a moment. “Yeah, vandals,” she said. “Old ones.”
“Old ones?”
“Old people think Buicks are for them,” she said. “So they hate seeing a young hardbody like me driving one. This happens to me quite a lot, actually.”
The guy adjusted his glasses and looked at Mary, his eyes slightly wide with fear.
“Why do you still drive it then?” he said.
“I’m not gonna let those old fuckers win, man.”
He seemed to think about it for a moment, then said, “You know, now that you mention old people, I may have seen a little something. It was probably nothing, but now it makes a little more sense, maybe.”
Mary felt her heart beat a little faster. She needed a break.
“What’d you see?” she said, keeping her voice bored and disinterested.
“Well, I thought I heard something weird, little pops and breaking glass. I live up on the fourth floor,” he said, pointing to a building about a half a block away.
“So then what did you do?”
“Well, I walked over and saw the car, then I saw a guy a few blocks down, walking kind of fast, but trying not to look like he was walking fast, know what I mean?”
“What’d he look like?”
“I never got a good look at him.” He tapped his glasses. “It was just that he had a windbreaker on. And it was a weird color. It was kind of hard to tell, but it sort of looked like a turquoise blue. But like I said, I can’t see very well. And I am partially color blind.”
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
“Tim.”
Mary nodded.
“All right, take off Tim, unless you want the cops to take you downtown and question you for half the night.”
Tim virtually trembled at the thought. He turned to go, but then had a second thought.
“You know, you were bullshitting me with that old people thing, weren’t you?” He squinted at her through his thick glasses.
Mary shook her head, then held up two fingers in the peace sign and hooked them into sharp claws.
“As we used to say in the Girl Scouts: Honor bright – Snake bite!”
Jake and Mary watched the Buick’s front end slide up onto the LAPD tow truck. Even though the crime scene unit had done some preliminary work, the vehicle would need to be taken back to the lab to dig out the bullets and perform more intricate examinations.
“So you’re going to need a ride, huh?” Jake said, a little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Sure will,” Mary said. “Want to wait with me for the cab?”
He took that one in stride, she saw.
“Now, Mary, there’s no need for a cab,” he said. “The good citizens of Los Angeles would be happy to know their tax dollars were being used to give a lady in distress much needed transportation.”
“Ah, it’s the Jake Cornell sex tax,” she said. “I don’t recall seeing that itemized on my annual tax statement.”
“It’s listed under city services.”
“Ah,” Mary said. She knew Jake was kidding around, but the idea of taking her home being seen as a charitable service pissed her off just a tad. “Well, I would accept a ride,” she said. “But I’m just afraid that if the Shark found out, you would have to tuck tail again like you did last night.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s called being professional,” he said. “You should try it sometime.”
“Career advice from a guy fucking his boss,” Mary said. “That makes sense.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I’m calling a cab. You meet a better class of people that way.”
“Look,” Jake said. “If you let me take you home, I’ll let you know a few things we’ve found out, okay?”
“Oh, Jake,” she said, her voice husky. “You always know just what to say.” Mary climbed into his unmarked car.
Jake fired it up and they headed east toward Santa Monica and Mary’s condo.
“Spill it, Shark Wrangler,” she said.
“Bullets were 9mm,” he answered. “Two to the back of the head. Probably a silencer. The knife was traced to a wholesaler in Gary, Indiana, but their products are often moved from retail location to retail location so it’s virtually impossible to track.”
Jake swung onto Lincoln and Mary caught a glimpse of the ocean when they turned onto Ocean Park.
“Any other good news?” she said.
“We’re continuing to interview the waitress and trying to track down other customers who were there, but so far nothing. We have a few names we’re running down, but so far, no one’s jumping out at us.”
Mary nodded.
“What about you?” he