Cactus Heart (David Mapstone Mystery 5)

A new expression rippled across his face, almost like a weather front changing from hot to cold. Something like fear appeared. Then he quickly pushed it down deep.

“A punk named Hector gave you up,” I said.

“You don’t…”

“Oh, I do. I was in a motel carport with him alone, just him and me with guns on each other. He told me all about you. That shooting at the art gallery was just an act.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“I checked Hector’s cell phone records. He made a dozen calls to your gallery in November. He made five in October.”

He cursed under his breath. Then: “So why the hell aren’t I under arrest?”

“Because nobody else knows yet,” I said. “The cops came bursting in and shot Hector to death, and you must have seen that on TV and thought you were home free. They think Hector did it. Or some environmental terrorist. Or both. But, see, Hector told me before they got there. Only I heard it. And if you fuck with me, everybody will know it.”

Yarnell stepped back and smiled. He shook his head and chuckled. “So this is what this is about.”

I was silent for a long time. Neither of us moved. Finally, I said, “It’s a fifteen-year bull market and the only people who haven’t gotten rich are teachers who didn’t buy Microsoft stock and honest cops.”

His face relaxed a notch. He shook his head. “You have to think about your future. You’re probably sick of shits like me living an easy life while you live paycheck-to-paycheck. You didn’t make any money as a historian, and now you can’t make any as a cop.”

I didn’t answer.

Yarnell rubbed his shoulders. “And what if I don’t go along?”

“You go down for your brother’s murder.”

“That’s bunk,” he said. “I didn’t kill Max.”

He started up the ladder and I let him go.

I heard his voice from the top

. “You’re just a dirty cop who made a big mistake.” Then I heard his footsteps echo through the big room and the heavy door clanged shut.

I waited five minutes, then climbed up the ladder. The place was empty as a looted tomb. A layer of dust hung in the air at eye level. I reached down in my shirt, pulled up the little microphone and spoke into it.

“He’s gone. I don’t know if he went for it or not. I’ll meet you over at Madison Street in a few minutes.”

I unbuttoned my shirt and pulled the rig off, a little strand of fiber optic held by surgical tape and a battery down by my belt. I wrapped it up and slid it into my pocket. Then I shut down the lights, listened for a moment to the silence of the awful place, and quickly stepped outside.

Chapter Forty-two

The two men rounded the corner from the street as I stepped out the door. For just a nanosecond, I stood and stared in disorientation. But the guns they were carrying got my attention. I slipped back in the building just as they saw me and started running after me.

The door wouldn’t lock from the inside. I moved as quickly as I dared through the dark room, panic starting to jelly the muscles in my legs. I dropped to the floor at the far end of the building just as sunlight spilled into the passageway and footsteps pounded toward me. Then the door closed and the world was utterly black again. I could hear footsteps scuttling across the concrete. I connected where I had seen those two bulked-up goons before: in the reception area of Yarneco, wearing oversized suits.

I called out: “I’m a deputy sheriff and I’m armed!”

Suddenly the whole room seemed to shatter into fragments. I realized someone was shooting, an automatic weapon with a silencer and a muzzle flash suppresser. Pieces of masonry rained down as I slid the Python out of its nylon holster. Its heaviness filled my hand. There was a little spark across the room, and some wooden pallets came apart behind me. His flash suppresser wasn’t perfect. I took aim and squeezed the smooth Colt action. Fire and a deep boom! erupted at the end of my arm. Across the room somebody gasped and fell into something glass. Then he moaned and stopped making any noise.

I rolled to the left just in time before another gun fired in the direction of my muzzle flash. These boys were pros. Rolled and found the edge of the ladder. There was nothing to do but go down. I hit the bottom and frantically pulled out the metal hooks on the ladder. It crashed down into the shaft beside me. I retreated back into the tunnel, down the steps, into the next passage. Only the rough, century-old bricks of the wall guided me through the blackness.

I holstered the Python and fumbled in my pocket for the surveillance wire. Switched the battery on and whispered frantically into it.

“Mike, Mike! Officer needs assistance! Shots fired. At the Triple A Storage Warehouse. Yarnell’s goons have me pinned down. I’m in the tunnels. They are heavily armed.” I left the channel open and set it aside. I didn’t really believe they were still monitoring me. I crouched down in the darkness and waited, the fear all over me. I felt the sweet ache in my abdominal muscles from Gretchen, and wondered why the hell I was doing any of this.

“There’s no way out, Mapstone.” It was James Yarnell. “You miscalculated your little blackmail scheme.”