Easy Prey

little razor blade stuck on his belt, or something, but they say he got all cranked up and he spread his arms above his head, screaming, and all of a sudden, the blood started seeping out of his palms, and then he gets a red spot on his shirt, right . . . you know. Right where the spear went in.”
    “Jesus.”
    “Exactly. . . . What’s happening with Rodriguez?”
    “Pushed a button last night,” Lucas said. “Maybe today we’ll see something.”
    “Hope so.” He looked past Lucas, and Lucas turned. A TV remote van squatted down on the street, its engine running. “Wonder if they’ve got a microphone on us?”
    “Better not,” Lucas said. “I’d slam their butts in jail for that. Talk to the judge, we could probably get them three years.”
    “Yeah.”
    They both watched the van for a few more seconds—no signs of life, just the exhaust; and they went inside.
     
 
LANE CAME BY ten minutes after Lucas got to his office. “We need an accountant to look at some of that paper from the bank,” he said. “I’ve got it narrowed down to a few questions, but I can’t answer the questions without an expert.”
    “What are the questions?”
    “How could Spooner give him the loans? That’s the basic question. If I could have gotten a home loan on the same terms, I’d be living on one of the lakes. The loans stink.”
    Lucas leaned back in his chair. “See? That’s why I had you reading the paper.”
    “I’d rather be bustin’ somebody’s balls. So get me the accountant, and I’ll go over and bust Spooner’s.”
    “Let’s talk to Rose Marie.”
     
 
ROSE MARIE HAD a better idea. She knew the banking commissioner from the old days, made a call, and got Lane lined up with a bank examiner. She’d just gotten off the phone when the secretary buzzed her. Rose Marie picked up, listened for a minute, then said, “It’s Rodriguez,” and pushed another button.
    “Rose Marie Roux. . . . Yes, this is . . .” She listened for a long minute, then said, “I’m not aware of any of this. Chief Davenport is leading that aspect of the investigation, and we haven’t met yet this morning. . . . No, I can’t tell you anything. If he did that, as part of the investigation, I assume he had good reason. I appreciate that, Mr. Rodriguez, but there’s really no more that I can tell you. I can have Chief Davenport call you when he comes in. . . . Yes, I’m sure he would. Yes, I’m sure he would. . . .”
    After another minute of back-and-forth, she politely said goodbye, hung up, and said to Lucas, “Not a happy man. Some real estate deal was canceled. . . . You did have good reason?”
    “Sure. We’re trying to panic him. We’ve got him tapped.” He stopped, scratched his head, said, “How come a cop called me and told me about his appointment with a real estate dealer, but we didn’t get it on the wiretaps? He had to have called the guy.”
    Lane said, “He’s a dope dealer, dummy. He’s got a blind phone.”
    Lucas stood up and said, “Shit! How’d we miss that? All of his good calls have been going out somewhere else.”
    Rose Marie asked, “But how would you find a blind phone if--”
    Lucas shook a finger at her. “We need to talk to the phone company, and get incoming phone numbers yesterday afternoon. Wait a minute—who’s watching the lines?”
    “Somebody from Narcotics, I guess,” Rose Marie said.
    “Call down and get a number.”
    Two minutes later, Lucas was talking with the Narcotics cop who was monitoring Rodriguez’s lines. “Did he just take a call from a real estate dealer?”
    “Nope. He’s gotten a couple of calls from one of his apartment managers. They had an electric panel fire last night. He’s been making calls to some of his other managers, and a maintenance company. He just talked to the chief, I assume you know that.”
    “What line was that?”
    The cop gave Lucas a number. “But no real estate dealer?”
    “Nope.”
    Lucas rang off, got Rose Marie to dig a St. Paul phone book out of her desk, looked up Coffey Realty, dialed, and asked for Smalley. Smalley came up, and Lucas asked, “We just got a call from Mr. Rodriguez. He sounded a little upset. I assume you called him?”
    “Yeah, just a little while ago. He was not a happy camper.”
    “Can you give me the number you called?”
    “Well, sure. I guess,” Coffey said.
    “I don’t have it here. I want to call him back,” Lucas said.
    “Just a sec, I’ve got it on a piece of paper. Where