Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“Oh, Harry, you’re such a sentimentalist.”

The agent at the other table answered his cellphone, then got up, walked across the room, and handed it to Harry.

“Harry Crisp.”

“Yeah, when? Any other details? Thanks.” He hung up and handed the phone to the agent, who returned to his table.

Harry was lo

oking thoughtful.

“What?” Holly asked.

“Pedro Alvarez just got dead.”

“How long ago?”

“An hour or so.”

“Trini did it.”

“That’s a reasonable assumption,” Harry said.

“It isn’t an assumption,” Holly replied. “After I left Marina’s house, I wanted to talk to Pedro; I parked outside and started reading the notebook first, and while I was waiting, Trini drove up, got out, went into Pedro’s shop, stayed three minutes, then left. That’s when I started following him. Let me guess: one or two shots from a small-caliber pistol equipped with a silencer.”

“You’re right up to a point,” Harry said. “We won’t know all until somebody digs the slugs out of him. Sounds like Trini’s cleaning house, doesn’t it? You think Marina’s in danger?”

“I’ve already sent her out of town. My guess is, one reason Trini went to the shop was to find out where she was, and Pedro didn’t know.”

“Where is she?”

“At her mother’s sister’s in Sarasota. Or at least, she’s on the way. I stayed with her until she left the house. I’ll bet Trini was there moments later, because he got to Pedro’s shop almost as fast as I did.”

Harry was looking at her funny.

“What, Harry?”

“You think maybe Pedro told Trini about you? They had to be talking about something for the three minutes they were together.”

“Harry, I’m afraid you have a point.”

“Holly, go home. Get out of here right now, and I think you ought to have an officer with you every hour of the day.”

“I don’t think that’s—”

“Holly, you met Trini at Miami Bullseye.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t know who I was.”

“He probably does now; and he knows what you look like.”

“Well, you’re going to have to pick up Trini now; that should be easy, since you’ve already got a team on him.”

“We’ll notify Lauderdale PD that we have a witness in the murder, and we’ll give them his location. They’ll pick him up, then we’ll get our turn at questioning him about our matter. In the meantime, this is what I want you to do,” Harry said. “My agent over there is going to follow you up I-95, toward home. You call your office and get somebody to meet you halfway and relieve him.”

“Thanks, Harry, but—”

“Just do it, Holly. I’ve got my own car outside, I’ll get back to the office okay. You’re going to need protection until Trini is in the Lauderdale lockup.”