one of us. I’m not criticizing how anybody makes their money. I’m just saying you need to let this kid go.”
“You can go,” the fat man said, ignoring Henry’s words. “We’ve got no quarrel with you.”
Henry shook his head. “I can’t do that. Listen to me, I know about these things. You do something to this detective, all hell is going to come down on you. Whatever else you’ve got going on here is going to be over and your life will be over. Trust me on that.
“On the other hand, Sandra just nods and lets us know that Julian is innocent and that she’s going to withdraw the complaint, we’re outta here. We were never here. You may lose a little money in the short run but in the long run you’ll be a whole lot better off. It’s smart thinking.”
The fat man looked at Henry for what seemed like an eternity although his gun was still pointed at Danni’s forehead. Henry knew he was weighing his options. He hoped he was smarter than most two-bit crooks.
“You speak for her, too?” the fat man asked.
Henry looked at Danni, who was still sitting. She nodded her head ever so slightly.
“Yes,” he replied.
Again the fat man stared at Henry for what seemed like an eternity.
“Okay, the charge will be dropped,” he said finally, lowering his gun. “Hector!” One of the two men came forward. “Walk them down to their car. Make sure they get in and drive away.”
Danni stood up to leave. Henry turned toward the door.
“Henry Wilson,” the fat man said, “this doesn’t go down exactly the way you said, I will come looking for you and I won’t be alone. Understood?”
“Understood,” Henry replied.
Chapter Twenty-One
Whew!” Danni said when they were in the car and Henry was driving away from the complex under Hector’s watchful eye. “I’m sure glad I insisted that you come along, Henry.”
Henry stole a quick glance at her to see if she had gone crazy. Danni was smiling. Henry got the joke and chuckled.
“Yeah, that was real good thinking on your part. Got any other great ideas?”
“How about a drink? I sure could use one.”
“Lotta places to go around here.”
“You pick one, Henry. I trust your judgment.”
Henry picked a place over toward the beach. It had kind of a Caribbean feel to it with fake palm trees and stuffed parrots on the yellow walls along with a bunch of other junk. That was the thing with bars these days: Junk on the wall was supposed to be atmosphere. Bob Marley was playing on the jukebox, and a colorful mix of men and women of pretty much all ages were