I heard a man’s voice say my name. “Chapman?”
“Yeah.”
“Scuba. It’s okay.”
I wasn’t shaking as badly as Lonigan, but it was close.
The police diver was in a black dry suit with a full face mask. He’d come to the rocks on a small dark-gray Zodiac that he’d tied up to the Intrepid, then swam ashore.
“Cue me,” I said. “What do they want me to do?”
“Just what you’re doing. Let Renner think you’ll give him the boat before backup arrives. That’s why I turned on the engine,” the cop said. “So he’d hear it.”
“But Coop?”
“We’ll have you covered.”
“How?”
“Better you don’t know, Chapman. You’d unintentionally tip it off.”
“Chapman?” Renner called out to me.
I turned my attention back to him.
“The boat is ready for you. I’m not releasing Cormac until you walk down here and meet me halfway,” I said.
I crossed over the largest boulder, and this time, instead of heading for the shadows of the bridge tower, I stayed close to the shoreline. I was going to the lighthouse.
“I hear the boat, Chapman. Where is it?”
“Just past the rock. Past Cormac.”
The kid was whimpering now, probably out of strength to do anything louder.
“You’d better move fast, Renner. People are coming.”
I almost wanted him to see me. I wanted Coop to hear my voice.
Emmet Renner was really between the rocks and a hard place. His entire plan was crumbling, but he wasn’t quite ready to let go of his prey.
“Uncle Em,” Lonigan screamed one more time. “Come get me.”
For the first time since I had arrived on Jeffrey’s Hook, Emmet Renner walked toward me from the small terrace of the lighthouse.
Now to add to the barking dogs was the sound of police sirens coming from the West Side Highway and the streets in the neighborhood.
He knew time was running out. He clearly thought the water was an actual means of escape, and that the only police presence was coming from the park behind him. I was thankful Mercer had convinced the Harbor Unit to stay out of sight.
Emmet Renner stood at the top of the steps that led from the lighthouse to the rocks. His gun was in his hand. He turned his head to look back at Coop.
“I’m here, Renner,” I called out.
He swiveled around to try to find my position, but I couldn’t see him clearly enough to try to take him out.
“Step down, Renner.” I lifted my gun and pointed it in his general direction. “I didn’t think Westies killed broads.”
“She’s not a broad, Chapman. She’s a prosecutor.”
“Get moving before the dogs come. And the cops,” I said. “You’ve got about a minute to go. The key’s in the ignition. Walk on by me and I’ll cut Lonigan loose.”
Emmet Renner took his first step. “I don’t want the boy, Chapman. I want the boat.”
Bloodless after all. Not even his own family made a difference in the end. Emmet Renner just wanted to save his own skin.
I threw my Glock onto the rock and watched it skid down toward the water.
Renner heard it, must have guessed what had happened, and started to run down the remaining steps and in the direction of the Intrepid.
Before I was able to race across the rock, two more scuba rescue cops in black dry suits hoisted themselves out of the water and onto the boulder.
The first one out tore off his flippers and ran to the lighthouse. He practically threw himself on top of Coop, shielding her from whatever unknown harm still lurked around us.
I was there within seconds, after he ripped the gag from her mouth and as he was cutting the plastic cuffs off her wrists.
I lifted her limp body in my arms, carried her inside the lighthouse, and sat on the floor with her in my lap, cradling her head against my chest as I whispered my apologies to her over and over again.