Fat Tuesday (43 page)

Damned ugly son of a bitch, but no uglier than me, I reckon. He sure came in handy this morning."

Gregory came around slowly. He looked at the recently scrubbed pier, looked into the water below it with repugnance, looked at the two monstrous gators sunning themselves on the far bank, looked at Dredd who stared back at him with satisfaction and calm defiance.

It was easy to guess the fate of the two men who had accompanied him here. Gregory swallowed his revulsion, but he supposed he owed Dredd his life. However, remembering Pinkie Duvall's determination, he knew the reprieve would be temporary."Duvall will send somebody else."

"Most likely," Dredd replied with a philosophical shrug."That's why you'd best be on your way."

"What about their car?"

"I'll take care of it."

He didn't elaborate on how he planned to take care of it, but Gregory was confident that the vehicle was about to disappear permanently.

"I ... Thanks, Dredd."

Dredd expelled a gust of cigarette smoke."You did good, boy. When I see Basile, I'll be sure and tell him that you made up for your past mistakes."

Gregory was touched by the old man's commendation, to an embarrassing degree. Tears came to his eyes, and Dredd must have noticed them because he too became embarrassed, and that made him cantankerous.

"Well, don't just stand there. After surviving what you've been through already, Basile would be pissed if I let you get dead or hurt or locked behind bars. So go on now. Git."

Reflexively Burke reached for Mac Mccuen as he fell."Mac!"

But Mac wasn't going to answer, he was dead. Even knowing that, Burke continued repeating his name as he lowered him to the floor.

Hearing approaching footsteps, he looked up to see Doug Pat running along the pier toward the shack."Is he dead?"

"Goddamn it, Doug," Burke said angrily."He didn't have a prayer."

"You wouldn't have either if he'd shot you in the chest from pointblank range."

Pat knelt down and felt Mac's carotid artery. After a moment, he stood, moving as though he carried a thousand-pound burden on his back.

He swore softly and dragged his hand down his haggard features.

Then he placed a hand on Burke's shoulder and looked at him with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Okay? Jesus, Doug. No, I'm not okay. I just had another of my men shot before my eyes."

"Mac was going for his gun. It was him or you."

Indeed, Mac had fumbled his handgun from the holster at the small of his back. It was lying inches from his supine right hand. Despite this evidence to the contrary, it was hard for Burke to believe that Mccuen would have shot him in cold blood.

Pat said, "He was dirty. He'd made a deal with Duvall."

"He admitted that much."

"Did he tell you the terms?"

"The cancellation of a fifty-thousand-dollar debt in exchange for "That's partially right. Actually the deal was the cancellation of his debt plus a larger share of the profit if he killed you."

"Profit?"

Pat nodded down at Mac."That's the guy you've wanted We've got indisputable proof that Mccuen has been working for Duvall."

Burke looked at Pat with disbelief."Mac's a joker, a nuisance, a screw up.

"Part of the act. He was smarter than he let on. He made himself likable, he performed his duties reasonably well, but he didn't excel He persisted until he was assigned to Narcotics and Vice. All part of their plan. He's been Duvall's inside man since he signed on."

"There was always something a little off," Burke mused out loud.

"A cop's salary didn't jibe with Mac's standard of living. I had decided he was either a damn good gambler or the luckiest bastard I ever met."

"His luck ran out today."

"You say you've got proof of his connection to Duvall's operation?"

"For months Internal Affairs has been conducting a covert investigation. I'm the only one in the division who knew about it. I knew you were frustrated by the seeming lack of interest to ferret out the traitor, but I was sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell you.

Although," he added, "I was tempted to so you wouldn't quit on me.

"Anyway, after months of exhaustive investigation, I.A. traced the thwarted busts back to Mccuen." Softly, he added, "Including the one that went south the night Kev was killed."

Burke looked at him sharply.

Pat nodded."That's right. You've wanted the guy who tipped the dealers of the raid that night and got Kev killed. There's your culprit."

Mistrusting what he'd heard, Burke stared hard into Pat's eyes.

When the words finally sank in, his knees went weak and he leaned against the wall, then slowly slid down it until he was crouching.

Pat gave him a moment to reflect. Finally, he asked, "You all right?"

"Yeah. Fine." Burke had to clear his throat before he could continue.

"I thought ... I thought I would feel different when I found out who it was."

"How do you feel?"

"Empty."

They were quiet for a time. Burke noticed that the pool of blood that had formed beneath Mac's body had stagnated. Soon it would congeal.

So much blood. From Mac. From Kevin.

After a time, he looked up at Pat."If the information Mac supplied to Duvall kept his drug trade thriving, wasn't he too valuable to squander by sending after me?"

"Apparently getting you superseded everything else in Duvall's life.

Mac was close to you, someone you might trust to be bringing a message of goodwill. And Mac was dispensable."

"Because Duvall's resources are unlimited. He's probably already got another cop to replace Mac."

Pat nodded grimly."You're probably right."

Burke stared down into Mac's death mask and thought about the young man's annoying habits but undeniable charm, thought about his pretty young wife, thought about the waste of it all. It made him want to hit something very hard.

He asked Pat, "How'd you know Mac was coming here this morning?"

"We've been closing in on him, watching his every move. We recently learned he was in debt to a loan shark named Del Ray Jones."

"I know who he is."

"When Del Ray took Mac to a meeting with Duvall night before last, it was easy to deduce what was going on."

Burke came to his feet."That's pretty flimsy evidence, Doug. How do you know Mac wasn't coming here to warn me, or to deliver a message from Duvall? That's what he told me he was doing."

"He was going for his gun, remember? Would you have rather I waited to see if he shot you first?"

Burke conceded the point.

"Anyhow," Pat continued, "I knew what Mac had been sent out here to do,

because I spoke to Duvall. I called him this morning and told him that Mac was blown. Using that cryptic lawyer language that's inadmissible in court, he implied what Mac's errand would accomplish.

Then he boasted that whether Mac got you or not, he had a backup plan."

"He was bluffing. I spoke to him this morning myself. He's still hungry for a taste of me. Whenever he comes, whatever form his backup plan takes, I'll be ready for him."

"Jesus, will you listen to yourself?" Pat shouted."You and Duvall are in a pissing contest like a couple of junior-high boys. Wake up, Burke, and put this thing into perspective. One man's already dead over this mess, and I take that hard because I had to kill him.

Whether he was dirty or not, Mac was one of my own men." Changing tones, he said, "I'm begging you to give this up. Now.

You've got who you were ultimately after, and that's the cop that got Kev killed. So let's pick up Mrs. Duvall, wherever you're keeping her, and see her safely home."

"Not until I see the whites of Duvall's eyes."

"Okay, say you succeed in killing Duvall and Bardo, but you wind up in prison on death row. Who have you spited?"

"I'm not taking her back."

"Worst-case scenario. What if Duvall survives and you go to prison?

Do you think he'll let it drop? Never. He'll hurt you any way he can.

Remember Sachel and his son? Duvall is ruthless. What's to keep him from turning Nancy Stuart over to Bardo? He'll use the people you care for to torture you. I've met your brother. He's a nice guy. You won't be able to protect them, Burke. Not from a cell in Angola."

"All the more reason for me to make sure that neither one survives."

"Dammit, Burke, listen to me."

"No, you listen to me," Burke shouted back."I started this and I'm going to finish it."

"I'll arrest you."

"For what?"

"Kidnapping."

"Have I written a ransom note? What evidence do you have that I took Mrs. Duvall by force? Maybe she and I cooked this up together so she could escape that tyrannical son of a bitch."

Pat shot him a retiring look."It's not too late to turn this thing around. Duvall approached me shortly after the abduction and warned me then that he was going to kill you. If you persist, you'll be on your own. But if you come in with me now, you'll have the protection of the department behind you."

"No thanks. The department " Before he could react, Pat's pistol was coming down hard on his temple. He staggered toward the door, pyrotechnics exploding behind his eyes. The pier beyond the screened door seemed to stretch for miles, as though he were looking at it through reversed binoculars. The tunnel of vision continued to shrink as blackness closed in around it. Then it disappeared altogether.

His last conscious thought was of Remy. She was alone, waiting for his return.

Burke came awake to the sound of voices, although the words were indecipherable. Total awareness was slow in coming, but gradually he discerned that he was indoors, lying on his side, that his hands were shackled behind him, and that he had a bitch of a headache.

Wherever he was, there was a lot of activity going on beyond the walls.

He didn't actually see the emergency vehicle lights, but he felt their pulsing against his closed eyelids. Until he knew more, he decided to keep his eyes shut and pretend to be unconscious.

One of the voices finally distinguished itself.

Dredd was saying, "Been like Grand Central Station out here today," he remarked grumpily."With all the coming and going, the fish won't bite for a week."

"Like who?" Doug Pat asked.

"Like who what?"

Even though he was still half-addled, Burke realized that Dredd was playing dumb. He wondered if Pat was aware of it.

"Who was out here today coming and going?" Pat asked.

"Oh, well, to start, two guys came by this morning, asking for "What two guys?"

"Didn't know them, but I'll tell you this, I don't care if they ever come back. They were bad news."

"How do you know? What did they do?"

"Nothing in particular. It was just a feeling I got, you know?

It's been years since I was a cop, Pat, but the instinct hasn't left me."

Burke sensed that Dredd was pausing to take a draw off his cigarette.

"They were dressed like fishermen, but if those two ever caught a fish in their lives, I'll eat those gators over there."

"You did eat those gators over there."

Dredd chuckled."Right you are, Pat, but you know what I mean.

Anyhow, I rang up their six-packs of Bud in a hurry, and was glad to see the last of them."

"What'd you tell them about Burke?"

"There wasn't any more to tell them than what I've told you. Burke was by here several days ago."

"What day?"

"Can't recall exactly. I don't pay much attention to the calendar anymore, although I did notice that tomorrow's Mardi Gras. Guess the city's gearing up to "

"About Burke ..."

"Oh, right. Basile shot the breeze with me for a time, but he isn't what you'd call talkative, you know. He bought a few things, then was off."

"And the woman was with him?"

"Woman is an understatement. Whooee!" In an undertone, Dredd added, "I jerked off twice after they left. Who'd you say she is?"

Pat gave him the capsulated facts, which, of course, Dredd already knew. When Pat finished, Dredd said, "Hmm. I'd never have figured her for Basile's hostage. Didn't look to me like he was forcing her into anything. She got right into the car with him."

"They left here by car?"

Dredd launched into an elaborate lie about the make, color, and model of the nonexistent car. If the circumstances hadn't been so grave, Burke would have laughed out loud."Since you can't see the main road from here, I don't know which way they headed." Pat asked if there had been another man with them, possibly a priest. Dredd laughed and said no, that he avoided contact with clergymen, and Basile didn't strike him as a religious sort either.

After a pause, he added, "I can't figure Basile for a kidnapper."

"Nor can I, but it appears he is."

"Tell me again, Pat, who's this fellow you popped?"

"Detective Sergeant Mac Mccuen."

"One of your own."

"Yeah," Pat said bitterly."He made a deal with Pinkie Duvall to return with Burke and his wife. I followed Mac out here, and it's a good thing I did. He was sent to assassinate Burke." He briefed Dredd on Mac's dirty dealings within the department.

"You ever killed a man before, Pat?"

"Once. In the line of duty. It's not something you get over easily."

"Guess it all depends on how bad the guy needs killing," the retired policeman said. Burke could imagine him raising one of his sunburned shoulders in a shrug."You rid the department of a real dirty cop, this Mccuen. Sounds to me like you saved everybody a lot of time and trouble."

"I hate it that anybody had to die. All along I hoped to end this thing peaceably. At least I spared Basile from making a mistake that he would be paying for the rest of his life. Whether he thinks so or not, I've done him a favor."

Dredd snorted his skepticism."Somehow I doubt he'll look upon being knocked out and handcuffed as a favor. You'll have your hands full when he wakes up."

"He's going to be pissed," Pat agreed, "but what I did, I did for his own good. Damn his stubborn hide." Then he said, "There's the ambulance."

Burke heard chairs scraping backward, the sound of shuffling feet.