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“Then what? Do we let her meet Martin somewhere?”
Terri shrugged. “Don’t screw up my idea with good questions.”
I snapped my fingers. “That’s it. That’s how we can absolutely verify it’s Perry Martin calling. And what his intentions are. We set up an undercover sting. We pick just the right place here in the city to draw Martin out. We make sure they are never alone. Maybe he’ll even say something incriminating. Of course, we’ll have a transmitter on Allie and be close by if there’s a problem.”
“Doesn’t that plan scare you?”
“It terrifies me.”
Chapter92
MY LIEUTENANT, HARRYGrissom, didn’t jump on board with our plan to use Allie Pritz in an undercover sting. At least not completely. He was obviously worried about Allie’s safety, as we all were. He trusted me enough to wait until Terri and I spoke with Allie and got a feel for if she would do as she was told. That was good enough for me.
Now Terri and I were sitting in the living room of Allie’s apartment in the Village. I’ll confess that every time I glanced at the window and saw the fire escape, my stomach did a flip-flop. But sitting in a comfortable chair while Terri Hernandez sat on the couch with Allie made me feel stable enough to continue. Barely.
Terri and I had decided before we arrived at the apartment that she’d do most of the talking. She had a connection with Allie, and basically read her the manual for undercover operations, making Allie acknowledge each point.
I smiled, watching Terri handle this girl so carefully. Terri was tough and could fly off the handle, but she was also patient and caring. It was counter to the persona she tried to project around the department, and I could see that Allie responded to it.
Terri, using her most serious face and voice, started off by saying, “If you’re uncomfortable at any time, just get up and walk away. The main thing we’re trying to do is tie Martin to the phone line.”
Allie kept her eyes on Terri and nodded.
“If he calls, just be cool. Maybe even a little distant. Make him work for everything. We want him recorded.”
Allie said, “What if he asks on the phone if I’ll have sex?”
“Say you’ll think about it. Thatsounds vague enough and gets him interested.”
Again, Allie nodded.
Terri said, “Tell Martin that you’ll meet him at a sports bar called The Hockey Stick on 181st Street, a few blocks from University Avenue. Your safety is the overall priority. We know we can cover The Hockey Stick with surveillance and it’s far enough north in the city that he shouldn’t mind coming down to it. Plus, he’ll probably like the idea of a possible college atmosphere.”
Once more, Allie nodded.
Terri said, “You’ll have a transmitter hidden on you and we’ll be able to hear your conversation. It reaches thirty to fifty yards, depending on the environment. Be cautious, but don’t be scared. And let him do most of the talking. Maybe he’ll say something we can use to connect him to one of the murders.”
I finally spoke up. “No matter what happens, don’t leave the bar with him. We’ll be in there with you somewhere. If there’s a problem, we’ll handle it. But stay in the bar no matter what.”
Terri and I had visited the place twice to make sure we knew everything about it. There were two doors. The main front entrance and a door toward the rear that was used for take-out orders. There were plenty of places outside the bar to put surveillance teams.
Terri had gone so far as to figure out exactly where Allie should sit at the bar while she waited for Martin to arrive. There were several tables close by that we could sit at. Martin had never seen Terri, and I doubted he’d recognize me from our one conversation.
Allie said, “You really think this guy killed Suzanne and Emma and Estella?”
“He’s a suspect. It might turn out to be a wild coincidence. In which case, we’ll move on and try to develop a new suspect. I swear to you we’re doing everything we can to find and stop this killer. You’re really helping us by doing this.”
“Are you kidding? I’d do whatever it takes to stop this creep.” Allie looked at me. “You don’t think a series of coincidences led you to this guy as a suspect, do you?”
I took a moment to give her the best answer I could. “In my experience, I find that coincidence occasionally plays a role in a case. But I’m not a big believer in it otherwise. You can see the trouble we’re going to just to make sure we’re right.”
I didn’t like the idea of putting this young woman close to a potential killer. But it was our best option at the moment. I knew all the precautions we were taking, and I had to trust that Allie would be safe.
That didn’t make me feel any better.
Chapter93
AT HOME THATnight, Mary Catherine immediately picked up on my anxiety. Reluctantly, I explained to her our plan to use Allie Pritz if Perry Martin called The Girlfriend Experience in the coming days before either of the school’s final two games.
