21st Birthday by James Patterson (e book reader android .TXT) 📕

“I don’t need an escort, Your Honor,” Kathleen said to the judge. She was on her feet, walking past Burke when the guards each took one of her elbows and steered her toward the doors.

“You’re not getting away with this,” Kathleen shouted over her shoulder as she was marched to the door.

Yuki couldn’t tell how the jury felt about Kathleen’s outburst. Would they see her as a maniac, or as a woman inside the same room with the man who had chopped out her heart and left her bleeding at the side of the road?

Chapter 87

I wore a nylon stocking cap to flatten my hair, and Sonia Alvarez pulled a brown, chin-length wig over my scalp.

“Owwwww,” I said. “Take it easy.”

“Sor-ry. Now, we’re done. What do you think?”

“Who is that girl in the mirror there?”

“That’s the idea, right?”

The doorbell on the suite rang.

I went to the door and looked through the peephole. I was thinking maybe it was Berney, but it was Joe.

I opened the door, saying “My God, Joe. What’s wrong?”

He said, “Hell of a greeting, uh, Blondie.”

“Is everything okay? What are you doing here?” I searched his face as I let him into the suite. I didn’t see tragedy in his eyes. Didn’t see that something had happened to Julie. He smiled.

“Figured I’d have dinner with you and Berney. I’m flying home later.”

Alvarez said, “Hello, Joe? I’m Sonia Alvarez. I’ve been partnering with Conklin,” she said. “Vegas is my native land.”

Joe shook her hand, both saying “Nice to meet you.” And to me he said, “I brought you a change of clothes, and Julie sent you a toy and a book.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Nothing was wrong. Joe was wonderful and my kiddo had sent me a toy.

“Your friend is meeting us at eight,” Alvarez said.

“My friend’s not expecting you,” Joe said to her. “I’ll give him a heads-up.”

“We’ve got time to kill. Anyone feel like having a late lunch? I recommend Lago, here in the hotel.”

Soon we were seated at a table at Lago, an elegant “small plate” restaurant with a cinematic view of the lake beyond the iconic Bellagio fountain. Someone in accounting was going to have a stroke when they saw our expenses.

Joe and Sonia were getting along like college friends at their twenty-fifth reunion, only it was more that they’d both worked undercover. I divided my attention between watching my phone for a text from Berney and munching bread. Which was delicious.

Joe was the foody at the table, and he was going over the menu as our proxy when the chair next to me was pulled out and Joe introduced Alvarez to “my old friend who goes by the name Berney.”

Berney reached across the table, shook hands with Alvarez. The waiter came over and Berney ordered Scotch on the rocks. He looked cheerful.

“The eagle has landed,” he said.

“Evan Burke?” Alvarez asked.

“I meant me. Just kidding. Burke is close by and I am tracking him via GPS.” Berney took his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and waggled it. “I can feed information to you. But you cannot mention me or the agency. That’s the deal. If you burn me, I can’t help you now or ever. My career will be over.”

Alvarez and I crossed our hearts, exchanged numbers with Berney, and then chose Joe’s recommendations: a yummy, hot seafood salad for me, a mini Margherita pizza for Alvarez. Joe went for the shrimp-stuffed squid, and Berney was all in for grilled lamb chops. Joe and I shared a few bites, and when the plates were cleared I ordered a platter of mixed sweets for the table.

And coffee, of course.

Berney said, “So, here’s how it goes. I’m the cheese in the trap and the spring is set. After you’re done with him, we’re going to take him off your hands.”

Until that moment, I’d been stuck between fear of Evan Burke and excitement. It would be tremendous to bring him in. Quicksilver, the Ghost of Catalina, an unexposed criminal who’d aimed his AK at Conklin and me from his narrow front porch—and then vanished.

The fear had burned off, leaving only the thrill of cuffing the bastard and interrogating him back at the Hall.

I had a subpoena in my pocket and many questions to ask the man in the moon.

Chapter 88

Cindy was in her seat in the back row of the courtroom, flipping to a clean page in her notebook when Kathleen Wyatt freaked out.

Guards had half dragged, half pulled her out of the courtroom. It was awful. Cindy was about to go after her, comfort her, get her a ride home, but at that moment Yuki called her next witness: Inspector Richard Conklin.

Cindy sat back down. Richie put his hand on her shoulder as he entered the room. She touched his fingers. He winked at her and proceeded up the aisle to the witness stand.

After he’d been sworn in and seated, Yuki asked preliminary questions meant to establish his role both within the SFPD and the task force assigned to this series of murders. Rich testified that he had been a witness to every step of the investigation.

In answer to Yuki’s questions, Rich gave a timeline of the multiple cases that he characterized as having a connection to the defendant.

Cindy knew all of this by heart. She and Rich had talked, but she, too, had been present at the crime scene on Baker Beach, watching from the parking lot as Chief Clapper lifted the baby out of the receding surf. She hadn’t been inside Burke’s house, but she’d been parked across the street beyond the tape with her cameraman. She easily visualized the scene from Rich’s description of where Burke had gotten into his car and accelerated into the distance as CSU and Homicide went through the little house on Dublin Street.

Yuki asked, “Did you find anything of note inside the Burke house?”

“We found what appeared to be feces, loosely wrapped in a baby