16 Hitman (13 page)

"You're sure they were shooting Kessler?"

"I was standing right there."

"No chance they were shooting you?"

"No. Why would they?"

"Because of Kessler.You yourself are not dangerous. But if you
get to Kessler, who knows, you might put two and two together."

"Put what together? I haven't got a clue."

"Yes, but the shooter doesn't know that. The shooter may think
you're competent."

"Thanks a bunch"

"In which case the shooter may try again. The police will most
likely be protecting Martin Kessler. I can't imagine they'd do the
same for you."

"No one's after me."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me. I've been on my guard"

"You thought someone might shoot you?"

"No, but

"But what?"

"Before. When I thought my client was at large. Before I knew
he was dead. It occurred to me I was the one who could ID him.
Connect him to the crime."

"That would be a worry. Aside from the fact he deliberately
put you in that position."

"Right. But he's dead. And I don't know the guy who killed
him from Adam."

"No, but you saw the two of them together."

"So did the doorman. Are you saying he's in danger?"

"Maybe, but he's not my client. You wouldn't be either if you
hadn't lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you."

"You misrepresented. You told me you'd been arrested. You
didn't say it was for littering."

"Accessory to murder doesn't qualify in your book?"

"You're not charged with that. I couldn't even goad them into
taking a stab at it. No, I think you're clear until trial."

"Trial?"

"What did you think happened with charges like this? I have
to defend you in court. My billable hours should eat up your salary
for the next two years. So I'd advise you to go back to work.You
got some cases to go out on?"

"You want me to handle cases?"

"What were you planning to do? Curl up and die? You gotta
get along with your life. As long as you're doing that, you might
as well work for me."

"Swell."

"Just one thing"

"What's that?"

"Watch your back."

I GOT IN MY CAR.

A voice from the backseat said, "Drive"

"Jesus Christ, MacAullif."

"Come on. Let's go"

"You got a gun to my head?"

"I wish."

"Hey, who ratted on who?"

"Who ratted on who? Who dumped a steaming pile of bullshit
in the middle of whose office and said, `Have a nice day'?"

"I didn't lie to you, MacAullif."

"Oh, no? Did you tell me the truth?"

"I didn't tell you anything. We discussed a hypothetical situation."

"Yes, and when I'm hypothetically fired and lose my hypothetical pension, that'll be a great solace to me."

"How could they fire a cop who uses words like solace?"

"Will you drive, for Chrissakes? I'm really cramped back here."

"Sure. Anything to make you comfortable."

I pulled away from the curb with more force than was actually
needed. I didn't leave rubber, but I didn't take that much with me,
either.

MacAullif cursed and sat up. I could see his face in the rearview
mirror.

"How'd you get my car door open?"

"I'm a cop."

"That's the type of answer that tends to annoy us civilians."

"God forbid I should do that"

"Look, MacAullif, you picked me up, you handed me over to
the cops, you said you had no choice. That may be true, but the
fact is you did it, and now you're pissed about it."

"At the time I was not aware of certain things."

"What things?"

"Martin Kessler."

"I told you about Martin Kessler."

"You told me dick about Martin Kessler.You had me trace the
name Martin Kessler just to show I could trace the name."

"That is not why I had you do it."

"Now you tell me."

"Do you really think I'd waste your time making you prove you
could trace a name?"

"No. But you'd do it to throw me off the track."

"That's why you turned me in? Because you were mad at me?"

"Don't be stupid. What's all this about the schoolteacher?"

"Someone tried to shoot him."

"Why?"

"Because you traced his name."

"Why did I trace his name?"

"Because I gave it to you."

"Don't be a wiseass. I got a very short fuse on this one."

"Where would you like to go?"

"Downtown is good."

"Wanna get in the front seat?"

"I'm too big to climb in the front seat."

"I'll stop the car."

"You gonna drive off and leave me?"

"You're really paranoid."

"You're really pissed"

"I'm not going to drive off and leave you. I need to know what
you know."

"I don't know anything. That's why I'm in so much fucking
trouble."

I pulled over to the curb. MacAullif got out. He made a show
of closing the back door before he opened the front, in case I
really did plan to take off. When I didn't, he hopped inside, said,
"Let's go"

"Seatbelt."

I pulled out from the curb, blended into traffic. A taxi blared its
horn, swerved around me.

"You always drive this badly?"

"What's the matter, MacAullif? You weren't this angry when
you dropped me at the crime scene."

"Why should I be? At the time, you only got me involved with
a homicide. Could have happened to anyone. Then you got me
involved in another shooting with some other bozo whose name
I traced. It's a wonder I'm still on the force"

"I didn't shoot at the guy, MacAullif."

"No, but you led the shooter right to him."

"Maybe, but I don't think so."

"That's what I hear."

"Yeah, well, I don't think that's what happened. I think
someone took a shot at Kessler, which was the point all along."

"Of course it was," MacAullif said. "Because a hitman walked
into your office, gave you the names of two people he intended to kill. He killed one, missed the other. And god forbid you should
cooperate with the police."

"I am cooperating with the police."

"Yeah. You ID'd the corpse. Who'd already been ID'd by the
doorman. That was a big help."

"Oh."

"What?"

"About the ID."

"What about the ID? Who cares about the ID? There's no question about the ID."

"What if there was?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, hypothetically-"

"I'll kill you. I'll empty my service revolver into your head and
stomp on your dead body."

"You want me to say this without a hypothetical? You want me
to put you in the position of having to turn me in?"

"I'd be glad to."

"I know"

"Don't talk. Don't say a word." MacAullif took a deep breath,
blew it out again. "Is there something wrong with the ID? There
can't be anything wrong the ID. The guy's been ID'd by separate
sources. So what could there be wrong with the ID that would
make you have to resort to hypotheticals?" He put his hand in my
face. "Don't tell me!"

"Don't worry. I won't."

"You ID'd the corpse as Victor Marsden?"

"He is Victor Marsden."

"You didn't ID him as a hitman?"

"He is a hitman."

"Is he the hitman who hired you?"

"On the advice of counsel, I cannot comment on anyone,
living or dead, who may or may not have hired me"

"Richard make that up?"

"No, I did. Sounds authentic, doesn't it?"

"Sure does." MacAullif frowned. "If your client is dead, why
wouldn't you say so?"

"I'm not saying my client's dead."

"Are you saying he's alive?"

"I'm not saying shit. I'm not talking about my client."

"That opens a whole new can of worms."

"I never understood that expression. Who buys cans of worms?"

I hung a left on Chambers Street, headed east.

"If your client's dead, what are you doing in the case?"

"That's a big if."

"If your client's dead, you lied to Crowley."

"I take it that would not be good?"

"Let's see," MacAullif said. "Your license is revoked and you go
to jail."

"What's the down side?"

"The down side is I beat you within an inch of your life for
doing this to me"

"To you?"

"Oh. Sorry to take it personally, but you had me trace two
names, and then lied about the result. Leaving me in the somewhat
embarrassing position-"

"Of having to turn nie in," I said. "For throwing out a few
hypotheticals."

"No. For lighting a time bomb that blew up in my face."

"Hey. I gave you the straight goods. I can't help it if you didn't
listen."

"In what way was that the straight goods?"

"I gave you the name Martin Kessler. I insisted it meant something. You insisted it didn't. You'd still be insisting if he hadn't got
shot at."

"Hey, douchebag. We all thought Kessler didn't mean anything because you didn't tell us any different. Even though you knew
different. So, when you start handing out the raspberries, start with
yourself."

"Handing out the raspberries? Is that your dime novel dialogue,
MacAullif?"

"So, Kessler didn't mean anything. But he did, because someone
shot at him. And Marsden did mean something, because someone
killed him. I've been going on the assumption the killer was your
client. But if Marsden was your client ..."

"Yeah?"

"Who killed him?"

ALICE WAS PREDICTABLY PLEASED. Since everything had blown
up in my face, I could count on her to put a good spin on it. "So,
you made up with MacAullif. That's nice."

"I didn't make up with MacAullif."

"All right. MacAullif made up with you. Is that better?"

"Alice-"

"I know you men have this whole macho ritual where you can't
admit that you're wrong or have any feelings whatsoever. Fine. Be
that way. Let me have them for you. MacAullif made up with you,
and it's a very good thing. I'm relieved."

"I'm sorry, but you're wrong. MacAullif is still pissed as hell."

"Because you held out on him again?"

"I didn't hold out on him again"

"Did you tell him the dead man was your client?"

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"I gave him a hypothetical."

"Stanley."

"I think it was damn decent of me giving him anything at all
after he went running to the cops."

"Yeah, but he apologized for that."

"He didn't apologize."

"He got in your car. You don't take that as an apology?"

"That was an attempt to get information."

"So, in spite of everything, MacAullif came to you for information. Once again you hit him over the head with a hypothetical."

"Hey, how'd I get to be the bad guy?"

"You went to work for a hitman."

Alice was taking it very well, considering I nearly got shot. Of
course, the bullet through Martin Kessler's window had borne out
her contention that he was the target. Still, I would think being
right was small consolation for losing your husband. Not that that
had happened, but you know what I mean. The bullet had come
damn close. I would expect a concern for my welfare to outweigh
any impulse to gloat.

Not that Alice was gloating. But she couldn't help reminding
me now and then how things had turned out.

"We need to think this through," Alice said, which is a euphemism for "You need to listen to my analysis of the situation." Since
my own was practically nonexistent, that wasn't such a bad idea.

"Shoot," I said. "Bad choice of words," I amended. "Anyway,
go on.

"What do you mean, go on?" Alice said. "I don't know what
happened. I'm waiting for you to tell me"

"Tell you what?" I countered.

"All right, let's look at the evidence. Someone tried to shoot
the schoolteacher, which makes the schoolteacher look like the
mark. If that's true, the hitman deliberately gave you a lead to the
schoolteacher because he wanted you to check out the schoolteacher. And protect the schoolteacher."

"Why didn't he just tell me the schoolteacher was the mark?"

"Maybe he didn't trust you.'

"He trusted me enough to tell me he was a hitman."

"No," Alice corrected. She raised one finger. "He trusted you
enough to tell you Martin Kessler was a hitman. You see what I
mean? He wasn't trusting you with his own identity, or the identity of the mark. He was giving you just as much information as
he wanted you to have. He gives you Kessler's name for two reasons. One, he wants you to get a lead to him. Two, he knows
you'll check him out, and Kessler's record is clean. You check out
Martin Kessler, you find a decent guy you'll be willing to work
for. You check him out under his own name and you'd turn him
down flat."

"That's a little far-fetched"

"Would you have worked for the man identified as Victor
Marsden?"

"No," I admitted grudgingly.

Alice smiled. "So, as far as you know, you're working for a
schoolteacher named Martin Kessler who kills people in his spare
time."

"That's absurd."

"Isn't it? This is where a warning light should go on. Before
that can happen, our hitman leads you a merry chase and suddenly
you're caught up in playing this game of cops and robbers."

"And what's the point of that? I thought the hitman's purpose
was to get me involved with the schoolteacher."

"So?"

"So the surveillance had nothing to do with him"

"How do you know?"

I frowned.

Alice pressed her advantage. "You never saw the schoolteacher
in your life. You wouldn't recognize him if he walked up and
shook your hand. How do you know all the time you were shad owing the hitman, the hitman wasn't shadowing him?"

"Oh, come on."

"No, think about it. How do you know?"

"Well, for one thing, he picked me up at my office. He wasn't
following the schoolteacher. Unless the schoolteacher had a reason
to go by my office."