5

A HAND SHOVED HIM FROM BEHIND, with such force that Coltrane lurched forward on the escalator and almost lost his balance. Startled, he grabbed the railing to keep from falling and spun toward the person who had shoved him. “Hey, watch where you’re-”

Twice as startled, he found himself face-to-face with Carl Nolan.

The sergeant and he were about the same height, six feet, but Nolan was on a step higher than Coltrane and seemed to tower, his weight lifter’s shoulders looking broader than usual.

Nolan jabbed him again, harder, jolting Coltrane’s right shoulder.

Almost falling, Coltrane gripped the railing harder. “What are you-”

“Keep your hands off her.”

People on the escalator couldn’t help noticing. As distracted as Coltrane was, he sensed their agitation.

“For God’s sake, have you lost your mind?”

Nolan jabbed him a third time. “Stay away from her.”

“If you don’t stop-”

“You’re missing the point.” Nolan gripped Coltrane’s right arm with a force that made Coltrane wince. “This is about you stopping.”

Coltrane suddenly felt off balance, the escalator no longer moving. With equal abruptness, he realized that he’d reached the bottom. The people who’d gotten off ahead of him scattered.

Nolan tightened his grip on Coltrane’s arm. “You’re not going to make a fuss. We’re going to walk calmly over to that elevator. We’re going to find a nice quiet spot in the parking garage where we can chat.” Nolan squeezed so hard that he cut off the circulation in Coltrane’s arm.

“Whatever you want.”

“Right. That’s a good beginning. Whatever I want.”

Shoppers farther along hadn’t noticed what was happening. Moving Coltrane steadily through the crowd, Nolan reached the elevator and pushed a button. When the doors opened, Nolan shoved him inside. For a moment, they bumped together, and Coltrane felt Nolan’s handgun in its shoulder holster under his windbreaker. The doors rumbled shut, the elevator descending.

“Take it easy,” Coltrane said. “I don’t know what this is about, but-”

Nolan’s eyes were wide with fury. “I already told you what this is about: you stopping.”

An elderly couple in the elevator looked nervous.

The doors opened, and Nolan tugged Coltrane into the parking garage. Along a row of cars, Nolan glanced around to see if anyone was nearby, then shoved Coltrane between two minivans until Coltrane’s back was against a concrete wall. The minivans blocked them from view. “You’re never going near Tash again.”

“Carl, think about what you’re doing. You’re risking your job. You can’t assault me. You’ll lose your badge.”

“Who’s going to tell? You? That I did this?” Nolan punched Coltrane in the stomach.

As air wheezed out of him, Coltrane doubled over and sank to his knees, his hands locked tightly to his stomach.

“Or that I did this?” Nolan rocketed the heel of the palm of his hand against the side of Coltrane’s head. It knocked Coltrane to the floor. “Answer me. Who’s going to tell?”

Sprawled on the concrete, Coltrane didn’t know which hurt worse, his stomach or his head.

“If you’d let us bring you in and protect you, Greg would still be alive. If you’d done what you were supposed to, McCoy wouldn’t be in the hospital. You treated me like a fool and kept me waiting at your place while you went off to be a hero. You had to show me you were smarter than me, that you knew better than anybody how to handle Ilkovic.”

When Coltrane tried to stand, Nolan used the heel of his palm to slam his forehead and knock him onto the floor again. The martial-arts move protected Nolan’s hand while carrying power and not leaving a mark. “Oh, I’ve tried to be a good sport and hide my feelings. I tried to tell myself I’m being too harsh, that you got the job done on Ilkovic, that you paid him back for Greg. Hell, I almost had myself convinced. But then you showed up at Tash’s yesterday and made me and the other guys look like idiots. The next thing I know, she’s asking you to stay, and the next thing after that, you’re taking her to your house, and the next thing after that, she spends the night with you. Now if that isn’t fast work, I don’t know what is.”

“Carl-”

“Shut up while I’m talking to you. The way this is going to work, you’re never going to tell anyone about this conversation, and you’re never going to see Tash again.”

His vision blurry, Coltrane peered up at him. “You and Tash?”

“I told you to shut up!”

“What’s going on?” a male voice demanded.

Coltrane shifted his gaze as Nolan pivoted toward the front of the minivans.

A uniformed security guard studied them nervously. He was in his early thirties, tense-faced, rail-thin compared to Nolan, and shorter. He drew a walkie-talkie from a holster on his belt. “I had a complaint about a disturbance.” His voice was unsteady. “Break it up.”

“LAPD.” Nolan already had his police wallet out of his windbreaker, opening it, showing his badge. “I just apprehended a suspect. He tried to get away.”

The security guard narrowed his eyes and assessed the badge. “LAPD?” He looked relieved. “I wasn’t sure what was… Do you need any help?”

“I’ve got everything under control,” Nolan said. “You can go back to what you were doing. I’ll handle this.”

“Right.” The guard stepped back. “I won’t get in the way.”

Nolan waited until the guard’s footsteps receded to a faint echo, followed by the thump of a door closing.

He pointed rigidly at Coltrane. “That was smart of you not to contradict me.”

Keeping a careful distance, Coltrane wavered to his feet. His head throbbed. “Why would I? This doesn’t involve anybody but you and me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. It involves you and me and Tash. Don’t go near her again or I’ll put you in the hospital. Is that plain enough for you?”

“Totally.”

“Then we understand each other.” Nolan turned and walked away.

Propped against the concrete wall, Coltrane held his stomach. His chest heaved. He fought the impulse to be sick. He listened to Nolan’s heavy footsteps, heard them stop, heard a car door, an engine, and tires squealing.

Slowly, he pushed away from the wall. His chest continued to heave, no longer because his breath had been knocked out – but because of anger.

6

“IS THERE SOMETHING YOU FORGOT TO TELL ME ABOUT CARL NOLAN?” Coltrane demanded.

It was ten to four. He was using a pay phone at the outdoor pedestrian mall on Third Street in Santa Monica. Despite his injuries, he had managed to get to the mall before Tash arrived. He had photographed the crowd from as many angles as he could without drawing attention to himself. From a discreet position, he had watched Tash and her escorts approach the clothing boutique and enter. He had crossed the promenade and gotten shots of the crowd on the opposite side. With all of his obligations taken care of, he had then done what he had been determined to do since Nolan had delivered his final warning and stormed away – phone Tash at the store and find out what in God’s name was going on.

“Mitch? What are you talking about?” Tash’s voice was taut with confusion.

“Nolan seems to think that you and he are an item. He did his best to beat the hell out of me to prove his point.”

“He what? Oh my God.”

Down the mall from the store, Coltrane warily studied the crowd. “For all I know, he’s in the neighborhood, and he’s going to beat the hell out of me again to make sure the lesson sticks. So if it isn’t too damned much trouble, would you mind telling me what’s going on?”

“This is terrible. I never imagined he’d… Are you hurt?”

“Not as much as I’m confused. Do you have a relationship with him?”

“No… It’s complicated. I can’t talk about this on the phone.”