King of Swords

“Yesterday me and Joe got a call about a multiple homicide in Overtown. Whole family had been shot. Six bodies. But there was this young couple, boyfriend and girlfriend. They were holding hands. And from the way they were, I could see the girl had got shot first and the guy had lain down right next to her and taken hold of her hand. And that's how he died.'

'He couldn't live without her,' Sandra said.

'That's what I thought too. He musta really loved her.

Literally the love of his life. And I also thought —' but he stopped talking, realizing how sick the words he was about to say might sound.

'What?'

'You don't wanna know'.

'Max,' Sandra took his hand, 'we're both adults and we both know what's happening here. If we're gonna have any kind of relationship it's got to be about sharing and honesty

34 and openness. You'll tell me about your day, I'll tell you about mine. I don't want you keeping anything from me.'

'My part's gonna be difficult, Sandra.'

'Why?'

'There's things about me you'd be best off not knowing.'

'Past stuff?'

'Yeah.' Max nodded.

'You a dirty cop?'

'I don't think I am. But I've gone through bad to get to good. Sometimes you have to in this job. Sometimes you got no choice. Well, you do. You can walk away. But I ain't the kind that walks away.'

'I figured that,' she said.

'OK.' He took a deep breath, as though he was getting ready for a high dive into a bottomless pool. 'I'll tell you what I thought when I saw that couple. I thought that coulda been you and me down there. That I woulda done the same as the guy.'

'That's a sweet thought,' she said.

'That's a sick thought,' he corrected her.

'It's a hitgothic, I agree.' She smiled. 'And you barely know me.'

'Cop's instinct,' he said.

'I thought that just worked on bad guys.'

'When I'm off-duty it works the other way.'

She laughed and put her arms around him. They hugged and then they kissed.

'You taste like an ashtray.'

'Who told you to lick 'em?'

She burst out laughing. Her laughter filled the room and drowned out the music. Her laughter made him laugh too.

When they'd recovered she leant her head against his shoulder and took his hand. They stayed there like that, staring into space together. The music stopped without them noticing.

3M ŚI!

He realized she'd dozed off. He listened to her breathing in his ear, felt her gently rise and fall against his arm. He smelled her hair and his nose filled with faint traces of perfume and coconut.

At around 4 a.m. he fell asleep himself.

When he woke up two hours later he heard the shower going. After she was done she made them both breakfast of tostada and cafe con leche, which they ate at the living-room table. Max imagined every day being like this with her.

An hour later they walked back to where they'd parked their cars on South West 8th. They'd exchanged numbers.

Max wanted to see her again that same night, but he knew he couldn't because he'd lost time on the Moyez case.

Before they parted she kissed him on the lips. Like the first time, he watched her pull away before getting into his car. And like the first time, he had the same stupid smile on his face.

He had an hour or two before he was due to punch in.

He thought of going over to the garage, but he needed a shower and a change of clothes and he wanted to stay in this special moment and savour it for a while longer.

As he headed down Calle Ocho he turned on the radio and got the news. A cop had been killed in Overtown the day before. Police were looking for a tall, light-skinned black man in a white Crown Victoria.

Back at his apartment, Max had just finished getting dressed when the phone rang. It was Raquel.

'That sample you gave me yesterday. We located our mystery bean.'

'Shoot,' Max said, riffling through his notepad for a clean page.

'It's a calabar bean.' She spelled it for him. 'Two uses: one jood, one bad. It produces an alkaloid called physostigmine,

which is used to treat glaucoma and is found in over-thecounter eyedrops.

'The bean on its own is highly toxic. It was used to expose those suspected of witchcraft, when it was commonly known as the Ordeal Bean. The person under suspicion would be forced to eat half a bean. If the person vomited, he or she was deemed to be innocent because their bodies had rejected it. If the person died then they were guilty. Most people died.

'The bean depresses the nervous system and causes muscular weakness. It slows the pulse to a crawl but increases blood pressure too.'

'How long does a person live after they've swallowed one?' Max asked.

'One, two hours at the most, depending on the person and the dose.'

Max thought about this for a moment. Lacour and Assad had killed people in different places and at different times.

'Is there an antidote?' Max asked.