Page 61 of Delusional

“Then get the hell off my property before you have your own vision problems.”

CHAPTER 74

DESPITE THE SIGNIFICANT height difference between them, Maggie Chin held a steady gaze with Leonard Barr’s surly mother. Then the woman said, “I’m so tired of you cops harassing people for no reason. My Lenny is a good boy. Why don’t you go find some real criminals? I hear how bad things are getting. Maybe you should spend some more time in the city.”

Maggie said, “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. After we find your son. If you’d like to speed this along and help us all out, we’d appreciate it.”

“I’ve had enough of you two. If you’re not going to tell me why you want to speak to Lenny, you can leave before I make you.”

Maggie held the woman’s aggressive gaze. She simply said, “Okay, if that’s how you want it.”

“Why wouldn’t I want it that way? Are you threatening me?” Now her swaying became more pronounced. Mrs. Watson tried to set her drink on the banister running around the porch but only got half of the base of the glass onto the rail. The drink tumbled harmlessly into her yard.

I’d seen the same dance a hundred times. She wasn’t going to tell us anything and we were wasting time. I wasn’t going to engage with her. I just wanted to leave.

I turned and had taken one step when Mrs. Watson reached out and grabbed my shoulder, jerking me around to face her. I was impressed with her strength.

Maggie quickly stepped between us. The woman took a wild swing, which the ATF agent ducked easily. Maggie used a foot sweep to knock her off her feet, then caught her by the arm and lowered her gently onto the porch. Considering the size difference between the two women, it was astonishing.

As cops, we all have to train in self-defense, but it’s pretty basic. This looked like something Maggie may have learned in a martial arts class. I was impressed.

Leonard Barr’s mother wasn’t. She stayed on the ground, looked up at Maggie, and said, “I’ll sue you.”

Maggie said, “For what? All I did was break your fall and keep you from committing a felony by attacking a New York City police detective.”

Mrs. Watson lay still on the porch for a moment, thinking about what Maggie had said. Then she started to struggle to her feet. I was not inclined to help her. Neither was Maggie.

But she was more athletic than I had suspected. She got up, growled, “Just leave,” and gave us the stink eye as we walked all the way out of her yard and to Maggie’s car.

CHAPTER 75

MAGGIE AND I spent another couple of hours running down old addresses for Leonard Barr. We got most of them from some of his various booking sheets and stints on probation. Nothing really panned out. We found a couple of former neighbors who vaguely remembered a big guy who wasn’t terribly friendly and who smoked cigarillos all the time. He sounded like a delight.

Maggie and I sat in the front seat of her car. She let out a long sigh.

I said, “I know it’s frustrating. But this is how we’ll finally crack this thing.”

“It’s not that.” She held up her phone so I could read a text. She’d been ordered to federal court in lower Manhattan for an emergency hearing on one of her other cases.

Before I could even suggest that she drop me at my car, I got a text of my own from Juliana. She was taking Rob Trilling’s roommate Katie to another job interview somewhere near Times Square.

In an effort to relieve Maggie’s frustration, I said, “See? We both need a break. I know this case is important, but my family is more important to me. After what happened last time she went on an interview, I’m going to tag along. If that’s okay with you.”

Maggie agreed to drop me off near where I could meet Juliana and Katie, and I found the girls waiting only half a block away.

Juliana waved her arms and then ran to me. I guessed being away from home a few days had had a positive effect. Katie was more reserved but polite. She smiled and gave me a little wave. It was hard to picture this young, sweet, unassuming Pakistani girl beating up on anyone. I hadn’t heard anything more from Internal Affairs and was hoping the case might simply disappear. But that wasn’t how things usually worked. It made me worry about Katie’s and the other roommates’ futures.

Juliana downplayed the nervousness I thought we all shared after the previous close call. “Thanks for coming, Dad. I know it’s no big deal—it’s just a job interview a few blocks away at a courier company.”

“My partner got called away to court so I had time to kill anyway. Besides, how often do I have the opportunity to see my daughter while I’m at work?”

“Based on my experience, quite a bit. When we were little, you used to always find time to take us to the movies on Wednesday afternoons.”

“Well, back in those days I wasn’t working homicides and had a little more free time.”

The three of us walked a few blocks, cutting through an alley and a questionable courtyard. The company was a courier service located on the ground floor of an office building. I saw all the bicycles out front and wondered if they would want Katie riding all over Manhattan, delivering packages and paperwork.

The building wasn’t in bad shape, but the courier office had seen better days. There was a poster for the release of the movie Les Misérables, which had come out back in 2012.