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get anything out of them."
    "Just what would you like to see me do?" Morales asked. "Should I start kickin' the shit out of every kid that comes in front of me the way you do, Gazier?"
    Gazier replied hotly, "Maybe if you start using a little force, you might get better results."
    Morales drove the car into the police garage and parked before he answered. "Being an officer of the law, Gazier, does not give you the right to abuse the rights of others, just because you're in the position to do it."
    "Don't worry about me!" Gazier snapped as they walked up the steps and entered the station.
    A policewoman came toward them pleading with a young brown-skinned teenager. "Listen, Ruby," she said, "I've talked with your mother and she said that she would be glad to have you back home."
    The tall, chocolate-colored young woman stopped and spit deliberately at the policewoman's foot. Putting her hands on her hips, she leaned back on her high-heeled shoes in a provoking manner. Her lips curled in a sneer, and sparks leaped from her jet-black eyes. "I wouldn't sleep under the same roof with that drunken bitch if my life depended on it. I'd rather peddle ass for a quarter a throw before going back there."
    "Now, Ruby," the policewoman cautioned, "if you leave with that attitude, you'll be back."

    "You were with me in the probation office," Ruby said. "My probation ended when the back money I owed was paid up, so ya ain't got nothing on me. I'm as free as a goddamn bird, so keep your lecture for some girl who has to listen to it, 'cause I don't care to hear that shit." She turned and walked away.
    The precinct elevator stopped in the lobby, depositing two young men in black leather jackets.
    "Well," Gazier stated loudly. "There go our pigeons."
    "I wonder," Morales said wearily, "how those boys got out so soon."
    Chinaman, a tall, slender Puerto Rican, spotted Ruby going towards the door. "Say Ruby-do," he yelled, "don't tell me, baby, these squares are just cuttin' you loose."
    Ruby stopped at the door. "Chinaman!" she yelled. "What the hell are you and Shortman doing down here in this craphouse?"
    Chinaman grinned, showing a row of perfect white teeth. He sneered. "Some would-be detectives picked us up down in the bottom last night for loitering."
    "For loitering," Ruby repeated loudly, before breaking up in laughter. "Not you!" she managed to say. "Maybe Shortman, but I can't imagine them pickin' you up on a charge like that."
    Chinaman ran his hands through his thick black hair before answering. "I wish your man thought like that, baby," he said.
    "I hope these bastards didn't give you no hard time, Ruby," Shortman jeered.

    Detective Gazier stepped up and pushed the boys in their chests. "Listen, punks," he said, "I don't know how you got out so soon, but if you use one more swear word in here, I'll lock your goddamn asses up again, and that goes for all three of you."
    "Big deal," Ruby said sarcastically. "Just listen to the big man, will you?"
    "That goes double for you," Gazier snarled at her.
    "Don't worry about these young people," a welldressed young man said from behind Gazier. "I'll see to it that they leave quietly."
    "And just who in the hell are you?" Gazier asked grimly as he wheeled around.
    The young man stepped back and removed his glasses before replying. "I happen to be these young people's attorney. Is there anything strange about that?"
    "Well, if that's the case," Gazier growled, "you better get them the hell out of my sight if you don't want them locked up again."
    "Don't worry, officer," the lawyer replied, nodding his head for emphasis. "We are leaving now."
    They walked out of the building in a tight little group. The lawyer, seeing a cab at the curb, waved it down. He smiled at the people with him, reached in his pocket and removed some white cards. "These have my home address on them. I would appreciate it if one of you would make sure that Mr. Nelson got one."
    Ruby accepted the card. "I'll be sure to give