Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [18]
Lopez closed his eyes, as if praying that none of this was really happening.
“You didn’t recognize any of the customers?” Napoli prodded. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Charlie was sitting off in an alcove, and he came in a little early tonight. Most of the regulars hadn’t shown up yet. I didn’t know any of the customers who were sitting near him, and I don’t remember who else was in the restaurant.” Mostly I just remembered Charlie keeling over dead.
“And you didn’t hear a car pull up outside?”
“No.”
“You didn’t see the shooter on the other side of the window?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “Charlie wasn’t sitting anywhere near the—”
“Detectives, we have a big problem,” one of the CSU cops said, interrupting us.
“What?” Napoli asked.
“Come inside and have a look.”
“We’re a little busy here,” Napoli said tersely.
“You need to see this,” the CSU cop insisted. “Both of you.”
Napoli gave an irritable sigh. “All right.” He signaled to two patrolmen to join us. He pointed at me and said to them, “This woman is a material witness in this homicide. You are to keep an eye on her and keep her under control. Do not—I repeat, do not—let her move from this spot until we get back.” Then he turned and followed the CSU cop back into the restaurant.
Lopez hesitated, giving me a look of mingled concern and exasperation. “Are you okay?”
“I want to go home.” I felt exhausted and emotional. “Can’t you take me?”
“Not yet. We need more informa—”
“I’ve told you everything I saw.” I put my hand on his chest, wishing he would put his arms around me again. “Please make Napoli let me go.”
“That’s not how this works, Esther.” His voice was firm, but his gaze softened as he brushed my hair behind my ear. “You’re not—”
“Lopez!” Napoli shouted, having stuck his head out of the door of Bella Stella.
I glared at the bald detective.
Lopez raised a hand in acknowledgment but kept his eyes on me. “I have to go inside to see what CSU’s problem is,” he said, stepping away from me. “Don’t do anything but stand here and wait for me to come back. Okay?”
I shrugged. “Okay.”
He looked at me for another moment, his expression suggesting he wasn’t sure I’d comply, then turned and went into the restaurant.
This was not exactly the reunion that I had been picturing for us. I doubted it was what he’d imagined, either.
“Not seein’ nothing,” Lucky said, distracting me from my morose musings about my love life. “Always the smart choice.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a good policy, kid. I’d stick with that story. Even if your boyfriend is a cop who needs his button.”
“So to speak.”
I knew that getting your “button” was one of the ways wiseguys referred to becoming “made” men or getting inducted into a crime family. Lopez was new at OCCB and wanted to make a good impression, of course. To belong, to move up the ladder. I was well aware that tonight was a setback for him, and that I was the cause.
“But I really didn’t see anything, Lucky,” I said. “I mean, how could I? As I was trying to tell Detective Charm a few minutes ago, Charlie wasn’t sitting anywhere near . . . Oh, my God!” I clutched Lucky’s arm as I realized what I was saying.
“What’s wrong?”
“Charlie was sitting in that little alcove at the back of the restaurant!”
“He couldn’ta been,” Lucky said, shaking his head. “They’re saying the shot that killed him was fired through the front window.”
“I know. But I was standing right next to him, and he was back in that alcove when he was shot.”
“But you can’t even see the alcove from the window.”
“And since when do bullets go around corners?” I said.
Lucky whistled. “No wonder the cops got a problem.”
We both turned our gazes to the restaurant. Inside, through the restaurant’s front window—which bore a hole from the shot fired tonight—I could see Lopez talking to a CSU cop. They’d figured out the problem, all right. Lopez made a smooth motion with his right hand while he backed away from the window, still talking to the other cop. After a moment, he shook his head and went back to the window with a frown on