Lena ignored the Caprice hiding in the mist and pulled into her drive. Somewhere along the way home her priorities had changed. That included the idiots from Internal Affairs watching and listening to her house when she wasn’t even there. Somehow they had become irrelevant. They didn’t seem important anymore.
She pushed open the front door, didn’t bother switching on the lights, and headed straight for the kitchen. Inside the freezer she kept a fifth of Skyy vodka. She didn’t drink it very often. But tonight she needed it. Tonight the blue bottle looked like medicine.
She poured a glass over ice in the darkness, then headed outside onto the back porch with her cigarettes and sat down on the steps. There was no view tonight-just the fog tenting the city and glowing from the lights underneath.
She held her glass up as if to make a toast, then took a long sip that burned her throat. As she lit a cigarette, she felt the vodka reach her stomach and ignite.
This was what the fall felt like. Sitting alone in the darkness. Unable to see the city lights even though she knew that they were right in front of her.
Her cell started vibrating and she thought about throwing it into the pool. When she saw Steve Avadar’s name on the display, she took a drag on the cigarette and decided to take the call.
“I’m sorry, Lena. I know it’s late. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
She tried to pull herself together. “Everything’s good, Steve. What’s up?”
“It’s about the witness,” he said. “I’m worried.”
She looked over the hill into the gloom. Everything seemed so far away.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“He tried to use McBride’s ATM card on Sunday.”
“Where?”
“Fourth and Arizona. The same branch we met at on Saturday. When that didn’t work, he hit an ATM at a convenience store in Venice.”
Lena took another pull on the drink, pressing the ice against the glass with her fingers so Avadar wouldn’t hear it. “I thought you said that the card would only work inside the bank during business hours.”
“That’s all still good,” he said. “He didn’t get any cash. But here’s the problem. Yesterday there were no attempts to use the card at all. Same thing happened today, and that’s why I’m worried. Usually they keep trying. The machine doesn’t eat the card. The screen they get gives them their balance, branch locations and tells them to try again.”
“And this guy hasn’t tried again.”
“It’s a first, Lena. There’s a lot of money in that account and he knows it. I think something’s going on.”
She took another drag on the smoke. A lot was going on.
“Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” she said.
“I’m just giving you a heads-up. I’ll call if anything changes.”
“Thanks.”
She slipped the phone into her pocket and dowsed the cigarette in the wet ashtray. It seemed fitting that Avadar would call this late and give her the news. Albert Poole was stretched out on a gurney at the morgue and now it looked like their witness was in the wind.
The chief and his adjutant were probably celebrating. Probably out there somewhere in the fog with the DA.
Lena looked back at the drink in her hand, then dumped it out on the lawn. She got up, heading inside to make a cup of coffee. She didn’t want any more vodka. The blue bottle wasn’t working tonight.