If he did something, it's because he believed he had to. If I can help him, then I will help him. I will love him even if he no longer loves me.' She blinked hard several times, and then took more wine. I watched her drink, and I wondered what it would be like to have someone love me with that commitment and that intensity, and, in that moment, I wished that it were me.
I said, 'Jennifer, did Mark ever mention someone named Lewis Washington?'
'No.'
'It might've been three or four months ago.'
'Maybe he said the name in passing and I wasn't paying attention, but I don't think so.'
I said, 'Four months ago, Mark's REACT team went into a place called the Premier Pawn Shop to arrest Lewis Washington for fencing stolen goods. There was a struggle, and Lewis Washington died of massive head injuries.'
She stared at me.
'The REACT team statement is that Washington pulled a gun and the head injuries resulted accidentally when team members tried to subdue Washington without the use of firearms. Washington's family said that Lewis didn't own a gun and was trying to go straight. The Washingtons sued the city and the LAPD, claiming wrongful death. The LAPD investigated, but found that there had been no wrongdoing.'
Jennifer Sheridan didn't move. She was staring at the far pictures. Mark and Jenny at the prom. Mark and Jenny after the big game. See them smile. See them laugh. 'Was it Mark?'
'The REACT team statement was that it was a combination of all five officers present, though Eric Dees, the team leader, took responsibility.'
She took a deep breath. 'Mark never told me any of that.'
'How about the name Akeem D'Muere?'
'No.'
'Akeem D'Muere is a gangbanger in South Central Los Angeles. He bosses a street gang called the Eight-Deuce Gangster Boys. Lewis Washington's family dropped their lawsuit because Akeem D'Muere told them that he'd kill them if they didn't.'
'He didn't tell me any of this. You think Mark has something to do with these people?'
'I don't know if these two things are connected or not. Maybe they're not. Maybe Mark didn't tell you about Akeem D'Muere because he doesn't know.'
'He didn't tell me about any of this.' She was shaking her head.
'This isn't going to be easy, Jennifer. What we find out about Mark might be a bad thing, just like Riggens said. It might be something that you'll wish you didn't know, and what you find out might change forever what you feel about Mark and about you with Mark. Do you see that?'
'Are you telling me that we should stop?'
'I'm not telling you one way or the other. I want you to know what you're dealing with, that's all.'
She turned away from me and looked at the pictures on the white Formica table, the pictures that had charted her life from the ninth grade until this moment. Her eyes turned pink and she rubbed at them. 'Damn it, I didn't want to cry anymore. I'm tired of crying.' She rubbed her eyes harder.
I leaned forward and touched her arm. The arm that Riggens had hurt. I said, 'Crying is dangerous. It's wise of you to avoid it this way.'
She said, 'What?' Confused.
'First, there's the dehydration, and then the lungs go into sob lock.'
She stopped the rubbing. 'Sob lock?'
I nodded. 'A form of vapor lock induced by sobbing. The lungs lose all capacity to move air, and asphyxiation is only moments away. I've lost more clients to this than gunshot wounds.'
'Maybe,' she said, 'that doesn't so much speak to the clients as to the detective.'
I slapped a hand over my chest. 'Ouch.'
Jennifer Sheridan laughed, forgetting about the tears. 'You're funny.'
'Nope. I'm Elvis.' You get me on a roll, I'm murder.
She laughed again and said, 'Say something else funny.'
'Something else funny.'
She laughed again and made a big deal out of giving me exasperated. 'No. I meant for you to say something funny.'
'Oh.'
'Well?' Waiting.
'You want me to say something funny.'
'Yes.'
'Something funny.'
Jennifer Sheridan threw the stuffed lion at me but then the laughter died and she said, 'Oh, my God. I am so scared.'
