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.“Against me,” I said, still holding together my torn nightgown.Matteo seemed to notice this for the first time.Not too surprising, since there wasn’t a whole lot to this nightgown in the first place.He turned to Brooks.“You son of a bitch.If you weren’t in cuffs I’d punch you in the face.”“Matt, you don’t know the half of it.He made a pass at Joy, too.”“I’ll kill him.”“Calm down, Pool Boy,” Quinn said, blocking Matt’s reach.“We have other issues.I talked to Esther Best back at your store and she told me about Joy’s little shove off the curb and into the path of an M20 bus.I doubt very much that what happened was an accident—Maxine Bowman is a pusher.I’m betting she tried to kill Joy.”“Try your cell!” I told Matteo.He spread out his arms.“Like I have a place to carry a cell phone.”“Here,” said Quinn.“Use mine.”I dialed the Blend.Esther answered.“Esther! Is Joy there?”“She just got here.”“Don’t let her out of your sight! Tell her to stay put.We’ll be right there!”“What’s the meaning of this!” an outraged voice bellowed.A portly bald man in evening clothes hurried across the kitchen.“What are you doing to my client?”“Jerry, thank God!” Brooks Newman cried.“Get me out of this.Now!”Quinn flashed his badge and the portly man calmed a little.“I’m Jerry Benjamin, Mr.Newman’s attorney.Are you going to charge my client with a crime?”Quinn looked at me.“We don’t have time for this,” I said.Quinn shook his head.Then he stood Brooks Newman up and unlocked the handcuffs.“That’s better,” Brooks said, rubbing his wrists.“Why I ought to charge you with police brutality!”He was so angry at Mike Quinn that he never even saw Matteo’s fist coming.TWENTY-FOURBACK at the Village Blend, we found Joy safe and sound.After a round of hugs, Joy said she was really tired and wanted to go back to her apartment.I asked her to please consider staying over in the duplex upstairs, but she flatly refused.She said her roommate was home now and she was eager to check her home machine and see if the young man she’d met earlier had called—they had a “date to talk” after she finished her work.I pointed out she could call him from upstairs, but she wanted her privacy—either that or the date was for the young man to stop by, too, and not just call.Ah, youth.Well, I couldn’t stop her from going, but it gave me a substantial amount of relief to watch her walk out the Village Blend’s front door in the company of her father.If there was one thing Matteo Allegro could do without fault, it was protect his daughter.And if there was one thing Mike Quinn could do, it was cuff a guilty party.He had identified the murderer, now all he had to do was locate her.After we parted at the Puck Building, he said he was off and running in an attempt to locate and arrest Bruce’s wife.I knew Maxine Bowman wouldn’t be that hard to find—with driver’s licenses, credit cards, social security numbers and the like, nobody could hide for long in this day and age, even if she was going by another name.And, of course, Bruce could help locate her, too.Even if he didn’t know the woman’s exact address, he could probably help Quinn set up some sort of trap.A few feet away from me, behind the coffee bar counter, Tucker looked completely exhausted.After pulling a double shift, I hated asking him to stay a little longer but I didn’t want to be here alone, and Matt said he was coming right back.When the store’s phone rang behind me, I quickly picked it up.“Village Blend.”“Clare? Clare, is that you? Thank God.” It was Bruce.His deep, warm voice resonated in my ear, feeling more like a touch than a sound.“I am so happy to hear your voice,” I told him.It felt like a year had passed since I’d last seen him.“It’s been one crazy day.”“Has it? I stopped in earlier and saw Joy but nobody seemed to know where you’d gone or when you’d be back.I was really starting to get worried.”“You don’t have to worry.Everything’s okay.”“I’m in lower Manhattan, in my SUV.I’ll be there in ten minutes tops.Don’t move.”Since he was on his way, I didn’t bother trying to explain anything that had happened over the last two days.I’d probably need hours to do that anyway.Quinn would also need to be updated.I intended to call the detective after Bruce got here—and we had a few minutes privacy to say hello.Whether Bruce knew the location of his ex-wife or not, I was sure Quinn would want to question him.“Don’t worry,” I told Bruce.“I’m about to close, and I’m not going anywhere.If you don’t see me and the door is locked, I’m probably upstairs.Just call my cell and I’ll come down.”I hung up and smiled brightly at Tucker, my energy renewed.“Why are you so happy?” he asked.“Bruce is the most amazing man, and I’ve fallen in love with him.”Tucker gave me a tired smile.“I’m glad for you, honey.Really glad.”“He’s on his way up.”Tucker nodded.“I’ll stay till he comes.”But I felt terrible making him wait.He looked ready to collapse.“You don’t have to.I can see you’re exhausted.Just help me shoo the last customers out and lock up.What can happen in less than ten minutes with me locked in here?”Tucker nodded.“I am about ready to fall off my feet.You’re sure?”“Of course.” And to be honest, I suddenly knew how my daughter felt, rushing back to her place for privacy with a new beau.I couldn’t wait to be alone with Bruce again, so I could wrap my arms around his neck and just hold on.In the next two minutes, Tucker and I politely shooed the last five customers out of the place.Then Tucker gathered his things and headed toward the front door.“Are you sure, you’re sure I should leave?” Tucker asked again.“Positive!”“Thanks, Clare.Good-night.”I locked the door and quickly began to clear the marble-topped tables of any stray debris, mostly crumpled napkins, crumbs, and paper cups.When I got to a table by the fireplace, I noticed a closed laptop computer.“What a thing to leave behind…”Curious, I flipped up the top.The machine’s screen was blank.I hit the spacebar and it sprang to life.There were files on the desktop.“Okay, who do you belong to?” I murmured, trying to find a name.I clicked on a folder that read “E-mail Backups.” Inside were two more folders.Before I could read the folder names, I heard an insistent tapping at the front door.“Winnie?” I called as I approached the door.It was Winnie Winslet, the Shearling Lady.“Can you open the door, Clare?” she called.“I’m so stupid—I left my laptop.”“Oh! So it’s your laptop.I was wondering.Just a second.”The key was still in the lock, waiting for Bruce to arrive so I could easily turn it and let him in.I turned it now, for Winnie.“Come on in.”I closed the door and led her back to the computer.As I approached the laptop, I was ready to apologize for snooping.My eyes strayed to the screen, ready to point and explain when I saw the names on the “E-mail Backups” folders: Vintage86 Sent and Maxine’s Incoming.I looked into Winnie’s face.“Is that your screen name?” I asked as steadily as I could manage.“Vintage86?”“Yes.It is,” she said.“Winslet’s your maiden name, isn’t it?”“Yes.”“And your married name was Bowman, wasn’t it?”The gun was drawn quickly.She’d been ready.The laptop was clearly a ploy to get back into the closed Blend [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]