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“It’s not a criminal case, Ma
“No murders. No rapes. No violent crimes.”
“It’s maybe fraud, and that’s a maybe.” She was seriously stretching the truth, and saw Lucia watching her with slightly raised eyebrows. “You won’t need to do anything but give me results. No depositions. No trials.”
He swallowed, wiped his sweaty face with his grimy sleeve and nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed. “But only because it’s you, all right? Follow me, ladies.”
Lucia started to pick up the gun. Jazz kicked it under the car with a skitter of metal on concrete, then reached through the window to shut off the headlights. Darkness closed in around them.
“You don’t want to do that,” she said. “Really. You don’t. Ma
They followed Ma
Upstairs was a different world. This didn’t come as a shock to Jazz, but she saw it register on Lucia as Ma
Because beyond was a state-of-the-art science lab, segmented by movable clear glass partitions. Beyond that was a thick leather couch and widescreen HDTV that doubled as Ma
“Um, yeah, sorry, I don’t get a lot of—visitors—sit. Sit down.” He moved newspapers and piled them on a glass side table, then picked up the remote control and clicked the TV to some high-definition cha
That last went to Lucia, who was standing, staring in bemusement. Jazz patted the couch. Lucia sank down gracefully, hands in her lap. Studying Ma
“This is Lucia,” Jazz said. “I’ve got two documents for you, plus envelopes. I want the full ride. Everything you can give me.”
Ma
“I know it does.”
“Also, the full ride doesn’t come cheap. And hey, I’m only saying that because, you know, I’ve got to pay for upkeep around here, supplies, stuff…”
Jazz winced inside, but smiled and nodded. “How much?”
“Two documents? Three grand. That includes my time and materials, by the way. Plus, you get to, um, stay here if you want. Wait on the results.”
Hotel Ma
“Um…sure.” Ma
“Yeah?”
“Is this about Mac?”
“No. It’s not about Mac.”
“’Cause you know I’d do it for free if—”
“It’s not about Mac. But I’ll tell him.” Ben McCarthy, she knew, would shake his head and roll his eyes, but he’d appreciate it somewhere deep down. Ma
She took the plastic bag out of her jacket and handed over her letter; Lucia did the same. Ma
“I’m not a cop anymore, you know that.”
“Yeah, well…still. It looks hinky, Jazz. There’s blood.”
“That falls under the heading of bar mayhem, not murder. Two guys tried to start something with me. They’ll live.”
“But you want DNA profile on the blood, right?”
“I want every scrap of information you can pull off of either one of those, right? Everything.”
Ma
“Got any idea how long…?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
“You’re not outsourcing, right?”
“Everything gets done here,” he said, and gave her an almost charming grin. “Jeez, grow up. Who would I trust?”
It was a really good point. “Call me.”
Chapter 3
Lucia kept silent all the way back down the steps. Without being asked, Jazz got on her hands and knees and fished the gun out from under the car.
“Thanks,” Lucia said, and returned it to the pancake holster behind her back.
“Yeah, well, you’re wearing a nice suit.” Jazz shrugged. “I don’t figure my jeans will suffer from a little contact with the concrete.”
Once they were in the sedan again, the metal door cranked up like a castle gate, allowing them to exit into the bright morning air.
“So what,” Lucia asked with absolutely precision, “the hell was that?”
“That is Ma
Lucia nodded, eyes fixed on the cars around them. Sweeping the street for surveillance.
“Anyway, he went through a bad patch. Started private practice a couple of years ago, after he got out of the hospital. Most of the P.I.s and lawyers use him, or try to, but he won’t do any cases with violent crime elements.”
“Sounds like he’s limiting his business pretty severely.”
“Yeah. But he’s got money, and he doesn’t want to go back into that world.” Jazz shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He’ll get us what we need. Ma
Lucia thought about that for a few seconds, and then turned her head to look straight at her. Sunlight flashed between the buildings and painted her skin in strobing flashes of gold. “What happened to him? Really?”
“Really?” Jazz made up her mind in a split second. There were few people she told about Ma
Lucia understood immediately, it was all over her face. A deep, sad appreciation for everything Jazz didn’t say about that ordeal. “Did you find him?”
“No,” Jazz said softly. “No, I was across town, interrogating the suspect. My partner found the spot. He and two FBI agents dug Ma
“My God,” Lucia murmured. “Did you know him?”
“Not then. He was a case file shipped down to us. I met him when he woke up in the hospital.” She’d never forget that bloodied, dirt-caked figure. Shaking. Weeping. The FBI agents turning away while Ben McCarthy pulled up a chair and took one of those filthy hands, nodding for her to hold the other. Holding Ma
“It was related to an investigation.” Lucia didn’t make it a question. “Something Ma
“Serial killer,” Jazz agreed. “Just our blind luck he decided to dump Ma
Lucia didn’t ask about Ben. No doubt she knew everything there was to know on that subject already, had made up her mind as to Ben’s guilt or i