I didn't want to loosen my left fist, so when the time came, I fumbled my zipper back up with my shaky splinted fingers. I paced through the kitchen, and then through the dining room, resisting a stop at the bar. Maggie entered the restaurant a few seconds before I reached the door.
“I was just coming to find you,” she said. “You were supposed to stay by the window. I got worried.”
“I'm okay,” I said as we stepped out together.
She kept the rest of her unasked questions to herself as we double-timed away from the neighborhood of KOP station before Ian and crew came down on us. We had to assume that Liz called him even before I hit the stairs. We slowed our pace once we entered the warren of shop-lined alleys called the Phra Kaew market area.
Maggie and I took a serpentine path deep into the market, feeling safer and safer with every turn we made in the mazelike district.
“Come in with me,” I said to Maggie as I ducked into a spice shop, nothing more than a walk-in closet with shelving all around packed tight with glass jars brimming with aromatic spice. I asked the woman behind the counter for a baggie.
I told Maggie to take the baggie. “Now help me bag this up,” I said as I held up my closed left fist for her to see, long strands of black hair pinched between my fingers, white DNA-filled roots hanging on the ends.
Maggie and I found a Phra Kaew fish counter and took two of the four stools. I called Abdul, who was working late again, elbow deep in a fresh cadaver. I told him to come meet us when he was done-we had some DNA that needed analyzing. Maggie said she felt bad making him walk all the way down here, but we had little choice. We both knew there was no way we could set foot in KOP station, which was fine by me. I had no interest in going there ever again. The last time I was there was the day Diego Banks pulled off his coup. He had me arrested and kept me locked down while he and his coconspirators murdered Paul Chang and seized control. Then, once his takeover was complete, he took my badge and let me go. The SOB didn't even respect me enough to kill me.
Maggie and I ordered up a couple fish bowls and waited for Abdul. It didn't take long. Our fish was still frying when he came shuffling down the walk with a rickety gait that didn't seem to slow him down any. Abdul climbed up onto the stool next to mine and leaned heavily on the counter as he adjusted his shaky position until he found the right balance. I knew better than to offer any help. Abdul didn't need any, and he wasn't shy about letting you know.
“We already ordered,” I said.
“I'll have whatever they're having,” he said to the cook, who dropped another filet into the fryer.
Maggie reached around me to pass him the baggie of hair. “We need a rush job on this, Abdul.”
“No problem,” he said, and he took the baggy with his craggy hand and slid it into a shirt pocket. “I'll take care of it as soon as I get back to my office. I was glad to get your message, Juno. I've been trying to call you.”
“I had to ditch my phone.”
“They're looking for you,” he said.
“I know. Ian's not too happy with me.”
“It's not just Ian. He put out the word to all of KOP that you're wanted for questioning in a homicide.”
“Great,” I said, knowing full well that “questioning” was enforcer code for beating a confession out of somebody. “Whose homicide?”
“Gupta. Raj Gupta. That's the cadaver I was just working on.”
Maggie swore under her breath. Just then, the cook set a bowl of steamy fish and noodles in front of me, my knotted stomach rebelling at the sight of it.
Maggie asked, “What's Ian's reason for questioning Juno?”
Abdul looked at me with his spectacled eyes. “He says he has a witness who saw Juno in the area at the time of the murder.”
“How was Raj killed?”
“Knifed.”
“Was the knife recovered from the scene?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
We all knew what that meant. Ian would still have the knife, probably on his person. He'd be carrying it around so he could plant it on me once he found me. I wished I could say I was surprised to find myself wanted for murder, but I could hardly expect Ian to sit still while Maggie and I cranked up our investigation. What really had me going was the fact that I used to run KOP. All those cops had been in my control, mine and Paul's. All those years of running the show, and all it took to get the force turned against me was for Ian to say he wanted to question me. It was like I'd never been there.
Based on the way Maggie had started shoveling through her bowl, I assumed it was good fish, yet I couldn't stomach it. I picked around the fish, pulling noodles from underneath and twirling them onto my fork. I swallowed down a mouthful, not tasting anything.
“Oh, I have something else for you,” said Abdul as he pulled out a data chip and passed it to Maggie. “Another barge murder. I though you might be interested.”
“Thanks, Abdul.”
“And I have something for you, too, Juno.”
“What?”
I didn't like the way he paused before talking, a signal that he was about to lay something heavy on me. Finally, he said, “Niki called me.”
“Christ.” I dropped my fork into my bowl.
“Hear me out.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “She's in a bad way, Juno.”
“It's none of your business, Abdul.”
“The hell it's not. She's my friend, and so are you.”
I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but seeing him looking at me with his eyes magnified to giant size under his superthick lenses, I couldn't do it. “What did she tell you?”
“She asked me to pull the plug, Juno. She said you wouldn't do it, so she asked me.”
I felt Maggie's hand on my other shoulder. I resisted the urge to yank my shoulder away. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her I'd think about it.”
“Christ.”
“I think it's the right thing, Juno.”
I didn't know what to say. I picked up my fork and started pushing my noodles around.
Abdul ignored the bowl the cook set in front of him. “She wants to die.”
“You think I don't know that?”
“I know you want to save her, but you can't. She'll just do it again. She'll never get over it.”
“Get over what?” Maggie wanted to know.