“It’s a diet chocolate bar.”

“Says who?”

“Says so right here on the label. Forty-five percent less fat.”

“Less fat than what? A humpback whale?”

Jack was suddenly praying for car trouble-anything seemed better than a night of Theo and his girlfriend simulating sex on the dance floor while Jack and the mystery woman shouted themselves hoarse just trying to make small talk over the music. Jack wasn’t much of a clubber, and he hated setups, especially the late-night variety. Midnight, however, was the South Beach equivalent of happy hour on the mainland.

“Don’t even think about it,” said Theo as they pulled into Jack’s driveway.

Jack shifted into PARK and killed the engine. “Think about what?”

“Bailing on me.”

Jack shot him an incredulous look. The guy was a mind-reader. “Don’t worry. I’m going. And I’m sure I’ll thank you. Someday. In your dreams.”

They went inside the house. Jack took a quick shower and put on a change of clothes-black, of course. Theo ordered a movie and a middleweight boxing match on pay-per-view, then nearly blew a gasket as he tried in vain to figure out the picture-in-picture function on Jack’s TV set. By eleven-thirty, they were out the door and ready to go.

“So what’s her friend’s name?” said Jack as he locked up.

“Sabrina.”

Jack halted. “We’re going out with Sabrina and Katrina?”

“Yeah. Cool, huh?”

“It sounds ridiculous.”

“Okay, her name’s not Sabrina.”

“Good.” Jack started toward the car again. “Then what is it?”

“Is a name really that important?”

“I have to call her something.”

“All right. Her name is Cindy.”

Jack hated to trash the past, but his response was almost a reflex. “You’re fixing me up with a woman who has the same name as my ex-wife?”

“To be honest, they share more than just a name.”

“Don’t tell me they look alike, too.”

Theo paused, then said, “Even more than that.”

“Act alike?”

A big, exaggerated shrug rolled through Theo’s entire body, as if to say “Sorry, dude.”

“Theo, why in the hell would you-”

Theo lost it. “Gotcha,” he said, snorting.

Jack could breathe again. “Not funny.”

“No. But it do put things in perspective, don’t it, bro’?”

Jack glared over the car roof, then opened the door and got behind the wheel. Theo was still chuckling as he slid into the passenger seat. Jack turned the key in the ignition and said, “So does this mean Katrina’s friend is really named Sa-” He stopped cold.

“Don’t move,” came the voice from behind the headrest. “You neither, black boy.”

Jack felt a ring of cold metal pressing behind his left ear. Theo did a quick check over his shoulder.

“Eyes front, hands on the dashboard. Or this lawyer’s brains are all over the windshield.”

Jack summoned a calm voice and said, “Do as he says, Theo.”

Reluctantly, Theo obliged, his gaze locking onto the glove box. Jack stole a quick glance in the rearview mirror. There was barely enough external light shining through the tinted windows for Jack to make out the gun and the hand that was holding it. The backseat and gunman, however, were in total darkness. Jack and Theo had been too caught up in the joke about his date to notice that the dome light hadn’t blinked on when the car door opened. The dashboard lights were off, too, leaving it too dark to have noticed anyone hiding on the floor. He must have tinkered with the settings.

“Everybody just take it nice and easy.”

Jack recognized the voice. “Falcon, you don’t want to be doing this.”

“Shut up!”

The engine continued to idle. For what seemed like an eternity, it was the only sound in the vehicle. Finally, Theo said, “Ironic, ain’t it?”

“Quiet!” said Falcon.

Theo didn’t have to explain. Jack knew exactly what his friend was thinking. The way this was going down, it was very much like Theo’s very first car ride with Katrina.

Falcon said, “Now, nice and slow motion like. Put the car in gear.”

“This is not smart at all,” said Jack. “The cops are looking for you.”

“No, not for me. For a homeless guy, the old me.”

“I’m sure you clean up nice. But they’re all over town. They’ll find you.”

“Those idiots don’t have a clue. All they care about is guarding the mayor’s daughter. I could have walked over here naked, saved the cab fare.”

Jack debated whether to say more, or at least how to say it. “Did you kill that woman?”

Falcon didn’t answer.

“Who was she, Falcon?”

“Nobody. All of them were nobody.”

“All of who?”

He groaned, as if Jack were grabbing his various strands of thought and tying them into painful, knotted memories. “Stop asking so many questions, damn it.”

“Listen to me. It doesn’t matter what you did. I’m your lawyer. I can help you, but not if you add kidnapping and carjacking to your troubles.”

“Shut up and drive.”

“Just put the gun down.”

He shoved the weapon even harder against Jack’s skull. “No more talking!”

“All right,” said Jack. “Where are we going?”

The question hung in the darkness. With the utmost discretion, Jack caught a glimpse of Falcon’s face in the rearview mirror. His lips were moving, but the words wouldn’t come. Or was he talking things over with himself?

Falcon said, “You and your buddy are going to show me where you put all my money.”

“What money?”

“Don’t pull that shit on me again, Swyteck. The money in the safe deposit box!”

“All I took was ten thousand dollars to post your bail. Not a penny more.”

“You took all of it, I know you did!”

“Dude, we didn’t take your money,” said Theo.

“You gotta have it! The bank’s crawling with cops, I know it is. They’re just waiting for me to come get my money, see? If it’s there, I can’t possibly get at it. So you better have it. You just fucking better have it!”

Jack felt the gun shaking, as if Falcon were fighting the urge to pull the trigger. Whether the money was actually missing or not was irrelevant. In Falcon’s paranoid mind, it was gone, and Jack had taken it. Charged, tried, convicted. Any further denial would only have unleashed the execution. “All right,” said Jack. “I’ll take you to it.”

chapter 15

Y ou seem distracted,” said Vince.

“No. I’m okay,” said Alicia. She flagged the cocktail waitress and signaled for another round of drinks.

It was almost eleven o’clock by the time Alicia had finished up at the medical examiner’s office, driven home to get ready, and picked up Vince at his place. Vince’s blindness had thrown a curveball into her routine. Selecting what to wear, putting on her makeup, blow-drying her hair-did any of those things that she would normally do really matter to him anymore? She wasn’t sure why, but even raising those questions in her mind made her feel guilty. She debated whether to talk it out with Vince but decided it was better to keep the conversation light. The band was quite good, and they listened to music at the bar for a half-hour. When a table became available, they went out to the sidewalk café, where they could hear each other talk. The cold front was still a factor, but the bar had outdoor space heaters to warm things up. It was a crisp, clear night, and the moon over the ocean was so large that you could actually see the shadows on the lunar surface. She wondered if she should tell Vince about it.

“You keep looking around when we’re talking,” he said.

She did a double take, wondering how he knew.

“I can hear it,” he said. “When you’re not speaking directly toward me, the voice projects differently.”

“Really? That’s amazing.”

“It’s a skill I’ve been working on. I get a little better at it every day. But we weren’t talking about me. Why are you looking around?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be doing that.”