Easy Prey

access to his father’s car. If it’s not murder-suicide . . .”
    “We thought about that. What we’re doing right now is waiting for the crime-scene guys and the ME to finish down there. If they say it’s a murder-suicide, then we slow down a little; if they say it’s not, then we look at Olson. He’s not going anyplace; he’s asleep, in the hospital. The paramedics said the shock really got on top of him.”
    “All right,” Lucas said. “Things are looking a little better for Marcy.”
    Rose Marie nodded. “She’s gonna make it, Lucas.”
    They all thought about that for a minute, and Lucas felt a finger of darkness—the first premonition of the day. But he didn’t say anything. He said, “There’s a science thing that I picked up from the computer jocks I used to work with.”
    “Yeah?” Lester asked.
    “Yeah. If you have enough information to make a good prediction, then you’re probably getting a grip on the situation. If Harris is predicting that the Olsons aren’t a murder-suicide, despite appearances, then maybe she’s on to something.”
    “You oughta talk to your girlfriend the nun,” Rose Marie said.
    “I’ll call her,” Lucas said.
     
 
HE HUNG AROUND awhile, watching Rose Marie work the telephones. Lester went out and got a diet Coke and brought one back for Lucas. They were talking about nothing, waiting, when Lucas’s cell phone rang.
    “It’s Del,” Lucas said, fumbling the phone out of his pocket.
    But it wasn’t Del. A surprised dispatcher said, “Is this Lucas?”
    “It’s me. I mean, it’s my phone, anyway.”
    “How come you’re answering the phone?”
    “I’m running around. . . . What’s going on?”
    “I’m relaying a message from the Maplewood cops. They found that car you were looking for.”
    “Car?”
    “Yeah, that, uh, I wrote the name . . . Derrick Deal?”
    “Oh, yeah.” From about ten years ago. He looked at his watch: six hours, two more dead bodies, one shot cop. “Where was it?”
    “In some executive’s reserved spot out in a 3M parking lot.”
    “At 3M?” And he thought, Uh-oh.
    “Yes. That’s what they say. They want to know what you want to do with it.”
    “Can you patch me through? To the cop?”
    “Uh, just a minute . . .” A few seconds later, she came back. “I talked to them, and the executive whose space it is has a cell phone in his pocket, so you can call them directly. He’s standing right there with them.”
    The executive’s name was Marx; he sounded interested. “The car’s been here since yesterday. I finally called the cops, the police, to get it towed, because I was getting angry about it. They say it’s on some kind of hit list.”
    “Yeah . . . lemme talk to the cop.”
    The cop came up, and when Lucas identified himself, said, “Hey, Chief, what’s happening with the car?”
    Lucas gave him a quick story and asked, “Is there anything unusual about it?”
    “Yeah, one thing—you can see the keys on the floor of the driver’s side. A key ring. They might’ve fallen out when he got out, and he locked it behind him.”
    “Nothing else?”
    “Nope. The car’s clean. Nothing else inside that we can see, except some maps and a Wall Street Journal on the floor of the backseat.”
    “Listen, this has to do with the Maison case . . . and that car could be pretty important. I wonder if I could get you to open the door and use the keys to pop the trunk.”
    “Jeez, I don’t know. We don’t carry the door openers anymore,” the cop said.
    “How about if you break the window? It’s pretty important.”
    “Aw, man . . . I’d have to call in. Can I get back to you?”
    “Can I hold?”
    “Sure, just take a second.”
    WHILE THE COP was calling in, Lucas said to Lester, “I’m gonna start using this phone, and then people are gonna start calling me on it, and pretty soon I’ll be as crazy as the rest of you fuckers.”
    “It feels kind of good after a while,” Lester said. “People call you up, you feel important. Pretty soon, you start thinking about a beeper.”
    “Yeah, in a pig’s eye,” Lucas said.
    “You just haven’t experienced it yet,” Lester said. “The connectivity rush.”
    Franklin leaned into the doorway, and Lucas and Lester both looked up at him. Lucas said, “I thought you were with Jael Corbeau.”
    “She’s right there,” Franklin said, pointing to his left. “Talking to a nurse. I can shoot the nurse, if you want.”
    “That’s okay,” Rose Marie