The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme 12)

"Does this mean I can ask your daught

er out?"

A pause.

Nick laughed. "I'm messing with you, Vito. Oh, and by the way, that take-out order the other day? My friends said it was the best lasagna they'd ever had."

A pause. A guilty pause, probably. "You're okay, Nick. You'll do all right. Take care."

They disconnected.

Hell.

Sighing, Nick rose and walked stiffly to his dresser, on which his pants lay in a pile. He tugged them on, swapped yesterday's T-shirt for a new one and brushed his hair. More or less.

Amelia Sachs had left the apartment an hour before, the footsteps and closing door waking him briefly.

He walked into the living room, thoughts of her prominent in his mind as he made a pot of coffee, poured a cup and sat at the kitchen table to wait for it to cool. But then, looking over the files she'd given him, images of Amelia, disappointment about the failed restaurant deal were replaced by memories of his days as a cop.

Now, like back then, something clicked in his mind when he was starting an investigation. Like turning on a switch, snap, he was in a different mode. Suspicious, for one thing. Sifting, picking out what could be believed and letting the rest sprinkle away. This wasn't hard for Nick Carelli.

And, more important, making leaps. His mind making those weird leaps. That's what nailed the perps.

"You told me you drove out to Suffolk."

"Right, Detective Carelli. That's where I was. Seeing my friend. He vouched for me. You talked to him."

"It's a hundred and ten miles round trip."

"So?"

"Your gauge when I stopped you? Showed nearly full."

"So again. Here's where I say, I refilled."

"You drive a turbo diesel. Here's where I say there's no diesel along the route you say you took."

"Oh. Ah. I wanna talk to my lawyer."

Making that leap--calling the stations and checking for diesel pumps--was just something that occurred to him naturally.

Detective then, detective now.

He pulled the list of J names toward him, the people from Flannigan's that Von had said were regulars--one of whom, Nick prayed, could help him turn his life around.

Jack Battaglia, Queens Boulevard Auto and Repair

Joe Kelly, Havasham General Contracting, Manhattan

JJ Steptoe

Jon Perone, J&K Financial, Queens

Elton Jenkins

Jackie Carter, You Stor It Self Storage, Queens

Mike Johnson, Emerson Consulting, Queens