“All right, Spider, whatever you say.” He hung up the phone. “I don’t believe this,” he said to Eagle. “Now I’m hiring bikers to straighten out my life.”
“Weirder things have happened,” Eagle replied.
Wolf switched on the TV and found a movie on the Albu-querque/Santa Fe station. They settled down to wait for Spider’s call.
T
he movie ended at eleven, and the news came on. Both Wolf and Ed Eagle were beginning to nod off.
“Good evening,” the newscaster said. “In world news tonight, the Soviet Union has asked Western countries for massive supplies of food and medicines…”
“Wolf,” Eagle said, yawning, “I think I’d better stick around here tonight. You mind having an overnight guest?”
“Not at all, Ed. I’d be grateful for the company. I—” Wolf stopped, sat up, and stared at the television screen. Something had caught his ear.
“…an incident at a Santa Fe bar earlier this evening was described as nothing less than a riot by police. We go now to Nick Evans, our Santa Fe reporter, who is at the scene.”
The camera cut to a reporter bathed in a white light. Behind him, a building was on fire. “Just about ten minutes ago, our mobile unit picked up a police call to El Hombre, a bar on Agua Fria catering to a Hispanic clientele. We
arrived on the scene just in time to witness a man flying through a plate-glass window. A fight had apparently broken out inside, and the presence of a large number of motorcycles in the parking lot indicated that a gang of bikers was involved. We watched from outside as two patrolmen entered the bar, then beat a hasty retreat and called for reinforcements. Units of the Santa Fe Police Department and the New Mexico State Police arrived shortly, and by that time the building was on fire and people were pouring outside, where they were met by riot-equipped officers.
“About a dozen bikers made it to their motorcycles and roared off down Agua Fria, pursued by police. Another eight bikers were arrested, along with as many Hispanic men who had been in the bar.”
The camera cut to previously recorded tape and moved in on four policemen wrestling a man to the ground.
“It’s Spider!” Wolf said.
Clearly the four were having trouble hanging on to him, and a moment later they were joined by two more cops. Together they got the biker handcuffed, on his feet, and into a paddy wagon.
“Holy shit,” Eagle said.
The reporter continued. “All the arrestees were taken to Santa Fe County Detention Center for the night, and police say they will be arraigned tomorrow morning.”
Eagle got up. “Come on,” he said.
“Where are we going?”
“To the Santa Fe County Detention Center.”
Things were quiet at the jail, and a solitary sergeant was on duty at the booking desk. “Evening, counselor,” he said as Eagle approached the desk.
“Evening, Sergeant. I want to confer with a prisoner.”
“At this time of night? These ain’t regular visiting hours, Mr. Eagle.”
“It’s urgent,” Eagle said. “I’d appreciate it if we could meet now.”
“Who’s this?” the sergeant asked, nodding at Wolf.
“My colleague, Mr. Willett. He’s an attorney.”
The sergeant sighed. “Okay, what’s the prisoner’s name?”
Eagle looked at Wolf, who shrugged. He turned back to the sergeant. “Spider,” he said.
“Ah,” said the sergeant, running a finger down a ledger. “Herman Albert Willis.” He picked up a phone and spoke into it, then hung up. “Room number one, counselor.”
Eagle led Wolf down a hallway and into a small room; Wolf recognized it as the one where he had been questioned by the police. They sat down, and a moment later Spider was ushered into the room. The left side of his face was swollen badly.
“Hey, Wolf,” Spider said, sticking out a paw.
Wolf shook it. “Spider, are you all right? Do you need a doctor?”
“Nah,” Spider said, taking a seat. “It ain’t nothing. I caught a nightstick, that’s all. The spics never laid a hand on me.”
“Spider, this is Ed Eagle.”
“Hey, Mr. Eagle!” Spider exclaimed, pumping the lawyer’s hand. He looked back at Wolf. “What’re you guys doing here?”
“We came to find out what happened,” Eagle explained. “We saw something on television.”
“Oh, yeah, they was there, all right.”
“What happened, Spider?” Wolf asked.
“Oh, we went out there to talk to this guy, Chico, the one who’s supposed to waste you.”
“Did you find him there?” Eagle asked.
“Oh, sure, he was there. He didn’t like it much that I knew about his contract, and he got some of his greasers on me. I whistled up some of my dudes, and it got crazy there for a while.”
“Did you find out anything from Chico?” Eagle asked.
“Not much at the bar, but I found out some more when we got here.”
“I don’t understand,” Wolf said.
“The cops put him in the next cell, so we had a chance to talk.”
“Did you hurt the man?” Eagle asked.
“Oh, no, he was too far away to reach. I just let him know what was going to happen to him when he got out if he didn’t talk to me.”
“And what did he have to say?”
“He took the contract, all right. He was in that bar spending the money when I got there.”
“What did he say about the woman who hired him?”
“Not much that my biker buddy hadn’t already told me.”
“Did she give him a name?”
“Jennifer, she said—but she wouldn’t tell him her real name, would she?”
“I suppose not,” Eagle agreed.
“He was going to do it, though,” Spider said. “He was gonna go up to your house tonight, Wolf, after he got drunk enough.”
“Jesus,” Wolf said, massaging his temples.
“I wouldn’t worry about him no more,” Spider said. “One of the screws told me they was after him for an armed robbery last month, so he ain’t going nowhere. Anyway, after our talk, we agreed that he’d be better off
shortchanging the lady than making me mad. We’re buddies now.” Spider smiled broadly, revealing a missing tooth.
“So it looks like you’re safe, Wolf,” Eagle said.
Spider spoke up. “I wouldn’t say that,” he said.
“What do you mean, Spider?” Eagle asked.
“Well, there was something the lady said to Chico,” Spider said. “He said she told him that if he couldn’t get Wolf dead, well, she’d just have to do him herself.”
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Eagle said, rising. “Spider, I’ll send somebody from my office down to the courthouse tomorrow morning to represent you at your arraignment.”
“That’s real nice of you, Mr. Eagle,” Spider said, shaking the lawyer’s hand again.
“I’ll stand bail, if necessary,” Wolf said.
“No, you won’t,” Eagle said sharply. “I’ll take care of it; I don’t want you associated with this business any further.”
“Whatever you say, Ed.”
They were driving back to Wolf’s house. “I don’t get it,” Wolf said, shaking his head. “Why would Leah want me dead so much?”
“Well, for one thing, you’ve screwed her out of the three and a half million dollars Julia stole from you,” Eagle replied. “It’s obvious that she and Julia and Grafton were in this together, at least in the beginning, because she had the bank account code. She probably checked with the bank in Mexico City, and when the money didn’t turn up there, she backtracked to the Caymans and found out that all of it had evaporated. That might have made her a little touchy.”
“I see your point,” Wolf said.
“She damn near got away with it,” Eagle said. “If Russell Norris had arrived at the Cayman bank an hour later, the money would have been in Mexico, and you’d never have seen it again.”
“What do you think she’s going to do next?” Wolf asked.
“I would have thought that was obvious,” Eagle said. “And when we get back to your house, I’m going to get onto Martinez again and see if we can get you some police protection.”
“I won’t argue with you this time,” Wolf said.
Eagle was worriedly glancing in the rearview mirror.
“Ed,” Wolf said, “is somebody following us?”
“I’m not sure,” Eagle replied. “When we left the house, did you leave your gun there?”
“Yes,” Wolf replied.
“Shit,” Eagle said. “So did I.”
A
s they drove up to his house, Wolf saw a strange car parked near the back door, a four-wheeler. He looked at the house; a shadow moved past the kitchen window. “Do you think we may have a problem, Ed?”
Eagle looked at the car, and his brow furrowed. “It’s Barbara’s Cherokee.”
“Julia’s sister?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she be here?” he asked.
Eagle switched off his car. “Frankly, I don’t know,” Eagle said. “I left her at my place, and I thought she’d be in bed by now.” He opened the car door. “We’d better find out.”
Barbara was sitting at the kitchen table when they entered the house. She looked at Wolf. “Hello,” she said.
“Wolf,” Eagle said, “this is Barbara Kennerly.”
Barbara held out her hand. “Hello, Wolf.”
Wolf hesitated, then took it. “How do you do?” he said,
rather too formally, but he was nervous. “Let’s go into the study.” He led the way; he had left his pistol in the study, and he wanted to be near it. “Can I get you both a drink?” he asked. “I certainly need one.” He looked around for the weapon; he was almost certain he had left it on the table next to the phone, but it was not there.
“Scotch for me,” Eagle said, sitting down on the sofa.
Wolf poured a large single-malt over ice and handed it to the lawyer. “What can I get you, Barbara?” he asked.
“Vodka on the rocks, please.” She sat down next to Eagle and placed her large handbag on the coffee table.
Wolf eyed the handbag nervously, then reached for the bottle of Smirnoff resting on the butler’s tray with the other liquors.
“Do you have any Stolichnaya?” Barbara asked. “I’m sorry to be picky.”
“I think I have some on ice,” Wolf said. He opened the cupboard that contained the glasses and the small refrigerator, took a bottle of the Russian vodka from the freezer, poured the drink, then fixed himself a bourbon.
“Cheers,” Eagle said, raising his glass.
The three of them drank, and Wolf sat down in a chair. “Well,” he said, “I suppose we would have met sooner or later.”
“I suppose,” Barbara said.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Wolf noticed that Eagle seemed to be looking around for something. His gun, probably.
“Well, here we are,” Eagle said inanely.
“Yes,” Wolf said. He eyed the fireplace tools; the poker would make a nice weapon. Suddenly he wasn’t nervous anymore. In fact, he felt quite happy to be here having a drink with these two nice people. He found himself starting to like Barbara, even if she was Julia’s sister.
For no apparent reason, Eagle let out a laugh.
“What?” Barbara said.
“Nothing,” Eagle replied. He took another pull at his drink.
Wolf remembered that he had wanted to know why Barbara was here, but it didn’t seem to matter anymore.
“I didn’t think you’d come home tonight,” Barbara said to Eagle, as if she had read Wolf’s mind, “so I went back to my place.”
“Swell,” Eagle said, then let out a high-pitched giggle.
Wolf began laughing, too.
“What’s so funny?” Barbara asked.
Eagle giggled again. “I don’t know.”
Nobody seemed to have anything to say for a moment. Eagle finally broke the silence. “We’ve just been to the county jail to visit a biker,” he said, giggling again.
Wolf joined him in laughter.
“What?” Barbara responded.
“I kid you not. Lovely guy, name of Spider. He’d just burned down a bar on Agua Fria.” He burst out laughing.
“That doesn’t sound like your kind of case, Ed,” she said.
“Not normally,” Eagle replied, “but Spider had been on a little mission for Wolf and me when he visited the bar.”
Wolf tried very hard not to laugh at this.
“You’ve lost me,” she said.
“I guess it’s time to tell you about this,” Eagle said, trying to control himself. “Spider and Wolf were cellmates for a night, when Wolf was arrested. He contacted Wolf today and said he’d heard a contract was out on Wolf’s life.” He put a hand over his mouth and tried to stop laughing.
Wolf did the same. He felt both tired and happy, but he couldn’t think of a reason to be happy. After all, at least
one of Julia’s sisters wanted to kill him. He wondered which one.
“This business gets curiouser and curiouser,” Barbara said. “Why would somebody want to kill Wolf?”
“I think the most important thing at this point is
who
would want to kill him,” Eagle replied. He began giggling again.
“All right,” she said, “who? And stop that!”
“From the description we got, it sounds like Leah.”
Barbara stared at Eagle disbelievingly. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.
“I haven’t quite got it all worked out yet, but I think Leah is a major presence in what has been going on here.”
“But Leah is why I’m here,” Barbara said.
“What are you talking about?” Wolf asked. He found the situation wildly funny.
“Well, when I got home tonight, the phone was ringing. It was somebody named Monica Collins.”
Eagle looked at her. “Monica Collins called
you?
” He didn’t laugh this time.
“Yes, I—”
“You know Monica Collins?”
“No, I’d never even heard of her.”
“Why did she call you?”
“I’m trying to tell you, if you’d just stop interrupting me.”
“I’m sorry; go ahead.”
“She said Leah is in Santa Fe, and that Leah asked her to call me with a message.”
“And what was the message?”
“Leah wanted me to meet her here.”
Eagle burst out laughing again, and Wolf joined him. “Leah is coming
here?
” he finally managed to say.
“That was the message,” Barbara replied, looking disgustedly at both of them. “And if you two don’t stop this idiotic laughter, I’m leaving!”