Jhondie
Armani looked like an extremely prosperous businessman when we entered his hotel room. He offered us a drink, like we weren't paying for it already. Well, okay, so we weren't paying for it, and with the adjustments I'd made, it was unlikely that anyone would know that Armani wasn't who he was supposed to be. I had run the credit card from a corporate card, and with it being the weekend; there wasn't anyone at the company to take the call. The soonest the duplicity would be known was Monday, and by then Armani would be back on the streets, waiting for his next payday.
I wasn't in the mood to play with him. He'd already checked out my butt twice, and I was about to plant my foot right up his if he didn't kick out what I wanted to know. I knew Justin could tell I was impatient. Actually I'd hit impatient the minute my dad died. Mom was upset about me taking off this afternoon. She was thinking I was just trying to get away from my grandparents. Well, that was a fringe benefit, but I had some work to do.
"I know you're planning on dining downstairs this evening," Justin said smoothly before I could pin this bum to the wall and break a few bones. "So, we'll take up as little of your time as possible." The card had Armani able to eat at the hotel's restaurant, pick up a few things at the store, and get a few obscene movies. He was well pleased.
"You do know about the little gang war going on right now?" Armani said. He sounded like the upscale rich boy he used to be, condescending to talk to us peasants. I was tempted to remind him that we were the one paying for this, but I bit my tongue.
"Who doesn't?" Justin replied.
"Well, it would seem that as of a week ago the Blood Waves were going to win. The ambushed the leader of the Night Posse and shot him several times. The Posse's leader was the brilliant tactician giving them the advantage. Once he was out, there wasn't anything going to stand in the way of the Waves."
"It would have worked, except that the leader didn't die. Apparently a doctor was coming home from work, saw the drive by, and stopped to help." I could feel a lead weight in my stomach. Oh God, no, don't tell me this. "He was warned that if he saved the leader, the Waves would hold him accountable. The doctor got an ambulance out there, and basically saved the Posse's life. Nobody caught the doctor's name, but there was a doctor killed a few days ago by a Wave."
He sat down and crossed his legs suavely. "That what you wanted to know?" If I didn't have a question I would have hit him.
"Who was the Wave?" I asked. He smiled rather nastily.
"I would be more than happy to tell you over breakfast," he said, his voice full of meaning. Justin wasn't able to grab my arm in time.
Armani found himself flipped over in his chair, his expensive scotch all over his suit. I had my knee in his throat, and my hand on an extremely painful pressure point on another part of his body. "I'm paying for your little love-nest here," I snapped, so you better answer some questions nicely before I put you out the fast way. I turned his head slightly so that he could see the window. He caught my meaning.
"Who. Was. The. Wave?" I enunciated very slowly. I let up off of his throat enough to let him speak.
"Wanna-be," he gasped. The urbane businessman disappeared. "They're calling him Spanky. He don't like that. Had a bad time getting jumped in. Wanted to prove himself. Been bragging all over he capped the doc."
I helped him to his feet, and gave him my sweetest smile. "That wasn't hard at all, was it?"
He looked at Justin who shrugged lightly. "I warned you not to play with my partner," he said slightly fatalistically. "Told you she was a hard-case." Armani was still gasping and holding his throat dramatically. We left.
Justin held his laughter until we got into the car. "I don't think that was just scotch he soiled himself with," he said between chuckles. I hit him lightly on the shoulder. We had a place to start looking. That was good for me.
Justin called Dink. I had yet to meet Dink. I wasn't sure if I wanted to from the way Justin described him. He told Dink that there was a Blood Wave that went by Spanky, and he needed to find the real name and address. He hung up. "We need fruit," he said. "Want me to take you home first?"
I shuddered. "No, we'll go find some," I said. It was late spring in California. Someone was bound to have fruit around here. I didn't want to go home anyways. Mom's parents had flown in. Dad's had died when he was 26 in a car accident, so I guess they thought they had to be here. They were rather well off, and didn't like me very much, not being their blood. Irene can trace her family and it's "proud Southern heritage" back before the Civil War. She's a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Whatever.
Mom had warned them that if they so much as mentioned that I was adopted, she'd never speak to any of them again. They didn't know all of the circumstances, but if I were alone with Irene, she would always mention Katherine in a way that let me know I was the replacement child. Charles wasn't as bad, being a southern gentleman and all, but he would much rather have Kayla around him than me. All in all, I was much better off with Justin. We went to the open-air market to seek greener fruit.
Justin
We found the fruit. Jhondie doesn't like to use the fact she's hot, but she will on occasion. We couldn't find a strawberry to save our lives, but there were bananas at least. Dink likes bananas that are almost, but not quite too ripe to eat. At the market, you don't paw through the fruit; you grab what's on top, and keep a dozen other people from ripping it from your hands. Dad says it was different before the Pulse, but how should I know.
I was trying to negotiate for oranges when I saw the people trying to get to the bananas that had just shown up a few minutes before. In California oranges are much easier to get. We wouldn't get much from Dink with oranges, but it should be enough to get the guy's real name. Jhondie showed up beside me with bananas exactly the way Dink would like them. Never underestimate the genetically engineered.
"How'd you do it?" I asked her when we made a run for the car. If anyone had seen us, there'd be a hard time, as people would try to buy them off of us. Half of the time, if you can buy something in the market, you can walk outside the boundaries and sell it for twice the amount. Scalping was illegal, but if you gave the cop a percentage, you could get away with it.
She gave me her bet "duh" look. "The seller was male and I was the youngest thing there with all of the right, ahem, equipment," she said dryly, glancing meaningfully at her chest. "Not everything has to do with super powers."
I wasn't going to agree or disagree. I was very well aware that Jhondie was nicely equipped, and not just in the genetically enhanced department. I admit that it wasn't the easiest thing to spend a night with all of her, ahem, equipment against me and not do anything about it. There were times that a person should let a subject drop and stay dropped. This was one of them.
We went to Dink. He lived in this lousy one room flat. He shared the bathroom with everyone on his hall. I was just glad he didn't keep a bucket next to his computer desk. You'd expect the room to be a mess, but it was barracks neat. He said that he couldn't stand outside clutter. His computer desk looked like it was about to collapse and bury him in an avalanche of printouts, disks, CD's and other pieces of equipment that I didn't even want to know about. He said that it was in an order based on chaos.
Dink had a rather amazing reaction to Jhondie. She was probably the first female he'd ever had in that room. He'd been wearing his standard uniform: ratty sweatpants and a stained undershirt. The minute he saw her standing there, he'd asked us to wait for a minute, then opened the door a minute later wearing a new-looking golf shirt and slacks. I'd never gotten the full clothing treatment. I'd seen him once in his boxers. It wasn't a pretty sight.
"Dink, this is my partner, Jhondie," I said in introduction. I didn't give her last name. Dink didn't know mine, and I didn't know his. It was better that way.
She gave him a big smile, and he looked like he was going to faint. I don't know why I had the urge to hit him. She handed him the bananas. "I'm so sorry they're not strawberries," she said flirtatiously. "But, Justin said you like them just like this." I was expecting Dink's leg to start thumping or something.
"They're perfect," he said, not looking at the bananas at all but giving her this huge mooning smile.
"So, you got something for us?" I asked quickly. He looked at me vaguely. "The name and address," I reiterated. He perked up a little.
"Yeah, sure, no problem." He sat down at the computer, and peeled a banana. He looked at Jhondie. "Would you like one?" he asked. I almost fell down. Dink does not share.
"No, thank you," she said sweetly. "I just need to find out who this Spanky guy is. It's very important to me." He nodded quickly. I was having the most difficult time not vomiting.
He pulled up the kid's rap sheet. "I figured he's been arrested, being a gang member and all," he said. Gag. Dink does not explain how he does things. He was just trying to impress Jhondie. "So, I searched under aliases and there he was." He pulled up the kid's picture with his name underneath. Jhondie leaned over Dink's shoulder to get a better view. He started to sweat. She wasn't doing it on purpose that time, but he didn't care. I wanted to get some cold water to dump on him.
"I found some interesting things about him," Dink said. Dink giving extra information for free. I guess he noticed my incredulous look. "It was in his rap sheet," he explained. "I can give it to you seeing that this is Jhondie's first time hiring me and all." He gave her a wide smile. It looked strange on a face that doesn't smile easily. "I always satisfy my customers." She smiled back.
"What else did you find?" she asked.
"His name is Brian Knight," he said, "as in Darryl Knight's only son." That was not good. Darryl Knight was a very wealthy businessman who had his rich fingers deep into local politics. "The kid was arrested a week ago, but released for lack of evidence." Lack of evidence, my foot. There could be a mountain, and nobody would do anything about it. Nobody except me that is. "He was accused of shooting an immigrant's son. Something about the kid's dad being a doctor, the details are a little sketchy. Anyways, daddy shows up, and gets him bailed out, and he's back on the streets free and clear a few days later."
A few days later? So, he kills this other kid, and he's back out, and the next day Jhondie's dad is dead. Had he made a mistake? Armani said there was a problem when he got jumped in. If he hadn't acted manly enough, or something, he would have to prove himself to be a tough guy.
"Thanks a lot, Dink," I said. He smiled again at Jhondie.
"Anytime, you know that," he said. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you again," he said looking at Jhondie.
We left. I wasn't saying anything, which I admit now was a little unusual for me. Jhondie noticed it.
"So, how do we prove it was him enough to get him?" she asked me.
I shrugged. "Figure out how to show he was the shooter," I muttered. She gave me a weird look.
"Are you mad about something?"
"No," I replied. "Why should I be? You should be mad with the way Dink had you mentally undressed the entire time you were there."
"He was? I thought he was just being nice." I snorted. Why was I acting like this? I was acting, well, not really, but a little…
"Jealous?" she said.
"What?"
"You're acting like you were jealous that I flirted with Dink to get some information out of him."
"Why would I be jealous?"
"That's what I would want to know." So would I. I was acting jealous. Feeling jealous too. I needed some sleep.
"I think that tomorrow we need to start recreating this last week in Spanky's life," I said, dropping the other topic. "We'll start with the immigrant, and work our way to the ER." I glanced at Jhondie. Her face was set in stone. This was hard on her. I couldn't imagine investigating my mother's death. I wasn't sure if she was really going to kill Spanky or not, but deep down I didn't think she would. I wouldn't be helping her if I thought she was going to go all Manticore on me.
"Sounds good to me," she said, and then sighed deeply. "I guess I should go home," she said, depressed. "Time to play the red-headed step-child for the grandparents."
I took her home. "Let me know if there's anything I can do," I said.
"Pick me up tomorrow," she replied, and then gave me a cold little smile. "I'm sure we'll find something interesting for you to report on after tomorrow." I shivered. Even after that I knew I was going to show up in the morning. For better or worse, we were partners. If I didn't show, she would go on her own, and that would be worse. I could only hope she would let me stabilize her a little. Enough at least to keep her from doing something she would regret later. At least, I would hope she would eventually regret it.