Sunset Express

Linc Gibbs nodded. 'Of course it's bullshit, Sergeant, but it's where we are.' He looked at me. 'Thanks, Cole. It didn't pan out, but we owe you for the effort.'

Bishop got up, then Gibbs. Gibbs told Tomsic to come with them, and he told Angela Rossi he thought she should probably go home. He told her not to worry. He said that they weren't going to let it go, and that they would keep digging into the LeCedrick Earle thing and that they wouldn't abandon her. She nodded and got up and went with them, but she looked abandoned to me. Of course, maybe it was just my imagination.

I sat alone at the empty table for another three minutes, wondering what to do next and having no great surges of inspiration. I think I was feeling abandoned, too, but I probably wasn't feeling as abandoned as Angela Rossi.

I went down the stairs and out the back of Greenblatt's to my car. Anna Sherman was sitting in the passenger seat, waiting for me. A bead of sweat worked its way down along her temple and her cheek. She said, 'It's hotter than hell out here.'

I stared at her. 'Yes. It is.'

She ran her fingers along the dash. She tapped the shift lever. 'This is a classic, isn't it?'

'Yeah.'

'It's a Corvette?'

'Yeah. A Stingray.' I looked where she was looking. I touched where she was touching. 'I wanted one when I was a kid, and a few years ago I had the opportunity to buy this one, so I did. I couldn't afford it, but I bought it anyway.'

She nodded. 'I should do something like that. Something crazy.' She ran her fingers along the console. 'When was it made?'

'Nineteen sixty-six.'

'God. I was ten years old.' She looked older.

I wanted to start the engine and turn on the air conditioner, but I didn't.

Anna Sherman said, 'Three months ago an attorney named Lucas Worley was arrested in a drug sting in Santa Monica. He wasn't the target. He just happened to be there.' She tapped my glove box. 'I put his address in here.'

I waited.

'Worley has a heroin problem. He'll buy a kilo every now and then, then cut it and sell it to his friends to cover his costs. Worley was a junior litigator in Green's office.'

I smiled. 'Was.'

'Green had the case handled to minimize bad publicity for his firm, so Worley was able to cop a first offense probation plea.'

'Is Worley still with the firm?'

She shook her head. 'Resigned. I guess that was part of the deal.' She finally looked at me. It was the first time she'd looked at me since I got into the car. 'Worley was a tort litigator. That means he worked in Green's contract department. He would've had access to retainer agreements and to the contracts that Green had with his clients.'

'Is he employed?'

She made a little dismissive shrug. 'Probably dealing full time, but I don't know.'

'So you think there's something to this.'

She touched the dash again, watching her fingers move along the gentle lines. 'You always follow the money.'

She shook her head and made a little smile. 'I've been doing this for twelve years. I've prosecuted hundreds of cases, and I have learned that people do crime for only two reasons: sex and money. There are no other motives.'

'What about power and revenge?'

'That's just sex and money under aliases.' The tiny smile again. 'If you're right, and if Jonathan Green is willing to break the law, then he's doing it for sex or money.'

I was starting to like Anna Sherman. I was starting to like her just fine. 'Do you think Worley will cooperate?'

She shrugged. 'Lucas Worley is a piece of shit. He sells dope because he likes it. He likes the people, he likes the scene. He says that it's a step up from practicing law.' She looked tired. 'Maybe he's right.'

I said, 'Hey!'

She looked at me.

'I'll tell you what I told Rossi. Don't give up. The good part of the. system outweighs the bad. We just have to fix the bad.'

Anna Sherman got out of the car, closed the door, then looked in at me. She said, 'This conversation never happened. If you say it did, and if you say I gave you Worley, I'll deny it and sue you for slander. Is that clear?'

'Clear.'

She walked away without another word. I opened the glove box and found a plain white sheet of notepaper with Lucas Worley's address written in anonymous block letters.

CHAPTER 27

I stopped for roses. I bought a dozen red long-stems, plus a single daisy, then went to a wine shop I know for a bottle of Dom Perignon and an ounce of Beluga caviar. While the clerk was bagging the champagne I used their phone to make a reservation at Musso & Frank for eight o'clock. When I was off the phone, the clerk grinned at me. 'Special date?'

'Very special.'

He laughed. 'Are there any other kind?' Cynic.

I drove home hard, hoping that I would get there before Lucy and Ben. I did. I put the flowers in the refrigerator and the Dom Perignon and three flute glasses in the freezer. The Dom Perignon was cold, but I wanted it colder. I hard-boiled an egg, minced an onion, then minced the egg. I put the egg, the onion, and some capers in three little Japanese serving plates, covered them with Saran Wrap, then arranged the plates on a matching tray with the caviar and put the tray in the refrigerator next to the flowers. I put out Carr's Table Water Crackers, then phoned Joe Pike and told him about Lucas Worley. Pike said, 'You think he might know something?'

'I think he might, or, if he doesn't, he might be able to help us find someone who does.'

How do you want to play it?'

I told him.

Joe was silent for a time, then said, 'How about we bring in Ray Depente? Ray would be effective on a guy like Worley.'

'You think?'

'Ray could get a corpse to talk.'

I told him that would be fine. I told him that I would meet them outside Worley's place early tomorrow, and when I was done, Joe said, 'Is it going any better with Lucy?'

'Not yet, but soon. I'm about to turn on the charm.'

'Why don't you try working it out, instead.' Mr Sensitive.

I hung up, then ran upstairs to finish getting ready. I shaved, showered, put on a jacket and tie, then ran downstairs and took the Dom Perignon out of the freezer. I wanted it cold, not frozen.

When Lucy and Ben pulled into the carport I was waiting at the door when they came through with shopping bags from Saks and Bottega Veneta and Giorgio and Pierre Deux. Lucy looked tired until she saw me, and then she looked surprised. I held out the flowers. 'My God, you're beautiful.'

Ben smiled so wide I thought his face would turn inside out.

Lucy looked at the flowers. She glanced at me and then the flowers again, and then back to me. Her hands were still full of shopping bags. 'Oh, a daisy.'

I put the shopping bags on the dining room table, then opened the Dom Perignon. I poured apple juice for Ben. 'We have champagne. We have caviar. Then we will have dinner at Musso & Frank.'

She said, 'The restaurant in Hollywood?'

'Dashiell Hammett fell in love with Lillian Hellman there.' I gave her a glass of the Dom Perignon. 'It was a love that changed their lives, and endured for as long as they lived.'

Lucy seemed embarrassed. 'You're being so nice.'

I said, 'Ben. Would you give your mother and me a moment alone, please?'

Ben giggled. 'You want me to amscray?'

'Yes, Ben, I want you to amscray.'

Ben amscrayed into the living room. When the TV came on and Agent Mulder started talking about something that ate five human livers every thirty years, I took the flowers from Lucy and put them aside. I put aside her champagne glass, too, and held her upper arms and looked into her eyes. 'You have two more nights in Los Angeles. I want those nights to be easy for you. It's okay with me if you'd like to move to a hotel.'

Lucy stared at me for ten heartbeats, then shook her head. 'I'm exactly where I want to be.'