Ambush

Chapter 54

Alex Martinez was worn-out. In a good way. She sprawled in the king-size bed in the tiny lower Manhattan apartment of Officer Tom McLaughlin. Aerobic energy could be as useful in sex as it was on the job. She was still smiling, listening to the gentle snores of her new lover.

The whole night had been wonderful. Dinner at the Tavern on the Green. The stroll through Central Park, which included a visit to the stables. He was really a special guy.

But one thing stuck in her head. She had asked about Michael Bennett, which might have been a mistake. It probably wasn’t a big thing to Officer McLaughlin. He had gone on and on about the homicide detective.

Now she tried to calculate all the ways that might come back to haunt her after Detective Bennett was dead. Would Officer McLaughlin remember the conversation and discuss it with the detectives investigating the murder? If so, did he know anything about her that could be useful? She never did let him have a photograph.

She rolled it over and over in her brain. The sooner you handle a problem, the better things work out.

She wondered if Officer Tom McLaughlin could be a loose end. A loose end that could expose her later.

She rolled over and slipped out of bed silently. She got dressed in the cramped space between the edge of the bed and the wall.

She looked down at the sleeping form of Officer McLaughlin and reached into her purse for her stiletto. She hit the button, and the blade popped straight out of the handle with just a little mechanical click.

She ran through her options once again. This man had done nothing wrong and did not deserve to die because of the mistake she made. But she couldn’t risk someone coming to the ranch one day to arrest her and separate her from the girls.

She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the city in the dark apartment. Sometimes she wished she was someone else.