with the toe of one shoe and peered under it, as though I expected to find some important bit of
evidence under there.
“I had the stupid notion it was still an honourable profession,” I said.
He laughed this crazy laugh, his eyes dancing between the lids, his mouth turned down at the corners
instead of up. It could have been mistaken for a snarl.
“I knew better than that the first time I was briefed by a prosecutor. He as much as told me to perjure
myself.”
“And what?d you tell him?”
“1 told him to get fucked. It didn?t happen the way he wanted it to happen and that was that. He ended
up plea-bargaining the case away rather than taking a shot with the true facts.”
“Just after I took the bar I was interviewed by this big law firm in San Francisco,” I said. “This was
one of the most prestigious law firms in the city. The old partner who did the interviewing spent an
hour explaining to me how fee splitting works. Nothing is ever said between two opposing lawyers;
they just exchange D and B?s on the clients and decide how much they can milk them for. When the
well?s dry, they reach a settlement. When I left, I was so disgusted I almost threw up. I wandered
around the hill for a while, then went down and joined the police force.”
“But you felt good about it,” he said, flashing that crazy smile again.
“No, I felt like shit if you want to know the truth,” I admitted to him. “Three years in law school and I
end up driving a blue and white.”
The Stick listened to the music for several seconds and finally flicked the switch off. I looked above
us, up to the top of the dunes.
“Up there,” I said.
We huffed and puffed through the sand to the top of the sharp embankment and found ourselves
staring at the ocean far below. It twinkled in the moonlight.
“What?re we looking for?” the Stick asked.
“You were in the army,” I said. “What makes a discharge when it?s fired and another one when it
hits?”
“Mortar?”
“Too close.”
He snapped his fingers. “Grenade launcher.”
“It fits,” I said.
We checked the trajectory from the hill to the pool. The terrace could be seen only from the very edge
of the dune. It didn?t take us long to find a scorched place in the grass on the back of the dune with a
