the Omega had given him and thought of the do-nothing H he had shot up under the bridge. The two realities formed a north and south pole, his existence trapped and rotating on the axis between the pair.
Taking the book with him, he found a spot in the living room on the unvacuumed rug. As he settled his back against the wall, he opened the cover of the book.
The words were dense, made out of small letters that were squeezed in tightly, like commuters on a morning train. His eyes refused to focus at first.
The sense that he had to find his way in this new prison he’d ended up in was what made him start to absorb what was on the page.
In the Omega’s world, the only asset Mr. F had was himself.
* * *
Jo parallel parked her Golf across the street from the police barricades and the news crews that surrounded the Hudson Hunt & Fish Club. Getting out, she frowned up at the drooling sky and put the hood of her windbreaker over her head. On a jog, she crossed to the other side of the road, and skirted the crowd that had gathered. As she shuffled behind a newscaster with a camera rolling on him and a microphone up to his mouth, Jo was glad she could cover her face. No reason she needed to be seen here.
The front entrance of the concrete block building was a no go and so was the side door where, according to the news conference that had been held at nine a.m., the assassinations had occurred. Three were dead. Gigante, his bodyguard, and his chauffeur. Gigante had been shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the throat, his body found slumped in the back seat of an SUV registered to his cement company. The chauffeur had been shot once through the forehead and then folded up and stuffed into the rear compartment of the vehicle. The bodyguard had been shot twice and collapsed on the ground just outside the open passenger side door in front.
Jo camo’d herself in the crowd of spectators and checked her watch.
Five minutes later, McCordle came out the side door of the building. When he caught her eye, he nodded over his shoulder, away from the commotion.
Holding her bag against her body, Jo jogged past the hair salon next door and went down its length, her breath tight in her chest. As she came out around the rear, McCordle was stepping free of the barricade, and he double-checked the parked squad cars before striding up to her.
“Let’s go over here,” he said, leading her back out of sight by the beauty parlor.
“I’m surprised you wanted to meet me here,” she whispered. “Are those the crime scene pictures?”
When she pointed to an envelope tucked under his arm, McCordle nodded and gave the thing over to her. “Listen, we need to talk.”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
He took her arm and squeezed it. “I’m serious. One of our sources says that Gigante may have put a hit out on you.”
Jo frowned. “But I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Gigante’s dead.”
“The hit man working the contract isn’t going to worry about that. He’s going to want his money and he’ll get paid by the family only when you’re… you know.”
“Dead. You can say the word. I’m not afraid of it.”
“You should be. This is no joke.” When there was a shout, McCordle put himself between her and the noise. After a minute, he started talking again. “It’s only exciting on the outside, Jo. On the inside of a situation like this, people get hurt, even if they’re innocent.”
“Do you know who the hit man is?”
“Not yet. My source is looking into it—and maybe something will show on the tapes.”
“So the FBI hasn’t turned them over to the CPD yet.”
“My department is putting every pressure we have on them. In the meantime, you need to be very careful—”
“You said ‘may have,’ though. A hit on me is unconfirmed so it could just be a rumor.” Before McCordle could lecture her some more, she cut him off. “About the scene here. What have you found out since nine a.m. this morning?”
“Forensics didn’t get anything in the SUV that wasn’t expected. No fingerprints apart from Gigante, the bodyguard, and the chauffeur. No foreign hair samples. They’ve got the bullets and the casings, but there’s no gun.”
“Who called the murders in?”
“Passerby.”
“I know, but your captain didn’t give the name during