Magic Street Page 0,81

Yolanda? Am I that old and still single?" She held the door wider so he could come in.

"Miz White, then," he said as he entered.

She asked him to sit, and when he did, on a big white furry polar bear of a couch, she sat down across from him on an ebony cube. "So," she said. "Let me guess. My bike is noisy, I drive too fast, I dress too sexy, and the Welcome Wagon wears a gun."

"Just got off work," said Ceese. "Cecil Tucker's my name. Everybody calls me Ceese."

"As in 'cease and desist'? You should have grown up to be a lawyer, not a cop. You got a brother named Nolo Contendere? What about Sic Transit Gloria Mundi?"

"I don't speak Spanish," said Ceese. "And I don't know any Gloria."

"So you're the one they chose to come tell me what they been hinting about since I got here."

"No, ma'am," said Ceese. "I suppose I chose myself."

"So what are you? Neighborhood watch? LAPD? Or you wanting to take me dancing?"

"I wanted to meet you is all. No dancing."

"Got something against dancing?"

"I don't dance."

"Two left feet? Got no rhythm? Or just never found anybody who'd dance with you?"

"I see I'm out of my league here," said Ceese. "I just can't think as fast as you talk."

"My problem, Officer Cease and Desist, is that I never once found a man who could."

"You're a fast talker."

"There was one, a long time ago. With him, when we were together I didn't want him thinking and he didn't want me talking."

"I'm glad to know you have happy erotic memories," said Ceese.

"Wo, now, that was a fine speech. They teach you that in cop school?"

"The word 'erotic' comes up now and then."

The challenge in her voice, her words, her posture, woke a memory in him. Was that how the woman in the black helmet and black leather had stood, looking up at him from the landing on the hospital stairs? Was that how she stood when she was talking to Bag Man on the street?

At that moment the doorbell rang, startling Ceese and making Yolanda laugh. "Now here's the guest I was looking for."

She strode to the door, flung it open, and there stood Mack Street.

Mack looked from Yolanda to Ceese and back to Yolanda.

"Why, it's that nice boy I gave a ride to school," said Yolanda.

Mack grinned. "I didn't know you knew each other."

"Step away from the door," said Ceese.

He was pointing his gun at her.

"Is that loaded?" she said.

"Mack, go home. Now. Get out of here."

"Are you crazy?" asked Mack. "She wasn't doing anything."

"I wasn't doing anything," said Yolanda.

"You called him here," said Ceese. "You made him come."

"She did not," said Mack.

"I'm just an unforgettable woman, Mr. Cop," said Yolanda.

"I came to tell her about how they planning to sue her," said Mack. "I think that's wrong."

"Get the hell out of here, Mack," said Ceese intensely. "She's got you under her control."

But Mack was rooted to the spot. "Ceese, you lost your mind?"

"I guess he's the jealous type," said Yolanda. "And we haven't even dated yet."

"I know you," Ceese said to her.

"That line might work in bars, but not in my living room."

"Well, what can I say? I'm kind of memorable, and you just ain't." Yolanda grinned. "What I do that makes you want to shoot me?"

"I was twelve. I was holding a baby."

"No sir, doesn't stir a memory," said Yolanda. "Besides which, if you was twelve then, I must have been about nine."

"You were exactly the age you are now," said Ceese.

"Then it wasn't me."

"You couldn't make me do it then," said Ceese. "So you come back to do it yourself?"

"Do what?" asked Mack.

"Kill you," said Ceese.

Yolanda laughed.

"She can't kill me," said Mack.

"Why not?" asked Ceese.

"I'm her hero."

Mack said the words with such simplicity and truth that it made Ceese lower his weapon a little.

"You are?" asked Yolanda. "I always wanted one."

"Your dream," said Mack. "When the flying slug - the dragon, whatever it is - when it comes to kill you, I'm the one who fights it."

"Well, I'll be damned," she said. "And here I thought it was just my dog."

Mack looked disappointed. "You have a dog?"

She shook her head. "Always meant to get one though."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ceese.

"Ceese, you know I see dreams," said Mack. "But I was in her dream."

"Mack, she tried to make me kill you. When you were a baby. The day I found you. She stood there and looked at me and all I