Possum tucked the cell phone under the covers just in time.
“Just talking to Popeye about our new flag. ” Possum thought quickly. “What you think, Smoke?”
Smoke walked in drinking a breakfast beer and looked long and hard at the big flag tacked to the wall.
“What is this shit?” Smoke asked in a hard, mean voice.
“You don’t got a flag, and I was thinking that all pirates got flags, just like NASCAR drivers got colors. So I put this together for you, Smoke, like I said I would. Thought you could put it up in the pit when we go to the race tomorrow night. Then, when we escape to the island, you can hang it up there so everybody will know not to mess with you. ”
“If you’re going to talk to yourself, keep your fucking voice down. You woke me up, ” Smoke said. “Now I’m going to be tired the rest of the day. ”
Smoke calmed down and looked thoughtful as he studied the flag from different angles. He got an idea and tugged it loose from the wall.
“Maybe I’ll just shoot the damn dog and wrap it in this thing. We’ll leave a little present on Hammer’s doorstep, ” Smoke cruelly said.
Popeye, who could play possum just as well as Possum could, pretended to be asleep again, and Possum pretended he didn’t care what happened to the dog.
“But that wouldn’t be as good as getting Hammer and that Trooper Brazil, ” Possum reminded him because Smoke tended to forget most things these days. “And we need the dog to get them to show up at the race so we can blow them away. Then Cat fly us off in the helicopter, and we live fat lives on the island. ”
“And how the fuck do you intend to set up all this?” Smoke said, tossing the flag on top of Popeye, who didn’t budge.
“That easy, ” Possum replied. “I send an e-mail to
Captain Bonny and get him to do it. We know he got connections, right? So he can get the plan to Hammer and make her think you The Man NASCAR Driver with that pretty girlfriend, Unique, and the rest of us is your pit crew who happened to find Popeye wandering on the road. So we picked her up but ain’t turning her over to no one less Hammer and Trooper Brazil can ID her for sure. So they show up at the race and come look for us, and the minute she starts screaming ’cause she’s so happy to see Popeye, we pull out our guns, shoot everybody, run to the helicopter, and fly away. ”
“Set it up, ” Smoke ordered as he chugged the beer and tossed the can on the floor.
Twenty-three
The chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, was in her office when Andy knocked on her open door.
“Doctor Scarpetta? Hi, ” he said politely and a bit nervously. “If this isn’t a bad time, I’d like to talk to you about the unidentified man who burned up on Canal Street last night. ”
“Come in. ” Dr. Scarpetta looked up from a stack of death certificates she was reviewing. “Have we met?”
“No, ma’am. But I’ve worked with Dr. Sawamatsu before. ”
Andy introduced himself, and then explained that Regina was an intern with the state police, although he did not refer to her by name.
“And your name is?” Scarpetta inquired of her.
Regina stared at her, wide-eyed and tongue-tied. Regina had never met such a powerful woman before, and she was completely taken aback. Dr. Scarpetta was a very handsome blonde, maybe in her mid-forties, and was dressed in a sharp pinstriped suit. Why would someone who has everything going for her want to work with dead patients for a living? What should Regina say to explain herself, without giving away her identity and causing a stink?
“Reggie, ” Regina blurted out.
“Officer Reggie, ” Dr. Scarpetta said with a nod from her judge’s chair behind her big desk. “And you’ll vouch for her?” she said as a bit of a warning to Andy. “I don’t routinely have police interns down here. “