To be in love was to be weak… Cultural differences… or maybe not. Decker gave him a pat on the back. “Had you ever fired a handgun before?”

“I was in the army.”

“Ah, right. They might paraffin you.”

“I washed my hands with soap up to the elbows.” He sat back in the seat and stared upward. “Cindy told me to do it.”

“She’s my daughter, all right.” Decker organized his thoughts. “Now that I know what went on, I can help her. You did the right thing.”

Koby blew out air. “She will be mad that I told you.”

“She’ll get over it. You did what was best for her.”

“I hope you are right.”

“I know I’m right. I don’t tell you how to administer CPR, you don’t tell me about LAPD.” Decker paused. “Actually, I could tell you how to administer CPR. I was a medic in Vietnam.”

Koby turned to him. “I was a medic, too.”

“How old were you when you went in?”

“Seventeen.”

“A youngster. I was nineteen. Two years?”

“In Israel, the service is three years for boys, two for girls. It was bad over there in Vietnam, no?”

“Yes, it was very bad.”

“You were in combat?”

“Yes. My tour ended right before the Easter offensive. I wasn’t in the front lines, although they usually sent us with the infantry in teams of six to eight men. I did dustoffs-rode the chopper in, then evacuated the wounded after the raids. It could have been worse.”

“For me as well. I was in Lebanon toward the end, so the fighting wasn’t as fierce. Still, it was right after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was still a presence. Between the USSR and Syria and Iran, Hezbollah was very well armed. Lots of border skirmishes. They kept me up north for a while… near Ma’alot, where Arafat-yemach sh’mo-and his Fatah thugs shot up a busload of schoolchildren on a field trip. So tension was high but not nearly as bad as Gaza. I was there for six months, dodging booby traps from Hamas and the PLO, trying to prevent them from blowing up civilians. It wasn’t as bad as today-for some stupid reason, the world thinks it wise to arm the PLO-but it had its moments.”

He paused, then gave a half smile to Decker.

“Upon reflection, with all that’s going on in the world, this is not so terrible.”

“It’s all perspective, my man.” Decker shook his head.What crazy times!“Your car’s going to be impounded. I’ll make sure a cruiser takes you home. You have any other source of transportation for getting to work?”

“A bike. I’m fine down the hill. Up is not so good.”

Decker smiled. “Call a cab and go rent a car tomorrow. I’ll make sure you’re reimbursed one way or the other. Wait outside. I’ll go in and send around a black-and-white for you.”

“I’d like to wait for Cindy.”

“She really is going to be tied up for hours. I’ll take care of her.” Decker clenched his jaw. “Believe me, Koby, I’ll takegoodcare of her-ofbothof you.”

Koby eyed him. “You’re not a man to cross.”

“I’mveryprotective of my children.”

“I’m sure that is true, Lieutenant Decker. Still, I wait for Cindy.”

Decker regarded the face-the determined eyes, the stubborn mouth. He wasn’t going to budge until he saw her. Decker had thought Koby was decent. Seeing how he reacted in a crisis improved the impression considerably.

“How about this? How about if I get her so she can say good-bye to you?”

“I will wait all night for her. But I go when she says okay. How does that sound?”

Decker nodded. “Fair enough. I’m cold. Let’s go back inside.”

The coffee sat in my stomach like battery acid-a combination of fatigue and neurotransmitters racing through my system. I had gone over the events about a dozen times. By the look on Justice Brill’s face, he still wasn’t satisfied. Both he and Lieutenant Stone were being gentlemanly, but I had the distinct feeling they were sick of my face.

Brill said, “So it was what? An ’80s Nova… ’90s?”

“Around 1990,” I answered. “Bronze paint but peeling. Primer around the driver’s door. Illegally darkened windows. I seem to recall a dented front bumper and grille.”

“You shot out the hood?”

“I’m pretty sure I hit it. It was smoking pretty bad when the car finally peeled off.”

Stone said, “But you didn’t hit the front windshield.”

“I don’t know, sir.” Third time he asked the question. “I might have. The windshield didn’t shatter. That much I do know.”

“And you didn’t call for backup because your phone was dead?” Brill inquired again.

This time, I pulled the cell phone out of my purse. “You get a connection, you win the prize.”

Brill depressed the power button. “You know there are lots of new products on the market with longer battery life.”

“I’ll buy a new one tomorrow… today.” I rubbed my forehead. “As soon as the stores open.”

“And your friend didn’t have a cell on him?”

“No.”

“He’s a nurse, but he doesn’t carry a cell?”

“He’s a nurse, Detective Brill, not a doctor. He’s not on call.”

“This is the same guy you sent away at Boss’s?”

They were covering the same ground, but I had no choice but to bear with it. “Yes.”

“And the same guy was with you at the hit-and-run?”

“Yes.”

“You two have run into an amazing spate of bad luck.”

“We’ve had other uneventful dates, Justice.” I regarded Lieutenant Stone. “Are you going to send a shooting team?”

“To do what, Decker? We don’t have the Nova in our possession and the plates on it were stolen, so we can’t get an address on them through the DMV. When and if the Nova’s found, then we’ll talk.”

“Any hospitals report admissions of gunshot-wound victims?”

“Still checking.”

The door opened and my father walked in. One part of me was vastly relieved, the other part immediately tensed.

“Mack,” he said.

“Pete.” Stone stood and they shook hands. He made introductions. “Detective Brill, Detective Lieutenant Decker.”

“We’ve met,” Dad answered.

Stone said, “I think you know the other party here.”

“Yes, we’ve met as well.”

Daddy placed his hand on my shoulder. I craned my neck up. “The plates were stolen. I’m voting Germando El Paso over the hit-and-run guy, but you never know.”

“El Paso’s locked up,” Brill pointed out.

“His buddies aren’t,” I countered.

“Koby won’t leave until you tell him to do so,” Decker informed me. “It’s two-thirty in the morning. The guy could use some sleep.”

“He’s still here? I told him to go home as soon as he was done being interviewed.”

“I think he’d like to say good-bye.” Decker looked at Stone. “Borrow her for a couple of minutes, Mack?”

“As long as you bring her back.”

“Promise.”

“Don’t know if I believe you, Pete.”

“If I could get away with kidnapping her and locking her in a closet, believe me I’d do it.” To me, Decker said, “C’mon.”

I stood up. “Excuse me.”

When they were out of earshot, Daddy took me aside several yards away from the squad room. No one was in the hallway. He spoke softly. “Where’s your gun?”

“They took it.”

His voice dropped to a whisper. “Did you clear his prints before you gave it in?”

I regarded my father with surprise.

“If you get mad at him, you’ll make me look bad. So don’t you dare do it! I twisted his arm and he told me out of concern for you.”

“The answer to your question is yes,” I told him.

“Good. Let’s go.”

But I didn’t move. I whispered, “And you wouldn’t have done the same thing?”

“I would have done exactly the same thing.”

“Germando must have told his buddies about me. I screwed up and now Koby’s paying the price. I can’t be content with just doing my job well! I’ve got to throw a noose around my neck and drag innocent people into my extracurricular affair. I’m such a goddamn jerk-”

“Stop it!” Decker held my shoulders and gave me the fire of his eyes. “Cynthia, if you aren’t calm out there, we’ll never get Koby to leave. If you like him and want what’s best for him, you will go out there and convince him to go home so he can get some sleep!”