Free Bones of a Witch by Dana Donovan

say that she…. Ah, nuts. Forget it.
    Let me explain what happened the day after the
parking garage murder. Tony and Lilith had gone home after leaving
the Justice Center that night, and my understanding is that they
called for Chinese take-out—probably Tony’s idea. He looked
stressed over the whole witch hunter thing. Not Lilith, though.
Man, she seemed cool as catnip. That girl’s got frost in her blood;
I tell you what.
    Later that night they got this call from the
witch hunter, who told them he’s going to kill innocent bystanders
if Lilith doesn’t surrender herself to him. Naturally she’s wicked
pissed and wants him to bring it on, but Tony’s not buying into any
of it. I guess he called the guy back and read him the riot act.
I’ve noticed he can get a bit possessive of Lilith like that
sometimes. I don’t suppose she likes that much, though. She
probably found that a real turn off. That’s why you’d never catch
me trying to fight Lilith’s battles for her.
    Anyway, they came here that next morning; get
this, though, after they stopped to frolic on the beach in
Gloucester. I mean, come on, what’s with that? I told them both how
I tried to back trace the phone number Winterhutch used to call
Lilith, via the phone company’s records. But the wolf is cunning.
See, he uses prepaid disposable cell phones to make his calls.
They’re totally untraceable to the purchaser if he pays with cash,
and you can’t triangulate the call if he keeps the conversations
down to under three minutes, which he does.
    That’s when I came up with a
killer plan. Tony didn’t like it at first. Carlos did. He likes
anything that requires a stake out. I mean it. You should see the
guy. You mention stake out and he’s Johnny on the spot with a
freakin` picnic basket. Next thing I know I’m partnered up with
Yogi Bear, I swear. Guess that makes me Booboo. Oh, Christ, better
not let that nickname get out. I’ll never hear the end of it. I’m
just now getting him to quit calling me, Little Buddy—that after I
called him Skipper. Hell, how was I to know about a boat called
the Minnow ?
    But that’s neither here nor there. Concerning
the plan, I suggested it on a whim. “Why don’t we have Lilith call
Lemas Winterhutch and agree to give herself up?” I said.
    “What?” Tony balked. “That’s your
plan?”
    “No. Hear me out.”
    “I’m not going to let Lilith just walk
into—”
    “Wait, wait, hear him out,” said Carlos. “Let
the man talk.”
    “Yeah, Tony, I’m not suggesting we ask Lilith
to stand in harm’s way.”
    “Hell, I’ll stand in harm’s way,” Lilith said.
“I’m not afraid of that sniveling coward.”
    Tony pointed his finger at me. “See what you’ve
started.”
    “Then hear me out, everyone, just chill a
minute.” I walked up to the map on the wall and pointed out a
location along the New Castle river district. “Here,” I said. “This
is a great location for a sting operation. If we plant a decoy on
the boardwalk downtown here by the Edgewater Shops, say third
streetlight from the pier, we can maintain full surveillance of our
suspect while providing optimum security for our decoy.”
    I watched Tony’s eyes narrow with distrust for
the plan. I could see him thinking of all the things that could go
wrong without considering the prospect for things to go right.
Carlos, on the other hand, was practically salivating over the
idea. Lilith, if I could read her at all, downright hated it.
Unless she was standing in the decoy’s shoes, she’d have nothing at
all to do with it.
    “I don’t know,” said Tony, rubbing his chin in
contemplation. “We really can’t get a second man in close enough to
the decoy to provide a quick take down. You’re talking about having
someone standing on the boardwalk, leaning on the railing with his
back to the river and not another cop within twenty
yards.”
    “That’s right,” I said. “Unless we stick
ourselves out there, Lemas won’t