“I haven’t lost anything,” Zack snapped. “And it’s just with Lucy. It’s her fault. She’s just not that kind of woman.”

“And Queen Elizabeth is? I don’t think so. I think you’re attracted to her. You respect her. This could be it Love. Marriage.” Anthony paused. “Maturity.”

“Don’t be juvenile. Did you try those phone numbers that Elmore gave you for Porter? The motel in Kentucky and the one for the place where he’s been staying here in town?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago. He has a room in Kentucky, but he’s not answering. The one here is a hotel in Overlook. The room is rented to a guy named John Beulah. And the phone is busy.”

Zack frowned. “What would Bradley Porter be doing registered under an assumed name in a hotel in Overlook?”

“Saving money? It’s definitely the lowest of the low-rent districts.”

“Well, then, that’s our next move.” Zack stood. “Let’s check out the hotel right away before whoever it is gets off the phone. I love Overlook. It always makes me feel like a real cop- paranoid.”

“I have to finish this first.” Anthony frowned as he typed. “It’s almost done. Patience.”

“And after the hotel, we can hit Lucy’s place,” Zack said. “I think we’re making progress.” He started to pace. “Could you hurry up? We’ve got things to do here. I want to get to Lucy’s before lunch.”

“Just a minute. Just one minute. Amuse yourself.” Anthony’s phone rang and he answered, “Taylor, Property Crimes.” Then he looked grim, and said, “Right away,” and hung up. “We have a gunshot victim. Female.”

Zack’s heart stopped for a moment. “Not Lucy. Tell me I didn’t leave her alone for some creep to-”

“Not Lucy. Not unless she went blonde again and checked into a hotel in Overlook.”

Zack shook his head, relieved. “No. Not a chance. The dogs wouldn’t like Overlook.” Then he stopped. “Overlook? It can’t be.”

Anthony nodded. “Same room number as our rat Bradley. After I called, the desk clerk went up to check and found her unconscious, still clutching the phone. He called the rescue squad, and she’s on her way to Emergency now.”

“I’ll be damned. He’s shacked up with the blonde in the slums, and then he shoots her and leaves for Kentucky? This makes no sense. Wait. How did they know this was our problem?”

“Because they found your name and phone number on a paper in her purse. Detective Warren. Property Crimes. And you’ll love this part…”

“Come on, come on.”

“Shot with a.38.”

Zack smacked his hand on the desk. “She’s our phone tip. John Bradley found out, shot at us on the street, and then went back and shot her. So where is Bradley Porter in this? This makes no sense, but at least it’s a connection between Bradley Porter and crime. Let’s go.”

“What about Lucy? Aren’t you going to call her?”

“And tell her what?” Zack grabbed his jacket. “She’ll keep. Let’s go.”

“What did you do, hypnotize this woman?” Anthony said, but he picked up his jacket and followed him out the door.


IT WAS EARLY AFTERNOON when Lucy’s phone finally rang.

“Hello?” she answered, trying to sound nonchalant.

“You didn’t call me last night,” Tina said. “I got your message on the machine and called you back, but all I got was a busy signal. What happened?”

“I forgot,” Lucy said, trying not to feel disappointed. She curled up in her blue overstuffed chair. “And the busy signal was Einstein. He knocked the phone table over.”

“Why you don’t have everything bolted to the floor in that place is beyond me. If you must live with a herd of animals, you should be prepared. Anyway, tell me about the mugger. You really beat one up? That’s terrific!”

“Well, sort of.”

“You only ‘sort of beat him up?”

“No, it’s only sort of terrific. I really beat him up. His lip looked awful. Of course, he keeps swearing that I didn’t beat him up-”

“You talked to this creep? That means the police got him. Good!”

“Well, in a manner of speaking. I sent some policemen after him, but I didn’t realize what had happened until he showed up at my door-”

“Who?” Tina asked, confused.

“Zack. He…”

“Who’s Zack?”

“The guy in the alley,” Lucy said, and Tina groaned.

“And now you’re on a first-name basis with him and you won’t press charges because he’s told you about his horrible childhood in reform school. Lucy, you are too damn nice!”

“Not exactly-”

“Forget it. I’m coming over, and we’re going to the police and get this Zack character sent up the river for life. I know a cop now. That suit in the diner yesterday turned out to have a badge. You stay there. I’ll call him and Benton.”

Lucy sat up straighter and clutched the phone. “No, Tina-”

“Do you think the police will be able to find him?”

“Probably. He works for them.”

There was a short silence. “What?” Tina said finally.

“He’s a cop,” Lucy said.

“You beat up a cop?”

“That depends on who you talk to. From my point of view, yes. From Zack’s, no.”

“Zack.”

“Zack Warren. Detective Zachary Warren.” Lucy relaxed into her chair again. “He has blue eyes. You remember. He was the black leather in the restaurant yesterday.”

“Don’t do this,” Tina said.

“What?”

“We’ve got to talk. Meet me for lunch at the Maisonette.”

“I can’t. Zack told me not to leave.”

“What? He just told you…”

“He thinks somebody’s trying to kill me.”

There was another silence.

“Stay there,” Tina said finally. “I’m coming over with Chinese takeout, and you are going to tell me everything.”

“All right,” Lucy said. “But I better warn you. My hair is…different.”

“Different,” Tina said. “I can’t wait.”


“She’s unconscious.” Zack slumped, defeated, in a plastic chair outside the hospital-room door. “Of course, she’s unconscious. She’s been bleeding into the carpet for hours. No ID. Nothing. This is making me crazy.”

“You were already crazy.” Anthony checked his watch. “Come on, we have things to do. The desk clerk just identified John Bradley as the man who used the room. We have to get a picture of Bradley Porter to him, too.”

Zack stared into space. “Bradley. Rat Bradley. I wonder where he is now?”

“Well, not back at the hotel. Let’s go check out the room. Forensics hasn’t found anything so far, but maybe…”

“I really want to arrest him,” Zack said. “Attempted murder is as good a reason as any.”

“Better than most,” Anthony agreed. “Now move. We need to get started on this. It’s looking like it will take us the rest of the day and most of the night, as it is.”

“Rat Bradley,” Zack said, and Anthony gave up and pulled him to his feet and out the door.


TINA BROUGHT HER a baseball bat.

“Thank you.” Lucy looked at it doubtfully. “You haven’t signed me up for intramurals or anything, have you?”

“Of course not. It’s for your protection.”

Tina marched through the living room and dining room and into the kitchen, while Lucy trailed behind her with the bat. She dumped two bags of Chinese food on the kitchen table, and then took the bat from Lucy and propped it by the back door. “If anybody tries to break in here, you hit him with this. Hard.”

“Tina, nobody is trying to kill me. That’s Zack’s fantasy, not reality.”

“Tell me about it.” Tina opened the first carton of food.

An hour later, she was still curious. “So he really thinks somebody was shooting at you?” she said as she polished off her Mu Shu pork.

“Yes. Isn’t that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Tina thought about it. “No. Not if there were marks on the locks, too. He’s right. You stay inside.”

Lucy shoved her plate away, exasperated. “What is it with you two? I don’t even talk to my dogs the way you two talk to me.”

“Well, you should,” Tina glared at Einstein who was eyeing the Mu Shu pork carton. “They’d have better manners. So what’s Zack like?”

“Erratic. Quick temper. Never still. Gorgeous blue eyes. Very short attention span. Not my type at all.” She stopped and then added primly, “Although I have had some inappropriate thoughts about him. Very inappropriate. Not that I’ll ever do anything about it. Still, the dogs like him.” She pulled her plate back and scooped up some garlic chicken while she contemplated Zack. “He’s sort of bossy, but I like him.”

Tina grinned. “Imagine my surprise. I’ve changed my mind. I think you should do something about it.”

“About what?”

“About this thing you have for Zack.”

Lucy shook her head. “Not a chance. My hair alone would send any sane man screaming into the street.”

Tina looked at Lucy’s moss-colored hair. “Maybe if you wear a lot of forest green. Maybe he’s a Tolkien fan.”

“Maybe I’ll kill myself,” Lucy said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tina said. “I brought Haagen-Dazs. Triple Brownie Overload.”

“Maybe I’ll live,” Lucy said.


WHEN TINA FINALLY LEFT Lucy’s house at eleven, Zack still hadn’t called.

It was for the best, Lucy knew. After all, she’d just gotten divorced. After all, he was too much of a loose screw to ever be good for her.

After all, her hair looked like a bad carpet.

“Tomorrow is another day,” she told the dogs. “And it’s the first day of the rest of my independence. The heck with Zack Warren. The heck with all men. It’s easier to be independent without them anyway.”

The dogs looked skeptical.

“Oh, forget it,” Lucy said. “Let’s go to bed.”


“OF COURSE, IT WON’T GO into court,” Anthony said at eight the next morning as he hung up the phone. “But Patricia and the lab send you their best wishes and the considered opinion that the bullet from the blonde is a match for the bullet that missed you.”