Sunset Express

'Not yet, but there'll be something soon.' He sounded distracted.

'I was thinking that I'd go back to Richards's place and talk to some of the neighbors, but the police will be there and they won't like it. Maybe Jonathan could talk to Sherman.and smooth the way in the spirit of cooperation.'

Truly didn't say anything for a moment. 'Why do you want to go back there?'

'To try to get a lead on Pritzik and Richards.'

'Forget it. We're talking with the cops. We've got Kerris on it. Take the day off and relax.' I could hear voices behind him.

'It's a cold trail already, Elliot. We shouldn't let it get any colder.'

'Look, you just said that the entire area will be swarming with cops. We've got a staff meeting here in a couple of minutes to try to figure out what to do next. Jonathan's trying to get a meeting with the DA.'

'What does that have to do with finding Pritzik and Richards?'

'Take the day off, enjoy yourself, and I'll get back to you.'

'You want me to do nothing.'

'Yeah. What could be better than that?' He hung up, and I stared at the phone.

Lucy said, 'What's wrong?'

I looked at the phone some more and then I put it down. 'Not a thing. I get to spend the day with you. What could be better than that?'

Their excitement was contagious. We made a fast breakfast of sliced fruit and cottage cheese and toast, and then we dressed in shorts and light shirts and baseball caps for the always popular Ralph Cramden look. I considered bringing my Dan Wesson.38 caliber revolver, but thought it unsightly strapped over my flowered shirt. Besides, blue steel wheel guns aren't exactly requisite tourist attire in southern California. Florida maybe, but not yet California.

It was early, so we decided to see my office first, then head for the Universal tour. We took Lucy's rented Taurus down Laurel Canyon, then along Sunset toward the office. The sky was free of haze and smog, and more blue than white because of it. A great V of gulls floated above West Hollywood, heading toward the sea, and the streets were busy with cars sporting out-of-state license plates and people with camcorders and young Middle Eastern guys selling maps to the stars' homes. Summer had come to the City of Angels.

When we turned onto Santa Monica, one block up from my office, we saw two television news vans parked at the curb in front of my building. I said, 'Uh-oh.'

Lucy said, 'Do you think they're here for you?'

'I don't know.' Maybe they were here for Cindy. Maybe they wanted to do a story about hot new beauty supply products.

'You don't want to speak to them?'

Jonathan's the only person on the team who talks to the press.'

I pulled past the vans. A very attractive young Asian-American woman was on the sidewalk talking to a guy holding a Minicam, and a guy who looked like a surfer in a sport coat was smoking with a scruffy woman in a work shirt. I pulled to the curb on the next block, asked Lucy for her cell phone, and called Cindy's office. Cindy answered on the first ring and said, 'Wow, are you ever the big deal.'

'Have they been upstairs?'

'All morning. They knock on your door and when you don't answer they come to me or the insurance people and ask about your hours.' The insurance people had the office across the hall. 'That was a great picture in the paper.'

'I'm in the paper?'

'You haven't seen it?'

'Uh-uh.' Mr With-it. Mr Hip L.A. Private Eye with his fingers on the pulse.

'Oh, man, you look so cool. And I saw you on TV, too. I saw you twice.' Even Cindy was excited.

'Is anyone upstairs now?'

'Yeah. There's a guy sitting in the hall. I think he's from a radio station.'

I thanked her and handed back Lucy's phone. Lucy was looking at me. 'They're upstairs?'

I nodded. 'You mind if we don't go up? I'll show you guys my office another time.'

She patted my leg and put away her phone. 'Another time is fine, Studly. I want to see my man in the paper.'

We stopped at a Sav-on drugstore where we bought the Times, the Examinei, and the Daily News, then stood in the parking lot, reading. Elton Richards, Steve Pritzik, and the discovery I'd made in Richards's duplex were frontpage news in all three papers. A picture of me with Jonathan Green was on page one of both the Examiner and the Daily News and on page three of the Times.

Guess the people at the Times had higher standards. Lucy said, 'Oh, Elvis. This is so exciting.'

I said, 'Um.'

'Aren't you proud?'

'It's kinda neat, I guess.' I held up the paper next to my face and frowned. 'Do I look like Moe Howard?'

Lucy compared me to the picture, then nodded. 'Yes. Yes, I think you do.'

A round man with thick glasses and a nervous tic walked past, staring. He went to a brown Cressida, still staring, then called out, 'Hey, are you that guy?'

I folded the paper and tossed it in the car.

'I read about what you did. I saw you on the news. That was good work.'

I gave a little wave. 'Thanks.'

He said, 'These cops here in L.A. suck, don't they?'

I frowned at him. 'Some of my best friends are cops.'

He made a nasal, braying laugh, then climbed into his car and drove away.

I opened the door for Lucy and we drove east across West Hollywood and Hollywood, and then up through the Cahuenga Pass to Universal Studios. We parked in one of the big parking structures with about twelve million other tourists, then followed along with what seemed an endless stream of people to the ticket kiosks and then into yet more lines that led to the trams. It made me feel like a lemming.

We rode the trams around the Universal back lot and took goofy pictures of ourselves posing with giant toothpaste tubes and rode little cars past screeching dinosaurs and gargantuan gorillas, and then Lucy said, 'I feel the urge to spend.'

I looked at her. 'Spend?'

Ben made as if he was horrified. 'Not that, Mom! Not that! Try to control it!'

Lucy's eyes narrowed in concentration and her gaze went blank. 'The shopping gene is beyond all control. Souvenirs.,' must have souvenirs!'

It was horrible to behold. Lucy bought; I carried. Three T-shirts, two sweatshirts, and a snow-shaker paperweight later, we had exhausted the selection in the upper park and trekked down to CityWalk in search of more booty. The CityWalk is a large, open-air mall with shops, bookstores, restaurants, and other fine places to spend your money. Some people have described the CityWalk as an urban version of Disney's Main Street U.S.A., but I've always thought of it as a G-rated take on Blade Runner. Only without the rain.

It was just before noon when we got there, and, like the park above, the CityWalk was thick with tour groups from Asia and visitors from around the country. We walked the length of the CityWalk, browsing in the shops and watching the people, Lucy and I holding hands while Ben ranged around us. It felt good to be not working and good to be with Lucy. I said, 'Do you think you can rein in your spending spree long enough to eat?'

She looked at me the way the cat does when I take his bowl before he's finished.

'I may not be able to carry this stuff much longer without an infusion of calories.'

'You'll manage.'

'We may have to hire porters.'

'It's only money.'

'We may have to stop spending.'

She made a big sigh and rolled her eyes. 'Modern men are such wimps.'

I leaned close to her ear. 'That's not what you said last night on the deck.'

Lucy laughed and hugged my arm tight, biting my shoulder through the shirt. 'O.K., Studly, your wish is my command. Where would you like to eat?'

'You said that last night, too.'