I looked around for Muna, but she was in the back somewhere. I needed more hot water, a fresh tea bag. Truthfully, I could tick off a list of names, but didn’t. “I’m just glad whoever it was chose my car and not my house.” I took another sip of tea. I smelled like a melted tire. “My money’s on Darby. He did threaten to break me. What if he killed Tim for his boss’s bottom line? Maybe Stephen Ayers was in on the whole thing. I haven’t met him yet, but if he’s anything like his mother . . .” I shivered, remembering the coldness. “I can’t link the mother or Stephen to Darby, but they link to Nick Spada, and he links to Darby. Who says Stephen and Spada didn’t team up?”

Ben’s eyes narrowed.

“The cocktail,” I said. “I heard you. I’ll be ready next time.”

“You’re thinking there’s going to be a next time?”

“I’m chasing a killer, or maybe killers. Of course there’s going to be a next time.”

Ben checked his watch. “Look, we need to talk.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

His phone rang. He slid it out of his pocket, answered it. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh.” Ben’s face turned serious. “Dammit. Okay. I’m rolling.” He ended the call, put the phone away. “Gotta go.” He scooted out of the booth. “I’ll call you.”

I stared up at him as he loomed over me, getting a hint of something in the tone of his voice. “What’s going on?”

“It’ll keep. But, FYI, Weber’s been asking about you again. Now he wants to know where you buy your ammo. Anything you want to tell me?”

“Nope.”

“Sure?”

“Yep.”

Ben adjusted his blazer to cover his holster, smiled. “Okay then. Watch yourself. This shit is starting to get serious.”

I blew out a breath and eyed my trusty pipe, which was now homeless. “Tell me about it.”

* * *

Monday morning, I got showered, dressed, and headed downtown on the train to Stephen Ayers’s office. The train. It wasn’t a pleasant ride. The car I was in reeked of funk and fuel and piss and I wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with because someone had torched my car. My money was on Vincent Darby. He might have been pretty to look at, but he had a mean streak a mile wide.