The Replacement Child - By Christine Barber Page 0,64

playing some fast country song. Morales was spinning Lucy in circles, and she laughed as she came to rest back in his arms. Now they were on the side of the floor nearest Gil, shuffling along with the beat. Morales’s back was to him as he whispered something in Lucy’s ear. She laughed again—and then quickly stuck her tongue out at Gil as she caught sight of him in the crowd. Gil laughed out loud, startling himself.

Morales and Lucy spent another twenty-five minutes dancing and drinking—with Morales doing most of the drinking. Gil had been hoping that she would finish whatever she was doing and leave fairly quickly. The less contact she had with him, the less danger she was in. Gil considered pretending to arrest her. Or acting like a jealous husband. He would give it another ten minutes.

It was one fifteen A.M. and Gil was trying not to yawn when she made her move. Morales and Lucy were sitting at a table working on margaritas when Gil saw Lucy’s hand slowly slip up Morales’s back. She whispered in his ear.

Gil turned away to watch a couple on the dance floor do a fast two-step. Lucy was seducing Morales. If he had known that she was going to do this, he would have stopped her a half hour ago.

He looked back. Lucy’s hand played on the back of Morales’s neck; Morales moved closer to her and kissed her lightly on her mouth. As he did, Lucy looked over at Gil and winked. Then she turned back to Morales and smiled at him as she got up slowly. The two of them headed out the door, Morales’s arm around her waist.

Gil went out the door after them, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dark night. He was just outside the door when he heard her say to Morales, “But I like it when you do that.” Lucy and Morales were just disappearing around the corner of the bar when Gil caught up with them. Gil grabbed Morales by the back of his collar and pushed him up against the stone building a little too hard.

Morales started cursing. Lucy started yelling, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let him go, you asshole.” She pushed Gil. He fished his badge out of his pocket and flashed it at her.

Lucy stumbled backward. “Oh, man. You’re a cop? I’m outta here.” She was overdoing it a little, but Morales seemed not to notice. She winked at Gil again and slipped around the corner. Gil could see her shadow and knew that she was listening. At least she was safely out of the way.

Gil had Morales against the wall and was frisking him with one hand while holding him with the other. “Do you know who I am?” Gil asked as he worked.

Morales looked at him over his shoulder. “Yeah, you’re a damn cop.”

“Right, and I have a few questions.”

“Go to hell.” Gil pushed him against the wall again to get his attention. He carefully pulled Morales’s keys out of his pocket and tossed them onto the ground. Sometimes gang members sharpened one key on the chain into a knife for the cops to cut themselves on as they frisked. Morales had nothing else on him except his wallet.

“Let’s try this again,” Gil said.

“What do you want? I’m not carrying. I ain’t got nothing on me. You can’t bust me.”

“I don’t want to bust you. I want to ask you some questions.”

“I’m no snitch.”

“It’s not about your business, Hector. It’s about a dead girl. Melissa Baca.”

“The girl who went over the bridge?” Hector momentarily looked confused. “I don’t know nothing about that shit.”

Gil let go of Morales’s shirt.

“I’m not asking about who killed her. I’m asking did you ever deal to her?”

“I don’t deal, man.” Morales’s eyes were glazed over from the alcohol. Gil had watched him drink four beers and two shots of tequila in less than two hours.

“Right. But maybe you heard about someone dealing to her.”

“Hell no. She saw me on the street once, you know, and spat at me. She spat at me. I didn’t do nothing ‘cause her brother had died on the stuff, and I felt bad about that. I liked Melissa, man. We went to school together, you know.”

“What do you know about her boyfriend, Jonathan Hammond—was he a user?”

“Shit, I don’t know. I’ve never seen him.”

“Someone said they saw you with her the day she died, handing her something out your car window at about