Ambush

Chapter 38

After meeting with the Dominicans, Alex used the entire afternoon to gather more information on Bennett. By following him to meet his grandfather — who, she learned, was a priest — she had the opportunity to photograph the churches in the neighborhood where Bennett lived and his grandfather worked. She loved the architecture of churches and relished the opportunity to mix pleasure with business.

Late in the afternoon, when she was tired of waiting for Bennett to emerge, Alex strolled into Central Park. She eyed a cop on horseback who was checking her out, then was distracted by a group of tourists riding horses with a guide. Horses right in Central Park!

Clemency and Gabriela could ride better than any of these adults, Alex thought. She knelt down and snapped half a dozen quick photos of the group with the sun casting wild beams of light through the trees. It was a wonderful sight.

Then she heard a man’s voice say, “Are you a spy conducting surveillance or just a fan of horses?”

The voice startled her, and she turned quickly, rising to her feet. She stared for a moment. It was the policeman sitting atop his bay horse, more than sixteen hands tall. The horse’s placid eyes took her in.

Alex said, “Excuse me?”

“I said, are you a spy or just into horses?”

“Both.” She hated to lie.

It was hard for a man not to look sexy on top of a horse, but this policeman also had broad shoulders and a square jaw. He looked like a recruiting poster. He gave her a smile, showing his perfect white teeth.

Alex felt herself flush slightly. She liked the way his eyes stayed on her face. It showed a good upbringing.

She stepped closer to him and ran her hand along the horse’s graceful neck. “What’s his name?”

“Traveller.”

“Just like Robert E. Lee’s horse.”

The cop stared at her, then said, “That’s exactly right. Almost no one gets that.”

“I bet the horse people do.”

“The horse people and the Civil War nuts.”

On impulse, she said, “How do I rent a horse here?”

“You know how to ride?”

“I’ve been around horses my entire life.”

The cop said, “What do racehorses eat?”

Alex smiled. “That’s the oldest joke around. Fast food.”

“Okay, that’s one. What goes in the horse’s mouth?”

“The bit.” She tried to look insulted, but this guy was too adorable.

The cop said, “Finally, the most important question. Will you go out with me?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Let’s see how the ride goes.”

“Fair enough.”

Suddenly not only Alex’s day but also her whole trip started to look brighter.

The cop’s name was Tom McLaughlin, but his friends called him T-Mac. He’d been raised in Quantico, Virginia, where his father was stationed in the Marines. That’s where he developed his love of horseback riding.

Alex couldn’t remember the last time she actually enjoyed herself this much on an assignment. Time flew while they rode through the park.

Alex said, “Is it hard to get an assignment in the NYPD horse unit?”

“It’s called the Mounted Unit. And you’d be shocked how many cops want to get in. There’s only about fifty-five horses now. We go all over the city for PR and sometimes crowd control. We also patrol the park. I love it, except I never get weekends off.”

He had a simple, direct way about him, and Alex found him interesting.

When he asked for her phone number, she gave him the number to her burner phone, which would be good for the length of her stay in New York. A stay she hoped would be long enough to see this handsome cop again.

She said, “I’ll only be in New York another week or so. But I would enjoy a nice dinner. Steak and horses are two of my favorite things.”

T-Mac gave her a dazzling smile and said, “Mine, too.”