Shell Games by Kirk Russell

Author:Kirk Russell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 0811841863
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2011-12-11T01:04:58+00:00

19

They started in the kitchen and there was almost nothing in the cabinets, a few liquor bottles, soy sauce, a lot of empty shelf space, three Coors cans in the refrigerator, milk, soft drinks, moldy cheese, a package of English muffins, and then something that caught Marquez’s eye, three Dannon yogurts. Bailey wasn’t a yogurt eater. He’d been there for a couple of Bailey’s breakfasts, pre-packaged Danish, or donuts from the convenience store, a couple of cigarettes and coffee. In the freezer was a bag of ice, two frozen TV dinners, a salmon tail, and two abalone steaks wrapped in white butcher paper. The pale meat had been in there long enough to have ice crystals. In this context it didn’t mean anything and he rewrapped it and put it back in the freezer.

“Anything, Lieutenant?” Cairo asked, and Marquez glanced over him.

“A little bit of abalone, but it’s old.”

Bailey wanted to call his lawyer, kept asking to every minute, or so. It was Marquez’s habit not to let suspects make any calls until after the team had completed a search. There was always a chance they’d make a call and tip someone else off before key evi-dence was found.

Cairo was in the living room, emptying out a TV cabinet filled primarily with old magazines. Bailey sat on the couch near him making his request every few minutes, Cairo in flip-flops and shorts, but wearing a tactical jacket. He looked like an armed junkie root-ing through Bailey’s stuff.

Marquez thumbed the liquor bottles. Gin, vodka, cheap scotch, Jim Beam. Bailey had flipped the lawyer’s card at Marquez. Alberto Cruz, a name that was vaguely familiar, though he didn’t read anything into it. He wished he could confront Bailey this morn-ing with Heinemann’s confession, but it would have to wait. He let the liquor cabinet door fall shut and Cairo came slowly over. The house smelled like dust and cat piss. The carpet was probably original.

“He occupies this place, but he doesn’t live here,” Cairo said. “This isn’t a home.”

He turned to Shauf’s footsteps. “One of the bedrooms is locked,” she said. “We need him to open it unless we’re going to use the Turbo again.”

“Jimmy, there’s a locked bedroom. Have you got a key for it?”

Bailey didn’t answer and Shauf went down the hall to the bathroom. Marquez walked down, tried the bedroom and then leaned in the bathroom where Shauf had lifted the tank lid off the toilet, looking for drugs.

“There’s yogurt in the refrigerator,” Marquez said. “Yogurt isn’t his style, but we haven’t seen anybody else staying here.”

“Back home we’d run him in for yogurt.” She was Texan. “But out here I think it’s legal.” She clicked open the door of the shower and he smelled the draft of mildew. She reached for a shampoo bottle. “Look at this. Did you know he washes his hair?” She picked up a blue disposable razor, turned it in her hand and asked, “What do you think?”

He opened the medicine cabinet. Aspirin, Advil,

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