Chapter Twelve
We were in the office going over our repos for the day when I slid the offending DVD and folder across the desk to show Hector. “What the hell is this?” He said a little too loudly.
I squeezed my eyes shut as his words seemed to echo off my skull. The apple martinis were good going down, but the after effects were a killer. I didn’t tell Jeff and Jason about the contract killer. I didn’t want them to worry or even worse call Bryan. We stayed up way past our bedtime doing karaoke and ended up falling asleep on the living room floor. I dragged myself into the office looking like an extra from a zombie flick.
“Girl, are you hung over again?” Hector said leaning over to take a whiff then scrunched his face up in disgust. “Damn. What’s up with that?”
I made an attempt to roll my eyes, but stopped mid eye roll when the pain became too much.
“I went over to Jeff and Jason’s last night,” I said as way of an explanation.
“What the fuck? Is that all they ever do is drink and cook?”
They also exercise and get butt implants. “No,” I said defensively. “They work too.”
“Shit then I need to get their fucking jobs so I can go in smelling like a booze hound and not get fired,” he said.
“I smell that bad?”
“Hell yes. And you might what to do something with this,” he said motioning to his bald head. “I don’t think your hair should have all those fucking lumps in it.”
I felt around my head and groaned. I had tried to put my hair up in the car on the way over. Apparently I wasn’t good at multi-tasking. I pulled a brush out from one of drawers in the desk I use to store my girlie things and tried again. Hector nodded his approval then shifted his attention back to the folder and DVD.
“I got that from the Davies apartment last night,” I said. Then told him the whole story, but omitted the part about Manuel being there. I trusted Hector, but I didn’t know how Mystery Man would feel about it.
Hector’s face twisted up. “Shit,” he said. “That is seriously messed up.”
I nodded.
“You going without me and this sick fuckin’ thing,” he said pointing at the DVD.
“Do you think we should watch it?” I asked choosing to ignore his comment about not taking him with me last night.
“Maybe there was some kind of clue on it about Davies and Mrs. Howard.”
He rubbed his stomach making it jiggle around. “Man, I just ate my fucking breakfast.”
“What if it isn’t what we think it is?”
“Yeah right. You think that prick taped himself watching fucking TV with her?”
“No. But we need to be sure,”
“Shit the only thing we are going to be sure after watching that crap is the size of his fucking dick.”
Not a visual I wanted.
“You don’t need me to watch for any fucking clues,” he said.
He was right, but I didn’t want to suffer alone.
“What happened to us being partners and all?” I asked, raising my voice and crossing my arms across my chest.
“Damn girl. You don’t have to get all huffy and shit,” he said, “I’ll watch the fucking thing. But if I have to look at someone’s abuela doing the nasty you’re buying me one of those cinnamon rolls again.”
“Deal,” I said.
Hector and I went into Harry’s office and put on the DVD. We both had our hands poised ready to cover our eyes.
We heard the back door open and Gus and Victor walked in.
I shot my eyes over to Hector.
He shrugged. “Fuck it.”
I took that to mean ‘let them suffer through it too’.
When they came into the office we explained what was going on. Their reactions couldn’t have been more different. Gus leaned against the desk and said. “Cool. Nana pussy. It might give me hope my dick is gonna be working in forty years.”
“Shit it don’t work now. Why the fuck will it in forty years?” Hector said trying to give Victor a high five, but he had other ideas. He wanted to make a run for it, but Hector grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back.
“No way,” he said. “We’re a team and if Goldie is making me do this shit, so are you.”
Now we were a team?
The back door slammed again and a gust of familiar perfume wafted through the air.
I looked towards Hector.
“It’s okay. She’ll probably actually want to see the fucking thing,” he said.
I glanced around the office and was reminded about her décor. Hector was probably right.
Gus was whooping and hollering saying “Go grandpa,” when Harry walked in with a smile on her face. I cringed when she looked at the screen just as Davies and Mrs. Howard were getting into position.
“You assholes and Goldie could have warned me,” she said taking a seat at her desk.
I made a mad face at Hector.
“That way I could have gotten to work a little earlier. I missed the whole damn foreplay,” she said taking out a pair of cat eyed glasses from her desk and putting them on.
Hector started laughing and mouthed, “I told you.”
“Don’t worry Harry there wasn’t that much to begin with,” Gus said grabbing some candy off her desk while keeping his eyes on the screen. “Gramps likes to get straight to the fucking.”
“You’re sick,” Victor mumbled looking down at the ground.
The pounding in my head went full throttle when their moans starting coming from every corner of the office. I wanted to smash the speakers with my bare hands. Who would have thought Harry would’ve had surround sound?
“Do you think she knows she is being filmed?” Hector asks.
“No,” I said. “She isn’t self-conscious at all. No woman is that comfortable with her body.” Especially when her skin looks like it has been replaced by crepe paper. I stared down at my hands and reminded myself to use sunscreen. “And besides she never looks in the camera’s direction. But see how Davies can’t stop smiling at it.”
We both went back to watching just in time to see him give a wink to the camera.
“What an asshole,” Hector mumbled shaking his head. “Do you think he used this shit to get cash out of the old ladies?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I know someone we can ask.”
“Mrs. Howard?” He asked.
I nodded. “I wonder if that’s the reason he was murdered.”
“People get clipped for a lot less than that shit,” Hector said.
He was right. After seeing all the stuff at his apartment I was surprised someone hadn’t got to him earlier.
When their moans hit a crescendo and the geriatric porn finished Harry said, “Very disappointing ending.”
I wondered what kind of ending she expected.
“Okay, shit heads go earn me some cash. You too Goldie.”
We cleared out of her office shutting the door behind us.
“I don’t want to be part of the team anymore if you guys are going to watch sick shit like that,” Victor grumbled.
Hector gave him a slap in the back of the head. “Stop your whining,” he said “You’re worse than my fucking kids.”
“I gotta give the old guy credit. He lasted pretty long,” Gus said.
“It’s called Viagra dumb ass,” Hector said giving him a head slap too.
Gus and Victor got their repo slips and left. After saying good bye to Harry, Hector and I went out to the parking lot and got in Hector’s car.
“You know we’re going to have to give this back to her,” I said to Hector holding up the DVD.
“Hell no, we ain’t,” he said shaking his head.
“Why?”
“‘Cause I don’t want to,” he said sounding like a toddler.
“What’s the big deal? We will just swing by and drop it off,” I said.
He made a sour face. “Yeah? What are we gonna say? Hey nana lady we found
this DVD at that dead guy with the big dick’s apartment after Stevie broke into it. We thought you might like it back ‘cause your naked ass is all over the place in it. Hell no. I ain’t doing it.”
Hector had a point. It could be awkward, but I didn’t want to lug it around with me in my bag. I wanted to get rid of it and pretend it didn’t exist.
“She doesn’t have to know all that stuff,” I said. “We can just hand it to her saying we found it and thought she should have it.”
“Why don’t you just throw the fucker away,” he said.
“I thought of that, but I really think she should know. What if there is a copy out there somewhere. Or if she dates another jerk like Davies. She needs to be more careful.”
“I get all that shit. But there is still no fucking way I’m going with you. I’ll drive you, but I’m waiting in Baby,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. I knew when to let it go. I didn’t blame Hector for being uncomfortable. After watching Mrs. Howard play hide the snake with Davies I felt awkward seeing her too, but I wanted to get rid of this thing. I felt residual slime just being near it.
When we pulled up to Mrs. Howard’s house I got out of the car with a sense of dread. It felt like every step I took was carrying me forward to a place I didn’t want to be. When I got to the door I glanced back at Hector who had slid so far down in the seat I could barely see his eyes over the steering wheel. He gave a downward wave with his hand telling me go on. I faced the door, took a deep breath and rang the bell. I heard Mrs. Howard behind the door looking through the peep hole. She opened it and greeted me with a quizzical look.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Except you’ve made a sex tape and didn’t know it. I swallowed what seemed like a baseball size wad of air and yanked the DVD out of my bag and gave it to her. “This is yours.”
She turned it over in her hands. “What’s this?”
“I’m….really…don’t,” I stumbled out.
I was going to say I didn’t know and make a run for it, but I didn’t want her to have a heart attack when she watched it for the first time.
“It’s a tape Davies made of you two having sex,” I blurted out. “I thought you should have it.”
Mrs. Howard’s eyes lit up and she grasped the DVD tighter.
I’ve never given birth, but I imagined the relief at expelling that baby from your body mirrored how I felt at this moment.
“Thank you for giving this to me,” she said clutching it to her chest.
I was confused. This wasn’t what I expected. “Did you know about the DVD already?”
“No,” she said.
“Really?” I asked. I wasn’t convinced she was telling the truth.
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go,” she said and shut the door.
I walked back to Baby and told Hector what happened.
“Shit you got off easy girl,” he said.
“But don’t you find it weird that she wasn’t shocked or anything?”
“Who the fuck knows?”
“I’m telling you Hector it seemed like she already knew about it.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But do you really want to hassle an old lady about whether she knew she was making a sex tape or not? I mean who the fuck cares?”
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I said.
“What doesn’t feel right is I want my fucking cinnamon rolls,” he said. “All this shit is making me hungry.”
I slid my eyes over to him. “This is making you hungry?”
Hector was always hungry.
“Yeah. Now let’s go find me some fucking donuts,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m telling you Mrs. Howard is hiding something.”
“Right now I don’t give a fuck,” he said.
I sighed knowing why. His mind was clouded by cinnamon rolls.
“And besides who gives a shit if she knew about the tape or not? What difference would that make? Maybe she was into that sort of thing and was embarrassed and shit.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Remember she never looked at the camera? And she wasn’t self-conscious at all.”
“What are you getting at?” He asked.
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Shit Goldie can’t you ever let it go?”
“No.”
I was sucked into all this for a reason and I wasn’t about to let it go now.
Hector and I were in a parking lot in Marina Del Rey.
“How could you not notice it was a boat?” I asked staring down at the paperwork. “A very large boat.”
“Fuck if I know,” he said shoving a piece of cinnamon roll in his mouth.
I was sure Yolanda was going to figure out the gift thing and would put a stop to Hector’s cinnamon roll rampage. But until then I was his donut dealer. I was ambivalent about keeping him supplied. He did need to lose weight, but a sugared up Hector was far easier to deal with than a hungry one.
“And it’s in the water,” I said pointing out the obvious. “How are we going to repo that?”
Hector took another donut out of bag. “Damn these things are good,” he said ignoring my question and shoving half of one in his mouth.
I snatched the bag out of his hand. “You are on donut restriction until we figure out how we’re going to get that boat.”
He narrowed his eyes and reached for the bag, but I saw it coming and slapped his hand away.
“I’ll tell Yolanda,” I threatened holding the bag out of the window.
“Damn girl, what happened to partner loyalty and shit?”
“I’m saving you from a sugar induced coma,” I said. “You’re ignoring our predicament.”
“I don’t know what the hell you just said.”
I put the bag in the backseat. “How are we going to do this,” I said shoving the paperwork on his lap.
We had one hundred percent repo success rate and I didn’t want our average to go down.
“I bet Baby could pull that shit,” he said.
“Please,” I said rolling my eyes. “It’s almost the size of a cruise ship.”
“So?”
I gave him the death stare.
“Are you having that fucking PMS thing? Or is your hangover making you so freaky? Cause you’ve been all jumpy and shit,” he said.
Another opportunity to give him the death stare. I was in the PMS zone. I was also hung over. But I was jumpy because there was some scary guy who wanted me dead.
Hector cringed when he saw my expression. Yolanda must have taught him a lot about dealing with women who were on the verge. Instead of harassing me he got out his phone to call Harry and told her what was going on. He listened a couple minutes then put his phone away.
“Well?” I asked.
“We have to drive the fucking boat to the marina in Newport Beach,” he said getting out of the car. “She’ll have someone drive us back to get Baby.”
“Why didn’t she tell us this morning?” She could have given us some warning.
“She said she was distracted seeing gramps doing the nasty and forgot,” he explained.
Hector and I went to the entrance and were met by a locked gate.
“No problem,” he said whipping out his tools and within a couple minutes his gift kicked in. We walked down the ramp and immediately took a right. Our repo was the biggest boat in the marina. “Snatch Shack” was painted in big red letters on the side.
I really loved my job. A boat with a name like that deserved to be repoed.
I glanced around as Hector and I made our way around the side furthest from the parking lot. There was only an older couple two slips away enjoying a midday drink on the back of their boat. They already looked sloshed. Hopefully they’d be too busy topping off each other’s drink to notice us.
“Are you going to be able to start this thing?” I asked staring up at the huge monstrosity in front
of us.
“Hell yes. My gift keeps on giving,” he said laughing to himself.
I rolled my eyes. Hector’s ego was growing as fast as his waistline.
“How are we going to get up there?” I asked looking for an easy entry. The only way up was to hoist ourselves across the rope and fling ourselves onto the deck.
Hector’s eyes mimicked mine and I could see a look of terror crease across his face. “Man I shouldn’t have ate those three cinnamon rolls,” he said rubbing his stomach as if that was the only reason he couldn’t heave his three hundred plus pounds across.
“If only,” I said sarcastically. “I’ll go then and see if I can unlock the side door from the inside.”
“Okay, but be careful Goldie,” he said. “I don’t want to save your ass if you fall in the fucking water.
Being rescued from a guy the size of a boulder didn’t bring me any comfort.
“You’re a good swimmer?” I asked finding it hard to imagine him frolicking in the water.
“Fuck no. I meant I’d get a big stick or something and haul your ass out.”
That’s what I thought.
Hector stood watch while I grabbed the rope and wrapped my legs round it. The rope was rough and my hands were getting scratched as I inched my way across. When I got to the end I stopped. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it over the side of the boat. I was in decent shape. Jeff and Jason made sure of that, but I didn’t exactly have bulging biceps.
“Shit Goldie. It ain’t time to take no rest,” Hector hollered.
That half eaten cinnamon roll in the car was definitely going in the trash.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Girl you can haul your skinny ass over that railing. No problem,” he said.
How pathetic. Being called skinny brought me such inner joy.
“We could always call Gus and Victor for help,” he said. “But we’d hear about it for the rest of our fucking lives.”
Our two partnerships were friendly, but hyper competitive. Every night we compared repos to see who had swiped the biggest and the most expensive. We were pretty even, but this monster would tip us to the win column. No doubt.
“No way,” I said. Then gripped the rope, turned around and pulled myself over using my feet to help push off from the side. I heard Hector yelling his guttural shit cheering me on.
“Not bad Goldie.”
I told him to untie the ropes while I went down the stairs, opened the door and lowered the ramp. Just as we were pulling it back up a short balding man in his late fifties rounded the corner with a woman who was almost wearing a dress and looked like she wasn’t old enough to vote.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He screamed.
Hector and I looked at each other for a beat. We knew if we had to deal with the owner this repo would take forever. He’d call the police. We’d have to explain. There would be lots of drama. Sometimes avoidance was the best choice.
“Run!” We both yelled charging up the stairs and racing down the deck. Even though Hector was the size of a woolly mammoth he was surprisingly fast. We slammed to a stop when we got to the control room and stood there with our mouths hanging open staring at all the gadgets and dials.
“It looks like that fucking ship on Star Trek,” he said.
He watched Star Trek?
“Do you think you can drive this?” I said.
“Hell yes,” he said and ran around. “It has an engine doesn’t it? Fuck yeah,” he said smiling as it roared to life.
Just then I heard a splash. I rushed to the side of the boat. The owner had tried to make a jump for the railing and fell in. He was treading water and saying words that would make even Hector blush. His jail bait friend was leaning over trying to help him showing breasts so big they could be their own life raft.
“What’s going on?” Hector asked.
“Snatch Shack is taking a bath.”
“Dumb ass,” he said pushing what looked like the throttle. The boat jolted forward knocking me off my feet onto the floor.
“Fuck. Sorry Goldie,” he said bending down to help me up. “This baby has more power than I thought.”
“Try not to hit anything on the way out,” I said. “I’m guessing that would eat into our profits.”
“Don’t sweat it. I just had to feel her juice.”
“Use less juice,” I said. “It’s going to be a tight squeeze until we get into the main channel.”
Hector pushed the throttle thing again and gingerly eased the boat out.
“Man I could do with one of these. How fucking cool is this?” He said waving to the older couple as we passed by. They waved back clearly enjoying their cocktail hour while exchanging questioning glances.
Hector gave me a big smile, obviously enjoying driving this monster of a boat. I sat back on one of the seats, letting him have his moment. I sighed when I looked up. The sky was blue, the weather was a perfect seventy degrees and I had to agree with Hector it was pretty cool. When I glanced back towards the marina, my stomach dropped. Scary looking bar guy was sitting in the Ferrari parked next to Baby staring in our direction as we went deeper into the channel.
Crap.
I stared back wondering what type of person got paid to kill people. Then I started to get mad. I didn’t do anything. The more I thought about it the angrier I got. I went to the side of the boat, stood up and gave him a big wave. He looked even less pleased than before. I watched as he screeched out of the parking lot.
After dumping the boat and getting a lift back to Marina Del Rey. We picked up Baby and were driving back to the office when my phone rang. It was Bryan.
“What’s up,” I said trying to sound like a person who didn’t have a contract on her life.
“Do you want to tell me why Davies phoned you the night he died?” He didn’t yell, but I could feel his anger seeping through the phone.
“Wrong number,” I suggested biting my lip and hoping for the best.
He made a disgusted sound that I recognized from my past brushes with the law. “Give me a minute,” he said.
I knew Bryan was trying to control his temper and if it meant him not yelling I would give him as long as he needed.
Hector nudged me wanting to know what was going on. I held up my hand and told him to wait.
Then I heard him take a deep breath and he said, “Moreno is the detective on this case and he’s already identified you as the woman in the bar who was seen talking with Davies the night he died. He wants to talk to you and asked me to arrange it.”
I started sweating. “When? And where?”
I had met Moreno a couple of times. I knew he went to Bryan as a favor rather than just bringing me in himself.
“In an hour. At the station in Moreno’s area,” he said.
I looked at my watch guessing how long it would take me to get there after Hector dropped me off. “I will be there,” I said hoping an earthquake would shake me into the earth’s core never to be seen again.
After I got off the phone I started to thunk myself in the head with the palm of my hand hoping to knock some sense in there. Either that or make myself pass out so I wouldn’t have to go.
“That bad?” Hector asked.
“You have no idea,” I said then told him what Bryan said.
“Damn Goldie you are such a fuck up that you make me look normal,” he said laughing. “Man I wish I could be there to see their faces when you tell them the shaving shit.”
I stopped mid-thunk. “It’s going to be bad isn’t it?”
He started laughing even harder. “Hell yes. You’re going to be the talk of the town again girlfriend.”
One of the things I admired about Hector was his no bull shit policy. But right now I could have done with less honesty and a lot more bullshit.
Hector switched lanes and drove past Harry’s.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “You can’t go with me.”
/> “No shit,” he said looking in his rear view mirror. “I passed the office ‘cause I don’t want those dumb assess who broke into your crib to follow you to the valley.
I turned around and searched for the Ferrari, but didn’t see it anywhere.
“I don’t see them,” I said.
He looked in his mirror again. “They’re in the lane next to us, one car back, in the piece of shit grey car.”
I turned back around and saw Hector was right. Fidel and Emil were in a car that was a throwback from the seventies. It was big and shaped like a box on wheels.
“That’s all I need,” I moaned. “Could this day get any better?”
“Don’t sweat it Goldie,” he said checking his mirror then giving me a grin. “Watch this.”
Baby’s engine roared as he immediately swerved to the left cutting off the cars in the next lane and sped into the side street. I looked back and saw Fidel and Emil were honking their horn, weaving in between cars, struggling to keep up. Hector swung a sharp right. I had to grip the side handle to prevent me from sliding off the seat. He turned into a dry cleaner and kept the car running waiting for them to catch up.
As soon as he saw them turning onto the side street he stepped on the gas and bolted out in front of them. They slammed on their brakes stopping inches away from hitting Baby. Hector jumped out of the car, went to the driver’s side door, ripped it open and yanked Fidel out by his shirt. I hopped out of the car getting ready to stop Emil if he decided to make a run for it, but he looked too afraid to move. His eyes bulged as if they were ready to pop out of their sockets staring as Hector came towards him.
“Goldie,” Hector called while dragging both of them by the scruff of their necks. “Move the cars to the side of street while I have a chat with these two fuckers.”
I did what he asked and walked across back to the parking lot. Fidel and Emil were sitting on the wall looking like a couple of pre-schoolers who got in trouble for not sharing.
“These pieces of shits here say they were following us to warn you,” he said crossing his arms in front of him shaking his head.
I stared at them waiting for them to explain. They exchanged a look. Then Fidel nudged Emil urging him to speak. But Emil shook his head and nudged him back. Hector and I watched as this exchange soon escalated into them bitch slapping each other.
Hector slid his eyes over to me. I shrugged back. I’d seen it all before.
“You’re worse than my fucking kids. If you don’t stop this shit, I’m going to jump in and play. And I know you ain’t going to like it. Got it?”
Emil and Fidel stopped and stared wide eyed at Hector.
“Now go on and tell Goldie your bullshit story.”
Emil nudged Fidel for him to talk. He was about to hit him back, but when he saw Hector clench his fists and take a step forward he froze.
“Someone has been hired to rub you down,” Emil said.
What?
“Out. As in kill,” Fidel said smacking his hand against the wall. “Your English is awful.”
“I know,” I said. “Big guy? Skull tattoo on his neck? Scary black eyes? Drives your Ferrari?”
“What the fuck?” Hector said looking like someone just stole his cookie. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?”
“I only found out last night,” I said.
“So?” he asked sounding like a ten year old.
I ignored his pouting and focused on the two idiots sitting on the wall. “Why did you tell me about him?” I asked.
“Because we are pissed on,” Emil said.
“Off. You mean pissed off,” Fidel corrected shaking his head. “Idiot.”
Emil narrowed his eyes and was getting ready to smack him. But took one look at Hector’s growing impatience and he thought better of it.
“Why?” I asked.
“See that piece of car shit?” Emil said pointing at the curb where his banged up car was parked.
I nodded, ignoring his incorrect word usage.
“Our Ferrari is gone and that is its replacement,” he said waving his hands around getting louder with each word. “It sucks big business.”
“And?” I asked waving my hand for him to hurry it up. I had to meet Bryan and I didn’t want to be late.
“If he messes up and doesn’t kill you. We get our car back. ‘Cause then he would be a screw up too,” he said. “That would be very good. No?”
I looked at Hector.
“What a couple of fucking douche bags,” he said.
I sighed in total agreement. Then looked at my watch and panicked. “We’ve got to go,” I said to Hector.
He nodded then walked towards Emil and Fidel who instinctively put their hands up to protect themselves.
“Put your hands down fuckers. I’m not going to kick your ass. But if I catch you two following my partner again I will. Got it?”
They nodded looking down at the ground avoiding any eye contact with Hector.
“Shit that’s what I thought,” he said giving them a snarl. “Hey Goldie do you want to pull their fucking hair as a little payback?”
“Will you just come on,” I said getting worried about the time.
Hector sauntered his way to the car mumbling to himself something about being the man.
I glanced at my watch again. “We’re not going to make it,” I said dreading how bad this was going to look for Bryan.
“How much time we got?” Hector asked.
“Twenty minutes.”
“Shit. No problem Goldie. Baby can get you there,” he said giving the dashboard a pat.
“What about my car?” I asked.
“No time.”
“Are you sure?”
“No prob’ Goldie.”
“What about Yolanda?” I asked.
“Shit I can do what I want,” he said.
Sure you could.
“She’s at her mother’s tonight, isn’t she?”
He pretended he didn’t hear me.
I looked out the window trying hard not to laugh.
“So what’s this about someone being hired to kill you,” he asked sounding hurt.
“It’s the drug people Fidel and Emil work for. They still think I have something of theirs,” I said. “And if they can’t get it back, they’re going to kill me.”
“Man the drug dealers have really gone to shit if they hire those two assholes.”
Hector pulled into the station parking lot with two minutes to spare.
“Thanks Hector,” I said and hopped out of the car telling him I’d get a ride home from someone else. I ran to the door flung it open and crashed straight into a young cop who was unfortunately carrying two cups of coffee that were as hot as the earth’s inner core.
“Crap! That’s burns,” I screamed while ripping off my sweatshirt.
The cop kept apologizing while trying to wipe off some of the coffee still dripping down my neck with his sleeve. In his zest to do a thorough job his arm kept drifting down to my breasts.
“Hey,” I said stepping back. “I know your trying to help but that doesn’t give you an all access pass.”
His face turned red and he looked like he’d like to become invisible.
“When I heard the chaos I knew it had to be you,” Bryan said giving me a grin.
I stuck my tongue out in reply and tried to help the cop clean up the rest of the mess. But he waved me away anxious to get rid of me.
“You okay?” He asked on the way to Moreno’s office.
“Besides being scalded by coffee that had been heated by a thousand suns, I’m great.” Although being stalked by a paid killer was definitely a drag.
“Good. Because Moreno isn’t going to cut you any slack. He seems to think you know something about Davies murder.”
I made a disgusted sound.
“Do you?” He asked.
“No?” Telling the truth felt pretty good.
He pulled me aside into a doorw
ay. “Someone broke into Davies apartment last night. Do you know anything about that?”
“Nah. Would I do that?” Honesty was over rated. Evasiveness was the best tactic.
“Yes,” he said searching my face to see if I was telling the truth.
I tried to not to show anything on my expression, but he knew me too well.
“Shit Stevie,” he said. “Please tell me you didn’t.” The vein on his neck started to stand out and I could see he was trying to remain calm.
“I didn’t,” I squeaked out.
His hard expression told me he didn’t appreciate my effort to placate him. “Why do I have the feeling you know who the person was who shot the shit out of Davies apartment too?”
I swallowed the lump that had built in my throat and shrugged.
He sighed. “What’s going on Stevie?”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Yep. I can take care of it.”
I knew Bryan didn’t believe me. But we were pressed for time so he couldn’t grill me.
Moreno’s office looked like a cubicle with walls. He was sitting behind his desk waiting for us. He had obviously been off patrol for a while because he resembled a pillow with appendages and a bad comb over. I had only seen him socially before and wasn’t used to the stern cop expression that greeted me now.
I sat in the chair across from him feeling a little self-conscious in my coffee stained pink tank top and jeans especially next to Bryan who was in his work uniform of a grey suit and tie looking yummy as always. He sat down next to me and draped an arm protectively around the back of my chair.
“Bryan told you why you’re here?” Moreno asked.
I nodded.
“Are you here as her lawyer or for the district attorney’s office?” He asked Bryan.
I mentally cringed. I knew I put him in a tight spot.
“Her lawyer,” he said without any hesitation.
I looked over and gave him a grateful smile. He brushed the back of my neck with his fingers in response. I wish he wouldn’t have done that because now my mind wasn’t focused on Moreno it was focused on his warm hand that moved to rest on my back.
“Stevie?”
I looked up and saw Moreno staring at me expectantly. “How did you know Ronald Davies?”
I sighed knowing how awful it was going to be to tell him the whole story. How could you put a website dedicated to watching women shave their privates in a dignified way? I doubt even the Queen of England could pull that one off. So I just launched in and told the god awful truth. Every detail. Except the part about the contract killer and Manuel. They didn’t need to know that little titbit.
By the end of story Moreno’s cop face was gone. It had been replaced by a friendly ‘you’ve got to be shitting me’ expression.
“The stories about you certainly weren’t exaggerated,” he said.
There were stories? As in plural?
“And your two friends will corroborate your story?” Moreno asked.
I nodded.
I called Jeff and Jason on the way to the station and told them what was going on. Jason was more excited than he should be. He loved the drama. Acting out his part again to an audience, even if it was only a crowd of one, still gave him joy.
“No one in the station is going to believe this,” Moreno said.
I looked at Bryan who was trying hard not to smile.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What?” I asked almost daring him to say it.
“You never disappoint,” he said with a grin.
I crossed my arms in front of me in a big huff. I knew my story was ridiculous, but I wasn’t there as entertainment.
Bryan and I walked out to the parking lot. I needed a ride home, but I was too ticked off at the mutual ‘Stevie is an idiot’ convention back there to ask for one.
“You’re mad?” Bryan asked.
“Gee, how can you tell?” I asked sarcastically.
“By the way you stomped down the hallway and tried to slam the door in my face,” he said crossing his arms in front of him.
When he put it that way it made me sound like a total bitch.
“Okay, maybe I did overreact,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows.
“Okay I did overreact, but you guys didn’t exactly make it easy for me,” I said.
Bryan laughed. “Easy? What did you expect Stevie?”
“You’re not going to tell anyone are you?” I asked.
“Of course not. But it doesn’t matter. I’m sure Moreno has already repeated the whole thing to his buddies. They’ll pass it on to anyone who wears a uniform. And that even includes the meter maids.”
Crap. It wasn’t that I cared what people thought. I just didn’t like looking like an idiot.
“Do they have any idea about who murdered Davies yet?” I asked.
“No. They’re waiting on forensics. But it was a clean shot at close range to the back of the head.”
“Where did it happen?” I thought it was weird that I noticed no blood stains when I was in his apartment.
“In the bathroom. He was against the wall then he took the shot. Davies definitely knew it was coming?”
“Any signs of a struggle?”
He shook his head.
“Did you tell Moreno the truth about Davies calling you?”
I did feel weird knowing I was the last person he tried to get a hold of before being knocked off.
“Yeah. I don’t know why. He didn’t even have my real number. We weren’t supposed to meet until the next day. He could have just been looking for a date,” I said not being able to stop the sour look on my face at the thought.
“What did Mrs. Howard say when you visited her?”
Damn he was good.
“How do you know that?”
“Her house is being watched Stevie,” he said. “She was the only one with a motive.”
Were they going to try to pin this on her? Mrs. Howard was a lonely gullible lady, but hardly a killer.
“What are you talking about? There was a stack of files of women who’d want to kill him,” I said waving my hands around. “Not to mention Mr. Pervert’s porn collection.”
“Really? And where did you see all this?” He voice going into lawyer mode.
Dammit.
“I don’t remember,” I said back tracking.
As I was thinking how I was going to get myself out of the hole I had dug for myself when I saw Manuel’s black Mustang pull into the parking lot. He got out and leaned against the door. I waved and he gave me a barely there nod.
“Who is that?” Bryan asked not sounding very happy.
“A friend,” I said not wanting to explain. “I’ve got to go.”
Bryan grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “With him?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?” He asked shooting his eyes over to Manuel. His expression showed he was definitely not pleased with my choices in friends.
How could I tell him when I didn’t know either?
“Dinner,” I said hoping it would get him off his question mode.
He narrowed his eyes. “You mean on a date?”
“Yeah. Why?”
I was going to answer no, but then I changed my mind. He was going out with Ms. Perfect lawyer so why couldn’t I go out with someone too? Even if it was a lie.
“I thought you said he was a friend.”
Couldn’t he ever stop being a lawyer? He always tried to twist my words around.
“I meant a friend who I also date.”
“You never mentioned going out with anyone,” he countered.
“And neither did you,” I said.
Try to lawyer speak out of that one. Bryan didn’t say anything else, but I could tell by his expression he was thinking of a way to grill me some more about Manuel without looking like a hypocrite.
“I’ve got to go,” I said not
wanting to give him the chance. I gave him a kiss on the cheek then headed towards Manuel who was still leaning against his car as if he had all the time in the world.
“Your boyfriend?” He asked.
“He used to be.”
“Does he know that?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“‘Cause he looks like he wants to kick my ass,” he said.
“Oh, he always looks that way,” I lied. I didn’t want to go into the complicated mess that was Bryan and me. “What’s up?”
“Let’s go somewhere else,” he said eyeing the police station.
I got in his car and we ended up at one of those throwback restaurants that was modern in the sixties, but now looked dated. We sat in a corner booth with Manuel taking the seat against the wall. I was starved and ordered anything I could find on the menu that was veggie including a chocolate cake.
“Is that all you’re having?” I asked Manuel feeling like a pig after I heard his pathetic order of just coffee.
“I found out what they think you stole,” he said ignoring my question.
I swallowed hard almost afraid to hear. “What?”
“A USB drive,” he said.
I knit my eyebrows together. “You mean one of those stick things?”
“Are you really asking me that?”
Okay, so I wasn’t so computer literate.
“No, I was just making conversation,” I said sarcastically. “So what’s on the drive thing?”
“A list of undercover DEA agents,” he said.
Now I was beginning to understand and it didn’t make me feel any better. A drug dealer could only want one thing with a list like that and I was sure it wasn’t so he could add them to his Christmas card list.
“Abdoul’s people bought it and your two friends were in charge of bringing it back to him. But somewhere between purchase and delivery it got lost.”
“Who is Abdoul?”
“Amin Abdoul is one of the biggest heroin suppliers to the US.”
“So I’m getting blamed for Fidel and Emil’s blundering?”
Although I wasn’t happy that I was in this mess, I was glad they never got the list of agents. I hate to think how many people might have got killed.
“Looks that way.”
Manuel leaned back in his seat stretching, at the same time I heard a moan from across the restaurant. I glanced over and saw our waitress who was huddled behind a wall staring at every move Manuel made. She apparently had recruited two more waitresses into her fangirl club.
I looked back at Manuel who was either completely unaware of the admiring group or didn’t give a shit. I gave him the once over again. His golden skin showed off his bulging biceps. He had a face that looked like it belonged on a cover of a romance novel and an understated sex appeal that oozed from every pore. I took a drink of water hoping to extinguish the uncomfortable warming I was feeling. I didn’t blame the ladies for taking a peek. I had to admit he was worth the look.
“Goldie?”
“What?” I asked fishing out a piece of ice and chomping on it.
“Are you okay?” He asked with a confused expression on his face.
“Sorry, I was just thinking,” I said. “Why doesn’t this Abdoul guy just go after Fidel and Emil then? They’re the idiots who lost it. Not me,” I asked breaking out of my admiring trance.
“It didn’t sound right to me either at first,” he said.
I started to get anxious thinking about the computer stick thing. I thought I would feel better finding out what the drug cartel thought I took, but I didn’t. Wanting to self-medicate I took a huge bite of cake and felt my body relax as the chocolate worked its magic.
“And?” I asked shoving in another piece of cake.
Silence.
“Well?” I could tell he was holding back on me.
He gave me an almost smile. “I was waiting for you to lick the plate.”
Smart ass.
“Oh. Now you have a sense of humor?”
“I wasn’t kidding,” he said.
If it wouldn’t have totally grossed him out I would gone for it.
“Can you just tell me already?” I asked tapping my fingers on the table.
“They’re Abdoul’s nephews. That’s why they’re not dead.”
“They’re brothers?”
“Cousins.”
That explained the matching chest hair and bickering. Family can drive you crazy like no one else.
“That makes sense,” I said eyeing the frosting left on my plate. “Instead of killing them their uncle makes them drive around in a piece of crap car.”
Abdoul was smart. Taking away their Ferrari was like taking away their manhood. If they didn’t have the chick magnet car they couldn’t pick up any shallow women. It was perfect.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
I forgot Manuel didn’t know about what happened today. For some reason I assumed he was all knowing. I gave him the low down about Hector’s flashy maneuvers and Fidel and Emil’s change of transportation.
“I’m sorry I missed out on all the fun,” he said.
He had a strange sense of fun.
“Where’d Abdoul get the information from about the agents?”
“That’s what we need to find out,” he said.
My anxiousness went into overdrive.
“Did you say we?”
His grin told me that he did.
“Am I going to want to hear this?” I asked.
“That depends,” he said. “Do you want to be a target for the rest of your life?”
That would be a definite no.
“I’ve got a plan,” he said.
I gave him a skeptical look.
“Trust me,” he said.
And the funny thing was I did trust him. Maybe I was blinded by his sexy accent and Greek god like body, but I felt pretty confident he wouldn’t get me killed. I wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but it had to be better than just sitting waiting for the crazy guy from the bar to take another shot at me. The stress of worrying about him was starting to make me break out. Potential killer I could handle. Underground zits were too much to take.
“Okay what’s your plan?” I asked.
“Abdoul is going to be at a fundraiser tomorrow night. And we’re going to be there too.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Are you crazy?” I asked my voice squeaking with panic.
He grinned. “Sometimes. But not about this.”
“Are you sure there’s not some crossover craziness involved here? Because I don’t think he’s going to be pleased to see me there.”
Winding up a big time heroin dealer wasn’t my idea of a fun time especially when the evening ended with me dead.
“Probably not. But if he’s in jail it won’t really matter will it?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We’re going to set him up,” he said.
I wasn’t sure I heard him right. “We? As in you and me?”
“Yeah.”
Okay forget about him getting grossed out. After hearing his idea I needed that frosting taunting me on the plate so I took my finger, scooped it up then licked off every last bit, letting my sugar fix do its business. I looked up to find Manuel staring at me with an amused expression.
“Feel better?” He asked.
I nodded trying to discreetly dip my napkin into my water glass then wiping off my sticky finger under the table.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked.
“We’re going to sell him back his USB drive.”
“But we don’t have it,” I said stating the obvious.
Manuel gave me a sly grin. “He doesn’t know that.”