Renaldo pursed her full lips. "Do I need to remind you that you have a conflict of interest and you've taken yourself off the case?"

Roan scowled. "Yeah, I know. I can do some legwork...what harm can that do?"

Renaldo glared at the woman as she considered what Roan said and the implications. "Go ahead. If you dare go off on some harebrained lead, so help me..."

"I know...you'll have my badge. I'll keep you informed." Roan was gone before Renaldo could open her mouth to say any more.

The chief's parking lot and office were four blocks away. As she sped there, she kept going over in her mind how her uncle could be this involved and unaware he was criminal material.

The ten-minute drive to go four blocks had taken over half an hour. Even with a bubble light, she couldn't get through the tangle of the homeward-bound traffic. Finally reaching her destination, she pulled into the lot with a squeal of tires that attracted the attention of her colleagues and the public. Climbing out of the car, she walked over to Danny Painter and the chief's driver. The chief was conspicuous by his absence.

"Hey, Ralph, how have you been?" Roan feigned a calmness her insides didn't match as she smiled at the man who was in his late fifties.

The older man grinned and nodded his head of salt and pepper hair. "I can't complain. The wife still grumbles about my hours." He looked Roan over. "It's been a while."

Roan grinned. Much to the amazement of the young detective standing close by, she hugged the older man. "Yeah, it has. Has my detective been as thorough as I would have been with the questions?"

Painter pulled at his collar as he waited to hear what the older man had to say about him.

Ralph Stannic chuckled. "He was, but I guess you're going to add more. I expected it and you."

Roan inclined her head slightly. She'd known the man for over twenty-five years. He'd been her grandfather's driver for the last ten years of his time as chief. In the later stages of her grandfather's time in office, after her family had died, Ralph took her to and from school and would go to appointments and wait for her to finish. "Glad I didn't disappoint you."

"You couldn't. Your grandfather would be very proud of you."

"Hmm, time will tell on that one. Let me see what the detective has already asked you." Roan c.o.c.ked her head and caught the speculative looks from the young man. "Your notes, Painter."

The man dutifully provided the notes and she ran down them with speed. Then she turned to Ralph. "You say he took several calls in the car, but after the last one, he asked you to change direction. Do you know who called?"

Ralph shook his head.

"Okay. Where did he ask you to take him?"

"Pentecost and Wright streets. I told him it wasn't a good idea. He insisted. He looked pale...it seemed to me that he was upset by the phone call he'd taken. " Ralph ran his hand over the day's stubble on his chin. With a quick glance to the detective, he motioned Roan to come closer.

Roan, with a speculative look, moved nearer.

Ralph whispered, "He left his cell phone in the locked cabinet in the vehicle. He said to tell you and only you." He pa.s.sed her the key.

Climbing into the backseat of the limousine, Roan inserted the key in the walnut cabinet, opened it, and retrieved the cell phone. She flicked it open and noted the last calls made and received. She didn't recognize some, but the number of her uncle's last caller she knew. Scrambling out of the vehicle, she walked over to Ralph and hugged him again. "Thanks, Ralph. Tell Maria I'll drop in for dinner one night soon, we'll catch up."

Ralph smiled. He knew she never would come to his house, but he nodded anyway." Maria will like that, take care."

"Detective, take this phone back to Captain Renaldo. She'll understand when she sees the contents and the notes you have." Roan pulled a hand through her already untidy mop of hair with a heavy sigh.

"What are you going to do?" Danny Painter asked.

Roan gave him a bland look. "I'm off-duty. The captain doesn't want me contaminating the evidence as it's a family matter."

The young man gave her a perplexed expression, then nodded. "Okay, see you at the precinct tomorrow."

"Sure." Roan slipped into her car and sped away into the rush- hour traffic heading not for home but to Pentecost and Wright, which was only a block away. As she did, she listened to Echo's voice mail and looked at the time on the dashboard. "Oh, c.r.a.p!" She quickly dialed Echo's cell, and true to the rest of the day, she received her voice mail. Once the beep sounded, she said, "Don't go to the meeting, Echo! Stay away, as clear away as possible! If you're already there, make some excuse to leave...but leave now! Call me as soon as you get this." She dropped the phone on the pa.s.senger seat, flicked on her blue light, and headed instead to Coney Avenue.

Echo had now become the priority. In a way, the woman had that effect on her ever since they met.

Chapter Nineteen.

It was four fifty as Echo climbed out of the cab. As she paid the cabbie, she was about to ask him to wait for her, when without a word, he abruptly drove away, leaving Echo alone. Echo supposed she couldn't blame him, this wasn't the best neighborhood. Still she would have felt more comfortable had he at least offered to wait.

Echo gazed at several of the dilapidated buildings wondering which was the one she wanted. The driver had been unable to take her down the whole street as two still-burning cars blocked their progress. There were women of varying ages and levels of dress, or undress, depending on your point of view, walking aimlessly around the street corner.

Several of the women looked at her with degrees of expression that ranged from speculation to loathing. As her gaze traveled down the street, she saw a few shadowy figures on the other side of the sidewalk. Deciding it would be prudent to remain watchful, she checked out the numbers on the buildings as she kept an eye on the street's other occupants.

Echo reached inside her bag to pull out her cell. "I'd better call Roan again." She shook her head in frustration when she realized there was no life to her phone; the battery was dead. "s.h.i.t, I didn't charge it." She shivered with the realization that she couldn't contact anyone. She was alone on Coney Avenue and only Roan knew she was there. "I hope you listened to my message. I have a feeling my life might depend on it."

"You talk to yourself all the time, woman?" a young man asked. Echo looked at the smile plastered on the man's dark face. His thin frame in baggy clothing looked odd somehow, and Echo was certain he couldn't be more than sixteen.

Echo rapidly placed her cell in her pocket so it would be out of the way of prying eyes. Then feigning confidence, she said, "Sometimes, don't you?"

"Sure. What's the likes of you doing here in this part of town?" His hypnotic dark brown gaze never left her face.

"I'm looking for a friend. Do you know where 78 Coney is?" The deadline of five was drawing near, and she no longer had the luxury of finding the place on her own.

"Might, for the right price," he said as he gave her a long look.

The appraisal made Echo's skin crawl for the second time that day. The kid made her feel less in danger than her previous encounter in the chief of police's office. "I'll give you ten dollars to show me where it is."

The dark head bobbed around, then he grinned. "Okay, lady, follow me."

Echo followed but also kept note of her bearings and the numbers on the buildings. True to his word, the young man pointed out number 78, then held his hand out for the money. Fishing in her bag, she withdrew twenty dollars. "Ten as promised...I'm going to double it if you can watch out for a friend of mine. If...no, when...she arrives, you have to show her where I am immediately...it's important. If you do, I'll give you another twenty when I come out. Is it a deal?"

The young man smiled. His teeth were crooked but as white as snow. "Sounds easy to me, what's she like...your friend?"

Echo furrowed her brow. "She's beautiful, tall, blue eyes, black hair." No way would she say she's a cop, but the young man would know as soon as he laid eyes on her. Roan's manner had cop painted all over her.

"I can do that." He s.n.a.t.c.hed the twenty-dollar bill and watched her walk up the steps to the door.

Echo had a feeling she might have made a bad call by giving him the twenty. Sometimes you had to trust someone and even the poor didn't necessarily rip you off. Her thoughts turned to Karen, realizing that the words could have come from her friend. That's the reason she was there-to honor her friend by finding her killer.

The building had several floors, which she speculated were probably apartments. There hadn't been any mention of another address other than 78. Echo closed her eyes and said a small prayer before she turned the k.n.o.b on the door. The unlocked door squeaked as she opened it before she walked inside. The smell of damp and decay, not to mention stale urine, greeted her. She fought hard with her common sense not to bolt and run. As she looked around the disorderly lobby, where rubbish and cobwebs vied for supremacy, she saw a broken-down elevator. Next to that was a door with a sign with most of the letters missing. She saw a T, A, R, and L. "Has to be the stairwell," she whispered. There was no sign of the chief or any other human. Then she heard a faint scratching sound and figured it was probably a rodent of some sort.

A voice that made her skin crawl called out her name. She turned toward it, as another door she hadn't noticed opened slightly. What she hadn't been prepared for was the door opening wider and Robert Douglas standing in the doorway with narrowed eyes and an evil curl to his lips.

Perplexed, Echo said, "I thought this was a meeting with the chief."

Douglas gave a noncommittal shrug. "The chief is...otherwise engaged. I'll take you to him." A hand snaked out and caught Echo's arm in a vice-like grip. Attempting to extricate from the grip only made the pain worse. Her mind kicked in and realized she'd probably made the biggest mistake of her life.

Roan ground her teeth as she circ.u.mvented the traffic. At that time of the evening, it was going to take at least twenty minutes to reach her destination. Her mind traveled at full throttle as she digested Echo and her uncle's messages. They were going to be at the same place, 78 Coney Avenue. But if her uncle was guilty of any crime, he surely wouldn't have led her there...unless.

"Oh, c.r.a.p! There's no use speculating...I need to get there and hope Echo received my message and didn't make the appointment. It's a long shot. My guess is she went or I would have heard from her by now." What that did to her stomach she preferred not to a.n.a.lyze. She ate up the distance between her and the people she cared about, and her mind went into overdrive. At that point, she quietly talked to herself about what she had just admitted.

"He's family and I have to care, right? He's the only family I have. But Echo, she's virtually a stranger. We've only known each other for a few months...but I know I care. She's like an addiction. Once you're hooked, there's no reprieve without a lot of pain attached to it."

The corner of Coney Avenue came into view, and she checked the time. It was five forty-five, the journey had taken fifteen minutes-a new record at rush hour even with a police siren. As she turned onto the street, she slowed her car down to check the numbers. When she came upon two abandoned vehicles on fire in the middle of the street, she had to do some nifty driving to circ.u.mvent them. Eventually, she came to the building that appeared to be 78.

A young man in hip-hop-type clothing paced up and down outside the building. He didn't look particularly threatening to her, but she knew it would be a different ball game for a novice like Echo. She brought the car to a stop and climbed out of the vehicle. She grimaced at the pain in her chest as the skin tightened with her movement. At least the st.i.tches were out and she didn't have to worry about them tearing away.

"Hey, have you seen a white woman, well-dressed, short brunette around here in the last hour or so?" Roan's voice was autocratic and filled with arrogance. Her prime goal was to find her uncle and Echo. She didn't have the time to be nice.

The young man glared at the overconfident woman. He knew she was the one the other woman told him to wait for. "Might have, what's it to you?"

Roan groaned and curled her upper lip in annoyance. "Either you did or didn't, just tell me." She removed her badge from the inner pocket and flashed it at him.

The young man backed away and threw up his hands. "Stupid high heels, she gave me money to watch out for you and tell you she was in there." He pointed to the building in front of them.

Roan noticed the boy looked scared but not guilty, and to her, that was a good sign. "When did she go in there? Did you see anyone else go inside?"

"Two men went inside earlier, but they haven't come out." The young man moved away from Roan's personal s.p.a.ce and slid closer to the wall.

"When was this?" Roan asked irritably.

"The men went in about an hour ago, the woman half an hour later." He looked around for a place to hide if the cop got touchy. "Okay." Roan turned away and ran up the steps. Just as she arrived at the landing, she called to the kid. "If the woman comes out, tell her to stay by the car. Do you understand me?"

"Sure. I told her the likes of her shouldn't be here." He almost asked what was in it for him but decided against it. The cop didn't look friendly.

"Yeah, me too." Roan turned back to the door.

Echo felt the man she had definitely not a.s.sociated with the murder of her friend tighten her restraints. Once she put all the facts together, it made perfect sense. G.o.d, I was a d.a.m.n fool for not waiting for Roan.

Robert Douglas sneered as he saw her grimace at the pain he inflicted on the last turn of the knot of her bindings. "Why, Ms. Radar, you look positively upset. Surely, you knew that your meddling would have serious consequences for anyone involved. Then again, people like you never do consider the penalty for your actions."

"Take him." Douglas pointed to the bound man who was bleeding from a head wound. "He didn't have a clue...never has. He only kept his job because I did all the work. Did he acknowledge any of that? Oh, no, not him, the high and mighty chief of police. Well, he's going to be a laughingstock once everyone finds out he was duped by his lowly a.s.sistant." A booted foot slammed into Mahoney's ribs and he groaned in pain.

Echo tightened her lips to prevent her sob as she saw the pain Roan's uncle was in. He'd obviously taken a beating. "You can't get away with this...people know where we are." The question was, would her maverick friend Roan tell others?

Douglas moved toward her and placed a pudgy finger in her cheek, delighting at the terror in her eyes. "You think the posse is going to ride in and rescue you. I bet golden girl Keating heads that posse. I can't wait, she's the final piece in the puzzle, then I'm out of here for good, and no one will know I was ever here. I have it all arranged. There's evidence to incriminate the good chief there." He waved his gun in the direction of the older man. He'll kill you, Keating shoots him, then she gets a bullet for her good deeds."

Gasping at the man's wild imagination, Echo didn't think it would happen that way, but there was a thread of doubt that it might. She closed her eyes in horror; she gave Roan the information that might get her killed.

"I thought that might make an impression. You're sweet on her, and I can't blame you. She's quite the catch if you don't mind the dark brooding type. Hey, you can go to the next life together...I'd call that a lucky break."

"You won't win. She'll never fall for your plan, she's too good at what she does," Echo bravely retorted. She switched her gaze to Declan Mahoney who was trying to remain orientated as blood oozed from his head. "Isn't that right, Chief Mahoney?"

Declan Mahoney heard the conversation, but it was on the fringes of his understanding. He was mortified at his status. The d.a.m.n woman was braver than he was, or maybe she was just foolish. Moving to sit as upright as he could on the floor, he stared hard at Robert. For the first time in all the years he'd known the man, he saw exactly what he'd missed-insanity. "Roan will just as soon kill you as look at you, Douglas, and she'll have no remorse. Don't think holding me prisoner will help you overcome her...she doesn't give a d.a.m.n about me."

Echo heard the words and a part of her wanted to cry out that it wasn't true, but then again it might be. Roan had never disguised her dislike of her uncle. The next words Douglas spoke had her heart sinking like a stone.

"Oh, I know that, which is exactly why she's here." He leered at Echo. "Did you know that your precious relative is a d.y.k.e? Bet that isn't a family tradition you want publicized."

Mahoney tried to break away from his bonds as he snarled at Douglas and his insinuations. "You're going to die for that, Douglas. So help me, I'll do it myself with my bare hands." He tried to stand, but Douglas kicked him in the groin, and he fell wailing in agony.

A sound of footsteps could be heard and Echo was about to scream when Douglas placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh, how touching, warn the love of your life. It's so...so romantic." He purposefully kissed her lips and put a gag over her mouth before she could spit in his face. "Sorry, this is my drama, and I make all the moves."

He swiftly placed a gag around Mahoney's mouth, kicked him for good measure, and chuckled in delight when the man fell over into the dust.

"And now the final player arrives." He grinned and stepped away from his hostages and out of sight to wait for his final victim.

Chapter Twenty.

Roan slowly pushed the door open and entered the building cautiously with her gun drawn. The smell was pretty much what she expected. Dilapidated buildings always had the stench of ill- repair and depravation. Her gaze darted around the interior for any evidence of Echo, her uncle, or the other man the kid said was there. On the initial scan, she saw no one, but that didn't mean they weren't there, only that they weren't in the lobby.

She glanced at the board that indicated the building had ten floors and noted a condemnation notice. That didn't equate to no one living in the building, just that no one paid the proprietor anymore. The ease she had of getting inside the building meant that squatters and anyone else of a like mind could do the same.

The lack of any appreciable sound made Roan nervous. Walking over to the elevator, she looked at its ramshackle condition-a death trap. The stairwell was her best choice, and she considered the option of waiting for backup. Once Renaldo read the note she scribbled in Painter's notebook, she would dispatch a backup team. Jerking her head, Roan's forehead creased; she was certain she heard something. Then silence once again engulfed the lobby. Her gaze fixed on the door next to the stairwell as she tilted her head to listen for any other sound.

Hearing nothing else, Roan frowned. Her instincts told her the sound came from behind the door that was the janitor's office. Her hand tightened around the gun grip, and she tentatively opened the door. The ominous creaking made Roan hold her breath in antic.i.p.ation of an attack but nothing. As she ventured farther inside, the size of the room surprised her. It was s.p.a.cious with a number of tall steel racks part.i.tioning the room. Several of the shelves held empty cartons and rags, which would have disappeared if they'd been of any use to anyone. The only light came from a tiny window with obscure glazing that allowed a meager trickle of light to filter inside. Roan stood still as she let her eyes adjust to the darkness.

When she couldn't see farther into the room she said, "Echo?"

She tried to quiet her nerves, but her stomach did a somersault and bile filled her mouth, as she feared for Echo's well-being. When she heard nothing, she bit on her bottom lip hard until she could taste the metallic flavor of blood. "Uncle Declan, are you here?" No response.

The darkness made her other senses more sensitive and she picked up on the sound of shallow breathing and a distinct tangy smell of aftershave. It wasn't her uncle's Aramis, but more like a supermarket replica.

"Police, show yourself."

Roan couldn't believe her ears as she heard gentle applause before a shadowy figure emerged from behind one of the steel racks.

Her eyes opened wide. "You...what are you doing here?"

"That isn't a very amiable welcome, Lieutenant Keating. In fact, I'd call it downright hostile." Robert Douglas aimed a pistol in Roan's direction.