Without remorse - Tom Clancy [187]
The officers had merely been briefed on the incident with Mrs Charles, but their alert level had been raised by follow-up information on the method by which her assailant had met his end. No additional cautionary words were needed. Two-man patrol cars handled most of them, though some solo cars driven by experienced - or overly confident - officers performed the same function in a way that would have grated on Ryan and Douglas had they seen it. One officer would approach while the other stood back, his hand resting casually on his service revolver. The lead officer would stand the wino up and frisk him, checking for weapons, and often finding knives, but no firearms - anyone in possession of one pawned it for money with which to buy alcohol or, in some cases, drugs. In the first night eleven such people were rousted and identified, with two arrests being made for what the officers deemed an improper attitude. But at the end of the shift, nothing of value had been turned up.
'Okay - I found something out,' Charon said. His car sat in the parking lot outside a supermarket, next to a Cadillac.
'What's that?'
'They're looking for a guy disguised as a bum.'
'You kidding me?' Tucker asked with some disgust.
'That's the word, Henry,' the detective assured him. 'They have orders to approach with caution.'
'Shit,' the distributor snorted.
'White, not too tall, forties. He's pretty strong, and he moves real good when he has to. They're going soft on the information that's out, but about the same time he interfered with a yoking, two more pushers turned up dead. I'm betting it's the same guy who's been taking pushers out.'
Tucker shook his head. 'Rick and Billy, too? It doesn't make any sense.'
'Henry, whether it makes sense or not, that's what the word is, okay? Now, you take this seriously. Whoever this guy is, he's a pro. You got that? A pro.'
'Tony and Eddie,' Tucker said quietly.
'That's my best guess, Henry, but it's only a guess.' Charon pulled out of his parking place.
But none of it made any real sense, Tucker told himself, driving out onto Edmondson Avenue. Why would Tony and Eddie try to do - what? What the hell was going on? They didn't know much about his operation, merely that it existed, and that he wanted it and his territory left alone while he evolved into their principal supplier. For them to harm his business without first suborning his method of importing the product was not logical. Suborning ... he'd used the wrong word ... but -
Suborned. What if Billy were still alive? What if Billy had cut a deal and Rick hadn't gone along with it - a possibility; Rick had been weaker but more reliable than Billy.
Вillу kills Rick, takes Doris out and dumps her somewhere - Вillу knows how to do that, doesn't he? – why? Вillу has made contact with – who? Ambitious little bastard, Billy, Tucker thought. Not all that smart, but ambitious and tough when he has to be.
Possibilities. Вillу makes contact with somebody. Who? What does Вillу know? He knows where the product is processed, but not how it comes in ... maybe the smell, the formaldehyde smell on the plastic bags. Henry had been careful about that before; when Tony and Eddie had helped him package the product in the start-up phase, Tucker had taken the trouble to rebag everything, just to be on the safe side. But not the last two shipments... damn. That was a mistake, wasn't it? Billly knew roughly where the processing was done, but could he find it on his own? Henry didn't think so. He didn't know much about boats and didn't even like them all that much, and navigating wasn't an easily acquired art.
Eddie and Tony know about boats, you idiot, Tucker reminded himself.
But why would they cross him now, just when things were blooming?
Whom else had he offended? Well, there was the New York crew, but he'd never even had direct contact with them. He'd invaded their market, though, taking advantage of a supply shortfall to establish an entry position. Might they be upset about that?
What about the Philadelphia crew? They had become