All three men turned their heads when they heard the screech of tires, followed by the whoop of a siren. A police cruiser had turned down the street and was advancing on them.
Puller saw the driver first and his heart sank.
It was Hooper.
Next to him was Landry.
Hooper looked excited.
Landry seemed uncertain.
Puller slipped his Mu back into its belt holster as the two cops got out of their car. Hooper had his gun pulled.
Of course you do, thought Puller.
Landry kept her gun holstered, but placed her hand on top of its butt.
Hooper advanced, swiveling his gun back and forth until he finally kept it pointed at Puller. “You just can’t keep out of trouble, buckaroo,” he said gleefully.
“I wasn’t aware I was in trouble,” replied Puller.
Hooper looked at the proximity of the Tahoe to the other car and said, “So you always park this close to other vehicles?”
“If I want to have a private conversation with somebody, yeah,” said Puller.
This comment made Landry snort and Hooper scowl.
“You keep up with the bullshit your ass will be in a lockup so fast you’ll get a nosebleed,” he snapped.
Puller said nothing to this inane comment because there was really nothing to say.
Even the guys in the car looked like they wanted to laugh, and probably would have except Hooper was now pointing his gun at them.
Puller said to Landry, “Can you ask your partner to holster? His finger is past the trigger guard. To me that means you’re going to fire.”
“Hoop,” said Landry in an admonishing tone. “No more accidents, okay?”
More accidents? thought Puller.
“We know he’s armed,” said Hooper, indicating Puller.
“I am armed because I’m required to be by the United States government,” pointed out Puller. “You can take it up with the Pentagon if you want, but I think federal trumps state, at least in this instance.”
He pointed at the two men in the car. “But now they might be armed too. I don’t know for sure.”
Landry’s gaze flicked to the car’s occupants. She stepped forward, her hand still gripping the butt of her sidearm. “Will you gentlemen please step out of the car with your hands where we can see them?”
“I can’t open my door,” said the guy on the passenger side. “His truck is blocking it.”
“Then slide across and out the driver’s side,” said Landry sharply.
With Hooper keeping his aim on them and now ignoring Puller, the two men slid out of the car, their hands held out in front of them.
“Are you armed?” asked Landry again.
Each man looked at the other.
The driver said, “We are not armed.”
“Open your jackets,” said Landry.
The men did so and there was nothing to see except shirts and belts.
Puller said, “Why have you been following me?”
The driver looked at him. He was about six feet tall, broad shoulders tapering to a slim, hard waist. His companion was likewise built. Their buzz cuts matched too. Up close they looked even more military.
“Who says we’ve been following you?”
“I do,” said Puller. “This is the fourth time I’ve seen you. Twice on this street.”
“It’s a small town,” said the man.
Landry said, “Let us see some ID.”
The men pulled out their wallets and handed over driver’s licenses. Landry wrote the info down in her notebook while Puller tried but failed to see the names and addresses on the licenses.
She handed them back.
The first man said, “Unless you have some reason for holding us, I’m assuming we can go now?”
Landry glanced at Puller and then back at the men and said, “Can you tell me what you’re doing in Paradise?”
“Just down here on vacation,” replied the man.
“Have you been following this gentleman?” asked Landry.
“No. I’m thinking about buying a place on this street, actually. Even contacted a Realtor about it.” He flicked out a card to her. “This is her name and contact info. She’ll vouch for me. We were sitting here going over what places we were going to check out when this guy came flying at us. Seems to me that instead of questioning us, you should be arresting him. I thought he was going to ram us with his truck.”
Landry glanced down at the card and then frowned as she glanced once more at Puller. Puller could read all the doubts in that look.
She handed the card back to the man. “Thank you for your cooperation. I’m sorry for any inconvenience.”
Hooper said, “Do you want to press charges against him?” He indicated Puller.
The man eyed Puller, as though trying to absorb every detail of his face.
“Nah. He doesn’t seem worth the trouble.” He smiled at Puller while his friend let out a snort of laughter. “So just move your truck and we’ll be on our way.” He drew closer to Puller. “But you try something like that again, I won’t be as accommodating.”
Landry stepped between them. Perhaps she had caught the look from Puller that indicated he was about a millisecond from breaking the man in half.
“That’s enough of that,” she said, pushing them apart. “Puller, move your vehicle. Now. Gentlemen, you have a good day.”
Puller climbed into his truck and backed it up just enough to allow the other car to creep past. Then the driver accelerated, turned the comer, and was gone.
Puller got back out of the truck. “What were their names?” he asked.
“That is none of your damn business,” snapped Hooper.
Puller looked at Landry inquiringly.
She shook her head. “It is none of your business, Puller. And just be glad he didn’t press charges. Now from here on, just stay away from them.”
“Me staying away from them isn’t the problem. They’re following me.”
“So you say,” barked Hooper. “Doesn’t make it true.”
Landry said, “Puller, their story does sound logical. If they’re looking for a house on this street.” She gazed up and down it. “And I see three for-sale signs.”
Puller knew this was bullshit. The guys had their cover story. But Diego had seen them near the Sierra. He didn’t think there was any real estate in that area that would interest the two men. But he kept that to himself.
“Okay,” he said. “You’re probably right.”
Landry clearly didn’t believe him, and Hooper clearly still wanted to arrest him.
He turned to climb back into the Tahoe. Hooper said, “How do you know we’re done with you yet?”
Puller turned and stared at him expectantly. “Okay. Are you done with me?”
Hooper looked surprised by the question and glanced at Landry. She said, “Hoop, finish the patrol on this street. I want to have a word with Mr. Puller.”
Hooper climbed into the cruiser and hit the rack lights and engaged the crowd control button. The blasting noise caught Landry completely off guard.
“Damn it, Hoop, just go,” she snapped.
He sped off faster than he should have on a residential street.
“How do you stand working with that idiot?” asked Puller.
She ignored the comment and said, “What is going on with you?”
“Come again?”
“Are you getting paranoid?”
“I’m not paranoid. Those guys are following me.”
“You have proof of that?”
“I’ll get it.”
“What you need to get, Puller, is to just leave it alone. Those guys didn’t look like the types to be messed with.”
“And you think I do?”
She looked over his shoulder, her arms folded across her chest.
He said, “I know I need to come down to the station and press charges against the guys from last night.”
“You might not wa
nt to do that.”
“Why not?”
“They want to press charges against you.” “Come again?”
“They said you attacked them.”
“I did. Before they attacked me.”
“You might not want to go around admitting that.”
“They were in my room, waiting to ambush me. Little hard to spin that.”
“They’ve already been released on their own recognizance.”
“Things work that fast in Paradise?”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
“I was told those guys didn’t have gang connections. But someone is apparently pulling strings behind the scene.”
“I’m just a beat cop, Puller. I don’t get into stuff like that.”
“So they’re out on the street waiting to come after me again?”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” “Why?”
“Because I told them you were a super special forces homicidal maniac who could kill them in more ways than they could even imagine. I told them that the next time you would kill all of them and then get your Army buddies to come down here and help kill their families for good measure.”
Puller cracked a smile. “You actually told them that?”
“That was the gist of it. And for the Latinos I said it all in Spanish so they would get the point without having to translate. I said if they left you alone, I could guarantee their safety. Otherwise all bets were off. They all looked scared shitless when they left. And I really don’t think they’re going to press charges. They’re too afraid of you.” Puller said, “Okay, I appreciate the assist.” “You’re welcome. Now you can focus on what happened to your aunt.”
Puller smiled. “I wish every local cop I worked with was as cooperative as you.”
“You treat me with respect, I reciprocate. The moment you stop doing that, so do I.”
“I’ve got no problem with that.” He paused, wondering whether he should even venture there. But it would be a good way to ask more questions. And he found he was enjoying Landry’s company. She could be a good asset for him on this case if it turned out his aunt’s death wasn’t an accident.
“You free for dinner?”
She looked surprised and, Puller thought, a bit pleased by the invitation.
“You let me stay at your place rent-free,” he said in a joking manner. “I’d like to do something for you.”
She thought about this for a few seconds. Part of Puller thought she was going to say no.
“I get off duty in two hours. Where do you want to go?”
“Your town. I’ll defer to you.”
“There’s a place called Darby’s on the main drag.”
“Okay. I’ve seen it.”
“Say about eight o’clock?”
“Sounds good.”
He climbed into his truck and drove off. But he was no longer thinking about dinner with Landry.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee in the sedan. He needed to know who they were and whether they were connected just to him somehow or to what had happened to his aunt.
And maybe he had a way to do that.
He picked up his phone.
CHAPTER 40
“Well, well, I was wondering when the hell I was going to hear from you.”
“Just been a little busy, General Carson,” said Puller.
“General Carson? I thought we had moved to Julie.”
“It’s still working hours, ma’am. Wasn’t sure how you felt about that.”
Julie Carson was a one-star stationed at the Pentagon in the J2’s office. The J2 was a two-star who gave the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs the daily briefing. Carson was the vice chair and gave the briefing when the J2 was unavailable. She had helped Puller during his time in West Virginia.
She was forty-one, very attractive, as fit as a triathlete, and as tough as Puller. They had had a rocky start, but things had turned around after they’d found some common ground.
“What I feel is that you can call me Julie.” “Okay. I need a favor, Julie.”
“What, no dinner first?”
“It’s always a question of timing.”
He heard her sigh. “Okay, what do you need?” Puller briefly outlined his dilemma to her in succinct, military-crisp sentences that gave her the minimum amount she needed to follow along. The habit was so ingrained in him that he didn’t even realize he was doing it.
“Damn, Puller. I heard you were out on R and R. What the hell are you doing in Florida in the middle of something else? Do you plan to work your way across all fifty states getting into murder and mayhem?”
“Believe me, this is not by choice. If my aunt weren’t involved, I wouldn’t be down here.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said quickly. “So you think it’s foul play?”
“It’s looking more like it, though I don’t have a shred of proof.”
“And the two guys in the car. You really think they’re military?”
“Were or are. I need to find out which.”
“I can run the plate for you today. But it might just be a rental.”
“It probably is. But if so, they had to put some name down for it and show a driver’s license. That might give us enough to go on.”
“I’ll get to work on it ASAP.”
“I appreciate it, Julie.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear.”
“How are things at J2?”
“Actually, I’m fairly bored with the routine.” “Thinking of a transfer?”
“The rest of my military career will be a series of transfers, the choices of which will largely be dictated by other people. That’s how it goes when you’re chasing more stars.”
“Yeah, I got a taste of that with my dad. Probably one reason I opted for the enlisted side. Too much thinking goes on with the stars and bars side of things.”
“You’re an enlisted and enlightened man, Puller.” She paused, and when she next spoke Puller heard a subtle change in her voice, like she was going from Pentagon mode to something more human.
“So what are your long-range plans?”
He said, “Finish up down here and get my butt back to Quantico. I’m sure CID will find things for me to do.”
“I’m sure they will. Military crime never takes a holiday, Puller. Not when you have hundreds of thousands of mostly young men around the world trying to act all macho. Add to that billions of dollars of taxpayer money flying around and things get complicated. Hands go into cookie jars.”
“And around other people’s throats.”
“So you see yourself being a military cop all the way?”
“I haven’t thought that far down the road, quite frankly.”