Deadly Heat

Heat smiled into her phone at the sound of his voice. “Is that why I don’t see you at your desk? Are you in your realm?”

  “Come hither,” he said and hung up.

  Detective Feller snagged her on her way to Raley’s makeshift studio. “You were right. Got a DMV hit from Connecticut on a vehicle still registered there to Glen Windsor.” He handed her the DMV fax. She read it and frowned. “What?” he asked.

  “Not sure.” Something about it nagged at her, but with so much on her mind, she couldn’t bring it home. Heat handed the registration back to Feller and told him to get it out with Windsor’s APB.

  Nikki entered Raley’s video screening booth, pointed to the cardboard hat propped on his monitor, and said, “If you want to hold on to that Burger King crown I got especially for you, this better be good.”

  “It’ll be worth it. I finally got a chance to scan through the surveillance video from the Coney Crest. Man, you see a lot of freaks go through there.” He shivered theatrically, and she laughed. “A couple of things of note. No hits on any of our usual suspects going in, other than Salena Kaye at check-in, and then up and down the stairs a number of times. It’s basically, a lot of this.” He clicked the mouse, and grainy video rolled—a split-screen: overhead of the manager’s office on the right side; on the left, the exterior view of a metal staircase with pebbled steps that led from the second floor to ground level behind the lobby. Soon a pair of legs descended the stairs. When Kaye’s face came into frame at the landing beside the ice machine, Raley paused the video on her. “Got about a bazillion of those shots, including the reverse trips. She comes, she goes—it’s not award material.”

  “This the only cam, other than the manager’s office?”

  “Yes. And, as you see, the framing isn’t wide enough to show the second floor or the door to two-ten. It’s really set up so the manager can clock comings and goings between hits off his bong.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Sean.”

  “One more thing. You asked me to surf for Detective Hinesburg to verify that she actually showed up to interview the manager. She did.” He clicked his mouse, and a second monitor awoke, loaded with a new split-screen video file ready to play. “If you don’t mind,” he said, “it’s been a long session, and a gallon of coffee.”

  “Roll it, King, I’m good.” Detective Raley double-clicked the icon to start the fresh video, and he hurried out. His task chair wasn’t the most comfortable, but after the morning and night she’d experienced, Nikki melted back into it and lounged as Detective Hinesburg entered the motel lobby and spoke to the manager. The cam position was behind the registration counter with no audio, of course, so Heat had to satisfy herself watching across the back of the manager’s head listening to Hinesburg’s silent talking. What Heat really wanted to see was his face, for any tells when he lied about Salena Kaye’s presence there.

  Nikki wondered how Raley endured the tedium. Satisfied her defective detective had actually done as she had been told, Nikki let that video roll, in case the manager ever turned to the camera, and clicked the video on the other monitor to see more of Salena Kaye’s comings and goings throughout her week there. She found the icon that increased the scan rate to maximum, and soon people were zapping up and down those stairs as if they were in a Charlie Chaplin movie. She decided goofiness like this was how Raley dealt with the monotony.

  Then something caught Heat’s eye that made her bolt upright in her seat. She scrambled for the mouse to stop the video and watched it again, riveted to every frame.

  When Raley came back from the restroom a minute later, she had clicked all the video files closed. All the screens sat dark. “Find what you needed?” he asked.

  “And then some.” She stopped at the door and said, “Rales, save all that video, understand? No deleting, it goes nowhere else.”

  “Uh… sure. Everything OK?”

  “And remember. This was just between us. We never screened this, clear?”

  “Sure thing, but—” He never finished his question. She had already moved on.

  Heat’s brain raced. She bolted outside just to move her body. She didn’t go anywhere, just paced a manic rectangle on 82nd Street outside the precinct, dodging the sidewalk smokers while she sought fresh air and clear thoughts. What she had just seen on that security video might have only been circumstantial, but for the jury in Nikki’s head, it was enough. But she would need more.

  Now Heat had another deadly secret to keep. And, with time running out, she needed to come up with a plan.

  Sharon Hinesburg broke her concentration. “Nikki?” She sounded tense. Heat made a slow blink to clear her mind and turned to her in the open lobby doorway. “Phone call. Woman says she’s Salena Kaye.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Heat started at a speed-walk through the lobby, past the duty sergeant, but something about the jolt of the buzz lock made the armored door feel like a starting gate. She punched the push bar, flung it open, and broke into a jog. Hinesburg chattered at her heels all the way, trying to keep up with Nikki’s pace on the way to the squad room.

  “I’m not absolutely sure it’s her.”

  “What did she say to you, exactly?”

  “I didn’t talk to her,” said Sharon. The switchboard transferred it. But remember that tipster who called me the other day—”

  “I do.”

  “After I messed up with him, I didn’t want to blow this.”

  “Good.”

  “So I went and got you.”

  “Are you running a trace?”

  “Switchboard is on it already.” She read something in Heat’s glance and insisted, “They are. Why are you looking at me that way?”

  The bull pen was empty; all the other detectives were out on assignment. Hinesburg pointed to Nikki’s desk. “It’s the blinking line.”

  Heat reached for the phone, then hesitated. She took a few seconds to calm her pulse and fasten herself to the moment. Be present, Nikki, she thought. No time to get sloppy. Ready, she turned to Hinesburg. “Is this call set to record?”

  “It should be.”

  “ ‘Should be’? Really?”

  “It’s set.” Hinesburg bent over the small tan junction box coupled between Heat’s phone and a hard drive. She flipped the toggle switch to On and a green mini-lamp lit. “Now it is.”

  “Maybe you should go grab Raley.”

  “I’m telling you it’s set. The call will record, just pick up.”

  Nikki flipped to a clean sheet in her notebook and pressed the line. “Detective Heat.”

  “It’s me,” said the woman. And then, after a short pause, “Salena.” The voice sounded like hers, only grittier and more subdued. Nikki tried to compare it to the one she had heard a month before when Salena Kaye insinuated herself into her life masquerading as Rook’s physical therapist. Back when the two of them laughingly nicknamed her his Naughty Nurse and Heat had written her off as an airhead with a massage table. So much for profiling.

  Nikki said, “You’re going to have to prove it.”

  “I expected that. Do you want me to tell you about the twin freckles on your boyfriend’s ass or how the shit Vaja Nikoladze cooked up is going to kill a couple thousand people?”

  Heat ignored the personal bait. Instead her eye flicked to verify the green record lamp. She said, “Let’s talk about what Vaja cooked up.”

  “You first,” said Salena, who then chuckled derisively.

  But lurking behind her contempt, Nikki heard something off in Salena Kaye’s voice, something tight, like her bluster was fake. She sounded drunk. Or… afraid? Over years of interrogation Nikki had learned that shifts in demeanor were huge tells. Of what, she’d listen carefully for. “You called me. What do you want?”

  After some throat clearing from the other end, a sigh. “Protection,” she said. “I want to turn myself in, but I want protection.”

  “Like you gave Petar?”

  “Can you give it to me?” Her voice rasped, sounding throaty and
dry. Definitely scared. What was going on here?

  Whatever it was, Heat didn’t let up. “What’s the problem, Salena? Running low on people to kill?” There was a long pause and Kaye muttered something. “Speak up, I can’t hear you.”

  “They turned on me.” Another pause. The fear mixed with something else. Remoteness, defeat. “They are going to find me and kill me just like Tyler Wynn.”

  “Excuse me, but I believe that was you.”

  “They have others. They can do it.”

  “Who are they, Salena? Names.” While Kaye breathed heavily across the mouthpiece Heat signaled to Hinesburg, swirling the hurry up circle with her forefinger. Sharon dialed the switchboard and checked on the trace. “Start with one name, I can wait.”

  “You’ll never trace this call, so don’t bother trying to stall me.”

  “I think you’re the one wasting my time.”

  “No, don’t go,” she shouted. “I do have names. I know everything. I’m just not giving it up. Not until I’m in.” She slurped saliva. “And safe. Then I’ll tell you everything.” Heat had heard thousands of plea deal offers. Kaye was saying all the right words, but there was something about the way she said them that didn’t sell. To Nikki, they had to pass the Valentine’s Test. “I love you” has to feel like it. No tingle, no deal.

  Over at her desk, Hinesburg waved for attention and gave the thumbs-down.

  With no trace coming, Nikki moved things to the next round. “Tell you what, Salena. You come in, and I’ll do my best for witness protection. But no promises unless you deliver.”

  “Agreed!” Jumping at that a bit quickly, Heat thought, for a cold-blooded assassin.

  “Good. Do you know where the Twentieth Precinct is located? West Eighty-second off Columbus?”

  “Nice try. No way.”

  “Oh, I get it,” said Heat, pushing the sarcasm. “You want us to come to you.”

  “If you were me, wouldn’t you?” Nikki had to admit, she had a point. After more rustling and throat clearing, Kaye said, “Remember the East River Heliport?”

  “Hard to forget.”

  “Yeah, you lost me there after I spiked your coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts.” But it had been Starbucks, not Dunkin’. Odd. Would Salena forget a detail like that? Nikki wondered if maybe she really was drunk. Or something else… “Eight-thirty tonight. Come alone. I trust only you.”

  Heat jotted down the place and time but said, “No, Salena, you come here.”

  Kaye held her ground. “Take it or leave it. And if you bring anyone else, deal’s off. And you can thank yourself when this city turns into a fucking hot zone.”

  The line went dead.

  “She gone?” asked Hinesburg. Heat simply nodded, deep in thought, pondering the strange call and the drastic change she read in the bold killer. “What did she want?”

  “To turn herself in.”

  “Holy fuck.” Then Hinesburg said, “Fuck, sorry about the ‘fuck.’ I heard you mention the precinct. Is she coming here?” Nikki didn’t answer. “Hello?”

  Heat looked up. “Sorry, just thinking something through.” Nikki tapped her notepad then shoved it aside. “I need some air. If she calls back, you know where to find me.”

  Out on the sidewalk Nikki felt a new vulnerability. Not just from recognizing her exposure on the streets of New York these days, but something more intimate. That phone call represented critical movement in the terror investigation—not to mention her mother’s case—but at the same time, something inside her—Nikki’s innate wariness—struggled for attention. So many things about that outreach did not add up: its unexpectedness; the treasure of information it offered so easily, like a dangling carrot; the strained quality of Salena Kaye’s demeanor.

  Nikki pondered all that as she sidestepped the ancient discs of dried chewing gum that had blackened the concrete. Her self-talk balanced the allure of capturing Salena Kaye with the bigger picture of her experience the past week.

  And with what she had just seen in her video screening.

  Detective Heat’s innate wariness whispered in one ear, but a louder voice spoke in the other and filled her with the butterfly sensation that she may have arrived at the hinge point of two big cases. That voice shouted to her, telling Nikki to act—calling for her not just to seize the opportunity but make the most of it.

  After ten more laps around the chewing gum obstacle course, she began forming an idea of just how to go about that.

  Rook picked up a nanosecond before the voice mail dump. “Sorry, couldn’t hear the ringer, it’s so noisy here.” It sounded like a saloon in the background for a good reason. “My Hollywood lunch segued into Manhattan happy hour.”

  “How’s that going?”

  The long squeak of a heavy door filled Heat’s earpiece. The background din on Rook’s end quieted and his voice echoed in a vestibule. “It’s too bad you’re not a media whore, Nikki. Between the two of us, we’d clean up.”

  “Help yourself. I’m calling because I won’t be able to make seven-thirty with Puzzle Man tonight.” Heat told him about the unexpected call from Salena Kaye and the proposed surrender meeting.

  When she finished, Rook said, “Of course you told Kaye you wouldn’t show.”

  “I did.”

  “And yet, you’re informing me you can’t make our meeting. What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’ve been thinking it over, and I have an excellent hunch why Salena reached out. I need to see this through.”

  “A hunch? Flaky hunches and wack theories are my department. Are we going to be one of those old couples with matching track suits and his-and-hers aluminum foil hats?”

  “As long as we don’t start to look alike.”

  “And I can’t talk you out of this?”

  “No more than you can convince me to let you come. She said alone, and this woman’s got experience and a secret agent’s radar. She’ll know if I’ve got backup.” Nikki chuckled. “And besides, what are you going to do, squirt her with one of your fountain pens?”

  He paused. “You should at least call Callan.”

  “No.”

  “He not only has a stake in this, too, he’ll know how to back you up, undetected. Did you hear him talk about his surveillance dome over Tyler Wynn the other night?”

  “And how did that work out?” She let that sink in and continued, “Rook, listen to me. There are too many leaks screwing everything up at every turn. I’m not telling anyone.”

  “You sure?”

  “And neither are you. I mean it.”

  “Fine. What do I tell Puzzle Man?”

  “Tell him to figure it out.”

  “Zinggg. Do you at least have a plan?”

  “I do.” Then she said, “And I’ve got until eight-thirty to come up with it.”

  According to the Web site for the East River Heliport, New York City ordinances closed them for air traffic at 8 P.M. daily. Heat made a check of the time. Almost six. She didn’t stop to close the window on her monitor. She rolled her chair away from her desk, made a holster check, grabbed her jacket, and hurried to the door. She got to the hall, stopped, and made a U-turn and came back into the bull pen.

  “You all right?” asked Hinesburg.

  “Uh, yeah, just a little hassled for time.” Heat unlocked a drawer and took out an extra clip for her Sig Sauer. “Oh, Sharon?” she mimed a phone with her thumb and pinkie. “Check the hard drive, will you? Make sure that phone call recorded? And nobody else goes near it.” Then she left. She didn’t look back. She didn’t even take the sheet from her pad on which she’d written the time and place of her meeting.

  Somehow Nikki didn’t think she’d forget.

  She got there early and flashed her badge so the attendant would let her park in the rehab center lot at East 34th Street. He even moved a cone to open a spot for her where she could sit in her Crown Victoria and observe the entrance to the heliport across the service road that ran underneath the elevation of the FDR Drive
.

  One hour to go. The sun wasn’t due to set for about fifteen minutes; however a storm front pushing in from the Ohio Valley had cast a high curtain of black thunderheads against the western sky—enough to cause the cyclists using the esplanade’s bike path between her and the heliport to switch on their helmet lamps. The air thrummed, trash swirled, and the last Sikorsky of the day ascended over the East River, rotated, and banked a graceful turn east toward Long Island. Ten minutes later the fluorescents switched off in the mobile office trailer that served as the headquarters and boarding area for the helicopter facility. Two cars exited, the last one stopping as the driver, who wore a white shirt with epaulettes, got out and padlocked a chain through the gate before he left, too.

  She waited, watching everything closely now. The number of joggers and cyclists dwindled, and cars became sparse, with only an occasional taxi passing by on its way somewhere else at that hour. Then the lights around the helipad all cut off, all at once: the orange floodlights, even the red aviation lamps that ran along the edge of the pier. Strange. Could they be on a timer, or had they been doused deliberately?

  A truck from a paper shredding company blasted its horn at an ambulette servicing one of the nearby hospitals. While the drivers exchanged shouts and fingers in front of the heliport, she momentarily lost sight of the area. When they cleared away, everything seemed as before.

  Five minutes away, close enough. She reached up to switch off the dome light before she opened the car door and got out.

  As a precaution, she walked half a block down the road to cross over beyond the heliport’s line of sight. Keeping to the shadows, she arrived at the one-story modular office-trailer for the helicopter operation. The building just fit beneath the underbelly of the FDR, with about five feet of headroom to spare. The side facing the road had no doors, only four unlit windows. She lowered her head as she passed them and came to the north end of the structure, near the gate. Her vision had adjusted enough to the darkness when she got there to see that the chain around the gate now hung free. It had been popped, and the heavy-duty padlock swung at the end of it, tapping lightly against steel pipe. She drew her gun and squeezed through the opening.