he
note-taking is finished."
The guy glanced at the group and seemed to realize that this was his
middle-management chance to achieve some favorable and potentially useful
self-publicity. He nodded and stepped behind the counter to draw Cade a coffee
as he called the attendant over.
"Yes, Mr. D'Angelo?" asked the attendant.
Handing the coffee to Cade, D'Angelo said, "Go ahead and open back up,
Manuel. Free coffee for anybody who's supposed to be in here until the cops are
gone."
"Yes, sir," said Manuel.
"Could I have an extra coffee?" asked Cade.
Manuel drew another coffee and handed it to him. Cade thanked him and headed
for the stairs to the street. The rent-a-cop was standing by the body, as
requested.
He said, "You're the guy who told me to watch the body."
Cade handed him the extra coffee and said, "Yup, sure am. Here, I brought
you a coffee."
Someone aimed a camera toward them and Cade turned to face the cop --
Davies, by his nametag -- as the camera flashed. He kicked the gun that had
fallen into the bushes over by the body and toed it under a fold in the coat.
"Should you be moving the evidence around like that?" asked Davies.
"So tell 'em I kicked it. I just came down here to get your name and badge
number for the record and secure the scene."
Shrugging as he looked around, Cade said, "Now the scene is secure, I have
my info, and you have your coffee. Just stay put until the cops get here."
Davies almost choked on his first sip of coffee.
He glanced down at the body, then stared at Cade as he asked, "But... You
mean you aren't a cop?!"
"Never said I was," said Cade. "I've just been working with them today. See
you later."
As Cade turned to go, the guard said, "Hey, wait. Is there any word about
the blonde? The woman who, uh... who flew off... with the car?"
"I haven't heard anything."
Glancing up at the sky, Davies said, "God, I hope she wasn't still hanging
onto that car when it blew. I was looking right at it, but it was too far up...
Do you think she...?"
"No idea," said Cade. "Later."
With that, he headed back up the steps and into the hotel, where he gave
Davies' info to Avery and refilled his coffee cup, then sat down in a corner of
the cafe with an incident report form to wait for Lieutenant Bain.

Chapter Two

Mandi Steele had landed behind a support column in the drive-through of the
Rivage