and was turning right. He glanced over his shoulder and looked for her. Which was perfect, because by now she was right behind him and gaining.
He ran forward but Mary closed the gap quickly. Christ, I hope he doesn’t have a cardiac before I get some information out of him, she thought.
Mary’s breath started to come in gasps, she made a mental note to get back to her workouts – she’d been a little lax lately with them.
Another block went by and she was within ten feet of him. He looked back over his shoulder and Mary saw his face, a pale pudgy mess covered with a thick sheen of sweat.
“Stop,” she yelled. But he lowered his head and bulled his way ahead. Mary unleashed a burst of speed and jumped onto his back and rode him to the ground like a steer at the rodeo.
The .45 was in her hand and she put it in his face.
“Carl Lewis, man, how you doing?” she said.
The fat man gasped for air and now Mary really did worry that he would go into cardiac arrest. She felt his sweat seep into her shirt and a shiver ran down her back. Ewww.
“Don’t,” he said.
“Oh, sure,” she said. “Tell me what to do, doughboy, I’ll follow your every command. Just like you did when I told you to stop.” Mary said through clenched teeth. This guy was a piece of work.
A couple walking down the sidewalk stopped at the sight of Mary holding a gun on the guy. The woman was pulling a cell phone out of her purse. Mary didn’t need the police right now.
“Pedophile,” she said to them, nodding her head toward the big boy. “He would pretend to be a parade float to lure kids in. Trust me, he’s gonna have a lot of boyfriends in prison.”
The woman slid her cell phone back into her purse and the couple kept walking. Mary didn’t even have to whip out her p.i. badge. Still, she would have to keep this quick.
“Get up, Karen Carpenter,” she said and pulled on the guy’s big arm. He heaved to his feet and Mary pulled him up against the wall. To the right was a picture window of a little art studio. A sculpture of a creature that seemed to be half dolphin and half woman looked down on them.
Mary stood slightly behind the big man, putting the .45 directly against his spine, just below his neck. To the casual passerby, it looked like she had her arm around him. A couple. Not the world’s most attractive couple, but a couple nonetheless.
“Brent Cooper,” Mary said. “Tell me what you know about his murder and I’ll buy you a box of Twinkies. Tell me everything, right away, and I’ll even throw in some Pop-Tarts.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Still heaving from the exertion, the big boy’s voice was high and girlish. Mary knew it would be.
Mary pressed the muzzle of the .45 harder against his spine, although she couldn’t actually find any vertebrae beneath the Serta mattress-type padding. But she did the best she could do.
“Nice try, Slim,” she said. “Are you a struggling actor? You do method, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Let me see your SAG card. Or don’t you have one yet? Because I have to tell you, that lie about not knowing anything, you didn’t pull it off very well. Do you need me to give you your motivation?”
The man breathed in ragged gasps as an answer.
“Listen Hambone,” Mary said. “Tell me what you know about Brent Cooper’s murder or you won’t make it to that big cardiac arrest you’re heading toward.”
“I don’t know who the hell you’re talking about.”
“The guy who got murdered behind the Leg Pull? The guy who ripped you to shreds in front of a whole bunch of people who can easily identify you? Ring any bells?”
The big man sighed, his breath had slowed and he mopped his face with a forearm. The dark material of his suit came away slick with sweat. “Oh, that. Well, we had some words and I left. That’s it. End of story.”
“You left? You didn’t wait for him outside? You didn’t cut him open because he’d ripped you a new asshole?”
“No! I don’t like violence. I don’t fight. I run. Or try to.”
“But you’re fighting me now. Lying to me.”
“Listen, I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s not what people are saying at the Leg Pull. They’re saying you two had words and that…”
“Who’s saying that?”
“Everyone.”
He suddenly looked worried