We left him staring at the tip and made our way outside.

“He’s lying, Rink.”

“Of course he is. But he’s also a self-serving asshole. I think the phone number’s genuine, though. Why d’you think he gave us it?”

“My guess? He’s greedy. Like he said, he didn’t get anything from the deal. Maybe this is his way of getting something he wants.”

We’d just made it back to the Chrysler when my mobile phone rang.

Without preamble Harvey gave me an address over in Liberty City. “Cops are already on the way there now, so you’d better hurry if you want to get Rickard first.”

Rink drove so I could get the rest of the details.

“It’s him for sure?” I had to shout over the roar of the engine, and Harvey sounded a little breathless in his need to tell me the facts.

“Without a doubt. Someone murdered a cab driver from the same company that picked up Alisha Rickard from behind the mall. Just before he died, the cabbie radioed and asked his co-worker where he’d taken his fare and then that was it. It looks like Rickard has gone after his wife.”

I felt a jolt of adrenalin.

“Okay, Harvey. We’re on our way.”

Rink’s normal mode of transport is his Porsche, and he drives it like a pro. He made no exception behind the wheel of the Chrysler. We blasted across town, hoping to beat the cops heading to the same location. Going for us was the fact that we were good to go, while the police would be planning their approach. Directions would be shooting back and forth over the radio as the chain of command was organized. Their orders would be for a covert approach, the area surveilled and then a plan of action drawn up. The Miami Dade Special Response Team would be mobilized, negotiators brought in, the FBI on standby. All of that would take time. In comparison our plan was simple: get there quick and kill Rickard even quicker.

Chapter 27

27

Standing on the peak of the roof, silhouetted against the skyline, Rickard should have felt exposed, but he didn’t. He felt invincible. Like he was a god towering over the mortals below him. He watched the car speed along the street and then come to a skidding halt. His first thought was that this was an unmarked police cruiser responding to the shots fired, but the two men leaping out the car weren’t cops. They were tough guys with guns, but no one of any consequence to him. They were just a couple more of the drug dealer’s gang called in as reinforcements. They would die as easily as every other man that got between him and Alisha.