Mercy (Atlee Pine #4)(80)

Marbury finally drew his gaze from Buckley. “Yes, Atkins told me about that, but as it turned out, I saw it for myself. I didn’t know it at the time, of course, because I hadn’t yet met with Atkins. But I passed Blum and Cain in the hall on my way to see Atkins. They had apparently just finished speaking with her before I got there.”

Buckley heard this and looked up from the phone, leaving thoughts of his developing strategy behind for now. His gaze shifted first to Spector and then to Marbury. He said to the attorney, “Do you mean they left the building before you did?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“Where were your car and driver parked?”

“Right in front,” replied Marbury. “It was the most convenient spot for me. Very close to the front door. I have a gimpy knee.”

Spector said to Buckley, “To do any deal they would have to get a sign-off from the local police. Blum and Cain could have gone to speak with them after they left Atkins.”

“At which time the local police would tell them that they could do nothing about any such deal at the moment because . . . ” He looked at Marbury.

Marbury got the point like a knife between his ribs. “Because she was now, apparently, represented by counsel. By me.”

Spector flitted to the window, but kept out of sight.

Buckley didn’t even look at her because he knew exactly what she was thinking. He said sharply, “Marbury, would you even know if you had been followed here?”

The lawyer looked astonished. “Followed? I . . . I . . . that didn’t occur to me.”

“Of course it didn’t,” Spector interjected derisively. She took out a small but powerful optical device from her jacket pocket and surveyed both the street and the area beyond on the other side street. She saw nothing until she reached the church. There were a number of cars there. She was about to look along the street the other way when she adjusted the device and was able to make out something interesting. “There’s a red Porsche SUV parked in the church lot down the street. It has Georgia plates.” She adjusted the lens again, increasing the clarity. “And that might very well be our Ms. Blum at the wheel.”

Buckley joined her at the window. “Any sign of Cain?”

“No, but she might have left Blum to do some closer surveillance.” She looked across the room. “In fact, she might already be in this house.”

Marbury looked at them with a stricken expression. “Are we in danger or what?”

Spector drew a gun from her shoulder holster. “Peter, I can check the house. If she is in here, our task just got a lot easier.”

Marbury looked alarmed by this comment, but was smart enough to remain silent.

Buckley took the optical device and Spector told him where to aim it. He looked through the lens at the Porsche. In spite of it all, he smiled. His adrenaline had spiked, and with the blood rush came the thrill he’d been missing for too many years now, after having felt it every day of his life for a very long time. And best of all, the possible strategy, in the flash of creative brilliance, had turned into a definite resolution. The only one that mattered now.

He handed Spector back her optics.

She glanced expectantly at Buckley and was confused by the look in his eye. Where she thought she would see frustration and even desperation, she saw something else entirely.

She fingered her pistol and asked, “So do we go after Cain, retreat from her, or wait for her to try to find us here?”

“None of the above. I have a far better idea.”





CHAPTER





55


MERCY SAT ON HER HAUNCHES and studied the rear of the house through the binoculars. The place was almost entirely built of stone with a few odd timbers and other materials thrown in for interesting architectural measure. It was private and well shrouded from the street with no close neighbors. A good pick if you were doing something bad, she thought. The Escalade was parked in front of the three-car garage. She could see the driver still inside scrolling down his phone. What she couldn’t see, through the tinted side windows, was whether Marbury was still in the SUV or not. She doubted it. Why come here just to sit on his butt in the driveway?

She had sounded more confident with Blum than she felt right now. While it was true she could go toe-to-toe physically with just about anybody, she really didn’t know what she was doing here. And it wasn’t like her brief stint as a cheap security guard had prepared her to become a crackerjack sleuth. She did have some experience with breaking and entering, though. And if it had been dark she would have been more comfortable trying to get inside the place through a door or window. Plus a home like this had to have a first-class security system, though it might be turned off now since it was daytime and people were inside.

Mercy decided that she was doing no good just squatting here like a lump, so she moved forward, keeping low and trying to stay out of the sight line of the row of windows on this side of the house. She passed by a pool that had its winter cover on. She stopped behind a clump of bushes and waited to see if anyone had seen her and was about to sound the alarm. That didn’t happen, so she relaxed and looked around, trying to use her common sense and natural observation skills, which she had cultivated over the years. In the places she had lived, correctly gauging the mood of a room and the violent predilections of various people had saved her on more occasions than she cared to remember.