was everywhere—Wilson was in Houston for a while, then Dallas, then he went back to New Orleans, but, I don’t know, it was just too hard.”
She trailed off and shrugged.
“Did you go back?”
“For a while, but I had no one to go back to. I didn’t have a boyfriend, and my family was scattered. I didn’t own anything, so I left again—stayed with my mom for a while, then my sister. Then Wilson came here, and he liked it, so I thought I’d give it a try. I like it here. I’d like to stay.”
Pike enjoyed the play of thought on her face as she spoke.
The robot men called it quits. The smaller man gathered their earnings, closed the briefcase, then lined up behind the larger, both taking the same exaggerated pose. They marched away in lock-jointed unison. No one watched them go except maybe for Dru. Pike couldn’t tell if she was watching the robot men or something behind them—maybe the lowering sun.
She said, “It’s beautiful here.”
She stretched, and spread her hands to the sky, as she smiled again.
“I love the breeze we get. Everyone makes fun of the smog, but most of the time it’s clear. Don’t you love it? Don’t you love that fabulous ocean breeze?”
Pike said, “Yes.”
That’s when Pike saw a man outside the surf shop a few doors down from the restaurant. A life-sized statue of a surfer with a shark’s head stood outside the shop. The man was behind the statue. He moved when Pike turned. A small move like a buoy rocking on a wave, just enough to disappear behind the shark’s surfboard.
The man was lean, dark, and probably Latin, though Pike couldn’t see him well enough with the bad angle to tell. With the quick glimpse, Pike made the man for his early forties, with a shaved scalp and furry arms.
Dru smiled lazily.
“This is nice, being here like this.”
Pike said, “Yes.”
She couldn’t see Pike’s eyes behind the dark glasses, and didn’t know he was watching the man.
The man sauntered out from behind the statue and fell in with a group of passing tourists. He wore an unbuttoned pale orange short-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt, dark jeans, and sunglasses. The shirt and the bald head keyed a memory, and Pike realized the man had passed them before. Pike had not seen him double back, which made Pike suspicious because Pike had outstanding situational awareness, which meant he noticed everything in his environment. In Pike’s world, the things you didn’t notice could and would hurt you.
As the man drew closer, Pike saw a tattoo on the side of his neck. The ink suggested a gang affiliation, but Pike couldn’t see it clearly enough to tell. He wondered if Azzara had lied, and now Mendoza’s friends were upping their game, or maybe Azzara had not had time to call off the dogs.
The man left the crowd to take a position behind a street vendor selling hats and T-shirts. Now he was on a cell phone, and Pike wondered whether he was talking or only pretending.
Pike said, “We’d better go.”
Dru’s face drooped in exaggerated disappointment.
“Wow. This is a short date.”
“Is this a date?”
“It could be.”
Dru made an effort to pay, but Pike put down cash and told her they didn’t need to wait for change. When he glanced over again, the man in the orange shirt was gone.
Pike was trying to spot the man when Dru noticed, and turned to see.
“What are you looking at?”
Pike stepped in front of her, hoping the man hadn’t seen.
“Don’t look.”
She stepped to the side, trying to see—
“Is it one of those guys?”
Pike slid in front of her again.
“It’s nothing to worry about.”
She was frightened, and now Pike felt irritated with himself. He took her hand. It was soft, but firm beneath the softness.
“We’re fine. Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
Pike squeezed her hand once, then let go, but he could feel her tension as they walked back to the shop.
On the way, he touched her back to stop her twice, pretending to window shop so he could check for shadows, but the man in the orange shirt was gone and no one else was following.
When they reached the corner, Pike paused again. He checked the cars lining the curbs, the rooflines, the nearby shops, and the gas station across the street. Wilson’s sandwich shop was quiet and undisturbed, but now Dru walked as if she were brittle. Her confidence and ease were gone, and Pike felt a sense of