Chapter 6

A Night on the Town, San Francisco Style.

Sergeant Brown dropped the Chief off at the office and headed straight back out to work, so Ironside rolled himself slowly through the corridors to the elevator, and up to his office alone.

There were two messages from Mark waiting for him, one to say that he felt terrible and he was never going to drink again, and the other said that he was going on to a sparring fight somewhere downtown, and he would be in touch when he could.

The rest of the morning and the afternoon passed quickly. Ed called in, saying that he was still busy with Carlson's associates, and that he had an lot of them. But there were no more messages from Mark.

At about five, when Ironside was half way through reading Ed's reports from the day before, there was the sound of the elevator. He looked up from his reading.

'Hello, Chief!' said Eve, smiling, all dressed up and ready for an evening out.

'Eve? You're early.'

'I couldn't just sit around waiting,' she said. 'I was in the neighbourhood and I wondered if there was anything else I could do.'

'Ed's handling it,' he said.

'You shouldn't work him too hard,' said Eve. 'He's doing the work of three.'

'He's doing the work of two, and so am I!' said Ironside indignantly.

'But is there anything I can do, to help?'

'It is all in hand,' said Ironside. 'Ed should be back any minute, you can ask him, if you don't believe me.'

Eve smiled, and picked up the Chief's coffee mug.

'Would you like me to get you another cup?'

'Please.'

She waked over to the kitchen area, and poured him a cupful from the pot on the stove.

'Have you decided about tonight?' she asked, coming back over.

'Yes.'

'And?'

'Yes.'

Eve smiled.

'Don't get too pleased just yet,' warned Ironside. 'Ed's going to.'

'Chaperon?' Eve asked with a wide smile. 'Older brother? Bodyguard?'

'Backup.'

'Does he know?'

'He should be smart enough to guess.'

Eve smiled more widely and settled herself down on the chair closest to Ironside. To keep her from being to pleased with herself, he handed her some of the reports on his desk.

'You can get busy with these. We could use a hand.'

But her smile didn't fade.

'Where the blazes have you been?' demanded Ironside as Ed walked through the door.

The sergeant didn't reply, just walked heavily forward and dumped the large pile of files and papers he was carrying on the deck with a thud.

'That's everything I could scrape together on Carlson, his business dealings, his friends, even the gun club he part runs. I've made a start to checking them out, so far nothing much. Only one tenuous link, due to take-overs and investment changes, John Carlson owns the complex with Scott Thompson's apartment in it.'

'Interesting.'

'But Carlson owns a lot of strange things,' Ed replied, sliding himself into a chair and leaning back. 'There's a gym, a bathhouse, a few restaurants, houses, land, the gun club, a small boat yard. And those are just the assets here in San Francisco. Getting a full make on him is going to take me a long time.' He turned to Eve. 'And what about you, have you been busy?'

She smiled widely, primping her hair.

'I've been getting myself ready for tonight,' she said. 'My big date with John Carlson.'

'That's all?' he asked crossly.

'But maybe I can do something to help cut down your list,' said Eve.

'If you do I'll buy you a steak dinner.'

'When you have quite finished!' interrupted the Chief. 'You're not done yet, Ed.'

'What do you mean by that?' he asked. He glanced at Eve and Ironside could see from his expression that he'd worked out what was going to happen. 'Eve is going out with Carlson tonight.'

Ed looked between Eve and the Chief warily.

'And?'

'She won't be alone,' Ironside said. 'Ed, I want you out tailing her all night until she is safely back at her apartment. Don't let her out of your sight, not even for a second.'

The sergeant nodded almost automatically but he closed his eyes for a moment, and Ironside realised how tired the other man actually was. He'd worked twelve hours straight for the past two days, not to mention keeping working here during the evenings helping Ironside the way Mark did, on what was supposedly his own time.

But there were more important things to consider. More than anything else, he trusted Ed Brown. In the circumstances, he was the only man he'd trust Eve's life to, other than Mark.

Ed knew that too, as when he looked up, there was a stern expression on his face that Ironside hadn't seen for a long time. Ed knew what was what when it came to Eve. He understood what she meant to the Chief, and he understood as well that if the Chief could be out there, he would be.

'Make sure she's ok, then you can get some sleep, Ed. I'll call Carl Reese and get us some help for tomorrow.'

That got a small smile from the other man.

'Thanks, Chief.'

Eve stood suddenly, pushing the pile of files across the table towards Ironside.

'I'll have to get ready for tonight,' she said.

'I thought you were ready?' said Ironside.

'I have to change,' said Eve.

'Change?'

'I can't go out like this,' she said, as if that was enough of an explanation in itself. 'Come on, Ed,' she said brightly. 'You can give me a lift home, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee on the way.'

Ironside was about to argue, but Eve gave him a quick frown. Ed rose sluggishly from the chair and headed towards the door without another word. Eve stared at Ironside for a few seconds and paused, about to say something. But instead, she turned, and sped up to join Ed as he walked out of the door. Ironside wheeled himself forward to watch the pair of them leave with an inexplicable sinking feeling inside him.

Carlson was waiting for her at the bar, just as he said he would be.

'Hello, Evie,' said he, taking her hand. 'You look radiant.'

Eve smiled and gave a little swish of her new skirt.

'Thank you, John. It's the latest fashion. So where are we going?'

'I have it all planned out. I know this great little place downtown, Evie. You're gonna love it. Candlelight, and wonderful, wonderful music.'

'Sounds lovely.'

'They play all night. I made sure of it. You and I can dance until dawn.'

Eve smiled. She took a surreptitious glance down the street, seeing a black sedan that must contain Ed Brown and her smiled faded slightly. Ed was going to have a very long night.

Sitting in his car, Ed watched as Eve talked to John Carlson outside the bar where she was supposed to be undercover.

He yawned, tired from working all day with only a few hours sleep, and faced with the tricky prospect of forcing himself to keep awake while on stakeout. The coffee with Eve had helped, but coming at the end of another frustrating day, it was going to be even more difficult. He knew that every day spent chasing dead-ends was a day wasted, and day longer that Mark and Eve had to spend longer undercover. It felt like nothing he did could help them. The Chief was worried, that was obvious. They hadn't heard from Mark for a few hours, and Eve was dancing with the Devil tonight. No wonder Ironside was on edge.

Ed's stomach growled. He'd grabbed a sandwich at the cafe, but he didn't even dare stop and get himself a hotdog tonight. There was too much riding on this to let a little thing like food get in the way. For a moment, Ed tried to imagine what his boss would say if he lost them because he stopped to have food. That wasn't a pleasant picture.

Apart from the fact that Ironside didn't enjoy sending women out into danger, Ed knew it wasn't easy for the Chief to send Eve out on a job like this. It was a strange situation to watch from the outside. Ed had seen the spark between Eve and Ironside from the first moment they had seen each other in that seedy club. It was obvious to anyone that Eve was hooked. And Ed knew Ironside well enough to know the feeling was mutual.

But that was then, that was before the shooting. Maybe Ironside would have asked. Maybe Eve would have said something. But neither of them did, and it was too late. The Chief would never make a move now he was crippled. Eve would never make a move either. They had accepted the situation. They both knew where they stood. And they had both moved on. But the echoes of those feelings were never going to fade, and Ed had grown adept at spotting the signs. Ironside hated the thought of Eve being in danger, even though she was out on the dangerous and violent streets of the city every day. Eve couldn't bear to see the Chief hurt and would fuss over him like a mother hen, if given half a chance. And somewhere in the middle, Ed was left watching them dance round each other.

He yawned again, seeing Eve get into Carlson's cream Jaguar and the Chauffer shut the door behind her. As the car pulled off , Ed slipped the his own into drive and pulled out, following them out onto the street, tailing it through the city, weaving in and out of the busy traffic.

With hindsight, it was obvious what was coming, but Ed was looking in the wrong place for trouble. Too concerned with making sure he didn't lose the Jaguar, he didn't double check. But he hadn't expected anyone else to be tailing John Carlson and Eve that night.

The traffic was heavy so early in the evening. Ed knew he was probably too close to the other car, but in all the traffic, he was afraid he'd miss them. Ironside would probably have busted him all the way back down to Patrolman if he missed them.

Unexpectedly, the Jaguar ahead turned left sharply without indicating, and Ed prepared to follow it. But a second car cut in front of him and he had to brake to stop the sedan from slamming into it.

Furious at himself and the other driver, Ed only just stopped himself from hitting the horn. Instead, he swallowed his pride and let the other car in, telling himself to think about the job in hand. The car had swerved round slightly, misjudging the corner and delaying Ed even more, so when he finally turned onto the road, Carlson's car had vanished.

Ed felt a sharp stab of panic, the Chief's threat loud in his head, as well as what Eve would say if he let her down. Don't let her out of your sight for a second! That's exactly what he'd just done.

Then he spotted the Jaguar. It had stopped a short way ahead, parked, and the doors were being closed by the chauffeur. But Eve and Carlson were nowhere to be seen.

With a screech of brakes, Ed swerved his Ford to the side, parking it just a few cars further on. In a second he was out of the car, looking up and down the street. Eve had gone. He slammed the door of the car in disgust. He'd lost them. The Chief was going to kill him for messing this up.

Ed looked up and down the street. There were a couple of clubs and a jazz show, as well as the standard bars. The initial panic began to fade. There weren't that many to check. If he was quick, he would find them. Besides, even if he didn't they were hardly likely to leave without the Jag.

So caught up in trying to find Eve, he didn't notice the other car, the one that had pulled in front of him at the corner, until the men climbed out. Then there was a shout, and Ed turned to see two men moving towards him from down the street. Tired though he was, Ed's instinct for trouble hit red. The way they carried themselves, the way they looked at him was a sure sign of danger.

He took a step back towards his car, and reached for his gun at his hip, but before he even touched it, something slammed into him from the side.

Whatever it was, he didn't even see it coming.