“Of course not. He’s in no condition to drive. We came with him.”
Logan whipped his head around, looking at the crowd on the sidewalk. “Where are you?”
“Sitting in Barney’s car.”
“Dad! Where specifically?”
“Oh, we’re stuck in traffic on…”
Barney spoke up in the distance. “Washington Boulevard.”
“Washington Boulevard,” he repeated. “Down by the beach. Venice, I guess.”
“You guys should have just stayed at home,” Logan told him.
“I’m sorry! You tell Tooney that.”
Logan closed his eyes for a second. “Never mind. Just…just tell Barney to pull over and park anywhere he can. I’ll meet you in a few minutes.”
Harp’s voice became distant. “Logan’s here. Says for you to find some place to park and he’ll meet us.”
“Call me when you’ve found a spot and tell me where you are.”
Logan hung up and headed back to Washington, arriving just in time to see Barney’s Volvo make the same U- turn he had earlier. Only instead of parking on a side street, Barney pulled into the lot of a strip mall, and found a space there.
Logan weaved between the cars and crossed to the other side. Just as he was walking up to Barney’s car, his cell started to ring again.
His dad was in the front passenger seat, phone to his ear, so Logan tapped on his window. Harp turned in surprise, then smiled, and hung up.
“Hi, son,” he said as he opened his door.
Logan gave him a quick hug.
“Have you found her?” Tooney asked. He was stretched out on the backseat, a grimace on his face.
“Still looking,” Logan said, wishing he had a better answer.
“Scoot. Scoot,” Harp told his son, shooing Logan out of his way so he could get out.
Once his father closed the door behind him, Logan said, “Tooney shouldn’t be traveling. What were you guys thinking?”
“He was coming with or without us. Better with, don’t you think?”
“You couldn’t have done
“He was very insistent.”
On the other side of the car, Barney was helping Tooney get out. Harp used this as an excuse to end the conversation, and headed around the car to join them. Logan watched his dad for a moment, then followed.
Looking out at the traffic, Barney said, “This is why Glenda and I moved out of the city. Where are all these people going?”
“The road’s blocked up ahead,” Logan said.
“Accident?” Harp asked.
“Something like that.”
A ten year old Cadillac pulled into the lot, and stopped right next to them. The driver’s window rolled down, and Logan could see Jerry behind the wheel, and a few others inside.
“Jesus, I thought we’d lost you,” Jerry said.
Logan looked at his dad. “What? Did you bring everyone?”
“Just Barney and Jerry,” he said. “The rest of those guys are protection.”
“Just park right there,” Barney told Jerry, pointing at an empty spot two cars down.
“Protection?” Logan asked.
His father shrugged like it was no big deal.
Jerry and the three guys who’d been riding with him walked over a few moments later.
“Logan, this is Ken, Jack and Dev,” he said.
They were big guys, tough looking, like Hollywood’s idea of a biker gang, if the members of that gang were all over sixty. As Logan shook their hands, he said, “I think I’ve seen you guys around town.”
“Probably,” Dev said.
Harp leaned over and whispered, “They’re in the VFW. Marines in ’Nam. They know what they’re doing.”
“And what exactly are they supposed to be doing?” Logan asked, not lowering his voice.
“Later.”
Before Logan could push any further, Tooney said, “I want you to show me where this boyfriend lived. I want to see what you saw.”
