Read Red Man Down for Free Online Page B

dies.’
    ‘Keeping house is so much fun, isn’t it? OK if I join you?’ That was a rhetorical question; Oscar Cifuentes had self-confidence enough to be always sure of his welcome, especially with women. He pulled out the gloriously greasy cheeseburger he had obviously just bought from the In-and-Out up the street and wiped his hands contentedly on a couple of paper napkins. ‘I got a question.’
    ‘Just one? Most people will have more. Makes everybody kind of paranoid, seeing a good cop go down the tubes like that.’
    ‘
Was
he such a good cop? All those happy years I worked in Auto Theft, I never realized how much hot news I was missing. All I know about Ed Lacey is what I’ve read in the paper. Did you know him?’
    ‘About like I knew you in Auto Theft – just to say hello. But you don’t get on the training crew till you’ve shown some chops.’
    ‘I guess that’s right. You know, I didn’t think about it till we were done talking in there, but then I remembered I know one of his aunts. Cecelia … you might want to talk to her, what do you think? I forget her married name but it’s probably changed by now anyway … Seems to me she was just getting divorced when I dated her a few years back.’
    ‘You dated Ed Lacey’s aunt?’ Sarah brought the tea back to her place. ‘Wasn’t she kind of old for you?’
    ‘No, actually she’s a couple years younger than Ed was … it’s one of those big Mexican families like you hardly ever see any more. Vicente García was the papi – he’s no longer with us. His first wife died and after a couple of years he started all over with a younger wife. Eddie’s mother was one of the older girls in the first family and Cecelia was one of the second bunch.’ He shrugged. ‘I could probably get on the grapevine and find her.’
    ‘And you’d be glad to do that, to help me jump-start my search for Lacey’s family,’ Sarah said, watching him thoughtfully over her Swiss cheese on rye, ‘in return for which favor, exactly?’
    ‘Hey, hold your fire, I come in peace,’ Cifuentes said, hands up, trying for the easy joke. Then, beginning to twitch under her unrelenting stare, he said, ‘I just thought maybe you wouldn’t mind riding along with me while I interview Ed Lacey’s wife.’ He studied his fingernails. ‘Ex-wife, actually. Angela.’
    ‘Oscar,’ Sarah said, ‘if you know so much more about this family than the rest of us do, why didn’t you speak up in there?’
    ‘Well, see,’ he re-crossed his legs and looked out a window, ‘the thing is I dated Angela, too, a long, long time ago, before she met Ed. Just a couple of times, but … the second date I took her out dancing and one thing kind of led to another …’
    ‘As it so often does with you. Well, and?’
    ‘And I guess she kind of thought we had something going on, but I … didn’t. No real chemistry there at all – it was just the drinks and the music. But then she kept calling me, so I just sort of … made myself scarce till she gave up on me.’
    ‘And then along came Ed Lacey and took her mind off you.’
    ‘Well, yes. A little bit later.’
    ‘So what’s the problem?’ Her smile held a little edge. ‘You think she’s still hot for you after all these years?’
    Looking offended, he shrugged and concentrated on his lunch for a while. Finally, he said, ‘Hey, forget I said anything, OK? It was just a thought. But if you don’t want to work with me—’
    ‘Oh, come on, I’m just pulling your chain. The truth is I’d be grateful for any info you’ve got about the family, especially Ed Lacey’s ex-wife. She could be the key to the whole thing. But the truth also is, you should have told Delaney if there was a problem about you getting in touch with her—’
    ‘Oh, Sarah,
por favor,
you know better than that.
If Delaney hears one whisper about a problem between me and a woman ever again, he’ll throw me off this crew. I half suspect he assigned me to Lacey’s wife