“Maybe we can borrow that cannon.”
“He coming for you and me no matter what,” Hawk said. “Things get tight and we just got to draw that line.”
I nodded. “Won’t the bad guys ever learn?”
The warm sea wind kicked up Hawk’s canvas coat, fluttering it off his jeans and boots. He wore black sunglasses and no expression. “You gonna drop with this Quirk?”
“Haven’t you heard?”
“Quirk finally retire?”
“Worse,” I said. “He got promoted.”
Hawk whistled low. “Damn shame.”
“And Belson’s got a new boss,” I said. “Woman named Glass.”
Hawk nodded. “Hmm,” he said. “She good-looking?”
“When she isn’t gritting her teeth. Got any idea what’s on this thing?” I said.
“Far as I know, this something you use to play Donkey Kong.”
“I’ll call Arson,” I said. “They have a tech guy named Cappelletti who can figure it out. He’s pretty sharp. Although I don’t think he likes me much.”
“That is sharp.”
I’d been working out for nearly an hour. The hot sun and breeze made quick work of drying my sweaty T-shirt. After I switched the box to my trunk, I’d get changed and make some calls.
“Jackie DeMarco’s crew will be coming.”
“Bring it,” Hawk said. “I got no trouble with it.”
I smiled. “So now should we return Jackie’s money?”
“Don’t those firefighters have kids?”
I nodded. Hawk grinned wide.
“Well,” he said. “Okay, then.”
52
Where the hell did you get this?” Cappelletti said.
“A little bird brought it.”
“We need to know,” Cappelletti said. “Sometimes judges and defense attorneys ask questions like that. Evidence can’t just wash ashore.”
He stood like a banty rooster. He again had his sunglasses worn over his ball-cap visor. As he eyed me, he chomped on some gum.
“Fine,” I said. “It was a big bird.”
“Jesus,” Cappelletti said. He hoisted his thumb my way. “You believe this guy?”
“You know what they say about gift horses,” I said.
Captain Cahill and I exchanged glances. He rubbed Galway’s head and watched me with deadpan eyes. It had been three days since Hawk had liberated the camera server and I’d handed it over. They’d been going through it hours upon hours ever since. Got to hand it to Arson, they had some true patience.
“I take it you found something of interest?” I said.
“We found a person of interest,” Cahill said. “Or what we used to call a suspect.”
“Anyone we know?”
Cahill blew out a long breath and threw up his hands. “Your pal Big Ray Zucco,” he said. “The cop from Blackburn? Boston Police picked him up this morning for questioning. Belson said the dumb bastard used his own vehicle.”
“He’s not my pal,” I said. “Never met the guy. I was betting on Johnny Donovan.”
“Well, it’s one of the three dipshits,” Cahill said. “We got Zucco walking away from that warehouse only eight minutes before you can see the smoke. This was an hour after your place went up. I gotta hand it to you, Spenser. That flower shop had some primo footage.”
“I guess flower theft is a major problem in the South End.”
“I don’t want to know who or what,” Cahill said. “But this is something. This gives us something to work off of. We can push him with this. Let the Feds handle the legal end. We just got to stop the burning.”
Cappelletti sat on a desk adjacent from where I leaned against a wall. It had grown dark that morning and started to rain. The day before had broken heat records. The rain fell pleasant and cooling onto Southampton Street, even with Cappelletti’s continual gum smacking.
“Any physical evidence at that second fire?” I said.
“Nope,” Cahill said. “Burned up clean and neat. These bastards are getting better as they go along. If we didn’t have video, we wouldn’t have squat.”
“Maybe if we knew where you got the server, we could make a fucking arrest,” Cappelletti said. “You know that?”
“You don’t want to know,” I said. “Trust me.”
Cahill toasted me with a coffee mug. The rain kept falling. Galway snuffled a bit and resumed snoring.
“He’ll break,” Cahill said. “Zucco won’t try and protect a nut like Donovan. How the hell did a cop fall in with a guy like that?”
“Ever been to Blackburn?” I said.
“Sure,” Cahill said.
“Know their cops?”
“A few.”
“Then you know the kind of guys they hire,” I said.
Cahill did not disagree. Cappelletti scooted off the desk. He started to pace. Cahill and I watched him. Young guys are prone to pace. Old guys sit and figure it all out. After a while, Cahill got tired of it and told him to sit down. “We’ll wait to hear back from BPD,” he said. “We’ll have a long chat with this guy. It takes as long as it takes. But this son of a bitch is going to wear a wire for us.”
“How about Teehan?” I said.
“How about him?” Cahill said.