“All right,” Sergeant Doakes said to me, “you got something in mind?”
It wasn’t really perfect. Bugs Bunny would have made him think of it himself, but it was good enough. “As a matter of fact,” I said, “I do have an idea. But it’s a little risky.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Thought it might be.”
“If it’s too much for you, come up with something else,” I said. “But I think it’s all we can do.”
I could see him thinking it over. He knew I was baiting D E A R LY D E V O T E D D E X T E R
1 9 9
him, but there was just enough truth to what I had said, and enough pride or anger in him that he didn’t care.
“Let’s have it,” he said at last.
“Oscar got away,” I said.
“Looks like it.”
“That only leaves one person we can be sure Dr. Danco might be interested in,” I said, and I pointed right at his chest.
“You.”
He didn’t actually flinch, but something twitched on his forehead and he forgot to breathe for a few seconds. Then he nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “Slick motherfucker,”
he said.
“Yes, I am,” I admitted. “But I’m right, too.”
Doakes picked up the scanner radio and moved it to one side so he could sit on the open back gate of the van. “All right,” he said. “Keep talking.”
“First, I’m betting he’ll get another scanner,” I said, nodding at the one beside Doakes.
“Uh-huh.”
“So if we know he’s listening, we can let him hear what we want him to hear. Which is,” I said with my very best smile,
“who you are, and where you are.”
“And who am I?” he said, and he didn’t seem impressed by my smile.
“You are the guy who set him up to get taken by the Cubans,” I said.
He studied me for a moment, then shook his head. “You really putting my pecker on the chopping block, huh?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “But you’re not worried, are you?”
“He got Kyle, no trouble.”
“You’ll know he’s coming,” I said. “Kyle didn’t. Besides, 2 0 0
J E F F L I N D S A Y
aren’t you supposed to be just a little bit better than Kyle at this kind of thing?”
It was shameless, totally transparent, but he went for it.
“Yes, I am,” he said. “You’re a good ass-kisser, too.”