“You don’t understand,” Holly said. “I want to turn him up. I want to find him before they do.”
“And how do you expect to do that?”
“Call your Mafia friend again. Ask him what he knows.”
“I’ll call him, but he won’t know anything. He can put the word out, and if anybody is sheltering him, he might call me.”
“Then we’ll know something the NYPD and the Feds won’t.”
“If we’re lucky.”
“It’s about time we got lucky.”
Stone couldn’t disagree with that
.
“Let’s go to Little Italy,” she said.
“After breakfast and a shower.”
Hungry and unshowered, Stone drove slowly up and down the narrow streets of Little Italy. He stopped the car in front of a deli. “Go in and get us a roll and coffee.”
“Keep driving,” she replied.
“This car isn’t moving until I’ve had breakfast.”
“Oh, all right,” she said, getting out and slamming the door. She came back shortly with a paper bag and two cups of coffee.
Stone dug in. “This is when it happens,” he said, looking around the street.
“When what happens?”
“When we see him. When I’m right in the middle of eating. Remember last time? I never got lunch.”
“Oh, stop your bitching,” she said, sipping her coffee. “We’ve got a real chance of catching this guy now.”
“I don’t think you want to catch him.”
“What?”
“You just want to go on hunting him. You enjoy it.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, you do. You’ve already admitted that you’re bored stiff in your job. You just want to get out of that little town in Florida and see some of the world, and Trini Rodriguez is your ticket.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she said, but less heatedly.
“If we catch the guy it’s going to be a real downer for you, assuming you survive the experience, which, if the events of last night are any indication, you may not.”
“Oh, I’m going to survive. Don’t you worry about that. Trini’s chances are not so hot, though.”
“Let me tell you what to hope for.”
“What?”
“Hope the NYPD catches the bastard, because they just might honor your warrant as a way of pissing off the FBI, which they love to do. Also, hope Trini doesn’t kill a cop in the process, because if that happens, they’ll never release him to you or the Feds.”