Slaughter

Up close the boy looked to be in his teens. Willie, with his aging linebacker’s body, dwarfed him. The kid wasn’t the cleanest, but he probably hadn’t pla

“What’s your name?” Fran asked.

“Pablo Diaz.”

She looked at him for what seemed a long time. Then: “You don’t look Mexican.”

“On my father’s side,” he said, as if that explained any questions about his ethnicity.

Fran was the practical one, but there was something about this boy that made her feel maternal. A basic goodness that was more than youthful idealism. On the minus side, there was something he was holding back.

Fran decided to put it aside, for now. “If he’s not afraid of hard work, I say we hire him.”

“Can we do that on our own?” Willie asked. “Remember, there’s three of us that own this place.”

“Henry might make it two out of three, if it comes to a vote. But I don’t think he would. Ain’t no reason not to hire this lad.”

“What about the girl?” Willie asked.

When no one answered, Fran said, “She tells me her name’s May, and she and the boy are married.”

“We hiring her, too?” Willie asked.

“Not likely. She don’t look strong enough to lift a pea.”

“They’ll fool you, though, those country girls.”

“You think any of that’s true?”

“I du

“Like I’m married to Robert Redford,” Fran said.

50

New York, the present

Despite the effectiveness of Lido’s software, the composite image of the alleged Gremlin struck a note with no one. Possibly when finally they ran the Gremlin to ground, there would be no real resemblance.

“This guy,” Harley Renz said, “is at least as lucky as he is tricky.”

He and Qui

“Nobody’s called in with any information or identification of our artist’s rendering of the Gremlin,” Renz said. “Probably if anybody gets a good look at him, they still won’t have paid enough attention to recognize him from that composite.”

“It hasn’t worked so far,” Qui

He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“We’ve got another victim,” Renz said. “Woman over on West Seventy-seventh Street. Dora Palm.”

Qui

“None. The ME even says he can tell it was the same blade. Says the killer used a sharp knife here and there, but a jigsaw for hard to reach parts or heavy-duty cutting.”

“When did it happen?”

“Last night around ten o’clock. After a steak di

“We all get that,” Qui

“Or not.”

“Crime Scene techs find anything useful?”

“Not yet. But they’re still looking. Why I called you about this one was to warn you to be careful.”

“Careful of what?”

“What you say. Who you say it to. Extra careful. This is a somewhat complicated case.”

Qui

“You like dogs?”

“Depends on what kind.”

“Greyhounds.”

“A couple of them have run fast enough to win me money—but not much.”

“We’re talking about a racing dog,” Renz said. “Here’s to You.”

“Huh?”

“That’s the dog’s name.”

“This a racing dog?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Renz said. “It’s a dog.”

“How old?”

“About eight years.”

Qui

“You might say the killer autopsied the dog,” Renz said.

Qui

“You know, that might be possible,” Renz said. “It was a greyhound, poor thing.”

Qui

Renz was aware that Qui

Qui

That was a weakness.

Renz glanced at his watch and stood up, buttoning his voluminous suit coat. “Uniforms are still at the victim’s apartment. They and the ME know you’re on your way.” Renz tried to impress Qui

Beyond Renz, the pigeons had finally gotten out the word. Over a dozen now hopped and pecked around the bench where the ponytailed, beneficent woman sat casting out bread.

“I’ll swing by and pick up Pearl,” Qui

Renz gri

“Like always,” Qui

51

Once in the hushed quiet of the Lincoln, Qui

Qui

“She wouldn’t be interested anyway,” Pearl said, sotto voce. “She’s all involved in an animal rights case. Can lizards be classified as pets that—”

“Never mind,” Qui

“The lizards just might have a case. Of course, the roaches wouldn’t—”

“Still don’t want to hear it,” Qui

He hadn’t told Pearl that the medical examiner assigned to the case was her antagonist, Dr. Julius Nift.

She was, after all, eating lunch.

Dora Palm’s apartment was in a midtown brick and stone structure that had once been an office building. Like many midtown buildings these days, its face was made temporarily anonymous by scaffolding.

Qui

After parking the car, Qui