“Through the gate,” she said. “Fan out and head for the far side of the park. That’s where the employees’ area used to be.” She looked at me, and I nodded.
“I remember,” I said.
“So that’s where the caretaker’s place is,” she said. “Where Bobby Acosta ought to be.” She pointed at Chutsky. “You come in from the right and cover me. Dexter from the left.”
“What,” Chutsky said. “You’re not gonna just kick down the door and charge in there. That’s nuts.”
“I’m going to tell him to come out,” Deborah said. “I want him to think I’m alone. Then we see what happens. If it’s some kind of trap, you guys got my back.”
“Sure,” Chutsky said dubiously. “But you’re still out there in the open.”
She shook it off, irritated. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “I think the girl is in there, too, Samantha Aldovar,” she said. “So be careful. None of your Rambo shit.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “But this kid, Bobby, you want him alive, right?”
Deborah looked at him for just a moment too long. “Of course,” she said at last. It wasn’t very convincing. “Let’s go.” She turned away and marched for the gate. Chutsky watched her for a second, then took two extra clips from the case and slipped them into his pocket. He closed the case and tossed it into the car.
“Okay, buddy,” he said. And then he turned and looked at me, a long and surprisingly damp look. “Don’t let anything happen to her,” he said, and for the first time since I had known him, I saw what seemed like real emotion on his face.
“I won’t,” I said, slightly embarrassed.
He squeezed my shoulder. “Good,” he said. He looked at me a moment longer, and then turned away and lurched after Deborah.
She was at the chain-link gate, reaching through the mesh for a padlock. “Shouldn’t somebody point out that you’re about to illegally enter the property?” I said. And even though that was true, I was really more worried about finding Samantha again and turning her loose on a world that was far too eager to listen to her lurid tales.
But Debs pulled at the lock, and it fell open in her hand. She looked at me. “This lock has been opened,” she said in a voice meant for the witness stand. “Somebody has gone into the park, possibly illegally, and possibly to commit a felony. It is my clear duty to investigate.”
“Yeah, hey, just a second,” Chutsky said. “If this kid is hiding out in there, why would it be unlocked?”
I managed to stop myself from hugging him and instead merely added, “He’s right, Debs. It’s a setup.”
She shook her head impatiently. “We knew it might be,” she said. “That’s why I brought you two.”
Chutsky frowned, but he didn’t move forward. “I don’t like this,” he said.
“You don’t have to like it,” Deborah said. “You don’t even have to do it.”
“I’m not letting you go in there alone,” he said. “Dexter won’t, either.”
Normally I suppose I would have felt like kicking Chutsky for offering up Dexter’s tender skin on the altar of unnecessary danger. But as it happened, I agreed—just this once. It was clear to me that someone with a little bit of common sense should tag along, and looking around our gathering, counting everyone, that left me. “That’s right,” I said. “Besides, we can always call in for backup if it gets sticky.”
Apparently, that was exactly the wrong thing to say. Deborah glared at me, and then marched over to me and stood one quarter of an inch away from my face. “Give me your phone,” she said.
“What?”
“Now!” she barked, and she held out her hand.
“It’s a brand-new BlackBerry,” I protested, but it was very clear that I was either going to hand it over or lose the use of my arms under a barrage of her arm punches, so I gave it to her.
“Yours, too, Chutsky,” she said, stepping over to him. He just shrugged and handed over his phone.
“Bad idea, babe,” he said.
“I’m not having one of you clowns panic and fuck it up,” she said. She trotted back to her car and threw the phones into the front seat—hers, too—and came back to us.
“Listen, Debbie, about the phones—” Chutsky said, but she cut him off immediately.
“Goddamn it, Chutsky, I have to do this, and I have to do this now, my way, without worrying about Miranda or any of that shit, and if you don’t like it shut up and go home.” She yanked at the chain and it fell open. “But I’m going in and I’m going to find Samantha, and I’m going to take down Bobby Acosta,” she said, and she yanked the lock off its chain and kicked at the gate. It bounced open with a tortured squeal and my sister glared at Chutsky and then at me. “See you later,” she said, and she whipped away through the gate.