Mac went back up to the lab and dropped the folder on his desk. He sat down in his chair and sighed. Jo came into the office. "Well, what happened?" she asked.
Mac looked at her. "We have two suspects," he replied. "We went to the bottom of New York and found one guy who found his girlfriend's body, and he and his pals over there stored it because they were afraid we would think they killed her so they didn't even bother calling the police. Now, we have to go to another bar owned by a drug lord who may or may not have killed this girl because she lost some of his drugs and then there's her pimp who may have killed her because she was dating Marty on the side."
Jo folded her arms. "Sounds like a lot of fun," she said. "I'm going home at about six today."
Mac looked at her with one of his serious looks. "I'll be there as soon as I can," he said.
"I'll be waiting for you."
Jo left the office and went back to her own office. Mac sighed and wrote out some of his report while he waited for Don to locate the two suspects. They would go after the one with the bar first. Soon, Don had the information they needed and he called Mac.
Mac went down to the Avalanche, along with Danny. "This could be dangerous," Mac said. "These guys usually have an army around them, you know."
"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I just hope we can find out who killed this girl."
They went over to the White Evergreen along with Don. They were surprised when they walked in. The bar was well lit and in the middle was a big fountain that was shaped like a big white evergreen tree. Mac, Don and Danny stared at it a moment. "Well, I guess that's why they call it the white evergreen," Danny remarked.
"I don't think I've ever been in here," Don said.
"Probably keeps it under control so he can get away with his drug running," Mac pointed out.
"Right."
They walked over to the bar where two women were tending. They were both dressed in white fuzzy sweaters with white mini-skirts and a white fuzzy hat. "Hi," one of them said. "What can I get you?"
Mac showed her his badge. "We're looking for Patrick or 'Razor'," he said.
"He's in his private booth back there," the woman said pointing to a booth in the back of the bar that looked like it was fully furnished with cushions of all sorts and a bed in the middle surrounded by a sectional sofa.
Mac, Don and Danny headed back that way but they were interrupted by two guys dressed in black who looked like they spent a lot of their time lifting weights. "The boss doesn't want to be disturbed," one of them said.
"I need to talk to him," Mac said. "And I'm 'going' to talk to him, so just move out of my way."
The bodyguards stared at Mac a moment, seeing no fear in his eyes. Don and Danny just stared at them. The guards finally moved and Mac, Danny and Don went on over to the sofa/bed where Razor was lying in the bed with two women and there were several more women on the sofa. "Are you Razor?" Mac asked.
"Yeah, who wants to know?" the man asked.
Mac showed him his badge. "I'm Detective Taylor," he said.
"Detective Taylor," Razor said thoughtfully. "I've heard of you. It's an honor to have you in my club."
Mac frowned. "I think you know why I'm here," he said. "Why don't we go somewhere so we can talk?"
"Have a seat."
"Hey, you heard the man," Don said. "Get up and get some clothes on. Some of us have other things to do in life besides lying around having sex at our leisure!"
Razor glared at them but he got up and they went to an office in the back of the bar. "So, what do you know about Linda Warner?" Mac asked.
"I don't know nothing about her," Razor replied.
"Wrong answer. We know you had her dealing drugs for you and she lost some. You killed her for it, didn't you?"
"Prove it!"
"Hey, Mac, why don't we take this guy downtown?" Don asked.
"That's a good idea," Mac replied. "I'm sure we can find a lot of stuff in this place that's illegal."
Just then, Razor ran for the back of the office just as his two bodyguards came in the other door. Mac, Don and Danny whirled around just in time to look into the barrels of two automatic weapons. They scattered and dove for cover just before bullets found the space they had been taking up. Mac could not get off a shot because he was behind a couch and the bullets from the automatic weapons were making hash of it. Don was behind a desk. He shot back at the two and they separated. Danny was behind the corner of the wall in the back of the office. He was trying to return fire as well.
"I'm gonna try to go after him," Mac said referring to Razor. He crawled toward the door that Razor had gone out while Don and Danny were returning fire as much as they could.
Mac got out the door and got to his feet just in time to almost get a bullet from Razor's gun. He was in a hallway that was dimly lit. Mac dove for the floor and returned fire to Razor who jumped around a corner at the other end of the short hallway. Mac got up and ran the way Razor had gone as he heard his footsteps going further away. He stopped at the corner and peeped around. Razor was going out a door at the end of that hallway. Mac ran for the door and got it open in time to see Razor arriving at a car. Mac ran for the car and got there before Razor could get in.
Mac grabbed Razor and shoved him against the car, but Razor hit Mac with the gun that he still had in his hand which was empty now. Mac shook his head slightly to clear it and grabbed Razor's hand before he could hit him again. He jerked his arm around behind him and shoved him against the car again. "You're under arrest!" Mac said.
Razor did not want to give in. He kicked Mac's knee with his booted foot. Mac got his leg between Razor's legs and jerked his right leg out from under him, bringing him to the ground. Then he finally got cuffs on him. "Like I said, you're under arrest," Mac said angrily.
"I didn't do nothing!" Razor declared.
"You've done plenty!"
Just then, Don Flack came out the back door. "You okay, Mac?" he asked.
"Yeah," Mac replied and gave the prisoner to Don.
Mac grimaced as he started back toward the bar. His knee was sore but it would be okay. However, he knew he was going to have a bruise where that bullet hit his vest which was on his left side ribs. He sighed as he was glad it was no worse.
They went back inside where Mac discovered that Don and Danny had killed one of the bodyguards and the other had surrendered. He was sitting on the sofa in the office handcuffed. "Well, now you two have got some explaining to do," Mac said still trying to get his breath back.
They took the two prisoners out to Don's car. Mac discovered that the bar had emptied out while they were having their shootout. He supposed when bullets started flying, people did not want to be around. "Well, do you think we have the right guy?" Don asked.
"We'll see," Mac replied. "He ran from us."
"Well, so did Marty Adams, but he wasn't our killer."
"This guy is dirtier than Adams was. He definitely could have killed that girl."
"Are we picking up that other guy Roy Terwilleger?"
"Yeah, let's get them all at once and then we can question them and get to the bottom of this."
Mac looked at his watch. It was after 5 now. He thought maybe he would get to Jo's apartment by 9. He could do no better in this situation. But then again, he knew she would understand.
By the time Mac got into the interrogation room with Razor, it was already 6 pm. Don had picked up Terwilleger without too much trouble. Mac was pretty sure Razor had killed that girl. He had seen plenty of murders because of drugs.
Mac sat down at the table. "So, your name is Patrick King," he said. "But you like to be called Razor. You want to tell me why you killed this girl?" Mac laid a picture of the victim on the table. "You killed her because she lost your drugs."
King just sat there and glared at Mac. "Silence won't help you now," Mac said. "You stabbed this girl twelve times." He had seen Sid's final report about the victim. "Why twelve?"
King folded his arms. "Whether you confess or not, we have got you on drug charges," Mac said. "It's hard to find good help these days. Your bodyguard told us a whole big story about you and he knows you killed that girl. You didn't even have one of your goons do it. That must mean it was personal."
"I was tired of her messing up my business," King said. "She was always sharing with her friends and then they pocketed the money and never paid me."
"So you killed her." Mac glared at him. "You're going away for a long time and maybe you'll get the death penalty." Mac put his evidence back in his folder and went back out of the interrogation room.
"Old Roy in there didn't have much to say," Don said. "I've got him on pimping though."
"King in there killed that girl. Get him locked up."
"Will do."
Mac went back up to his office and wrote out his report. He yawned as he was writing. He was glad this case was over and he hoped he did not get anymore called tonight. By the time he got the report done and signed the others in the lab, it was after 9:00.
Mac got his coat and went to his apartment. He got a quick shower and fresh clothes and headed for Jo's apartment. His phone rang as he was getting into a cab. "Hello," he answered.
"Where are you?" Jo asked.
"I'm on my way. I had to freshen up."
"I'm waiting for you."
"I'll be there soon."