Fat Tuesday(127)

"Has problems of her own. She won't be worrying about you."

The reality of her situation finally seemed to sink in. She cried even harder. Bardo licked the tears off her face."Relax, sweetheart. Do everything I tell you, and, who knows, you might become as good a whore as your mama. Yeah, I know all about Angel. You were born to it.

You've got the potential to become a terrific whore."

"Please don't," she sobbed, trying to wriggle free.

He took a switchblade from his pants pocket. It sprang open with a Vicious click, which caused her to scream again. He placed the tip of the blade against her lower lip.

"You use it, you lose it. Got that? One more scream and off it comes.

And that would be a damn shame because I got ideas about what you're going to do with that sweet mouth of yours."

He slid the blade beneath the shoulder strap of the bra and cut it.

With the tension released, the cup fell forward, revealing her breast. She whimpered and her lower lip quivered uncontrollably, but she didn't scream again. He cut the second strap in the same brutal manner.

"Look at what we have here," he cooed. This time he pressed the tip of the blade against her nipple. He tapped it lightly and it tightened.

"Shame, shame," he taunted."A nice Catholic schoolgirl like you.

What would Sister What's-her-name say?"

Behind Bardo the door crashed open."Drop the knife and get away from her!"

Burke Basile was in a crouched stance, both hands wrapped around a Beretta. The next millisecond passed in a blur. His ears rang with the girl's scream. He fired at Bardo, but the lucky bastard ducked the shot.

The bullet missed his head and decimated a patch of ugly floral wallpaper behind him. Burke didn't fire again out of fear of hitting the girl. He shouted, "You're under arrest, Bardo."

"And you're real funny, Basile," Bardo yelled back as he threw his knife.

"Hr-dee-liar-liar, *," said the sharpshooter who materialized behind Basile.

Bardo had an instant to look stupefied before a bullet cut a neat trench between his eyes. He dropped without a whimper. The handle of his switchblade was still vibrating in the doorjamb, having missed Basile by a hair.

Tactical officers eddied around Basile as they rushed into the room.

Basile rushed over to the girl, who was staring in horror at the bloody mush that had been Bardo's head only a few seconds before. Basile removed his coat and placed it around her shoulders."Are you all right?" She regarded him with the same stupefaction as she did the corpse. He had to repeat the question before she nodded with uncertainty.

One of the men detached himself from the others."We'll handle it from here, Basile."

Basile shook hands with him."Thanks. Your men did good, from the surveillance to that," he said, indicating Bardo's body.

The officer saluted him.

Basile grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her through the doorway and along the breezeway. When they reached the parking lot, which was filling up with official vehicles, Basile pushed her into the passenger seat of an unmarked car, then jogged around the hood and got behind the wheel. Tires squealed as he sped past an arriving ambulance.

They'd only covered half a block when the girl swore."Jesus H! What took you so f*cking long? That son of a bitch was creepy as hell.

And how dare he tell me I had the potential of being a terrific whore!

" Vexed, Ruby Bouchereaux's most talented girl, Isobel, reached up and pulled off the curly black wig.

looking younger than her years, Isobel was also smart, and she 2 possessed a spirit of adventure. Her specialty at Ruby's house was acting out fantasies for the clients who could afford it. The combination of those qualities had made her a perfect choice to portray Flarra Lambeth in Burke Basile's setup.

Of course, she'd also been paid very well for her time and trouble.

After presenting her with a sizable check, Basile and the prostitute parted company at the door of Ruby's office. He was in a hurry, but it would have been rude to decline the madam's offer of a drink after she had been instrumental in trapping Bardo.

"So, everything went according to plan?" Ruby asked, extending Burke a glass of whiskey.

"Perfect." He slammed back the drink."I listened from Sister Beatrice's outer office. Even I was convinced that Isobel was an innocent schoolgirl."

"And so she was, way back when," Ruby said, laughing softly."But I'm pleased that the ruse worked. You know your enemies well, Mr. Basile."

He watched the whiskey tumbling from decanter to waiting glass as Ruby poured him a refill."Remy was positive that Pinkie would try and get to her through her sister, and she was right, although we weren't relying entirely on her gut instinct. Bardo had been under surveillance.

His conversation with Duvall was intercepted this morning, so we knew he was picking up Flarra and for what purpose."

"The man needed to die."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Burke said grimly."Isobel and I arrived at Blessed Heart no more than half an hour ahead of him When she and Bardo left the academy, the van followed them to the motel.

It went off without a hitch, although Isobel blistered my ears for letting it go so long before stopping it."

"Where is Flarra now?"