I no sooner set down the phone when it rang. The cabbie from the night before was on the other end. Luckily, the armadillo identified himself because I’d completely forgotten about the incident.

  “Where’d she go?” I asked.

  “It’s a little complicated. The panther flagged me down, and I took her over to public parking. The five-story one over on Eighth and Forty-Sixth. After she hopped out and ran into the place, I cruised around to the exit and waited. She came out in a brand-new Chevy sedan, light blue, and headed down Seventh and turned right on the block where there’s an entrance to the southbound West Side Highway. The only reason I didn’t follow was that a passenger climbed into my cab, and I couldn’t. Sorry.”

  “Were you able to get the plate number?”

  “No, but I did spot a small dent in the fender.”

  “Thanks.” I looked around for a pen and paper and asked, “Where should I send the check?”

  “No worries. It was fun.”

  I thanked him again and put the handset back in its cradle.

  The fur on my back raised as more questions flooded my mind. Why bed down in a dump if she owned a new car? As for the parking lot, that particular one had the public entrance on one side and the car exit on the other. A perfect place to lose a tail. What was Rachel playing at?

  It took me five minutes by the time I hit the sidewalk to grab a cab that would take me back to the hotel Rachel was staying at. A different person sat at the desk. The rat objected to me going up without being announced, but after a short but intense staring contest, he agreed to stay put and say nothing.

  When I got to the room, I didn’t bother knocking. A male’s voice bellowed in anger while a female’s spit out a stream of obscenities that would make a river rat blush. I only needed to hear the sound of fist on flesh to barge through the door.

  The cougar was sprawled on the floor with her hand raised to her cheek. The bison showed signs of having a career in the ring, but I didn’t need to see the scars on his face and creeping paunch to figure out he’d lost too many fights.

  Dull angry eyes stared back at me. “You want a fight?”

  When I didn’t answer, the bison decided to have a go at me. Even at my age, this was like grabbing fish out of a barrel. I didn’t even need to use my claws to punch his lights out.

  The bison was on the floor, and the cougar was looking at me with fear in her eyes. “Why’d you do that for?”

  Not a response I liked to hear. It had me wondering if she was going to try to scratch my eyes out.

  “Just be glad he’s not hitting you.”

  She crawled up onto the bed but kept her shoulders hunched. The female looked older than her years. “We work together.” Anger replaced fear, and she glared at me. “You only made it worse. He’ll really beat on me now.”

  Before she could get herself worked up, I showed her my badge. That took the wind out of her.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Listen, I—”

  “Name.” I didn’t quite roar, but I was losing patience and wanted this over.

  The cougar curled up in a ball. “Amy Saleem.”

  “Where’s Rachel Barnett?”

  Confusion crossed the cougar’s face. “Who’s she?”

  Somehow, I got the feeling she wasn’t lying.

  “Where were you last night?”

  “I was out… working.” She looked away. “At a hotel on Forty-Ninth. The john was from out of town. A ship maybe.”

  “Where’d you pick him up?”

  The cougar shook her head and pointed at the bison still on the floor. “He made the arrangements. And if I got to split the money I made with you, you can take it off him. He never lets me keep any.”

  “Did you let anyone use this room?”

  “No.”

  I checked the closet where I’d seen the clothes the night before, they were the same ones. “Who’s he?”

  “Tony Evens. He don’t like cops, and he used to be a fighter.”

  The bison’s wallet confirmed her statement. Not only did his license give his name, but he had a ticket for a fight at the Garden next week. The five hundred and change in his wallet had me wondering though.

  “Where’s his room?”

  The cougar shrugged at the question. “He’s got six other females on his string. Whoever’s out is where he sleeps. He’s too cheap to pay for a room of his own if he don’t have to.”

  I had her run down the events of the night before, and it sounded like the usual racket. Tony made the arrangements and got as much money as he could from the john. The cougar’s description of the goat wasn’t much to go on, but it was something. She gave me the usual sob story, so I tossed Tony’s wallet on the bed beside her and let her make her own choice.

  Everything was going fine until we were rudely interrupted by a pair of street rats. One blocked the door while the other slapped a billy club to his palm.

  Before I could reach my gun, they were on me. I managed to block the blow of the club and kicked the rat right in the nuts. Too bad my aim was off because while he was hurting, he didn’t go down. The fight shoved the cougar off the bed, and she scuttled for the corner. The rats on the other hand weren’t minding my feet, and I managed to plant my shoe in one of their faces.

  The remaining rat tried using the billy club again, but I grabbed at his arm and twisted until it broke. A good swift kick stopped his screaming.

  The cougar stayed in the corner mewing like a kitten, but the bison was gone.

  I grabbed my hat and hurried downstairs. The rat at the desk tried scurrying away, but I caught him by the tail and made sure he’d remember to keep out of other people’s business. After that, I used the desk phone to call Duke and let him know what happened.

  We needed a pickup on Rachel Barnett along with Tony Evans. This case was going screwy, and I was angry. Not only was I not going to wait for the squad car or explain anything to the dogs, but I was going to miss dinner with Velvet.

  I stepped out into the rain and took a cab back to the Harmen Group offices. When I entered the building, the same one who’d been there when I’d met up with Saskia Wallander just came on duty. He told me the offices were closed and everyone gone but let me in after I told him I was on an errand for the ocelot.

  The deer not only accepted my presence but went with me to Hamish Grimard’s office after he called his assistant to watch the front.

  This time I wasn’t interested in the photos, only the rotary and headed straight for it. Rachel Barnett’s card was missing and with it, the chance to get an idea what the symbols on the bottom of the card meant.

  “Did you find what you needed?” asked the deer.

  “The receptionist on this floor, how can I contact her?”

  The deer found her name in the directory stashed in the side desk drawer and I used the desk phone to call. When I got the receptionist on the line, she informed me that the photographer had been in the office that day but had canceled appointments and left. She didn’t know where else he might be.

  When I called his home, no one answered, so I decided to trek over there.

  I had no idea what Grimard looked like or what species he was, but from the second-floor apartment located in a renovated brownstone, I guessed him to be a large herbivore. I’d had to use my skeleton keys to get in since no one answered the door.

  The place was filled with photograph equipment, and a quick look at his clothes didn’t get me far either. There was no telling whether he’d packed a few and left or not. The apartment was cluttered but had an order to it. When I found a rotary, I checked it but no card for Rachel Barnett was in it, but I did find her photo in the file cabinets. On a whim I checked for Katie Frizzell and Fern Bailey. All three females were in the files, immortalized in black and white.

  I checked for Frizzell and Bailey in the rotary, but there were no cards. Though I expected this, I wondered why Rachel’s was removed.

  Before I left, I wiped down the surfaces I’d touched to make sure my prints were gone. Then I took a cab hoping I could still meet Velvet at the restaurant.

  Lucky me, she was still there with the waitress keeping her company.

  “I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it,” said Velvet. The fire in her eyes changed to concern when she looked at my face and the damage it’d taken from the rats who’d jumped me. “What happened?”

  The waitress brought me a sandwich and coffee while I told Velvet all the details. The ideas I had wouldn’t come together, so I had to keep those to myself.

  Velvet had a phone pickup service put on the office line, but the only people who called were Leo and Duke.

  Duke had taken care of the situation at the hotel I’d had the fight in, and the rats were in custody. They of course accused the desk clerk of hiring them to rough me up. The cougar and bison split but were wanted on parole violations and sex charges. The cops traced the rest of the bison’s herd but neither he nor the cougar were at any of those locations.

  Leo wanted to see me at ten o’clock in his office. Ben Johnson was still digging and needed me to corroborate something.

  When I’d finished eating, Velvet pulled out a map of New York, Jersey, and Long Island and unfolded it on the table. “I found the rentals Rachel used a couple of times. On both occasions, the mileage was virtually the same. I figure each drive was a round trip. These are the possibilities.” Velvet had already marked up the map.

  “One hundred- and twenty-miles round trip. That’s a lot of ground to cover.”

  “But she had Fern Bailey with her and since the mileage was so similar, I don’t think they made any detours or managed any devious driving techniques. That leaves the perimeter at a sixty-mile radius, and there aren’t many places that intersect that line.”

  “Bradbury does. We’ll start there.” I put my finger on the map as I said it and remembered Cameron’s words about the postmark on his sister’s letter, and her reaction.

  Velvet must have been thinking the same thing because she nodded and said, “The place has come down a way since everyone moved to the suburbs, but there are still a few wealthy people out there. Both Fern and Rachel had the looks to find the people with money out there. Why don’t I get a hotel and do some snooping?”

  “You’re beautiful yourself, kitten. Be careful.” I looked down at the ring I’d given her.

  “Too bad those adjoining rooms I rented went to waste. Why did I have to fall in love with you?”

  “Because we were made for each other.”

  That got a smile, and she booped my nose.

  Duke was fit to be tied, and if he could have chewed my tail off, he would have. “Why didn’t you hold her, or at least called me?”

  “There wasn’t anything I could hold her on at the time, and even if I had, she wouldn’t have talked. Whatever she’s into, she’s in deep. Any word on Evens or Grimard?”

  “Not a thing. The last time anyone saw him was at his office around ten. His cleaner says everything’s still in the apartment, but figured he kept a female somewhere and left a change of clothes at her place. As for the other desk clerk at that fleabag hotel, he knew Saleem but didn’t recognize Barnett.”

  “I got the feeling he was loaded every night and wouldn’t recognize his own mother.”

  “There is that.”

  I shifted in my seat and asked, “What about Saskia Wallander?”

  “On TV, live from Washington. The ocelot was M.C.ing some big fashion show. Even if she wasn’t, she’s alibied up to her eyeballs by one of the biggest lobbyists there. She thought Grimard went off on assignment, but since he didn’t take any equipment with him, that’s highly unlikely.”

  “There hasn’t been much in the newspapers about Keane lately.”

  “Which might help us. Remember I mentioned Bailey being poisoned? Well the stuff isn’t as rare as the M.E. first thought. Interpol said they had a rash of similar poisonings in Turkey. Some sort of family or turf war.”

  I waited for him to say more, but the German shepherd shook his head and slumped. “We’ve hit a dead end with Frizzell, and I’m grasping at straws.”

  “What about that one you found burned? The rack victim?”

  “This guy is crazy. He uses gimmicks—”

  “I don’t think so. Not just one, anyway. While some things fit, others don’t. Too many people are involved that shouldn’t be.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Duke’s ears lay back on his head, and he wore a disgusted look on his face.

  “Not sure exactly, but it’s looking like the coordinated work of a group. There’s no spontaneity you’d find in an individual.” I rubbed my face and continued. “Rachel’s name was in Grimard rotary, but now it’s not. He had time to destroy it after Rachel called him. All three females trace back to him which means he could be a key player.”

  “What would be the point?”

  “Don’t know, but someone paid off Tony Evens to let Rachel use that room.”

  “Do you think it was Grimard?”

  I shrugged, and Duke got up from his desk to pace the floor and growled. “Somehow Oliver Keane connected them all, but we’re still not getting anywhere.”

  “All the reporters in the city are working overtime,” I said.

  “But the police will still get blamed.”

  “What’s out at Bradbury?”

  Duke looked at me, and his ears twitched in thought. “Where’d that come from?”

  “It came up during a line of inquiry. Cameron mentioned his sister having a letter with Bradbury as a postmark.”

  He bared his teeth at me before relaxing. “It’s a resort area along the coast and wealthy residential inland.”

  “Anything else?”

  The dog’s eyes narrowed. “The beaches are public, and the place is getting a rap for being an artist and model colony. The old residence complained, but it didn’t do any good. With the number of embassies out there the rules are getting pretty lax.”

  “Embassies?”

  “French, Russian, and a few others. There was a Middle East outfit recently, but don’t ask me which one. The only reason I know that much is because so many good officers retired from the force to get paid twice as much as security guards out there.”

  “At the embassies?”

  “No.” Duke shook his head. “For the town. There’s a jazz festival that goes on out there every year. The festival brings in cash along with all the garbage that goes with it. They needed a force as a barrier between them and the embassies. Willard Hue’s playground only makes it worse.”

  “Playground?”

  Duke nodded. “He turned the property out there into a communal recreation center for U.N. bigwigs. The city might run it, but it’s restricted. That wildebeest not only got publicity for doing this, but he also offloaded a bolder tied to his neck and got a big tax break.”

  “Velvet’s out there poking around.”

  “So are a bunch of other agents. With all those idiots out there and their diplomatic immunity, we can’t even give them a parking ticket without risking them viewing it as a declaration of war. It’s insane.”

  Luckily, I had hold of my tail and was trying to pick out a burr. If I hadn’t, it would have given me away. Duke’s words helped put a lot of the crazy pieces of the puzzle together.

  Once I had myself under control, I tossed a report on Duke’s desk and stood up to leave. “Do you mind giving this to Cameron? It’s the report on his sister.”

  “Sure. Are you going to press charges on the rats we’re holding?”

  “I’m doing that now.”

  “Good luck explaining your actions to the judge.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Leo and Ben were in the office along with two other gofers when I arrived. The desk was full of pictures and papers. After grabbing some coffee, I peered over Leo’s shoulder at the pile.

  “What do you have?”

  Leo poked a pine stick at the rabbit startling him. “What? Oh, hi. Keane’s prints were only on the edge of most of the files, but two had his prints all over them. We have them here. The one’s a General Political file. The newspaper only used about a third of them, and those are marked and dated on the back.”

  Ben flipped a photo around and pointed out the writing on the back.

  “Keane was looking at photos taken in here in New York in the past year.”

  We kept searching through the pictures, as the gophers cross-referenced items without any luck. When I spotted a photo of Saskia Wallander, I had to smile. She was dancing with an elderly, foreign bull in uniform encrusted with so many metals it was amazing he could still stand.

  After that, I concentrated on the names. Aval Vasco was the only name I’d come across recently. The Markhor was greeting some diplomat from the other side of the iron curtain. He had the air of someone who didn’t like being photographed. The huge horns that spiraled from his head made me wonder how he could hold his head up. It certainly made walking through doorways a challenge.

  Ben saw me looking at the picture and asked, “Got something?”

  I handed him the photo. “Keane had some column items on this one.”

  “Along with everyone else. Vasco is a U.N. rep., and they’ll be more in tonight’s newspapers. Funny thing is, he’s camera shy. Most people like him are all over the press. Not Vasco. That ram will play both ends against the middle if it benefits him. Screw everyone else.” Ben shook his head. “I feel sorry for the people who voted for him.”

  “Herd mentality.”

  “Yes. There is that.” Ben picked up another photo. “Here’s another one of him.”

  “Who’s the male with him?” The ram standing next to him looked familiar, but the photo blurred the details. At first, I didn’t think the male’s horns were as big as Vasco’s, but the others must have curled backwards instead of up.

  After sifting through photos for the next twenty minutes, I decided to take a break and wandered down the corridor to the archives. The groundhog looked up from his desk when I walked in.

  “Hi, Kaiser.”

 

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