"Hard to be sure," Hawk said. "McDermott the girlfriend?"

"I dunno. It's the other name on the doorbell."

"People dying just after you talk to them or just before," Hawk said. "Somebody think you closing in?"

"I guess so," I said. "Wish I had their confidence."

"We pretty clear on what happened to these folks," Hawk said. "You think Amy Peters a suicide?"

"No."

"You believe Brink Tyler an accident victim?"

"No."

Hawk was still staring down at the bodies. He shook his head a little to dispel a fly.

"They shot these people to pieces," Hawk said. "I bet they got fifteen, twenty rounds apiece in them."

"Had to make some noise," I said.

"Anybody heard it, they ignored it," Hawk said. "These people been here awhile."

I looked around the living room. The windows were shut and locked. There was a big air-conditioning unit in a side window. I looked at it. It was turned off.

"When's the last time it was cool?" I said.

Hawk shrugged.

"Don't do weather," he said.

We went through the house, living room and kitchen on the first floor. Two bedrooms and a bath on the second. The smell thickened the air in every room. All the windows were closed and locked. The air conditioner in the second-floor bedroom was shut off, too. The back door was locked. In the drawer of the front hall table we found a 9mm Colt, with a round jacked up into the chamber.

"Man locked everything," Hawk said. "Yep. No windows open, even if it be cool when he shut off the AC, most people like a little ventilation in the summer."

"It's not a bad neighborhood," I said. "But he was being pretty careful. Gun in the front hall. Round in the chamber."

Hawk nodded. "He knew them," Hawk said.

"Seems like it," I said.

"He would have looked through the peephole," I said. "And he would have unlocked the door when he saw them. The hall gun is still in the drawer. He wasn't afraid of them."

"And he should have been," Hawk said. "You figure the broad got shot because she was here?"

"Could be. Or it could be she was part of the whole deal. Whatever the whole deal was. Or it could be they wanted to kill her, and he had the misfortune to be on hand."

"Going to call the cops?" Hawk said.

"Guess we got to."

"We could just close the door and walk away."

"Your fingerprints in the system?" I said.

"'Course," Hawk said.

"Mine too."

"So give them a call," Hawk said.

CHAPTER FORTY.

"We'll let the B and E slide," Quirk said. "But corpses keep showing up in your area, we might cite you for littering."

We were outside, away from the smell, leaning on the fender of Quirk's car. It was about six hours since we'd found the bodies. The prowl car guys had arrived first and questioned us and told us to stick around. Some District 6 detectives came and asked us questions and told us to stick around. Crime scene people asked us questions and told us the detectives wanted us to stick around. Belson showed up after a while and asked us questions and told us to stick around and wait for Quirk. An hour and a half ago Quirk had ambled in and told us to stick around until he was through.

"Anyone know the ident.i.ty of the woman?" I said.

"Yeah, we talked with some neighbors. Name was Margaret McDermott. She was DeRosa's girlfriend. Live-in. Been with him six, eight years," Quirk said.

He was looking at Hawk. Hawk smiled at him.

"You bother me," Quirk said. "I know you wouldn't have aced these two people, then come back a week later and called us."

Hawk smiled some more.

"And I know that when you're with Snoop Doggy Dogg here, you may not be on the up-and-up, but you're probably not illegal."

Hawk's smile seemed almost sweet as he listened to Quirk.

"On the other hand," Quirk said, "I hate to come upon a double homicide and find you lingering about and give you a bye."

I said, "I'm pretty sure he didn't do it, Captain."

"I'm pretty sure he didn't, too," Quirk said. "But not because you say so."

"My word is my bond," I said.

"I don't know what the connection is between you two clowns, but I know you'd cover for him."

"White guilt," I said. "My ancestors might have owned slaves."

"Yo' ancestors being bog-trotting paddies didn't have the money to own no slaves," Hawk said.

I looked at him sadly. "You wouldn't understand," I said. "It's a white thing."

"Isn't this fun," Quirk said. "Lemme get the other cops over here, give them a chance to listen."

I said, "We're just working on our material, Captain."

"And it's really enjoyable," Quirk said. "Oddly enough there's no warrants out on Hawk."

"You sure?" Hawk said.

"I had it checked."

"Embarra.s.sing," Hawk said.

"You got anything you can tell me about this thing?" Quirk said.

"Same as I tole the other six cops," Hawk said. "I just along try to keep him from hurting himself."

"Okay, you can drift," Quirk said. "Spenser, I'll talk a little more with you."

Hawk nodded his head once, slightly, and walked away.

"I talked to the same six cops he did," I said.

"You used to be a cop," Quirk said. "You know how we do this."

I nodded.

"I don't know much more than I did after I shot the guy in Southie," I said.

"You didn't know much before you shot that guy in Southie. Name was Kevin McGonigle. Twenty-three, two priors for strong-arm."

"Good to start young," I said.

"And finish that way," Quirk said.

I shrugged. "Him or me," I said.

"I know. Tell me what you know," Quirk said.

We were both leaning against Quirk's car. Quirk's arms were folded across his chest, and he was motionless except for the fact that the fingers on his thick right hand tapped gently on his left arm.

"Okay," I said. "It's a mishmash, but here it is, all of it."

I told him everything in sequence from the time Rita had called me about Mary Smith until Hawk and I had come to visit DeRosa.

"You got a theory?" Quirk said.

"No."

"If you count Nathan Smith," Quirk said, "and I do, there's him, the broad from the bank..."

"Amy Peters," I said.

"... Tyler, DeRosa, the girlfriend, Kevin McGonigle."

"Six," I said.

"And all connected to you, one way or another."

"Charisma," I said.

"Six murders," Quirk said. "And somebody threatens to beat you up and somebody hires McGonigle to clip you, and you got no theory?"

"There's something being covered up," I said. "And it's connected to Nathan Smith."

"Holy mackerel," Quirk said.

"You asked."

Quirk nodded. We watched the body bags load into the ME'S van.

"We find out anything, we'll tell each other," I said.

"I known you a long time," Quirk said.

I didn't comment. Quirk wasn't really talking to me anyway. A couple of uniforms moved the small crowd out of the way as the ME'S van pushed slowly among them, hauling away the unpleasant remains of DeRosa and his girlfriend.

"And you are a stubborn b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and you don't much give a f.u.c.k about how things are supposed to go."

Quirk was still looking at the van. A uniform stopped traffic. The van turned left onto Southampton Street and moved slowly over the bridge.

"And you're not as smart as you think you are, and nowhere near as funny," Quirk said, still watching the van as it disappeared toward downtown. "But you're on the right side of the fence."

"How do you know it's the right side?" I said.

"Same side I'm on," Quirk said.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE.

We were in Hawk's car. It was 10:15 on a bright summer morning when we pulled into the parking lot at Soldiers Field Development Limited. We had no trouble parking. The lot was empty. The front door of the building was locked. There was no sign of movement or light inside.