people he wanted to find.
“When’s the last time you spoke?”
“Few days, I guess. Maybe a week.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Just talkin’ shit. This cop show I’m watching on DVD, The Shield. That shit is righteous, here on the sixty-inch. We talkin’ about The Shield. Jamal say up there in Soledad, they all into The Shield.”
“I think you’re lying. I think he left my money with you, and you spent it.”
Pike aimed the Smith at Rahmi’s left eye. Rahmi held up a hand as if he could ward off the bullet.
“That’s crazy. I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout no money.”
“He tell you I was coming?”
“He ain’t said nuthin’ ’bout no money, you, or anything else. How much he owe you?”
“Thirty-two thousand dollars. I’m getting it from him, or you.”
“I ain’t got no thirty-two kay.”
“You were driving it. Now I’m driving it.”
Rahmi blinked at what was left of his big-screen television, then slumped in defeat.
“Nigga, please, whatever passed between you and Jamal, I got no part in that. Jamal, he gave me these things ’cause he doin’ so well. We family, dog.”
“How’d he get to be doing so well?”
“He got in with a good crew.”
“Who? Maybe I can find him through them.”
“Jamal never told me no names.”
“He never told you I’d come for my money, either. I think he stole it from me. I think this stuff is mine.”
Pike raised the gun again, and this time Rahmi pleaded.
“It’s true, bro. They hooked up with this Serbian cat, lays off one fat score after another. They makin’ the bank!”
Pike lowered the gun.
“Serbian.”
“They in with this dude set’m up with the scores. Tell’m who to hit, they split the cash. He say it the easiest money he ever made.”
“He said Serbian? Not Russian or Armenian?”
“What difference it make? How’s a brother know the difference?”
“What was the name?”
“Just some Serbian muthuhfucka, that’s all.”
Ana Markovic was from Serbia. Dying in the hospital with her sister standing guard.
Pike studied Rahmi, but wasn’t really looking at Rahmi. He thought for a moment, then went to the bag of tacos. He stepped on it. Crunch.
Rahmi looked pained.
“Muthuhfuckin’ dinner, muthuhfucka. Why you do a mean-hearted thing like that?”
Pike picked up Rahmi’s keys, then tossed them to him.
“Get some more tacos.”
“What?”
Pike held up the fold of bills.
“Take your car. Go get more tacos.”
Rahmi wet his lips as if he was expecting a trick, then snatched the bills and went to the door.
“How you know Jamal?”
“He murdered me.”
Rahmi froze with his hand on the knob.
Pike said, “You see Jamal before I find him, tell him Frank Meyer is coming.”
Rahmi let himself out.
Pike stood by the door, listening. He heard the gate. He heard the Malibu rumble, and the tires screech. Just as before, the SIS detail would scramble to follow.
Pike slipped out the bathroom window, and returned to the night.
11
PIKE RETURNED TO UCLA the next morning. When he stepped off the elevator onto the ICU floor, he saw Rina outside her sister’s door with a doctor and two nurses. Pike stepped back onto the elevator and rode down to the lobby. He wanted to speak with her alone.
Pike repositioned his Jeep so he could watch the lobby entrance, then turned on the phone he had taken from Rahmi Johnson. He had bought a power cord for the phone on the way to the hospital. Pike wanted to keep the phone charged in case Jamal called his cousin.
Pike scrolled through the list until he reached Jamal’s number, then pressed the button to dial. Pike had called the number twice last night, and now again, but the response was the same. A female computer voice came on, informing Pike that Jamal’s message box was full.
Pike put away the phone, then stared at the lobby. He was prepared to wait as long as necessary, but Rina emerged a few minutes later. Same jeans and jacket as yesterday. Same shoulder bag clutched to her chest.
Pike moved through a row of cars as she crossed into the parking lot. She walked fast, with hard, clipped steps, as if she wanted to cover as much ground as possible.
She didn’t see Pike until he stepped from between the cars, then she gasped.
Pike said, “Do you know who did this?”
“Of course not. How could I know?”
“Is that why you’re afraid? You know who did this?”
She edged away, keeping the purse close.
“I don’t know what you are saying. Of course I don’t know. The police are looking.”
Pike stepped in front of her.
“The people who shot her were sent by a Serbian.”
“And this