Ocean Prey (A Prey Novel #31) - John Sandford Page 0,94

couldn’t remember the photographers’ names. “Sandy and Steph are driving, they’re pulling the old lady out of the funeral home tonight.”

“That’s, what, a day and a half up 95?” Regio asked. He sniffed: the place smelled of lemon Pledge, and he was mildly allergic to it.

“Something like that,” Behan said. “I’ve never driven straight through myself. I’m told it’s eighteen or nineteen hours, going with the flow of the traffic. The storage place opens at six, they figure to be on the road before six-thirty, about the time it starts getting light. They wanna beat the rush out of town. They’ll drive until it gets dark, then do the rest of it the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll be happy when New York gets it and we’re not responsible anymore,” Cattaneo said. “I’ll tell you, when Willy came up with eleven cans, I was so excited I almost shit myself.”

Behan turned his eyes on Lange: “What do you think, Matthew? You still worried about Willy’s credentials?”

“Less than I was, but . . .”

“But what?”

“We’re gonna get a test when the shit gets to New York. If Dougie’s standing there looking at all those bags and a hundred feds come crashing through the doors, well . . . it could be Willy.”

“Doug won’t get anywhere close to it,” Behan said. “It’ll go straight out to the A level, a kilo or two at a time and they’ll be the ones who have hands on.”

“Okay,” Lange said. “But if it does get hit, we’ll need a closer look at Willy. I-I-I guess I don’t think it’ll happen. After the other night, I think Willy and Ally are on the level. I’m just sayin’, if that cargo does get hit, we’ll need to take a real close look. Because, let’s face it, we all know each other, we’re all watertight. If there’s a leak . . .”

“’Nuff said,” said Behan. “You’re right. If the hearse gets hit, anywhere along the line, we’ll look to Willy.”

“Willy’s okay,” Cattaneo said. “He’s in as deep as we are, now . . .”

Behan was watching him closely, and Cattaneo faltered, then asked, “What?”

“An odd thing happened yesterday,” Behan said, “which is why I brought up the whole subject.”

He pointed at Regio. “You told me that you stopped by their place yesterday around what, three o’clock, to tell them to ease off the dope? And they just got back from Bal Harbour?”

“Yeah, our guy saw them in a Hollywood bar the night before, a block down the street from their apartment. A Willy-style shithole called Ouroboros. They bought some cocaine from a dealer named Richard. He’s a well-known dealer, been around for a while. Not a cop.”

“So that looks good, that’s what we expected,” Behan said. “Then we thought they’d probably go out and shoot up some of the cash.”

“Yeah,” Regio said. “They did. Like I told you, it looked like they hit every shoe store in Bal Harbour Shops. Ally must have had ten bags stacked up in that apartment. Willy bought a pair of crocodile cowboy boots, which I didn’t even know they sold over there. Is that bad?”

“No, but a curious thing. Jack, you know Lauren Hopps, right?”

“Sure, I know Lauren.”

“Who’s Lauren Hopps?” Lange asked.

“Nice lady, smart, she’s with the Beach guys,” Behan said. “I knew her up in New York, she’s down here now, she supervises the girls working the South Beach. Anyway, she was up at the St. Regis Hotel yesterday for a late lunch, and as she was going in, she sees this FBI guy, Weaver, go by with what looked like a bunch of feds, on their way out of the hotel. Weaver was the task force guy up in Lauderdale, he was down at Romano’s place in that fight. So Lauren thinks I might be interested, because she kinda knows what we do, and she gives me a call.”

Regio: “Yeah? Does that mean something?”

“The St. Regis is right across the street from the Bal Harbour Shops. I mean right across the street. A one-minute walk. The feds would have been at the St. Regis at the same time as Willy and the hand-jive were supposedly shopping.”

Lange said, “Oh, shit.”

Behan shrugged. “Doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it’s a curious coincidence. The Bal Harbour Shops are where I would have guessed those two would go. The feds? I don’t know about the feds, why the whole bunch of them would be at the St. Regis.”

They stood in silence for a moment, and then Cattaneo