After driving around and dropping Rick off to pick up his truck, AJ rode with me back to my place. Rick followed. We never saw that black caddy after Rick spotted it. I was grateful for small favors.

I was not grateful when I got the first real glimpse of my car. The taillights were shot out and a row of holes went through the trunk and out the side panel. One had lodged in one of my boxes, breaking the glass inside. Rick was wise; he stayed in his truck smoking a cigarette. AJ however seemed to want to make it better by getting my mind off my car.

"Is this your apartment complex? It's nice. Do you want me to walk you up?" One look at my eyes and he added, "or not. Look we will pay for the repairs." I guess the car was a safer subject. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, finding a business card. "You can reach us here." He reached for a very small pencil in his jacket pocket and added another address in an area I recognized not too far from here. "This is my home address and phone number. Send the bill here and we'll take care of it."

"I will. Goodbye." I said with finality, walking angrily up the walkway to my apartment. I put the key in the door and looked back one more time at my poor little car only to notice AJ had not moved. That just pissed me off even more because he was probably staring at my body. Darn it, don't men understand I have a mind as well?

I opened my door and huffed in, angry that I had not been able to avoid the trouble I learned to evade in my youth. Now my poor little car bore the scars of my failure. I tossed the keys in the bowl I kept by the door and reached for the light switch. I never saw the fist that hit me.


AJ opened the door to his house and walked into the kitchen. He went immediately to the fridge and pulled out two beers, one for himself, one for his brother who took it to the living room, dumping his gun belt and hat on the bar on the way.

"You know, we never got her name."

"Some detective you are." Rick smiled. They'd been here before. She sure was a looker, yes, but she had quite a bit of spirit as well. He liked that. He didn't miss how much AJ liked it too.

"Well, if you hadn't promised Carlos…"

"Don't start on me, AJ." Rick sighed into his beer.

AJ was silent for a moment and then took a swig from his bottle. "Alright. What have we got."

"Lucky Larinowasky wasn't so lucky when he promised to move that moonshine for Mr. Smith."

"It was supposed to be a small time operation. How did the big guns get involved?"

"Not so legal an operation either. And how do we get Lucky off the hook?"

"Well, they weren't willing to listen to reason…"

Rick snorted and took the last draw from his bottle. He got up and returned to the refrigerator for another. He opened two and deposited one in front of his brother.

AJ glanced at him and muttered a quick thanks.

"She sure was a looker wasn't she?"

"What!" AJ stared at his brother.

"She could drive too."

AJ glared at his brother. "Yeah, and thanks to your pro bono work for Carlos, now we have to pay to repair her car out of our own pockets! Did you hear that? OUR pockets. Not mine."

Rick just looked at his brother. Somehow it would work out. That was AJ's forte, money, not his. The best strategy now was to just ignore his little brother's comments. Maybe he'd forget. Fat chance. Rick grinned at his own thoughts. "Yeah, well, I'm done in. I'm going to bed." He dumped his bottle in the trash on his way to the door.

"Yeah, I'll forward the bill to you when she sends it." AJ called over the couch.

"What was her name?" Rick asked on his way out the door. He knew it would annoy his brother all night that he had forgotten to get her name and he asked it just to get him riled up before he left. AJ turned and glared at him. Rick smiled and shut the door slowly. "Night." He called out sweetly as he left.

AJ turned around on the couch and addressed his second beer. A small smile played on his lips for a moment and he shook his head and gave a light laugh as he quickly finished off the beer. "Well, I am a detective. I'll just do some detecting." He turned off the lights, locked up and headed off to bed himself. A shower would be in order to help him sleep.


Two days passed with no word from whatever her name was. Granted they had been on stakeout following Lucky around on his liquor delivery rounds. Most of them were perfectly legal and nobody messed with him. He didn't deliver moonshine but for every two weeks. Funny how some people just fell in love with that stuff and would pay big bucks to enjoy it with their friends.

Lucky had called saying the thugs had put the pressure on him to give up his source so they could "increase distribution" and told him to think about it before more negotiations occurred. He only agreed to complete his routes when the detectives assured him that they would watch him every second of the day. So far nothing had occurred.

As they followed him in the truck they discussed the finer points of just dropping the case or getting in deeper.

"The bills are growing."

"I know AJ." Rick was quiet for a moment before adding, "What I don't get is why all the thugs for 'shine. I've had it before, good 'shine is good, but not worth all this."

"There's money in it, if made right."

Rick grunted. "Had a buddy, went into the business for himself for a while. Almost killed himself."

"Still blow up?"

"No. Made methanol, not ethanol. He cut corners and ended up in the hospital for weeks."

"No kidding?" AJ asked in suprise.

"Get this, know how they treated him?"

"Knowing your friends, with two armed guards at all times…"

Rick laughed and blew some smoke out of the window. "Nah, he got to be drunk for days. They gave him his 'shine in his IV. He had one hell of a hangover once they saved his life."

"Really! Imagine being drunk for days on end…" AJ said sardonically.

"Blew out his liver though. His life was never the same. He died a few years later."

"Oh." AJ looked out the window for a second. Dangerous stuff.

"That's why Lucky doesn't want to give up his source. He knows his guy's safe, but these guys, they cut corners. Who knows who they might kill distributing the wrong stuff?"

"Then maybe we should just take this to 'town and let the police take over." AJ mused.

"I've been thinking the same thing."

"What about Lucky?"

"Somehow we have to get him out of this before we get 'town involved. Carlos would never talk to me again if I let his buddy down."

"Really?" AJ asked with hope in his voice.

"AJ," Rick said warningly. "We are not going to sell out Lucky. These thugs get wind of the police and Lucky'll wind up dead. You don't want that on your conscious now do you?"

"No." AJ said with some disappointment. "Lucky is going to have to vanish for a few weeks."

"Ricardo and Eddy?"

"Sure, why not?" AJ replied with a smile.

Rick pulled up to talk with Lucky on the next stop and shortly thereafter Lucky's truck was found abandoned by two men in a black caddy.