Night Watch

FIFTY-SEVEN

“I’m so sorry, Gina. I didn’t trust you from the minute we were introduced,” I said.

“I didn’t like you much either. What did you walk into here today?”

We were standing together next to the large barn, in the sunlight-Gina, Luc, Mike, Jim, and I. The township police-who had responded to the panic alarm within ten minutes-were swarming around the shed. Two ambulances had left for the local hospital, one with Josh Hanson and the injured foreman on board, and the other with the body of Peter Danton.

“Mike and I drove up here looking for Luc, but we interrupted a business meeting between your partners.”

“I found out a little late that I didn’t get the invite,” Gina said. “Don’t you hate when that happens?”

She had an arm around my shoulder, trying to lighten me up.

“Totally.” I was taking deep breaths, trying to keep an eye on Luc, Jim, and Mike as they walked away from me to talk with the cops.

“Luc and Jim Mulroy drove up together,” I said “We came because Luc was supposed to spend the day in town, but left the city without letting us know. We certainly weren’t expecting Armageddon at Stallion Ridge, or we’d have brought reinforcements.”

“Josh Hanson’s the new kid on the block.” Gina said. “Peter’s been trying to push me out. I think Josh is more his type, in terms of a business partner.”

“What made you come up here today?”

“I called the gallery to speak to Peter this morning,” she said. “We haven’t been getting along too well lately. That’s when Eva told me he’d had a call from Jim, and that he disappeared quite suddenly. Said he had to check something here in Connecticut. I decided to drive up and protect my own interests. Nothing’s been right since that girl was killed in Mougins.”

“But you thought to bring a gun,” I said, still wary of Gina.

She smiled. “That’s the Tiro a Segno in me. The Rifle Club. I’ve always got one in the trunk of my car. You never know when you’ll get a chance for some target practice.”

“So you shot the foreman?” I asked.

“When I drove into the parking lot, I recognized him. He’s always been perfectly friendly before. This time he was running into the shed, but came back out when he saw me get out of the car. He threatened me, actually. He was carrying a shotgun and told me to stay away.”

“Why?” I said. “Did he say?”

“Just that Peter had set off the panic alarm, and he was going to open the door. I asked him if that was unusual-I mean, had it happened before-and he said it never had. When I asked him who was inside, the guy said there was a detective and-well-you must have been the young woman he mentioned. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but I didn’t like the sound of it,” Gina said. “But I obeyed him.”

“You did?”

She smiled. “Well, I returned to the car, anyway. I came back with my rifle, but he didn’t notice me coming because he was unlocking the vault. I got up real close behind him, and when he realized I was there-and armed-he really didn’t like the sight of that.”

“So he refused to open the door?” I said.

“I nudged him a few times, but he wouldn’t change his mind. Most men don’t take me seriously until they see me shoot,” Gina said. “I just grazed him, Alex. It got the job done.”

Mike was making his way back over to us.

“Before I came into the shelter, did Peter Danton tell you anything at all about the skulls?” I asked him. The ancient bones had haunted me since I first saw them in the moonlight in Mougins.

“I never got to that, Coop. They must have been a diversion, cooked up by Lisette and Luigi to keep everyone’s attention on the restaurant wars. Luc would be so busy looking for enemies around town that the drug trafficking wouldn’t get any attention. It was a good ruse. The bones were old enough so the police didn’t have to worry about dead bodies, but spooky enough to be a distraction.”

“The one you brought to my apartment, Mike,” I said, “was that the only one on the houseboat?”

“Yeah. I guess Luigi just wanted a souvenir.”

“How did he get it on a plane?” I asked.

“It was sitting on a Mylar blanket-you know, the kind runners use after a marathon? It probably didn’t even scan going through X-ray. And in customs, it was tagged with an ‘antiquities’ stamp, so nobody even looked inside the wrapping.”

I glanced over at Luc, being questioned by one of the police officers. “Poor Luc, the skulls alone made it look like he was connected to both murders. Those skeletons worked for the bad guys on every level.”

Mike turned his attention to Gina. “I haven’t thanked you properly for what you did in that vault. I’ll find a way to do that.”

“It’ll be easy, Detective. I’ve got lots of time on my hands.”

“In the meantime, I know these guys have questions for you,” he said. “And I told them how cool you were under pressure, Gina. I had that gun pointed right at you and you didn’t blink.”

Gina Varona started down the rise toward the parking lot. “I wasn’t worried for a second, Mike. Sergio called me after you’d been questioning him about me at Tiro the other night. He told me, after he’d seen you shoot in the basement there, that you couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”