Hit List (Stone Barrington #53)(45)

“Most of these houses have gates that are closed.”

“Probably have a remote control.”

“I didn’t see any house numbers.”

“People are careless about that,” Stone said.

“It’s one of three back there,” Dino said.

“I expect the cops know which one.”

“Let’s go back to the coffee shop parking lot.”

“Canyon Road is one way. How about a U-turn?”

“I don’t want to pass the house twice,” Dino said. “Think of something else.

Stone took a left, a right, another left on Alameda, drove back to Canyon Road and to the coffee shop. “What now?”

“I don’t know about you,” Dino said, “but I’m going to read the Times.” He unfolded the paper.





36


Stone was taking sections of the Times as Dino finished them, then he looked up and saw the black SUV coming down Acequia Madre. Simultaneously, a car on the other side of the parking lot backed out of its space and turned to follow it.

“Okay,” Stone said. “Somebody’s on the move.

“I saw the unmarked car go after the SUV,” Dino said. “Fall in behind it but stay well back.”

Stone went out the side entrance of the lot and turned downhill as the police car was disappearing onto Paseo de Peralta. He turned that way, too. Shortly, they were on the road out of town, toward the Opera. They got off at that exit, but turned toward the village of Tesuque, instead. Stone had owned a house there, until he had traded it to the president and her husband for their Georgetown house, where his friend, Holly Barker, had been living.

As they crossed the little Tesuque River, Stone saw the SUV turn into the parking lot of the Tesuque Market, a grocery and restaurant. “Looks like somebody’s having a late breakfast,” he said.

“Go past, then come back to within sight of the place,” Dino ordered.

Stone complied and parked on the opposite side of the road, a couple hundred yards from the market. “Give me the Arts section, he said. Dino handed it to him. He turned to the crossword, refolded the paper, and started to work it, looking frequently at the market, where the black SUV waited.



* * *



—

An hour later, well after Stone had finished the puzzle, he looked at Dino, who was snoring lightly. “Hey, you,” he said.

Dino sat up and looked around. “What?”

“Whoever was in the SUV is taking too long in there. Time for a walk-through.”

“You mean me?”

“He knows what I look like, but maybe not you. Just walk in, check out the front porch, then walk in, buy something at the pastry counter and check out the dining room while you’re waiting.”

Dino got out of the car, crossed the road, and walked down to the market, disappearing inside. A moment later, Dino came out again and waved him over, a paper bag in his hand.

Stone stopped the car, and Dino got in. “What?”

“Neither Larkin nor his henchman is in there. They must have gone out the back door and left in another car.”

“We’ve been sitting here and all the time, they’ve scampered.”

“Maybe not out of reach,” Dino said. “The police car is gone, too.” He got on the phone said a few words, then hung up.

“They’re up the mountain, at a place called 10,000 Waves,” he said.

“That’s a Japanese-style hot bath and massage place,” Stone said, turning left toward Bishops Lodge Road. “We’ll take a run up there.”

“Wait a minute,” Dino said, getting out of the car. He ran back to the front of the market, disappeared, then returned to the car. “I wanted a look inside the SUV,” he said. “Clean as a hound’s tooth.” He opened his paper bag and handed Stone a chunk of carrot cake on a napkin.

Stone continued up the mountain, eating the carrot cake, and his ears began to pop. Twenty minutes later he pulled into the lot at 10,000 Waves. “There’s the police car,” he said. He parked next to it, and the driver rolled down his window.

“They’re up there,” he said, pointing up. “They took a hot tub, but they’ll have to come back this way. There’s nowhere to go once you’re up top.”

“That’s true,” Stone said. “I’ve been there half a dozen times.”

“Is there a road up there?” Dino asked.

“What, don’t you want to climb five hundred steps?”

“I’m the only person I know who’s lazier than you are,” Dino replied.

“Well, there is a road up there, used for deliveries.” As they watched, a van with the name of a bakery on the side came down that road and turned back toward the main road.

Dino rolled down his window. “One of us ought to follow that truck,” he said. “Who?”

“You can have it,” the cop replied.

“Let’s go,” Dino said to Stone.

They backed out and went back to the main road.

“Left or right?” Dino asked.

“The road left dead-ends at the ski resort at the top of the mountain. The right turn takes us back into Santa Fe.”

“That way,” Dino said.