the hell is the matter with you?” Beth was shouting now. “Will you please tell me how in the hell I’m supposed to get through to you?”
Beth’s face was spotted with red anxiety flecks. Mace was pressing the back of her head so hard against the wall it felt like her scalp was being split open.
“It’s the only shot I’ve got to get back on the force,” Mace said in a calm voice that belied the emotion churning through her.
“What are you talking about? I told you I was working on it.”
Mace hesitated but then decided to just get it out. “Mona’s ahead of you.”
Beth straightened up. “What?”
“Mona ambushed me in the ladies’ room at a hotel where Roy and I were having a drink. She knew your plan and she’s already talked to all relevant parties with the result that even if you dig up people with signed confessions it won’t matter. I’m never getting back on the force that way. I’ve never seen her happier.”
Beth slowly sat on the bench next to Mace. “And that’s why you—”
“Look, bottom line, it’s not your battle, Beth. It never has been. It’s mine. If anybody is going to do something, it has to be me. Mona was also hoping that you’d keep pushing on the case so she could nail you with some bullshit misuse-of-resource crap or building a bogus case to help me and then get you fired. I may go down, but I am not taking you with me. I’ll go back to prison before I’d let that happen.”
The two sisters sat there for a few moments in silence.
Beth finally said, “But if the guy you nailed last night is the killer?”
“Yeah, maybe I have a shot at reinstatement.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I’m not convinced about a lot of things. So has he spilled his guts yet?”
“He hasn’t said a word except that he wants a lawyer.”
“Really? He’s not so stupid, then.”
“I don’t know if he is or not. He wants your drinking-buddy white knight as his shyster.”
“Roy as his lawyer? Why?”
“Says he’s the only one he’ll talk to. Seems like they were good friends. Funny, Kingman never even mentioned to me that he knew him.”
“Roy told me he helped the guy out some. Repped him once on an assault.”
“So you whacked the guy in the head with a piece of wood, right?”
“He outweighed me by about two hundred pounds.”
“It sure was a little piece of wood to knock out a guy that big.”
“I built up quite an arm in prison,” Mace said defiantly.
“Why’d you go down to Six D?”
“To see where it all went down.”
“Where they grabbed you?”
“There was a huckabuck on the street named Razor. Heard of him?” Beth shook her head. “Well, he and I had a chat, then I rode on. About five minutes later, here comes the car with the rifleman. Then Roy showed up and the chase was on. That’s all I know. I need you to believe me.”
Beth sighed. “I do. A couple of my guys on CP rounds scrounged up two witnesses who saw the car bearing down on you and Kingman’s Audi coming from out of nowhere.”
“And the shots?”
“And the shots.”
“If you knew that, why were you giving me the third degree, then?”
“Because I’m pissed at you and I wanted to make you sweat.”
“Did your witnesses get a plate number?”
“There were apparently no plates on the rear of the car either.”
“Okay. That’s interesting.”
“You see what happens when you lose my hover guys?”
Mace had a sudden thought. “So how did Roy follow me, then?”
“Why don’t you ask him? It seems pretty convenient him showing up like that. If I were you I’d go a little slow with the man, not that you’ve ever listened to me when it comes to the male species.”
“First time for everything,” Mace said slowly.
“So they fired two rounds and left nothing behind. Not your typical street shooters, because those guys don’t police their brass since nobody will squeal on them anyway.”
“Does Roy know that this Captain dude wants him as his lawyer?”
“I told him.”
“You’ve already talked to Roy?”
“I wanted to see how your stories matched up.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Oh, and if someone is trying to kill you, I’d appreciate if you would confine your rides into the Valley of Death to daylight hours.”
She turned back to the door.
“Is this going to screw up my probation?”
“You were never officially charged. Kingman’s waiting down the hall.” She thumbed the bars. “You’re going to work this case, aren’t you?”