The taxi driver was all keyed up when Teddy got back.
“I heard gunshots.”
“I heard them, too,” Teddy said. “Is that what that was?”
“They came from over there.”
“I doubt it. I was over there.”
“It sounded like they were in the restaurant.”
“Well, that’s it, then,” Teddy said. “I wasn’t in the restaurant.”
The wail of police sirens approached.
“I guess it was gunshots,” Teddy said. “What do you say we take off? I’d hate to be questioned as a witness, especially when I didn’t see anything.”
“I didn’t see anything, but I heard the shots.”
“Big deal, everyone on the block heard the shots. Come on, I gotta go.”
“Where?”
“Back to the airport.”
The cabbie gave Teddy a look. Teddy slapped money in his hand. “Get me to the airport on time and there’ll be more.”
The cab pulled out of the driveway just as police cars were stopping two doors down.
Teddy called the pilot to meet him at the gate. He got out his medical supplies and taped the cast back on his leg. He finished up just as they got there. Teddy slapped five hundred dollars into the cabbie’s hand.
“That’s for a job well done. You’ll recall we toured the casinos. I didn’t stay that long at any of them, but it took all day. And I was a lousy fare, just a cranky pain in the ass.”
“The worst,” the cabbie said with a grin.
Teddy took his crutches and his shoulder bag and got out. The pilot drove him to the hangar, where his plane was set to go. He tipped the pilot five hundred, got in his plane, and flew to Santa Monica.
Teddy set down on the runway and taxied up to Peter’s hangar. The pilot came out to meet him.
“Good trip, Mr. Barnett?”
“Couldn’t be better, but it’s not quite over. Could you throw my bags in the car before you put the plane away?”
“Sure thing. Let me get it.”
The pilot drove the car out of the hangar and tossed in the bags. Teddy thanked him, and sped into L.A.
He had one last thing to do.