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I figured I’d worry about that when and if the time came. I was trying to seize the initiative.
Finally, I said, “Let’s wait inside and give it a couple of hours. If he doesn’t show, we’ll make up another plan.”
Terri had a little grin.
I said, “What is it?”
She quickly glanced down the block. “Isn’t that our man?”
I stared as Kyle Banning approached the bar from the other end of the block. We were in business.
Chapter37
I WALKED INTORain a few minutes before Terri. She knew to come through the door and look for me. I intended to find a seat near Kyle Banning. Any kind of close surveillance like this had a boatload of things that could go wrong. I was hoping to identify and mitigate any of those problems.
I scanned the place. It was about what I expected. Kind of loud with a fraternity-house feel. A few tourists sprinkled in with a lot of young guys with too much money.
A long bar with high tops on the other wall. The whole place couldn’t have been thirty feet wide. The narrow space gave it the feel of being popular when, in fact, it looked crowded because it just wasn’t that big.
Behind the bar was a Tito’s Vodka–branded mirror flanked by four TVs high on the wall. Two TVs were tuned to ESPN channels and two were on financial channels. I noticed closed-captioning on CNBC and the Fox Business Network. This place was definitely catering to their clientele.
I spotted Kyle Banning at the bar, talking to a pretty bartender with long blond hair she wore in a ponytail draped over her shoulder. It was clear he was a regular. I casually took a stool one seat away from him. It wasn’t too close, and he didn’t look in my direction.
Many of the stools at the bar were available. Most people gathered around the tables by the opposite wall. Maybe there were some tribal gatherings of the different financial houses. I wondered where Banning’s buddies were.
I noticed a couple of the guys at the bar turn to stare at the front door for a moment. I followed their gaze and was not surprised to see Terri Hernandez. She looked even better in the soft light of the bar. She had a certain expression I’d never seen on her. It was hard to describe. Maybe because her usual expression was annoyance verging on violence. Now she had a pleasant smile, and her dark eyes scanned the room. She casually walked toward the bar and sat down on the stool to my right, between Banning and me.
At nearly the same time, a heavyset young man in a suit plopped down on the stool to the left of me. He looked in my direction but deduced I wasn’t in the financial business, so he didn’t bother to acknowledge me.
The bartender finally came over and I ordered a beer. After she slid my beer in front of me, I was surprised to hear Terri order Old Forester bourbon, straight up.
I didn’t know if it was a ploy or if bourbon was Terri’s usual drink of choice. Either way, it caught Kyle Banning’s attention. If I concentrated, I could hear their conversation over the din of stockbrokers blowing off steam. Mostly small talk, but I could tell Banning had nice manners. He introduced himself and asked Terri a few questions about where she worked and lived.
Terri had a set backstory for short undercover roles like this. She worked in the hospitality industry for a website that recommended hotels in the city. It was a tough story to pin down or confirm. I noticed she didn’t give a last name either. Even though Banning used his full name, she just said, “Hi, I’m Terri.”
They seemed to be getting along, and I had full faith that Terri would ask all the right questions. Banning never looked past her or to his other side. A classic narcissistic move. No one else in the world existed.
Terri started slowly working the questions around to how many times Banning had come to this bar this week.
I looked up at the mirror with the Tito’s logo and saw Banning flash a charming smile as he said, “I usually go out in lower Manhattan. I know a lot of the financial people. They’re fun to hang out with.”
Terri said, “I came in here Monday night. I don’t remember seeing you.”
Suddenly a commotion came up from the back of the bar. Everyone looked over their shoulders to see a group of well-dressed young men cheering a soccer match from England on the TV nearest them. It felt like soccer had replaced football among males under thirty these days—maybe because most of them played soccer growing up, not football.
I wanted to hear Banning’s response to Terry’s question.
Then someone slipped onto the stool on the other side of the man to my left. I glanced up at the mirror again and froze.
I knew the man who’d just sat down. I also knew why he was here. My right hand instinctively slid off the bar and into my lap. Just in case I needed to draw my duty weapon.
Chapter38
SOMETIMES YOU HAVEto wonder about fate or coincidence or whatever you want to call it. Here I was, happy to be making some progress on a homicide case with an unusual investigative technique. Terri and I had the whole situation well in hand.
Then I looked up and saw Robert Hatcher sit down at the bar.
I tensed, recognizing him, then put my hand on my forehead and looked down like I was reading my phone. It had been a few years, but I was pretty sure Hatcher would recognize me. I’d helped on his arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was a low-level drug dealer with some kind of anger management issue. He’d shot at least four customers a few years ago, but we could only prove one case—a guy he’d shot in the face near the Fulton Street fish market. The victim had been lucky, and the bullet passed through his cheek. He’d lost a few teeth and about a third of his tongue, but he’d survived.
