Fat Tuesday(106)

But Burke had asked him to monitor the local news.

"Anything about us?"

"Nary a word."

"As I thought. Duvall doesn't want anyone to know his wife's been abducted. Bad publicity."

"It appears that way. But how long can his wife be gone before somebody else notices?"

"There are servants in the house, but they'll keep quiet if Duvall tells them to. However, Remy's got a sister. She'll begin to wonder if she hasn't already."

"Oh, it's Remy' now, is it?"

Ignoring the gibe, Burke took a slip of paper from the pocket of his jeans and slapped it onto the counter."Here's my shopping list. Do you have anything fresh?"

"Like what?"

"Vegetables. Fruit. She likes oranges."

"Likes oranges," Dredd repeated as he took a final drag on his cigarette before grinding it out in the hollow belly of a ceramic alligator."Burke, if I was a younger, stronger man, if I didn't like you so much, I'd wrestle you down and hog-tie you to keep you from going through with this business. But I am old, and not as strong as I used to be, and I do like you. So all I've got to fight you with is a few words of caution. I don't like messing in any other man's business, but "

"Here goes."

"Yeah. Here goes." Dredd blew out a cloud of smoke that he'd been savoring in his lungs."Why don't you take that pretty lady on out of here? If you like her, and she feels the same, why don't you two just disappear? Get out while you can. Leave this business behind and go off someplace together?"

"She wouldn't run away with me, Dredd. And even if she would, I wouldn't leave this business, as you call it, unfinished."

"How's it going to wind up? Where's it going?"

"I don't know."

"But you know where it ain't going," Dredd said, emphasizing his statement by jabbing a horny finger at Burke."It ain't going nowhere nice."

"No, it's not."

Dredd tugged on his beard in exasperation."You've got your revenge on Duvall," he said, raising his voice."You took his wife. Whether or not you've screwed her, you've made your point with him. End it, Burke."

"It'll end when Duvall is dead."

"Why are you doing this? Why?"

"Because I have to!" he shouted. Then, ameliorating his tone, he said irritably, "Just get the stuff so I can get out of here, okay?"

Grumbling beneath his breath, Dredd snatched up the list and began gathering the items from his shelves and angrily tossing them into a paper bag. Burke walked over to the pay phone, fed it coins, and placed a call.

It was answered on the second ring."Good morning, Duvall," he said.

"I thought I might catch you up early."

"Basile."

Coming from Pinkie Duvall's lips, his name sounded like an epithet.

Good. He hoped to God he had become the lawyer's nemesis.

You have made one huge mistake, Basile, a larger, more suicidal mistake than Stuart made when he ran into that warehouse."

"Kevin didn't know what he was up against. I do."

"Then you know that I'm going to kill you."

"Kill me? You've got to find me first, you motherf*cker."

Burke hung up, but for several moments he stared thoughtfully into near space. The man's wife had been kidnapped. She'd been missing for several days, in the custody of a man who'd sworn vengeance. Yet Duvall hadn't made a single inquiry about her well-being.

Burke repeated, this time with real feeling, "You motherf*cker."

The dial tone filled Pinkie's ear."It wasn't long enough to trace, Mr. Duvall," said an assistant from the adjoining office."Sorry. We can have our man over at central trace it, but it'll take a while."

"It doesn't matter."

To the assistant's dismay, Duvall began to laugh, softly at first, then with a sinister gusto. Looking across at Wayne Bardo, who was also smiling, he said, "Basile sounded so goddamn complacent. The son of a bitch doesn't know we already have him."

Bardo, sharing Duvall's good humor, dropped a manila folder onto his desk."This will make your morning."

Pinkie read the label on the envelope as he dumped the contents onto his desk."So soon? I'm impressed."

He thumbed through the black-and-white photos. They were grainy, the quality hampered by distance, but the subjects in them were clearly identifiable. Pinkie tsked."Shame, shame, Dr. Caruth." Then to Bardo: "Get the new guy to bring the car around. I'm going to make a house call."

Dredd had placed the staples in the boat by the time Burke rejoined him on the pier."Found a couple of oranges," he muttered vrumdilv.

"Thanks."

"You got enough there to last you several days." Burke nodded, but he was distracted by other concerns."Dredd I fanned Duvall's fire just now, so watch yourself. First sign of trouble, you head for the swamp and lose yourself."

"I can take care of myself, thank you, sonny. I may be old and gray, but I'm not helpless."

"Listen to me," Burke said, making sure he had Dredd's undivided attention."Anybody on Duvall's payroll you do not f*ck around with.