Sunset Express

The reporter said, 'Sources close to the investigation tell us that the evidence found here today provides a direct link between these men and Susan Martin's kidnapping.' They cut to a clip of me and Jonathan Green standing by Jonathan's Rolls-Royce, Jonathan with his hand on my shoulder, saying that I had found the breakthrough that the defense has needed. Both Lucy and Ben cheered again when Jonathan said it, and Lucy hooked her finger in my belt loop. I thought that I looked like a turnip head.

The anchor reappeared, said that the two men were being sought for questioning, then shifted to a story about sweatshops in East L.A.

I said, 'Shucks. He didn't put in the part where Jonathan said I would be the hero of the case.'

Lucy tugged at my belt loop. 'So what did you find?'

I told her about the map and the pictures. Lucy wasn't smiling now. She looked grave, and then she shook her head. 'Wow.'

I nodded.

'Do you think you'll be able to come out and play with us tomorrow?'

'I'll call Jonathan in the morning. I'll have to follow up on Pritzik and Richards, but it shouldn't take all day. Maybe just half a day.'

We stared at each other.

She held out her hand, and I took it. She said, 'It's okay, Studly. I understand.'

'I'll grab a shower and we'll eat.'

I phoned Spago for a reservation, then showered, changed, and when I came back down she was grinning. I said, 'What?'

Grinning wider. 'Nothing.'

'What?'

'Just a little surprise. Let's go.'

It was almost eight by the time we made it down the mountain, and the sky was deep purple edging into darkness. The Sunset Strip was alive with middle-aged hipsters driving Porsches to show off for women twenty years younger and goateed Val Dudes chasing the Christian Slater look and young women sporting navel rings set fire by the neon. The sidewalks outside of clubs like the Viper Room and the House of Blues and the Roxy were jammed with people, some of whom wanted to get in but most of whom were content to make the concrete scene out front, laughing and goofing and tossing back test-tube shooters of red dye number six vodka. Ben said, 'Mom, look! There's a man with a bone through his nose.'

I said, 'Welcome to Planet Los Angeles.'

Lucy shook her head and smiled. 'Well, it isn't Baton Rouge, is it?'

'Wait'll you see Melrose.'

'It's fun, though. Sort of like Mardi Gras three hundred sixty-five nights a year.'

'Yeah,' I said. ' L.A. is okay that way.'

She turned back to me. Serious. 'Do you like living here?'

'If I didn't, I wouldn't.'

She stared at me for a moment, then she nodded and turned back toward the window. 'Yes, I guess you wouldn't.'

We pulled into Spago and let the valet have the car. Lucy suggested that I wear my Groucho Marx nose as a disguise to prevent adoring fans from mobbing me, but I pointed out that then everyone might think I was Groucho Marx and I would be mobbed anyway. I decided to risk going as myself.

We went upstairs for very nice Caesar salads and duck sausage pizza and a pretty good merlot. Johnny Depp was there with several friends, and so were three of the cast members of Beverly Hills 90210. No one stared at me and no one asked for my autograph and no one took my picture. Everyone was looking at Johnny Depp. Even the 90210 people. Disappointing, but maybe the people who go to Spago don't watch the news.

Lucy said, 'Perhaps you should've worn the Groucho after all.'

'Perhaps.'

She patted my arm. 'Don't feel bad, sweetie. They would recognize you if all these faux celebrities weren't here.'

'Yeah.' I sneered. 'Johnny Depp.'

Throughout the meal Lucy would grin with the knowledge of her secret, and I would ask, 'What?' and she would say, 'You'll see.' Then everyone stopped looking at Johnny Depp and turned toward the door. Lucy grinned wider, and I looked, too.

Joe came over, gliding across the floor as the room parted for him. Tall men in sleeveless sweatshirts and dark glasses and brilliant red tattoos tend to stand out in Spago. Even Johnny Depp was looking.

Lucy stood to greet him. 'Hi, Joseph.'

Joe kissed Lucy's cheek, hugged her, then shook Ben's hand. 'You ready, sport?'

'Yeah!'

I said, 'What's going on?'

Joe swiveled my way, and you could tell he was amused. You could see that he was positively dying, even though his face showed nothing. 'Peter Nelsen's down in the car. Peter and I are taking Big Ben to a screening of Peter's new movie.' Peter Alan Nelsen is the third most successful movie director in the world. Once he was a client, but now he's a friend.

I looked at Lucy.

Joe said, 'We won't be back until late.'

I looked back at Joe.

'Very late.'

Lucy gave Ben a hug. 'You guys have fun.'

Joe's mouth gave the twitch, and then he and Ben were gone.

I looked back at Lucy, and she said, 'Alone time is very important.'

'You called him while I was in the shower?'

'Uh-huh.'

'I knew there was something I liked about you.'

She sipped her wine. 'I think that there's something you like very much about me.'

We enjoyed a slow, noisy dessert with Lucy and I playing footsie under the table. We spoke in greater detail about her day and mine, and I told her about the Mason twins and the Pug Woman and the man who claimed to have seen Susan Martin's kidnapping from the orb. I didn't often speak of my work, but it seemed natural with Lucy, and as we talked we laughed and goofed about orb people and stroked each other's hands and arms and fingers. The time passed with the slow, warm feel of dripping honey, and finally Lucy wrapped my feet with hers and said, 'Maybe we should go.'

We left Spago at 10:35, and when we got home Lucy went into her room and I put Janis Ian on the CD player, then poured a merlot that would go nicely with the one we'd had at Spago.

When Lucy came out she had changed into shorts and a cropped T-shirt that said Tank Girl and silver evening slippers with four-inch heels. The lights were low and Janis was singing. Lucy did a slow pirouette. 'Is the world's greatest detective tired after his long and successful day?'

I watched the pirouette. I watched the way the warm light caught her back and hair and the long, smooth line of her legs and the sexy counterpoint of the formal evening slippers to the shorts and T-shirt. 'He was, but now he feels a growing revitalization.'

'Ah. Is that what's growing?'

'One way to look at it.' I held out the merlot and Lucy took a sip. I said, 'Nice shoes.'

Lucy brushed against me, swaying to the music. The merlot left a sweet, rich taste in my mouth that I liked a lot. She said, 'You'll probably be on the news again at eleven. Shall we turn on the TV and see?'

I shook my head. 'Seeing me once is plenty. Besides, something else is already turned on.'

'Ah.'

'I think I'm ready for the rest of my surprise.'

She took my hand and tugged me toward the big glass doors. Outside, the sky was clear, and would be filled with stars.

I said, 'The deck?'

She let her hair fall across one eye. 'I thought your middle name was Adventure.'

'So it is.'

I followed her out, and what I found there tasted better than any wine, and was more beautiful than the stars.

CHAPTER 15

Lucy and Ben woke giggling and excited and filled with plans. As they readied for their day, I phoned Elliot Truly at his office. 'It's Cole. Has there been word on Pritzik or Richards?'