Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

end of Elm. I thought maybe the cops had parked there, but the lot was empty.
    I thought, too, as I always did whenever I looked at the train station, of escape. But it was too late to run now. And couldn’t abandon Augie’s daughter. I couldn’t just disappear.
    I told myself that Augie would have knocked or used the key I kept these days hidden under a tear in the hallway carpeting. There just for him, just in case.
    Another creak came, heavy, like a long, wooden sigh. Somebody was outside my door all right, hovering in my hall.
    I got up, studied the door for a second, and finally walked to it. For the second time tonight adrenaline was surging through me. My heart was pounding, my muscles tight. I gripped the door knob and turned it fast, then yanked the door open.
    And was suddenly face to face with Frank Gannon.
    My hallway was dim. The only light was behind him, from a bare low-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling at the far end of the hall. But I could see him well enough by it. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark dress shirt and a light jacket made of Argentine leather. His shoes were black cop’s shoes.
    I pulled the door partially closed behind me. From the doorway, the couch where Tina was sitting under my wool blanket was in clear view.
    I whispered, “What are you doing here?”
    “We need to talk.” He glanced at the partially closed door and the firm grip I had on it with my hand. “Did I come at a bad time?”
    “You could have called.”
    “I don’t like phones. You should learn to dislike them, too.”
    I assumed he was outside my door because of what had gone down tonight between me and Tommy Miller and his two friends. I braced for Frank to try to use that to his advantage in some way. It’s what he did. But what he said next made me realize he was here for something far worse than that.
    “It’s about Augie,” he said. “I think he might be in trouble.”
    I turned my head and looked into my apartment. It was involuntary. Tina had stood at some point, probably to move away from the door and out of the sight of whoever was in my hallway. Augie had said how smart she was. She was looking at me, her mouth hanging open slightly. There was, as there had been earlier tonight, real fear in her eyes.
    Frank took a slight step to his right and titled his head. It was all he needed to do to look past me and see her. His glance was casual, but when he looked back at me, he was smiling.
    “Clearly, I have caught you at a bad time,” he said. “She looks kind of young, MacManus.”
    “It’s Augie’s daughter,” I said flatly. “She’s waiting for him here.”
    Frank took another look at Tina. She was staring at us, frozen, her hands hanging at her sides. Her arms were long, lanky. My wool blanket was in a pile around her feet.
    “I was hoping you’d know where he was, but I guess not,” Frank said.
    There was no protecting Tina from the truth now, no way to answer Frank without her hearing.
    “He was supposed to meet me after work, but he didn’t show.”
    Frank nodded. This information obviously jibed with something he already knew. “He called me earlier and asked to borrow some equipment. I waited but he never came by.”
    “Was he working for you tonight?”
    “No. He hasn’t worked for me all week. He pulled himself off the roster, said he couldn’t tell me for how long he’d be unavailable.” Frank paused, glanced at Tina again, then said in a softer voice, “He hasn’t been himself lately. He’s been…preoccupied.”
    I knew what Frank was talking about. And I knew what he wanted me to do.
    “Since you’re so good at finding people, MacManus, I figured you’re my best shot at finding Augie.”
    I nodded but said nothing.
    Frank handed me a business card. I looked down at it.
    “It’s my pager number,” he said. “I’m sure you went out of your way to forget it.”
    I took the card.
    “Let me know when you find him,” he said. He glanced at Tina once more. “And be careful.”
    I closed the door, severing his view of her. I waited till I heard his footsteps moving down the hall. I waited till they were gone before I took my keys from the table by my door.
    “I want to come with you,” Tina said.
    “No.”
    “He’s my father.”
    “It would be better if you went home.”
    “I don’t want to be alone.”
    “I’m going to call you a cab. The driver’s a friend of mine. I’ll tell him to go inside and check the place out, then lock up tight