“Call me if you have the slightest twinge,” he said to her. “Promise.”
“I promise.”
“Don’t even think about taking the boat out.”
“Do you think I’m crazy?”
“No, but you’re stubborn.”
“I wouldn’t dream of taking the boat. I’d tip it over.”
“The sedan will be in the garage in case of an emergency.” Beth nodded. “And you know where the g-u-n-s are and how to use them.”
“Don’t hesitate,” Beth said, apparently repeating previous instructions.
“That one would get anyone’s attention, and it’s loaded.”
Dylan looked in the direction John had indicated with a tilt of his head and saw a double-barrel shotgun resting in a rack attached to the wall about seven feet off the floor.
Beth smiled up at her husband and covered his hand still covering her abdomen. “We’ll be fine. Promise baby and me that you’ll be careful.”
He promised, they kissed, and then looked at each otherwith such transparent love and adoration, it made Dylan feel like a voyeur. As John straightened up, he gave her a nod but said nothing except her name, then turned to Mitch. “See you at headquarters.”
Mitch said, “Coming right behind you.”
At the door, John put on his slicker and flipped up the hood. As he left, a whoosh of rain-laden wind blew in behind him.
Dylan scraped back her chair and stood up. “What is going on?” she demanded of Mitch, who had left Andrew to his toy truck.
Now wearing his intense, expressionless game face, he said, “In here.” He motioned her toward the guest bedroom. She balked at the curt order and looked for support from Beth, who gave her a solemn nod.
Feeling resentful for being treated with no more deference than Andrew, she followed Mitch into the bedroom. The instant he closed the door, she rounded on him. “Are you going to pat me on the head and spell out g-u-n-s to me, too? What is going on that only the grownups know?”
“Roland Malone is dead.”
She fell back a step and, dumbfounded, looked at him with stark disbelief.
“Sometime last night, he was murdered.” He gestured her toward the bed. Gripped by shock, she backed up and dropped down onto the edge of it. Mitch said, “Before dawn, a bulletin went out to regional law enforcement departments that Malone’s body had been discovered. Apparent homicide.”
Dylan’s throat worked. “Discovered where? By whom?”
“A patrol officer cruising around a derelict industrial district noticed the garage door of an old factory had been left open. Went to check it out, wandered inside, discovered thebuilding had been converted into a meat locker. Sides of beef. You know. Later, it was verified that the building belonged to one of Malone’s numerous LLCs and was used by his restaurant exclusively.”
With foreboding, Dylan waited while he paused to take a deep breath.
“Malone was hanging from a meat hook. He’d been eviscerated. The NOPD detective told John he’d been ‘field dressed.’ His innards lay in a heap on the concrete floor. His blood had been washed down a large drain.” Mitch thought for a moment, then mused aloud, “That’s probably where Malone has been killing his victims before ditching them.”
Dylan was no longer looking at him, but staring vacantly straight ahead, trying to assimilate everything he was telling her. “Who would have done such a thing?”
“Someone handy with a knife.”
“El Paso?”
“He would top my list, but I don’t think he took it upon himself. I’ll get to why I think that is in a sec. But first…” He stopped for a beat before continuing. “Look, Dylan, I’d spare you the coarse language and gory details, but I need to impress upon you that these perpetrators have no limits. None. I know that from my experience of pretending to be one of them. They get off on making grand gestures like disemboweling Malone. It’s a terror tactic.
“I’m also sensitive to the fact that until two days ago you had known Roland Malone only as a patient, and you have a fierce loyalty to your patients. I respect it. I realize that your emotions must be in chaos right now, not knowing how to feel about this. I wish I could give you more time to sort it out, but I can’t. I’ve got to play the cop card.”
At that, she looked up at him, but simultaneously, he squatted down to bring them on eye level. His eyes, which she’d seen alight with passion, were now dark with purpose.
