Wizards 08 - The Wizard of Lovecraft's Cafe by Hawke Simon

Author:Hawke, Simon [Hawke, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, General, Wizards, Fantastic fiction
ISBN: 9780446365178
Publisher: Questar
Published: 1993-12-15T06:00:00+00:00

“McGuire, commissioner’s office,” he said, showing the bartender his shield and ID.

“I know who you are, Mr. McGuire,” the man said. “What can I do for you?”

“Was Vinnie Maldonado here today?”

“He sure was, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

“Did he meet anyone?”

“Yeah, some guy. Don’t know his name. Dark hair, beard, flashy clothes. They were sitting over in the back booth there. Don’t know what they talked about, though. Don’t want to know.”

“How long ago did they leave?”

“I dunno. Couple hours, maybe. Can’t say for sure. Place was busy. Toni waited on ‘em.”

“Can I speak to her?”

“Sure.” He called the waitress over. The waitress essentially corroborated what the bartender said, except she gave a better description of the man Maldonado had met. It was undoubtedly Angelo. She pointed out the booth where they were sitting. It was occupied. McGuire went over to the middle-aged couple sitting there.

“Excuse me, folks,” he said, showing his shield and ID to them. “I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but there were some felony suspects sitting here a little earlier today and I’d like to ask you to let us examine this booth for a moment. I’m sorry for the inconvenience; if you’ll wait over by the bar, the department will pick up your tab.”

The man looked at his wife. “Sounds like a good deal to me,” he said, sliding out of the booth. “Help yourself.”

As the couple left, McGuire and Gypsy slid into the booth. “Well, can you get anything?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. They’ve changed all the silverware, of course, and there’ve been people sitting here since then. That’ll muddy everything out.”

“Try.”

She closed her eyes and sat very still for a moment. Then she made a face and shook her head again. “I’m sorry, Steve. I’m picking up more about the couple who just left than anything else.”

“Damn. Wait a minute.” He waved the waitress over. “Toni, you still have the check for those people we asked you about, don’t you?”

“Sure thing. Got it right here,” she said, taking it out of her apron pocket.

“Would you give it to her, please?” McGuire said, indicating Gypsy.

She handed the check to Natasha.

“We’ll give it back when we’re finished looking at it, thank you,” said McGuire.

The waitress shrugged. “Don’t know what there is to see. They had some wine and linguini is all. Take your time, though.” She went off to see to her other tables.

“Anything?” McGuire said.

Gypsy held the check in her hand, frowning slightly. “ Angelo didn’t touch it,” she said. “I’m getting the other guy, Maldonado. And the waitress. She’s having boyfriend trouble.”

“I don’t want to hear about the waitress,” said McGuire.

“Something about shipments,” said Natasha, frowning. “And somebody named Joey. Mean anything?”

McGuire shook his head. “Could be anybody. Can’t you get anything else?”

She crumpled the check up in her fist and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them quickly. “Oh, boy,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Maldonado wants Angelo to take care of somebody, a woman,” she said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.