Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“Yes, his girlfriend was with Carlos when he stopped at the restaurant to see Pio. She stayed in the car, but they came out together after a few minutes and talked on the sidewalk.”

“That’s good. Will she testify?”

“I believe she will.”

“Who made the silencers on Carlos’s weapons?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly, “but we don’t need the mechanic; we’ve got the weapons.”

“You’re sure the guy who owns Miami Bullseye isn’t in this?”

“He wouldn’t have helped me if he were in it, and don’t you go rousting him; he’s a good guy.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Harry, do you ever have the feeling that this business is bigger than an attempt to buy a piece of real estate on the cheap?”

“No.”

“Well, I do. I don’t think they would have killed Carlos, otherwise. He did what he was paid to do, except that he missed my friend Ed Shine.”

“If they’d wanted Shine dead, they’d have tried again, but it got too late; he’d won the auction and bought the property. If they’d killed him, it would have gone into his estate, and not back to the General Services Administration.”

“My point is, they must have killed Carlos because, alive, he could have led the law to them. I mean, down the road, he gets busted for something, and he gives them up for immunity or leniency.”

“That makes sense, especially since Carlos was an outside contractor, not one of them.”

“Makes you wonder how long Trini Rodriguez has to live, doesn’t it?” Holly asked.

“Maybe Trini’s an insider; who knows? They’ve had time to pop him, since he popped Carlos, but they haven’t. Following him is going to have to produce something soon; I can’t spare the manpower if it doesn’t.”

“I was going to ask you to put a team on Pedro Alvarez, too, but I guess there’s not much chance of that, is there?”

“Not much. Why Pedro?”

“Because, according to the notebook, he’s been in on this since the beginning. He had me thinking that Carlos was in it alone, but the notebook says different.”

“Yeah, but he’s an outsider, like Carlos; they’re not going to let him know anything.”

“I guess you’re right,” Holly admitted.

“I kind of like Trini, though. I think he might be worth the trouble,” Harry said.

“He’s going to be pissed off about his relative getting dead,” Holly said.

“You think he knows you blew the guy away?”

“I don’t see how he could,” Holly said. “Not yet, anyway, not unless it makes the local papers.”

Harry raised a finger, then produced his cellphone and a PalmPilot and dialed a number. “This is Agent in Charge Harry Crisp,” he said. “Let me speak to Captain Ames.” A short wait. “Charlie? Harry Crisp. How goes it? Same here. Listen, I need your help on something. Earlier today, an out-of-town cop had a good shooting of a perp on your turf, a guy named Rodriguez. Yep, that’s the one. Have you released anything to the papers yet? That’s good. I’d appreciate it if, when you release it, you’d just say that a cop shot the guy and not identify her or where she’s from. Because if you did that, it could put her in harm’s way. She’s working on something with us, and I don’t want to get her killed. Can you handle that? Good, I owe you one, Charlie.”

“Tell him I want my weapon back,” Holly whispered.

“She says she needs her pistol back. Yeah, I’ll tell her. Golf sometime? Call me.” Harry hung up. “That’s taken care of,” he said. “You’ll get your piece back if you promise not to shoot anybody else on his turf, and Trini won’t know who shot his kinsman.”

“Thank you, Harry.”

“You’re no use to me dead,” he said.