Death by Sarcasm - By Dani Amore Page 0,54

reason to see you, doesn’t have to be good or bad, it just has to be there.”

“Why this sudden shift in Jake policy?”

“Because it strikes me as odd,” Mary said. “I haven’t gotten a lunch or dinner invitation from you in quite some time. I believe one of the reasons you fell so desperately in love with me was my curiosity. And as you can see, it still functions quite powerfully. So I’m wondering, why the offer now? Are you looking for a little quid pro quo, Clarice?”

“Your cynicism saddens me, Mary.”

“Your sadness makes me cynical, Jake.”

“Are you done now?” Jake said.

“Resting, yes. Done? No.”

“Yes, there will be something besides food you’ll appreciate. And no, I don’t mean me.”

“Ooh, I hope it’s a plasma t.v.,” Mary said.

If she’d been at the Hump, her favorite sushi place in L.A she would have ordered the sashimi, and had it while watching Tom Cruise take off in his P-51 Mustang from the little Santa Monica airport, just off of where the Hump was located.

But this was the Sushi King.

So she ordered a spider roll and an Asahi Dry.

Jake’s order took a full three minutes to complete.

“You know, the ocean’s fish resources are scheduled to be depleted by 2050. You’re not helping,” Mary said.

“You’re supposed to have fish three times a week – I have it once but eat three times as much,” he said.

“Very efficient,” Mary said. “So why the luxurious offer to this swanky place?”

“I just wanted to check out your body again close up,” he said.

“Very sensitive, Jake,” Mary said. “A woman barely survives a gang rape and you immediately start leering at her body. I hope you’re not the department’s grief counselor.”

“Oh, come on,” he said. “I’m surprised any of those old bastards survived. I can’t believe you only shot one. You must be getting old.”

“It’s sort of hard to be menacing when you’re buck naked. Except for your girlfriend, Davies.”

The waitress brought Mary’s beer and Jake’s sake.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jake said, after the waitress had left.

“So what it is it you wanted to tell me?” Mary said. She didn’t want to get into this again. Maybe it was Chris McAllister, or maybe it was something that needed to be talked about seriously, and she wasn’t ready for it. Not just yet.

“I’m dying of curiosity,” Mary said. She stuffed a piece of spider roll into her mouth and studied the poster on the wall describing all the different kinds of sushi.

“We have a confession in the murder of your uncle,” Jake said.

He glanced up at Mary, a curious expression on his face.

She looked down from the poster at him. “Was it you, Jake?” Mary said. “Did you kill Brent to get even with me for dumping you? So you could spend some time with me? Sad, really. Desperate.”

He shook his head.

“Was it some loony homeless guy who wandered in to the station from Ocean Avenue and gave a confession for a free meal and a warm bed?” Mary said.

Jake shook his head again.

“Mark Reihm,” he said.

Mary remembered him immediately – he had been one of the crew at Aunt Alice’s house whom she’d questioned. He’d been the one with the acne scars and the buzz cut.

“So, what, his guilty conscience drove him to confess?” she said.

“Actually, it drove him to suicide. He confessed in a note.”

Mary rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she said. “He’s dead and he confessed in a note? And you believe it?”

Jake shrugged. “We’re checking it out.”

Mary started to tell him not to bother, that whoever was behind these killings wasn’t the kind to be plagued by a guilty conscience. But she stopped herself. She sort of liked the idea of Jake and the Shark running around, following up silly leads that would go nowhere. That would give her time to find out the real killer.

“Wow, that’s great,” Mary said. “Maybe they’ll put you on the cover of Police Weekly. Or, even better, Playgirl,” she said. “Detective Jacob Cornell. He fights crime! He protects society! He talks on the phone naked!”

“Oh, I bet you could picture me naked,” Jake said. He smiled a sly smile at her.

She could picture him naked and on top of her gazing down into her eyes. Actually he looked incredibly hot right now, with that stupid little grin on his face. Like a boy peeking through a peephole at the girly show.

“If I want an image of you naked, I’ll order the river eel,” she said,