Page 69 of Paranoia

“Maybe he’ll try again. Nantes isn’t any the wiser. He walks down to eat about the same time at the same place every day.”

“You want to do more surveillance on that little bodega when Nantes is eating andhopewe see this guy Kevin Doyle?”

“You boiled my idea down to one clear sentence.”

“You don’t think it would be risky, showing up there again, after we were carted away in cuffs?”

“If you’re asking me if it’ll work, I’m skeptical. If you have a better idea or something else we need to work on, I’ll do that. Absent either of those options, I say we head up to the Bronx. I wouldn’t mind one of their empanadas anyway.” He gave me a look that made me smile.

“Now you’re starting to sound like a veteran NYPD officer. Never be cold, never get wet, and never go hungry.”

Trilling said, “I prefer the sloganWe always get our man. Either way, I think we should go to the Bronx.”

Walter said, “I’ll keep working on this guy’s background. I’ll call you if I can find anything worthwhile.”

My phone vibrated with a text from Terri Hernandez. I read it, then mumbled, “Damn.” When Trilling and Walter looked at me, I said, “Terri’s tied up at a homicide scene in the Bronx nearthe zoo. She’s going to be stuck there for quite a while.” Then I muttered, “Shit, we could’ve used her help given how well that gang now knows our faces.”

Trilling said, “You and I should be able to handle it.”

I said, “What if Jaime Nantes or one of the other gang members sees us? They think we’re dead.”

“True. But we don’t have to gointhe little restaurant. Guess I’ll skip the empanadas. This won’t screw up the DEA’s case at all. Our surveillance will be at either end of that street. Exactly where someone looking to run down Nantes would park.”

Walter slowly nodded. “Rob’s right. It’s a bit of a long shot, but it might work.”

Trilling clapped his hands together and said to me, “What do you think?”

I was already gathering what I needed to go.

CHAPTER 101

KEVIN DOYLE SAT in the driver’s seat of an older Chevy Trailblazer. Even with some rust holes, the smaller SUV still had enough weight to splatter someone across the street. Doyle had found the car just a few blocks away. Now he was waiting in the same spot he had a day ago: next to the popular chicken place, looking down the street to where Jaime Nantes would be strolling by on his way to eat at Island Delight.

Doyle planned to make the hitbeforeNantes walked into the restaurant. He wasn’t going to risk his last target getting away from him. Doyle had already texted his employer that they had not finished the job with Bennett. He left off anything about what might have happened to “Joe.”

Considering how much he had to pay Amir to dispose of another body, he doubted anyone would ever have a clue what happened to Joe. Sure, someone would miss him. Eventually. Butin his line of work, there were far too many suspects for anyone to blame Doyle for his disappearance. At least that’s how Doyle chose to look at it.

He had very specific plans today. Finish this hit from his original contract. Collect his few belongings from the hotel in Brooklyn. Dump this shitty Trailblazer, and grab the first flight he could from LaGuardia. He wasn’t even sure where he wanted to go. He just wanted out of the greater New York City area. And frankly, at this point, Doyle didn’t care if he ever came back.

He knew there’d be questions about Bennett, but once he was gone and had destroyed his burner cell phone, he didn’t expect to hear anything more about it.

Doyle kept his eyes on the street. He knew a knucklehead like Nantes would never realize someone had intentionally tried to run him down the other day. He’d assume it was just a bad driver. Guys like that never really thought ahead or looked at the details of life surrounding them. They simply kind of blew through the day without paying much attention. That’s what Doyle was counting on today.

His mind drifted back to the diner where Tammy worked. He’d gone a day and a half without driving past the diner. He was slowly starting to get the manipulative waitress off his mind. It took him a while to realize she was a little like his employer. She knew what buttons to push to make him do different things. The difference was, he’d known his employer a long time. Tammy had picked up on his weaknesses almost immediately. That was another reason he’d be glad to leave town. He was afraid he’d end up doing something stupid if he saw her again.

Doyle sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He had tried meditation and yoga classes, but nothing ever seemed tokeep him as calm as he wanted to be. His mind focused only on concerns, never on pleasure. He intended to change that.

With any luck, Doyle would be somewhere far away by this time tomorrow. Then he could focus on what he actually wanted to do with his life. And maybe forget about everything he’d done with it up till now.

CHAPTER 102

I DIDN’T WANT to use my usual Impala, so I borrowed an unmarked Nissan Maxima to head back up to the Bronx. I was driving slowly and chugging the last few ounces of a Diet Coke when I looked to my right and recognized our suspect, Kevin Doyle, sitting in a Chevy Trailblazer. I think some Coke shot out of my nose, I was so surprised. I mumbled, “I can’t freakin’ believe this.” But actually I could. Things like this happen all the time in police work. Going the extra step often seems to give us the answer to an insurmountable problem.

Of course, I never expected this to be one of those times. Rob Trilling was never going to let me forget it. I wouldn’t, if one ofmycrazy ideas bore fruit this quickly.

I used my cell phone to get ahold of Trilling. He answered on the first ring. I said, “You’re not going to believe this.”

“I saw the way you passed the Trailblazer. Is he in the car?”

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