the slight young black man said. “I’m not going to hurt you, Ms. Alice.”
I didn’t realize I had screamed until two uniformed cops pulled the kid off and cuffed him.
TWENTY-THREE
“IT was Luther Audley,” I said to Mike. I was forty-five minutes late for Scully’s meeting, but the commissioner himself had been called to City Hall to explain things to the mayor, so we were all on hold waiting for him.
“How’d you recognize Luther? By the crack in his rear end?”
Guido Lentini, the deputy commissioner for public information, had given us his office to use until Scully arrived. Nan was standing behind me, kneading my shoulders. She knew I was rattled and was just trying to calm me down.
“Where is he now?” Mercer asked.
“I asked the cops not to arrest him. I believe his story. I’m fine. If I hadn’t tripped on that jagged piece of cement, he wouldn’t have become entangled with me.”
“C’mon, Alex. Where’s Luther?”
“I told them you’d call. It’s two guys from the Ninth Precinct,” I said, unfolding a piece of paper with their numbers. “They’re holding him in Central Booking till after we sort this out.”
“What did Luther say to you, exactly?” Mike asked.
“He might have been calling my name to get my attention. I’m not sure, but I thought he said ‘Alice’ so it didn’t concern me. Anyway, I thought it was street noise and I ignored it ’cause I was texting you. I didn’t hear him speak until after—”
“After he brought you down.”
“He didn’t bring me down, Mike. I really don’t think that’s what he had in mind.”
“He was waiting for you, wasn’t he?”
“How could he possibly have known I’d take Baxter Street?”
“Your office is the only place he’d think to find you,” Mercer said. “Maybe he just skulked around till he figured you’d be getting out of work, saw you walk out and separate from Laura, and got lucky when you took the darker route.”
“But he didn’t do anything to me.”
“Tell her, Nan. The kid cost her at least a manicure,” Mike said.
“Twelve dollars, Mike. Still only a misdemeanor.” Nan pinched my shoulders.
My knuckles were bloody from scraping the sidewalk, and several of my nails had broken.
“Here’s what he said, when the cops let him open his mouth. It’s all about his grandfather.”
“I like that old guy,” Mike said.
“The trustees have decided to fire Mr. Audley,” I said. “It looks bad for them that Amos has been letting Luther hang out there. By hindsight, people in the office claim that stuff is missing—cash, some of the silver objects that would bring in a fraction of their worth being sold on the street, books and hymnals.”
“Then keep a leash on Luther,” Mercer said. “Why punish Gramps?”
“He’s the one person in the world that Luther cares about. The one human being who’s always looked out for him. The kid knows that and feels bad about it. That’s why he was trying to catch up with me. That’s all he wanted.”
“He’s not familiar with the concept of office hours?”
“Right, Mike. With his batting average, you think he’s just going to show up for an appointment with an assistant district attorney? Not likely to be his comfort zone.”
“What does he expect you to do?”
“Talk to Wilbur Gaskin. The kid’s not wrong. Luther says Mr. Gaskin’s behind the whole idea. He feels personally embarrassed about what happened in front of us with him and his friends. Gaskin thinks he needs to send a signal to everyone at the church.”
“Ain’t nothing sacred if Amos Audley’s expendable,” Mercer said. “That’ll have everybody shaking in their boots.”
“So you called, didn’t you? That’s why you were so late getting over here.”
“I was late because I had to make the cops understand why I wasn’t pressing charges.”
“But I’ll bet you called Wilbur Gaskin. Fess up, Coop.”
“Sure, I tried to call him.”
“Without discussing the idea with your partners, huh?” Mike gestured at Nan and Mercer. “Without letting us weigh in on whether it was a good plan.”
“Not a problem, Mr. Chapman. I didn’t reach him.”
“Nobody home?”
“Remember, Wilbur Gaskin spends every other weekend in Atlanta? Keeps a place there, where he grew up. Likes to go down to play golf.”
“I’m not surprised, Coop. You scared him out of church on us, just when we could have used his help. Now Amos Audley’s job is on the line, and you’ve run Gaskin right out of town.”
TWENTY-FOUR
GUIDO Lentini cracked the door open. “Everything okay with you, Alexandra?”
“We’re good. What’s with Scully?” It was almost seven thirty.