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Pike said, “Which floor?”
“Here. I am not parked in this building.”
Pike reached for the button to open the door.
“When we got on, what were you going to do, shoot me?”
“I thought you might be one of them. If you were, then, yes, I would have shot you.”
Pike opened the door. A round man got on as Rina Markovic stepped off.
She said, “Perhaps someone will find these bastards, yes?”
“Someone will find them. Yes.”
She studied him for a moment as if taking his measure, and Pike thought her eyes were haunted.
“I am sorry for your friend. I think many families have been lost by this.”
She walked away as the door closed. Pike took the elevator up to his Jeep. He took off the blue dress shirt, slipped on the sleeveless gray sweatshirt, then wound his way down to the exit.
Eight minutes later, he was in a Best Buy parking lot when Lo
6
PIKE WAS WATCHING UCLA students cut between cars on their way home from campus, not far from Frank Meyer’s home, when his phone finally vibrated, three minutes late.
Pike said, “I’m here.”
Carson Epp said, “Lo
Lo
“Yeah, I hear him fine. Hey, Joe.”
Epp said, “I’m going to hang up now. That will leave the two of you on the line. Lo
“Okay. Thanks, Carson.”
“Righto, then.”
Pike heard a click as Epp left the line, then the hush of Lo
“Must be bad, you calling like this.”
Pike didn’t know how else to say it, so he gave it to Lo
“Frank’s dead. He was murdered two nights ago. Frank and his family.”
Lo
Lo
“It’s okay.”
Lo
“Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it, Joe. The bastard who did it, they get him?”
“Not yet. The police think it’s a home invasion crew. Frank’s house was the seventh home they’ve hit.”
Lo
“Okay, well, I don’t know what to say. When they get these pricks, will you let me know?”
“I have to ask you something.”
“What’s that?”
“This crew, they work on good intelligence. Their first six targets were all people like dope dealers and money cleaners. You see where I’m going?”
“Frank had an import business. He imported clothes.”
“If Frank was importing something else, he was in business with someone who gave him up. That person knows who killed him.”
“You think I’m holding out on you, Joe?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is Frank, man. Are you serious?”
“Did he tell you something I should know?”
Lo
“He came to my trial. Not every day, but a couple of times. This once, I asked him if he was sorry he saved me, you know-because if he hadn’t saved me, those men I murdered would still be alive. So I asked if he regretted it. He told me guys like us had each other’s back, so he had my back. He didn’t have any choice.”
“Way it was, Lo
“I know. I just wanted to hear it, I guess, that I still meant something to someone, and wasn’t just a murdering piece of shit.”
Pike remained silent, which spurred Lo
“Thanks for chiming in there, boss. Appreciate the support.”
Lo
Lo
“C’mon, Lo
“You think if I could help get the pricks who killed him, I wouldn’t be all over it? I’d kill those fuckers myself.”
“ You’re sure?”
“Yes. He was the same Frank we knew. Being an Eagle Scout was in his frakkin’ DNA.”
Pike felt the tightness in his chest ease, feeling a sense of relief.
“Okay, Lon. That’s what I thought, but I had to be sure. You’re the only one he stayed in contact with.”
“I know. She drove a hard bargain, that girl.”
Cindy.
Pike was finished. He wanted to hang up, but he hadn’t spoken with Lo
Pike asked the obvious.
“How you doing in there?”
“You get used to it. Thirteen years to go, I’m on the beach with a smile.”
“You need anything?”
“Nah. I get all the free meds and medical care I need. I crap blue nuggets and can’t eat spicy foods, but other than that I’m fine.”
On the day Frank Meyer saved Lo
Pike didn’t know what else to say, so he decided to tie off the conversation.
“Lo
“They’re not going to find anything.”
“When they go through his phone records, they’ll see he talked to you.”
“I don’t care. I’ll tell’m just what I told you.”
“Tell them whatever you want about Frank. Don’t tell them about me.”
“You didn’t call me. My lawyer called.”
“That’s right.”
“You going after these people?”
“I gotta get going.”
“I hear you, brother.”
Pike was about to hang up when he remembered something else.
“Lo
“I’m here. Where else am I going?”
“One more thing. The police told me Frank had my ink.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“That was years ago, man. This time he came to visit, he showed me. He’d just had’m done.”
“The arrows.”
“Big ol’ red arrows like yours. Cindy was livid. She damn near threw him out of the house.”
Lo
“He say anything?”
“Why he got them?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember all the shit she gave him about being a contractor, and how she wouldn’t marry him unless he settled down?”
“Sure.”
“The rest of us were all over him to dump her-what, you’re going to give this chick your balls? But Frank said you told him to go for it. Told him, if he wanted that kind of life, he had to make it happen. He really appreciated that, Joe. It was like you gave him permission.”
Pike considered that for a moment.
“Was he happy?”
“Yeah, brother. Hell, yeah, he was happy. It was like he woke up in someone else’s life. What’s the word? He was content, man.”
Pike said, “Good.”
“Said somethin’ weird, though. Said he’d wake up sometimes, scared God was going to realize he made a mistake, say, ‘Hey, that’s not your life, Frank, you belong back in the shit,’ and take everything away. He was joking when he said it, but still.”
Pike didn’t respond, thinking that sounded like something Frank would say.
“You think that’s what happened? God realized he made a mistake?”