The Big Bad Wolf

CHAPTER 6

DETECTIVE COULTER HAD ASKED FOR ME. What the hell was that all about? I hadn’t

known we were so close. Because we weren’t. I’d met him only a couple of times. We were

friendly, but not exactly friends. So why did Dennis Coulter want me here?

A while back, I had worked with Dennis Coulter on an investigation of drug dealers who were

trying to connect, and control, the trade in D.C. and Baltimore and everywhere in between.

I’d found Coulter to be tough, very egotistical, but good at his job. I remembered he was a big

Eubie Blake fan, and that Blake was from Baltimore.

Coulter and his hostages were huddled somewhere inside the house, a gray wood-shingle

Colonial on Ailsa Avenue in Lauraville, in the northeast part of Baltimore. Venetian blinds

were tightly closed in the windows. What was going on behind the front door was anybody’s

guess. Three stone steps climbed to the porch, where a rocking chair and a wooden glider sat.

The house had recently been painted, which suggested to me that Coulter probably hadn’t

been expecting trouble in his life. So what happened?

Several dozen Baltimore PD, including SWAT team members, had surrounded the house.

Weapons were drawn and, in some cases, aimed at the windows and the front door. The

Baltimore police helicopter unit Foxtrot had responded.

Not good.

I already had one idea. “What do you think about everybody lowering their guns for

starters?” I asked the old commander from the Baltimore PD. “He hasn’t fired on anybody,

has he?”



The old commander and SWAT team leader conferred briefly, and then weapons around the

perimeter were lowered, at least the ones I could see. Meanwhile, one of the Foxtrot

helicopters continued to hover close to the house.

I turned to the commander again. I needed him on my side. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Have

you been talking to him?”



He pointed to a man crouched behind a cruiser. Detective Fescoe has the honor. He’s been on

the horn with Coulter for about an hour.”



I made a point of walking over to Detective Fescoe and introducing myself. “Mick Fescoe,”

he said, but he didn’t seem overjoyed to meet me. “Heard you were coming. We’re fine here.”



“This intrusion isn’t my idea,” I told him. “I just left the force in D.C. I don’t want to get in

anybody’s way.”



“So don’t,” Fescoe said. He was a slender, wiry man who looked as if he might have played

some ball at one time. He moved like it.

I rubbed my hand over my chin. “Any idea why he asked for me? I don’t know him that

well.”



Fescoe’s eyes drifted toward the house. “Says he’s being set up by Internal Affairs. Doesn’t

trust anybody connected to the Baltimore PD. He knew you’d gone over to the FBI recently.”



“Would you tell him I’m here? But also tell him I’m being briefed now. I want to hear how he

sounds before I talk to him.”



Fescoe nodded, then he called the house. It rang several times before it was picked up.

“Agent Cross has just arrived, Dennis. He’s being briefed now,” said Fescoe.

“Like hell he is. Get him on the hook. Don’t make me shoot in here. I’m getting close to

creating a real problem. Get him now!”



Fescoe handed me the phone and I spoke into it. “Dennis, this is Alex Cross. I’m here. I did

want to be briefed first.”



“This really Alex Cross?” Coulter asked, sounding surprised.

“Yeah, it’s me. I don’t know too many of the details. Except you say you’re being set up by

Internal Affairs.”



“I don’t just say it, I am being set up. I can tell you why too. I’ll brief you. That way you’ll

hear it straight.”



“All right,” I told him. “I’m on your side so far. I know you, Dennis. I don’t know Baltimore

Internal Affairs.”



Coulter cut me off. “I want you to listen to me. Don’t talk. Just hear me out.”



“All right,” I said. “I’m listening.”



I sat down on the ground behind a Baltimore PD cruiser, and I got ready to listen to the

armed man who was supposedly holding a dozen of his family members hostage. Jesus, I

was back on the Job again.

“They want to kill me,” Dennis Coulter began. “The Baltimore PD has me in its crosshairs.”