by the throat with his other hand and hurled him backward off his chair onto the floor.
Rex immediately pulled out his gun while Bart sat on the junkie’s chest and choked him.
“Open your yap!” Bart yelled. “Spit it out!”
The junkie shook his head and gritted his teeth.
Without letting go, Bart used his other hand to take out the handcuffs hanging from the back of his belt. He flipped one cuff open to expose the serrated clasp, then jammed it into the junkie’s mouth. A small bundle of dope, wrapped in a condom, spit out from between the junkie’s bloody lips. Bart then dragged him out the front of the bar while Rex tagged along, his gun still drawn.
“Christ, I hate those fuckin’ guys,” muttered Red.
“Too damn close, if you ask me,” said Jack, retrieving the two baggies from under the table. “Think I’ll sit and have another beer and make sure those two gorillas are gone before I leave.”
“Yeah. Good idea.”
Danny had seen Leonard return to his stash and then hand the drug to Red. He waited for Jack to exit. What the hell is taking him so long?
A car came down the alley and stopped. Someone opened the trunk, and Danny cursed silently as he felt the weight of more garbage being thrown on the pile.
The waitress came over to Red and said, “Someone called and said to tell ya your package is here.”
“Yeah? Thanks. Send a cab around back for me, will ya?”
Red sipped her beer. A moment later she stood up and said, “Gotta go. See ya around.” She walked out the back door into the alley.
Jack wanted to leave as well. Danny would be fuming, in more ways than one. He decided to give Red a few minutes to clear the alley. She was paranoid enough without him walking out right behind her.
Danny watched Red enter the alley. She looked around, then strolled over to where he was hiding as a taxi rolled to a stop behind her. Has she seen me? She reached her hand toward the garbage. Should I pretend I’m drunk?
She shook the garbage and said, “Hey! What’re ya doin’ in there?”
What the hell should I say?
A girl moaned loudly. Someone is lying on top of me! Red shook her again and she started to wake up. Red stood back and said, “Oh my God, Marcie, it’s you!”
She half-lifted and half-dragged Marcie out of the Dumpster and into the alley.
“It’s a good thing I came along! Come on, get in the cab. What happened?”
Red got in the taxi with Marcie and the car disappeared down the alley. Danny was able to get the taxi’s number.
The door opened again. It was Jack.
“It’s about bloody time!”
Jack helped Danny stagger out of the garbage. He had sat for so long that his legs had gone numb. “Did you see Leonard?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, I saw him. But that’s not all that happened. Red set up some young girl by the name of Marcie. Only about ten or twelve years old. She’s really hurt. They just left in a cab. I got the number.”
“So did he stash it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Leonard. Did you see where he stashed it?”
“Yeah, there’s a loose brick over on the wall, but this kid —”
“Where? Show me!”
Danny found the loose brick and pulled it out. There was a small empty cavity in the wall behind the brick.
Jack was pleased. “This is great! I’ve got an idea. With the amount I scored tonight, we better stay away from here for about a week. After that —”
“Forget the fuckin’ stash for a moment, will you!”
“What’s wrong?” “This kid! I got the number of the cab that took her away. I think we —”
“You’re worried about someone in this ‘den of snakes’?”
“This is different! This is just a kid!”
Jack gestured toward the bar with his thumb and said, “Everyone in there was a kid once. We can’t let ourselves get sidetracked over —”
“Damn it, Jack! Aren’t kids what this is all about? The girl that Red set up tonight … she’s about the same age that Maggie was.”
Natasha Trovinski treated her last patient of the night. She saw the child to the door and watched her leave in a taxi. Her patient left against her advice, but she was used to people ignoring her advice in this clinic. She returned to her office, straightened up the papers on her desk, and shut off her stereo. She was looking forward to going home and having a long hot bath. Considering this last patient, I’ll probably have a long cry at the same time. She took her coat off the rack as her receptionist walked in.
“They’re back. The two Mounties who were here earlier in the week.”
“He’s too early to have his stitches out.”
“It’s not about that. They want to talk to you about the girl who just left.”
She put her coat back on the rack. “Send them in.”
Dr. Trovinski quickly located The Marriage of Figaro and turned the stereo back on.
“Gentlemen! Come in and have a seat.” She looked at Danny and said, “How is your hand, officer? I hope you haven’t been … falling on any more glass?”
Danny grinned, then said, “No. My hand is fine, thanks.”
“Jack, I want to thank you for the CD. I also want to apologize for lying to you about being married.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“How did you know I wasn’t?”
Jack smiled, then said, “Trade secret.”
“What CD?” Danny asked.
“The one she put on as we were walking down the hall,” said Jack. He caught her blush and added, “We want to ask you about a young girl who just left here.”
“Her name is Marcie,” said Danny.
“I told you gentlemen before, I don’t talk about my patients. I extended that courtesy to you. The same goes for my other patients.”
“But we’re police officers…,” protested Danny.
“Most of my patients are not on very good terms with the police. If I talk, especially to the police,
