as bait. He tried to grab me and I shot him right in his most private of areas. The guy had butchered three women. So it was a real pleasure to put him out of commission permanently.”
“Okay, but the Captain—”
“Look, the Captain maybe only plans to rob her, but things get carried away. I see two Purples and a Combat Bronze on his jacket. What branch was he in?”
“How’d you know it was a Bronze Star for combat?”
“Because of the Valor Device worn with the medal.” She pointed to a small V on the Captain’s chest above the Bronze Star. “That’s only for combat heroism.”
“I knew that because my brother is a Marine, but how do you know?”
“I’ve done my patriotic duty and dated guys from every uniformed branch. They liked to show me their medals. Plus my dad had one from Vietnam. So which branch?”
“Army Ranger.”
“So he’s both huge and strong and really skilled at killing people.” She glanced down at the big man and then over at Roy. “The Captain have a real name?”
“Lou Dockery. I still don’t believe he killed Diane.”
“Spoken like a true defense attorney. But it’s not up to you. In fact, you have to call the cops right now.”
“Me?”
“Officially, I’m not here. My sister gave you a number to call. Dockery will be in la-la land for another twenty minutes or so. I suggest you make that call, right now.”
Roy looked panicked. “What the hell do I tell her?”
“The truth, but leave the part about me out. Hang on a sec.” She picked up a piece of wood and used a small knife to cut her hand, drawing a bit of blood that she smeared on the wood.
Roy looked stunned. “What the hell did you do that for?”
“Because I know my sister. And hang on to the chunk of wood.”
“Why?”
“Again, because I know my sister. Now give me your key card.”
“Why?”
“I want to have a look-see through old Shilling and Murdoch.”
“You’re not serious?”
She brandished her zap knuckles. “A million volts’ worth of serious.”
CHAPTER 38
AFTER LEAVING Café Milano, Beth had returned to her office to go over some files and respond to some e-mails. She was on her way home when she got the call from Roy. She ordered in the Mobiles and her caravan turned around in mid-street and galloped to G-town. Roy met them at the front doors and let them in.
“Nice uniform,” said Roy as Beth walked in dressed in her Café Milano duds. “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything fun.”
Beth didn’t bite. “Where the hell is Mace?”
Roy’s smile disappeared. “I don’t know.”
Since Beth was wearing two-inch heels she was nearly eyeball to eyeball with the tall Roy. “You want to try that answer again?”
“We hooked up and then we parted company. And I came back here.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t gotten a lot of work done lately, for obvious reasons. Just trying to catch up. And I was going to make some phone calls.”
“At this hour?”
“To Dubai. It’s the next day there.”
“Thanks for the geography lesson. Where is he?”
“Fourth floor.”
He led them to the stairs. “Why not the elevator?” asked Beth.
Because your little sister has my key card, thought Roy. But he said, “The elevators were acting a little funny when I came down. I don’t want to get stuck in one.”
They trooped up the steps, two armed plainclothes and a uniform in the lead. Other cruisers and unmarked cars were pulling up out front and a perimeter was being set.
“How did you go from working late to ending up on the construction floor in a confrontation?” Beth asked.
“Heard something.”
“From the sixth floor!”
“I meant I heard something on the elevator ride up. Didn’t think too much of it, but then I remembered the day porter telling me about stuff going missing from the construction site so I decided to check it out.”
“You should’ve called the police right way. You’re lucky you’re not dead.”
“I guess you’re right.”
They reached the fourth floor and the lawmen pulled their guns and lights and followed Roy’s directions. They found the Captain still on the floor, only he wasn’t twitching. He seemed to be asleep.
They gave the okay and Beth and Roy came forward.
She looked at the man on the floor.
“He’s a big, tough-looking guy. Ex-military if the jacket and medals are real. How’d you subdue him?” She turned and looked at Roy intently.
Roy bent down and picked up the piece of wood that Mace had given to him. “I used this. You can see the blood on it.”