“I must make a note to ask to have more people like you sent my way.”
“For that you will have to talk to my superiors in Moscow,” she said.
“I will.”
“So what do you wish me to do?”
“I need you to be on the watch for two people.” He showed her pictures of Roy Kingman and Mace Perry. She stared at them for a full minute.
“You can keep the photos,” he said.
“I don’t need them. They are now in my mind.”
“All right. We’re setting up perimeter defensive positions. But together with that I need to locate some bait, just in case.”
“I’m very good at finding bait.”
“I know that you are.”
CHAPTER 97
MACE PARKED her bike behind the building and got off. Her gaze scanned the rear parking area, which had space for ten slots. As she stepped forward she could see the names of two doctors stenciled in yellow on the asphalt in side-by-side parking slots. The big shots always got their own space, she thought. A short stack of steps led up to the back door, which was solid wood. There were two windows in the back, both barred and curtained.
And there were the green trash cans that the Captain had mentioned. Not that that helped very much since there were only a million of them in the area and they all looked the same. She heard the clink of boots against the pavement before she heard the voice.
“Can I help you?”
She turned to see the rental cop walking toward her, his hand resting lightly on the top of his sidearm. He looked to be in his fifties and was probably a retired cop making some extra money. To her, he had the ease but also the awareness of a guy who’d walked a beat and talked the talk for a lot of years.
“Just checking the place out.”
He looked at the rear of Potomac Cryobank. “Just checking it out? Or casing it?”
“I’m not really in the market for sperm right now.”
“Lot of people are. It’s a hot commodity.”
“I bet. You guarding the place?”
“Not out for my health.”
“You former MPD?”
“You a cop?”
“Used to be.”
“I’m retired now. Do security full-time. What was your beat?”
“Mostly Six and Seven Ds.”
“Okay, you earned your stripes.”
“I’m doing some PI work now.”
“Involving this place?”
“I was hired by a lawyer to check out an alibi that has to do with the sperm bank. Don’t think it’s going to fly, but you have to go through the motions.”
“What sort of alibi?”
“Guy says he was around here going through trash cans when something else was happening at another place.”
“And at this other place the something happening was a crime and your guy was arrested for it?”
“You’re a fast learner.”
“Not really. Story’s always the same.”
“I’ve actually been in the sperm bank. I thought it had a security system.”
“It does.”
“So why you too? Is sperm really that hot a commodity?”
“I asked that very same question myself. I’m not some college kid wanting to make some extra bucks or some cop wannabe who doesn’t give a crap. I go into a situation I want to know what’s what. They told me that the security system had been acting screwy here and so they needed feet on the pavement.”
“Acting screwy?”
“Yeah. Energy spikes maybe, or a freak wire or software glitch. But they came in one day and found the alarm not even on. And the nurse said she remembered setting it. She was the last to leave.”
“Did you talk to the nurse?” He nodded. Mace described the woman that she and Roy had spoken with.
“Yeah, that’s the gal.”
“She’s pretty efficient. If she said she set it, I bet she did.”
“Anyway, they had the alarm company come over but they couldn’t figure out what had happened. And there was no record of any break-in or anything, or the alarm going off or any sensors being tripped. It was like the system just went to sleep for no reason. I don’t think anything turned up missing and there was no evidence that anyone actually broke in. But the folks still got worried and they’re in the process of changing the whole system over. Until they get it done, I’m here.”
“Do you remember when all this went down?”
“Why are you interested? Think it has to do with your alibi?”
“Never know. And I’m just naturally curious.”
“Most cops are.” He stroked his chin. “I got the call to come here on Thursday. So I guess Wednesday of last week.”