Lady Killer

“Who’s this?” Brinkley meant Anthony, coming up next to her. “He with you?”

“Yes,” Mary answered quickly, and while Anthony introduced himself, she kept her gaze on the alley. She caught a glimpse of a crumbling brick side wall, and when somebody in front of her moved aside, she could see that the wall was behind an overflowing trashcan. Strobes fired from a still camera, taking photographs, and there was the sound of men talking and counting off. She sensed the coroner was closing up for good, his assistants slipping the body on top of the black vinyl bag, then doing their practiced pitch-and-roll to bag the corpse with efficiency and a modicum of dignity.

Mary did and didn’t want to go into the alley. She had to see, yet she didn’t want to see, and in the next instant, before she realized it, she had pushed her way to its mouth as if she belonged there. Brinkley called to her from some faraway place, then Anthony, too, but she ignored them both to see. When the way cleared, she looked down at the sight.

He looked exactly the same, except that his skin was now as gray as marble, and he lay in the black body bag, which was half zippered up. His blue eyes were open, staring sightlessly at the black sky. His head lay slightly to the side, and his bangs lay fa

“He took a bullet to the back of the head,” Brinkley told her in low tones. “We think it’s a Mob hit, and so do the feds. I told them about the skimming.”

How did it all go so wrong? How did he turn up dead? And where was Trish?

“Mare?” Brinkley put a hand on her shoulder just as the assistants zipped up the body bag.

A shadow blocked Mary’s view, but it didn’t matter. The image had been seared into her brain. She would always see him lying there. In the next second, she became aware that Brinkley was looking at her fu

“Mare? You losin’ it here?”

“No, of course not,” she answered, but it didn’t ring true, even to her. “I’m just confused. When you told me you had a body, I couldn’t believe it was him who got killed. It’s Trish I was worried about.”

“So where’d you get the tip on the location?”

“The sister, in Jersey.”

“Fill me in later, will you.”

“Sure. Did I redeem you?”

“More or less. Thanks.” Brinkley half-smiled.

“Good.” Mary felt some satisfaction, if only for that reason. The body had been discovered by a uniformed cop, sent there by her tip about Ninth amp; Ke

“I’m not go

“But what do you think? He turns up dead, so is she still alive? That’s possible, right?”

“Mare, I can’t speculate. It’s all what-if.”

“Reg, it’s me. Just tell me what you think.”

“Okay, fine.” Brinkley lowered his voice. “You have to prepare yourself for all the possibilities.”

Mary felt her knees weaken and prayed she could keep it together, especially in front of all these people.

Brinkley was asking, “You sent that diary to Missing Persons, like I asked?”

“Sure.” Mary forced herself to think clearly. “I had it hand delivered to them today.”

“Good, I’ll get it. Anything else I should know?”

“A mob guy named Cadillac, who suspected he was skimming.”

“Cadillac?” Brinkley pulled a thin steno notebook from his back pocket and a ballpoint from his inside pocket.

“Yes. Does that name mean anything to you?”

“No.” Brinkley made a note. “That’s in the diary, too?”

“Yes. Trish was worried about him.” Mary tucked her emotions away. She had to help. If Trish was still alive, maybe it could help find her. “His sister told me he had a house somewhere. She doesn’t know where, they’re estranged. He wanted a place he could get lost to.”

“What’s her name again?”

Mary answered him, then asked, “When was he killed?”

“We think late last night. That’s unofficial, you know that. We found Trish’s cell phone on him, and it has the call she made to her mother, at seven thirteen. There’s no other calls after that.”

“He had her cell?” Mary tried to wrap her mind around it. It couldn’t be good. The thought made her sick. “Did you find his car? It’s a black BMW. New.”

“We don’t have the car.”

“It’s gotta be parked here somewhere. They left in it. The neighbor saw them. Unless it’s back at home.”

“We’ll check on it.” Brinkley made a note.

From the alley came the clinking sound of the gurney being erected, metal hitting metal, bearing the body.

Brinkley was saying, “I did the notification and I also called the mother, Mrs. Gambone. She was pretty upset. Your friend was with her, the one on TV.”

“Giulia.”

Brinkley put a hand on Mary’s shoulder. “The M.E. agreed to do the autopsy as soon as possible. The body could have evidence of where she is, and one way or the other, we’ll find her. Don’t worry.”

Suddenly there came shouting from beyond the barricades and they looked over. A fight was breaking out in the mob, the crowd pushing and pulling. Policemen hurried from all directions toward the spot, and Mary craned her neck to see. The crowd surged toward the barricades, and the TV lights swung around and spotlighted the chaos.

“Stay here!” Brinkley took off, hustling toward the fracas.

But when Mary saw what the problem was, she knew it could take more than the Philadelphia Police Department.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

R itchie Po exploded through the crowd toward the barricades. Men flanked him, ru

“What a mess!” Anthony said, almost drowned out by the din.

“Stand aside, people!” came a shout from behind, and Mary realized that she and Anthony were sandwiched between the alley and the shouting crowd. They sidestepped out of the way, and crime techs, startled at the sudden violence, scooted from the alley. The coroner’s assistants bent over and rolled the metal gurney with the black vinyl bag, rushing it bumping on the street.

Ritchie and his friends charged the barricades, and in front of him, the press struggled to catch the bag shot as the coroner’s assistants collapsed the wheels of the gurney and hoisted it into the van.

“I wa

“Hurry!” The coroner’s assistants shoved the gurney into the van and darted to safety as the crowd rolled toward them, Ritchie in the lead.

Suddenly, reporters and cameramen were pushed forward from behind, the barricade toppled over, and a crowd of uniformed cops, Brinkley, Kovich, and Ritchie Po trampled the barricades and barreled ahead. “Stop right there!” Brinkley yelled, reaching out as Ritchie, carrying cops with him, rushed the van.

Mary watched, stu