Hector and I were driving down Sunset heading towards downtown.
When we’d gotten back to the office and his phone buzzed. Hector checked who it was and went outside. That was strange because Hector normally didn’t care who heard him and would talk as loud and as long as he wanted. When he came back he whispered to me that we had to leave to meet someone.
“Who?” I asked.
“A friend who wants to talk to you,” he said already irritated with my one question.
“Why?”
Hector sighed. “Shit. Why do you have to ask so many questions? You’ll find out in about twenty minutes. Can’t you wait until then?”
“No, I can’t,” I said crossing my arms.
He looked at me sideways and then shook his head realizing I was going to badger him until we got there.
“Remember that dude you were fucking nagging me about when you got pulled over for getting all jiggy with your pepper spray?”
I ignored the nag comment. Did he mean that hottie guy?
“In the white sedan?”
“Yeah, that’s who we are going to meet.”
What?
“Why?”
Hector did a little huff. “You asked who we’re fucking meeting and that’s who it is. I don’t know nothin’ more.”
“Who is he? What does he want? How do you know him?”
Hector put his index finger to his temple and rubbed. “Shit how many questions can you ask without taking a fucking breath. My head is pounding.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you have such an aversion to questions? I only asked three.”
“You asked four including the first one and I don’t know what the hell aversion means, but I do know I hate having to answer a bunch of fucking questions that you’ll find out in a couple of minutes anyway,” he said still rubbing his temple.
What a big baby.
We pulled into a rundown coffee shop in a neighborhood I probably wouldn’t have normally ventured into, but with gigantic Hector by my side I knew no one would mess with us.
When we walked in the hunky Latin guy was already seated in a booth on the back wall. He gave Hector a barely perceptible nod of recognition. He was wearing jeans, and a baggy black t-shirt that revealed a tattoo that read “Coli” on his upper left arm. I slid in next to Hector even though half my ass was hanging off the side.
Hector introduced us. I smiled and said hello, but all I got was a miniscule nod in reply.
The mysterious guy’s name was Manuel Alba. He had green eyes and enviable brown hair that was long enough to touch the collar of his shirt. His hair really pissed me off. It wasn’t fair. Why should a guy have hair that shiny? It took me twenty minutes with my flat iron before my hair even looked like it belonged to a human.
The waitress came around and dropped off some glasses of water for us and took our orders. Manuel and I ordered coffee, while Hector ordered a cheeseburger and fries.
I gave him a look.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to eat between meals,” I asked.
“I ain’t. This is dinner,” he said.
We just had lunch.
I looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s three thirty.”
“And? Is there a fucking rule that says I can’t have dinner at this time?”
I held up my hand. “Fine. You’re the one who has to deal with your wife not me.”
Hector groaned. “Damn you’re right. Where the fuck is the waitress?”
I looked at Manuel and noticed his mouth was turned up at the corners into an almost smile, but he still didn’t say anything.
Maybe he was a hot mute?
Since I was on the outside of the bench I told Hector I’d find the waitress and change his order to coffee. When I sat back down Hector and Manuel were talking in Spanish.
“I wanted to warn you that you need to be careful,” he said to me. His voice sounded smooth and sexy with a slight Spanish accent.
“Why?”
The waitress brought our coffees and Hector grumbled something about needing a lot of cream and sugar.
“The men that broke into your apartment are connected to a large drug cartel,” he said. “They think you stole something of theirs.”
“What?” I felt the color draining from my face. I didn’t know anything about drug cartels, but I knew enough that it wasn’t good for them to be mad at you.
“Did you take anything from the car when you repoed it?” He took a drink and locked eyes with me over the rim of his cup.
“Goldie ain’t no fucking thief,” Hector chipped in.
Tell him partner. Screw his diet. I wanted to give Hector a big cake.
“I’ve never stolen anything,” I said.
Manuel’s expression showed nothing. It was a similar look Bryan had when he didn’t want to tell me about one of his cases. Then I remembered Hector’s vague answer when I first saw him.
“You’re a cop aren’t you?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything. Instead he reached down and set a file on the table and opened it up.
“Questioned for stealing animals from a university lab?”
Oh my God.
“You have a file on me?”
Silence.
“The key word here is questioned.” I pointed out.
I was not totally lying. I was only questioned. They never caught me.
“Did you do it?” he asked.
Tough choice here.
I sighed. “Okay yeah I did… but you should have seen what they were doing to those poor mice and bunnies.”
“Damn Goldie. Not eating meat and shit and now this,” Hector chuckled making the booth bench shake. “Man Gus and Victor have to hear about this crap.”
Okay, now I was taking back the cake.
He looked at the papers in the folder again.
“Arrested for assault?” He asked.
Oops. I’d forgotten about that.
I felt Hector chuckle next to me.
“It wasn’t my fault. Some guy kept trying to grab my ass. I told him to stop and he kept doing it. I finally got fed up and shoved a pie in his face. How was I supposed to know he was allergic to peaches? I helped him get his Epi pen didn’t I? Does it say that in your little folder?”
Manuel stared at me not saying anything, but I noticed his cop face had relaxed a bit.
“Why the fuck were you carrying around a pie?” Hector asked.
I gave him a ‘you’re a dumb shit’ look. “I was waitressing. And those assault charges were thrown out.”
Thanks to Bryan.
“Transporting stolen cars across the border,” he said sorting through the papers.
“I was never convicted,” I interrupted. “They told me I was test driving new vehicles.”
“You fell for that?” Hector asked shaking his head.
“Obviously,” I said not hiding the irritation in my voice.
Manuel looked down at the folder again.
“Getting arrested at a gay pride rally,” he continued. “And the charges were dropped yet again.”
“I bet that’s ‘cause her ex-boyfriend who still wants to fuck her is a cop lawyer,” Hector said.
Manuel’s eyes shifted to me waiting to explain.
I elbowed Hector in the ribs.
“Ow. Damn there’s no need to get all violent with me. Manuel is cool.”
I glared at him wishing I could put a muzzle over his mouth. He shrugged back.
“The charges were dropped because I was innocent. It doesn’t have anything to do with him.”
Even though I knew Bryan didn’t do anything illegal I didn’t want any hint of wrong doing to fall back on him. I had already done enough damage to his image as it was.
“So what happened?” Manuel asked, his eyes clearly assessing my answer for truthfulness.
“It wasn’t my fault. My friends Jeff and
Jason got into a skirmish with a couple of guys who insulted their parade outfits. I just got caught in the middle.”
“It seems you get caught in the middle a lot,” he said shutting the folder.
I made a snotty face at him. There was no reason to get sanctimonious with me.
Manuel stared back his expression revealing nothing.
“Damn Goldilocks you’ve got a rap sheet longer than mine,” Hector said.
“Who would have thought I was paired up with such a hardened bad ass?” He snickered to himself.
“I was never convicted of anything. Whatever happened about being innocent until proven guilty?” I protested.
Manuel stared at me expectantly.
“Okay I was guilty of a couple. But only the social injustice stuff. I would never steal or hurt anyone.”
“Girl he’s just messing with you,” Hector said. “Yeah you have a rap sheet, but I ain’t heard anything bad in there. Well maybe the car thing, but you explained that. So who gives a fuck?”
I sighed loudly. “Well apparently your friend here does,” I said.
“I just like to know all the angles before I get involved,” he said leaning back in the booth.
Involved?
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re a friend of Hector’s and you’re in some deep shit,” he said.
“You mean Emil and Fidel,” I scoffed.
“They’re not who I am concerned about.”
I waited for more, but no other explanation came.
“And?” I asked making the hand motion to continue.
Silence.
“You’re not going to tell me who you are concerned about,” I said tapping my fingers on the table.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Damn Goldie what is it with you and the fucking questions,” Hector asked. “He’s told you all you need to know.”
I swung my head to look at him so fast my pony tail whipped around and smacked me in the face.
“What has he told me? Except I need to be careful? Tell me what I need to do? That would be helpful?”
Manuel apparently didn’t hear anything I said because he ignored my questions and turned to Hector and asked, “Goldie?”
“Goldilocks.” Hector said as way of an explanation.
He nodded. “It suits her,” he said looking at me.
“Did either one of you hear what I said? A little more information would be helpful.” My voice came out louder than I planned.
Manuel shifted out of the booth and stood up.
“Hector will fill you in,” he said. “I’ll be around.” Then he threw some money on the table and left.