Summer Cool

16

These three were much better than Koval and Kohl. They were waiting in the same alley beside Paine's building, and Paine never had a chance with them. They pulled him deep into the shadows at the back, and after softening him up with belly blows they laid him flat on the ground and one of them held the long cold muzzle of an AK-47 to this temple. A second backed up the first with a.44 Magnum, which he held at arm's length pointed at Paine's mouth.

"You move," the one with the AK-47 said matter- of-factly, "I put six semiautomatic rounds into your mind."

"I won't move," Paine said.

The third one straddled Paine's supine body, standing over him before leaning down to stare into his face. He studied Paine with the same detached interest he and the others had shown at Roberto Hermano's funeral. "I saw you at the church," he said, making it into a slight question.

"I was there."

"Also," the man said quietly, "you were seen talking with Roberto in your car the day before he was killed."

"That's true," Paine said.

The man cocked his head to one side; his face still wore mild interest. "Did you kill Roberto?"

"No."

"Why did you talk to him?"

"I'm looking for someone he knew. A man named Bobby Petty."

The man closed his eyes and nodded. Paine's scalp prickled under the pressure of the AK-47's muzzle.

"One more question," the man said mildly. "Do you know who killed Roberto?"

The muzzle pressed harder into Paine's head.

The man stared at him, searching, and then he straightened and nodded to the other two men, who pulled their weapons back. Paine felt relief at the withdrawal of pressure on his forehead.

The man folded his hands in front of him and looked down at Paine. "We would like to find the man who killed Roberto. He was our friend."

"Sure."

"If you should find this man, I would appreciate it if you would let us know."

Paine said nothing.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you," the man said.

The three of them turned and walked slowly out of the alley.

Paine lay back a moment, staring at the sky through the faraway slit at the top of the alley. Polite drug dealers with AK-47s was something he did not much want to think about. The AK-47s, he imagined, were what made it possible for them to be polite.

Perhaps if everyone had an AK-47, there would be much more politeness in the world.

It was a thought he entertained for a very short time before he got up.

The first phone message on his machine was from Anapolos, who made several loud threats and then hung up. There was another message after it, from Billy Rader, and Paine called him.

"Good night again last night," Rader yawned into the phone. "Maybe clouds tonight, though."

"What have you got for me, Billy?"

"First of all, your friend Landers is in trouble. Seems he was involved in a minor way with a parking violations thing some friend of his skimming meters in downtown Fort Worth, and he knew about it but did nothing. It might hurt him, might not. 'Cause of the way he treated you, I called a couple friends of mine still on the Morning News and told them where to look for more. Just a hint, mind you, I didn't want to make it too easy. It might snowball, might not."

"Jesus, Billy, I didn't tell you to crucify the bastard."

"Why not? He's been a hard-on for a long time, and anyway, I told you he has enemies. He's not such a bad guy. They used to hang you down here for stuff like that, but not anymore. He'll probably come through intact, but humbled. Humbled is what he needed."

"Is that why you called me?"

"Of course not. I wanted to tell you about my night at the telescope last night."

Paine waited; Rader laughed after a pause.

"Well, okay," Rader said. "Seems Bobby Petty flew back to New York yesterday, American Airlines flight number fortyseven. He used an alias, but one of my friends at the American terminal asked around and found somebody who recognized the description. 'Course it made it a little easier, the alias he used."

"Which was?"

"Bob Paine."

Paine didn't laugh. "Christ."

"Sure, Jack. Want me to see if he left New York again?"

"You can do that?"

"Computers, Jack."

"Sure."

"There's something else, too. That fellow Parker Johnson,

I got some background stuff on him. Maybe you'll find it useful. He grew up in Fort Worth, went to school in Fort Worth, was briefly married to a Fort Worth girl from his high school. Two tours of duty in Vietnam, marines, came back and had a hard time of it. Four or five jobs-cook, school janitor, security guard at a mall, early shift at Burger King, that sort of thing. The past year he's been stacking cans in a supermarket. Like I said before, no record, no arrests, no drugs."

"Thanks again, Billy."

"This thing with Landers clears up, you can show your ass down here again. Maybe we can drive out to the desert, visit MacDonald Observatory in west Texas. I know some folks there, get you a look through the big scope."

"Sounds good, Billy."

"Listen, Jack, any idea why Petty would come back to New York?"

Paine told him about Coleman.

"Christ, Jack. That looks bad."

"I'd still like to think he wasn't involved."

"Well, you take care of yourself."

"I will, Billy."

Paine hung up, and immediately made another call.