The Sentry Part 4

b.u.t.ton spiked her with a nasty glance that made her pale. She had made a rookie mistake by identifying a suspect by name to a witness, and b.u.t.ton would chew her out for it later. She wet her lips nervously before continuing.

"Will you sign a sworn affidavit so stating, and testify to that effect under oath in open court?"

"Yes."

Futardo took a pen from her jacket, and held out the sheet and the pen. Her fingers shook.

"Circle the image you are now identifying as the man you saw a.s.sault Mr. Wilson Smith on this date and sign it."

Pike circled and signed. b.u.t.ton hadn't been a bad guy when Pike knew him, but now he came across as angry and mean. Pike thought he was probably an a.s.shole to work with.

"Did Mr. Smith recognize him?"

b.u.t.ton snorted.

"None of these people looked familiar to Mr. Smith. Isn't it funny how that works? Mr. Smith was not what we call a helpful witness."

Futardo softened for the first time as she took back the pictures.

"He's afraid."

b.u.t.ton snorted again, and cued Futardo.

"Anything you want to ask, Detective?"

Futardo finished whatever she was writing, and looked back at Pike.

"Let's back up to when you first saw Mendoza and his friend. What were you doing when you saw them?"

"Buying gas."

"Uh-huh. And what were you doing in Venice?"

"Buying gas."

"So you just happened to be there?"

"Where should I be?"

"Had you met Mr. Mendoza before this morning?"

Futardo was watching him closely, and Pike realized b.u.t.ton was watching him, too. As if they had been trying to get here from the beginning, and were intent on reading his reaction. They should have been asking about Wilson Smith and Reuben Mendoza, but they were asking Pike about Pike.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Wherever. Of all the people in L.A., it's you over there kicking the s.h.i.+t out of this t.u.r.d."

"Ask Mr. Smith."

"I'm asking you. You're what makes this interesting."

"This isn't about me."

"It's about whatever I say."

Pike nodded, and now he understood why a D-3 was running a simple a.s.sault investigation. Pike's voice was quiet as a leaf floating on a pond.

"We're finished."

"We're finished when I say we're finished."

Futardo looked scared, and suddenly interrupted to defuse the situation.

"What happens next is we'll type up your statement and call about getting together so you can sign it. You'll have to sign it."

b.u.t.ton snapped at her.

"He knows that. Saddle up. I'll be along in a minute."

Futardo took her pad and the pictures and looked relieved to be going.

Pike kept his voice soft.

"What did you tell her about me, make her so scared?"

"The truth."

"You didn't come here to make a case against Mendoza."

"We see a hundred a.s.saults a day. A chickens.h.i.+t a.s.sault case is nothing."

"What happened to you? You used to be better than this."

b.u.t.ton watched Futardo get into their car, then studied Pike for a moment as he worked out an answer.

"I am a police officer. I believe in the law, and I have devoted my life to upholding it, but you, Pike, the law is nothing to you. These young cops, they talk about you like you're some kind of gunfighting legend, but I know you're s.h.i.+t. I don't like what happened when you were an officer, or how you've gotten away with putting so many people in the dirt since we ran you off the department. You're dangerous, Pike. There's something wrong with you, and sooner or later we'll put you away."

b.u.t.ton went to his car, calling over his shoulder.

"Thank you for your cooperation. We'll be in touch."

Way it worked for anyone else, b.u.t.ton and Futardo would be trying to find out what really happened in Wilson Smith's shop, and making sure Mendoza and his accomplice couldn't hurt Wilson and Dru again. This was the way it would work if Pike were anyone else, but Pike knew it worked differently for him. b.u.t.ton didn't care about the a.s.sault or whether Wilson Smith would be a.s.saulted or robbed again. b.u.t.ton was in it to grind Pike, which meant Wilson and his niece were alone.

Pike was glad he had given his number to Dru Rayne.

4.

He hadn't expected her to call so soon.

Twenty-two minutes after eight the next morning, Pike was driving to his gun shop when his cell phone rang. He did not recognize the incoming number, but answered anyway.

"Pike."

"They came back. You said to call, and, well, I didn't know if I should-"

Dru Rayne.

Pike glanced at his watch to note the time, then turned toward the sandwich shop, thinking he could make it to her in less than six minutes.

"Are they at your shop now?"

He heard voices behind her and pressed the accelerator harder.

"Ms. Rayne? Are you safe?"

"They broke the window, and-Yes, I'm all right. I guess it happened last night. Oh, man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called. Wilson is-I'm sorry, I have to go."

Pike eased off the accelerator, but continued to their shop, and once more pulled into the gas station across the street. He left his Jeep, and went to the curb for a better view. The front window was mostly missing, and the front door was now propped open with a black garbage can. A young man with a two-by-four was calmly breaking what was left of the gla.s.s from the frame. A woman wearing a bright aqua dress stood nearby, pointing out the remaining gla.s.s teeth as if directing him which to knock out next. Shadows moved inside, but Pike couldn't tell whether Dru Rayne was one of them.

Pike studied the surrounding area, but saw no one who looked suspicious. Mendoza would still be in jail awaiting arraignment, so Gomer or Mendoza's banger friends had probably been behind it. Offering up a little payback for his arrest.

Pike walked along the sidewalk for a better view of the surrounding buildings. No one drew his attention, but an inner radar slowly pinged with the weight of watching eyes. The young troops Pike knew, fresh back from the desert, called it spider-sense, taking the term from the Spider-Man movies. They told him if you humped the desert long enough you developed a sixth sense that tingled like angry ants when the crosshairs found your skin. Pike had humped jungles, deserts, and pretty much everywhere a man could hump for most of his life, and now he felt the tingle. He turned in a slow three-sixty to clock the storefronts and rooflines and pa.s.sing cars, but saw nothing. Then the feeling ebbed like a receding tide until it was gone.

The station manager came out of his office when Pike returned to his Jeep. He looked worried.

"You aren't going to leave it here again, are you? You tied up my pump for more than an hour yesterday."

"Not today."

The manager looked relieved.

Pike drove along the alley behind Wilson's shop, parked beside the Tercel, and let himself in.

Wilson and Dru were in the front room, along with a second young man and the woman in aqua. The tables normally by the window were pushed to the side. Dru stood near them, speaking into her phone as Wilson swept gla.s.s onto a piece of cardboard the second kid was using as a dustpan. Wilson had been good at his word when he told the paramedics he wasn't going to stay at the hospital. A square yellow bandage now covered half of his forehead.

The aqua woman was pleading with Wilson.

"Would you please listen to Dru? You shouldn't be doing this. Your brain will fall out."

"Let it. I'll be out of my misery."

Pike saw the vandals had done more than shatter the window. A large splash of green paint cut across the floor, and another green smear made a freak rainbow on the wall behind the counter.

Dru saw Pike first. The smile flickered in her eyes, then she held up a finger, telling him she had to finish the call.

Wilson saw him next, and pushed angrily to force the gla.s.s onto the cardboard.

"Look at this mess. You see this? I told you, just throw the b.a.s.t.a.r.d out, but no-now I've got these a.s.shats on a vendetta."

The aqua woman fluttered at the boy holding the cardboard.

"Ethan, be careful of that gla.s.s. Watch you don't get cut."

Dru quickly finished the call and came over, gesturing with the phone.

"The gla.s.s people. They'll be here as soon as they can."

Wilson swept even harder.

"They coming for free?"

Pike was focused on Dru. She had thrown on shorts and a faded T-s.h.i.+rt in her rush to the shop, and now her hair was mussed and her feet were smudged with green. Pike thought the smart eyes seemed worried this morning, but he couldn't stop looking at her-as if she were a book he wanted to read.

"You okay?"

The smile again, quick and calming, and she moved a step closer.

"I'm fine. Thank you so much for coming. I didn't mean to waste your time."

"You should call the police."

Dru glanced at the aqua woman.

"They've already been here. Betsy saw the gla.s.s when she got in this morning. She called the police even before she called us."

The aqua woman introduced herself.

"Betsy Harmon. I have the shop next door. That was quite something, the way you saved Wilson."

Wilson said, "n.o.body saved me. I had it under control."

Betsy rolled her eyes.

"Just be glad he saved your scrawny b.u.t.t and you should thank me for calling the police this morning. You'll need their report for your insurance."

Wilson made a disgusted snort as he helped Ethan carry the pile of shattered gla.s.s on the cardboard to the garbage can.

"There's no insurance here, lady. We pay as we go, one oyster at a time. I'm not made of money."

He c.o.c.ked an eye at Pike.

"You know what that emergency room is gonna cost?"