Los Angeles Noir by Denise Hamilton

Author:Denise Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Anthologies, ebook
ISBN: 9781936070169
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2007-01-01T10:00:00+00:00

THE KIDNAPPER BELL

BY JIM PASCOE

Los Angeles River

Change flows swiftly through L.A. like the shallow river that cuts into downtown on its way to the ocean. But in Los Angeles there are pockets, tiny whirlpools eddying in the stream, where change cannot reach. In those places, things even worse than change can find you.

Five till 7. With the taste of second-hand smoke in his mouth, he settles into a dark corner of his favorite bar in Chinatown, early for his date, ready to dope his new girlfriend. He has two beer bottles from the bar. He sets them on the wobbly square table. He looks around the place: The loud bleached-blonde harassing the bartender, the old men drinking Crown near the door, the smoking Chinese couple, all unconcerned with the packet of crushed powder he’s sifting down into the brown longneck. His eyes dart between them and his work, all the while he’s doing the male math in his head: Four dates and still no sex. Tonight makes five.

He was proud to have walked away from the first date without so much as a kiss goodnight. If you can’t get a second date, she’s not worth sleeping with in the first place. It was date three that made him nervous, caused him to question his game. He knew then she wouldn’t be easy. He even wondered if she really liked him.

Now, it’s been ten days since they last saw each other. He was kicking himself for letting an opportunity with someone so beautiful slip by. He had thought it was all over, until she called earlier today.

Why the call? Why the rush to meet? Perhaps in her mind they were just friends, and this is what friends do, how friends behave. Even if so, what does she want from him?

When she arrives, she looks pale. Sweat darkens the hair around her temples. Her hands look dirty.

“Is this for me?” Slumping into the seat next to him, she grabs the full bottle and lets it drain into her mouth. “Have you been waiting long?”

He stares at her. “No, I haven’t been here long. Are you all right?”

“There was a problem.” She finishes her beer. “I think I need your help.”

“Of course. Anything. But you’re scaring me.”

“We’ve grown close in the last month, haven’t we?”

“Sure.”

She reaches her hand out to touch his arm. Her laughter sounds forced as it cracks, turning into something like crying. Hysteria.

He waits for her to compose herself. She looks around the dark room and says, “Not here. I can’t tell you here.”

He leans back, keeping quiet. He’s being baited and wants no part of it. He is familiar with the dynamics of power, the rules of hunting. Give too much and you can’t take. Push forward and your target retreats. Remain silent and she will open up.

He knows all this. He should have slept with her weeks ago.

She gives in, speaks: “It happened in the river.”

“What river?”

“The river, the L.A. River.”

“What happened?”

“I think … I think I just killed somebody.

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