the doors, things like that. Never accepted one penny for it either.
Anybody has a problem in the building-the tenants are mostly old, like
me-they go to Lee, and he takes care of it.”
Reynolds smiled warmly. “Sounds like a nice guy. Go on with your
story.”
“Well, I had just gotten Max settled when the UPS man came. Saw him
out the window. And then Lee called me and said to let Max out.”
Reynolds interrupted. “Did he call from the building?” “Don’t know.
The connection was a little scratchy, like one of those cellular
phones, maybe. But the thing is, I didn’t see him leave the building.
Guess he could have gone out the back and down the fire escape,
though.”
“How did he sound?”
Mrs. Carter patted her hands together while she thought. “Well, I
guess I have to say he was agitated about something. I was surprised
he wanted me to let Max back out. I mean, I had just gotten him
settled, like I told you. Lee said he needed to give the dog a shot or
something. Now that didn’t make any sense to me, but I did what Lee
told me and then all hell broke loose after that.”
“This UPS man, did you see him?”
Mrs. Carter snorted. “He wasn’t the UPS man. I mean, he had on the
uniform and everything, but he wasn’t our regular UPS person.”
“Maybe a replacement. A substitute.”
“I’ve never seen a UPS man carrying a gun before, have you?”
“So you saw a gun?”
She nodded. “When he came running back down the steps. He had a gun
in one hand, and his other hand was bleeding. But I’m getting ahead of
myself. Before that I heard Max barking like I’ve never heard him bark
before. Then there was a scuffle, could hear it clear as day. Feet
stomping, a man yelling, Max’s claws on the wood floor. Then I heard a
thud and then I heard poor old Max howl. Then somebody started beating
on Lee’s door. The next thing I know, I hear a bunch of feet going up
the fire escape. I looked out the window of my kitchen and saw all
these men running up the fire escape. It was like I was watching a TV
show. I went back to the front door and looked out my peephole. That’s
when I saw the UPS man go out the front door. Guess he went around
back and joined the others. I’m not sure.”
Connie leaned forward in his chair. “Did these other men have any type
of uniforms on?”
Mrs. Carter looked at him strangely. “Well, you of all people should
know.”
Reynolds looked at her, confused. “What do you mean?”
But Mrs. Carter hurried on with her story. “When they knocked the
back door in, the alarm went off. The police came right off.”
“What happened when the police came?”
“The men were still here. At least some of them were.”
“Did the police arrest them?”
“Of course not. The police took Max away and let them keep searching
the place.”
Reynolds exclaimed, “Do you have any idea why the police let them
stay?”
“Same reason I let you in the door.”
Reynolds looked in shock at Connie and then back at Carter and said,
“You mean-”
“I mean,” Carter broke in testily, “they were the FBI.”
CHAPTER 25
“WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE DOING HERE, LEE?” Faith asked. They had taken
two other cabs after the one from the airport. The last taxi had
dropped them off in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, and they
had been walking along back streets now for what seemed like several
miles.
Lee glanced at her. “Rule number one when running from the law: Assume
they’ll find the cabbie or cabbies who dropped you off. So you never
let a cabbie drop you off at your real destination.” He pointed up
ahead. “We’re almost there.” As he walked along, Lee put his hands up
to his eyes and popped out the contact lenses, returning his eyes to
their normal blue. He put the lenses away in a special case in his
bag. “Those suckers kill my eyes.”