Street Rules

Munoz and Lewis were there too,' he added.

'Did you talk about specifics?'

Bobby and Nook exchanged a glance that said they had. Frank wrestled with her composure, furious where this was going.

'You were bitching about being pulled,' Frank stated.

'Yeah,' Bobby squirmed. 'The case isn't even cold yet. There are still a lot of leads we can work.'

'And you mentioned those leads specifically?'

Bobby pawed his Florsheim at the ground. Now he saw where this was going too.

'Kind of.'

Frank nodded.

'To everyone?'

He looked up at the ceiling and Frank strangled the grip on her temper.

Nook said, 'I don't believe it. You're serious. You really think one of us is involved?'

'Bartlett and some other deputy was there too,' Bobby added glumly.

Frank's jaw muscles bounced and she couldn't resist asking, 'Why didn't you just take out a full-page ad in the Times?'

'You do,' Nook continued. 'You really think it's one of those guys. And that's why you pulled us.'

'It doesn't have to be one of them,' Bobby answered, gamely holding Frank's angry stare. 'They could have talked to anybody.'

'I'll be damned,' Nook shook his head. 'You've gone over to the other side.'

If looks could kill it would have been too late for Nook even though he was standing in the middle of the ICU. Frank walked away from her men, over to Claudia who sat as rigid as the plastic chair she was in. Kneeling in front of her, Frank beseeched, 'Talk to me, Claudia. Help me.'

The retort was a stinging slap. Frank's eyes watered, but she didn't flinch.

'Help you,' Claudia hissed.

'I deserved that,' Frank said quietly. Locking onto the livid brown face, she begged, 'Please, Claudia. Te promete I'll end this right now. Just give me the last bullet.'

Frank stood and held her hand out. Claudia stared at it a long time but Frank wouldn't retract it. Finally she stood, following Frank toward the elevator. Slumped in a corner, barely audible, Claudia told Frank what had happened. It was a simple, ugly story and it didn't take long. Frank wanted to touch Claudia, to comfort her, but she didn't. She said only, 'Okay. We've got him now.'

Frank was almost in three fender-benders on the short ride between the hospital and the station. Having made sure the Estrella's were relatively safe, her next goal was to kick Langley's ass into gear. Frank had already decided to move on this bastard and his actions over the last twenty-four hours only fortified her resolve; with or without the department's sanction, she was taking him down. But Frank wasn't a hero. She had seventeen years toward her pension and didn't fancy starting a new career at age forty. She was willing to take the risk but preferred Langley's backing. She had to figure how to get it without threatening or alienating him, no easy task when going against a DC.

Almost rear-ending an old Nova, Frank remembered to call Noah and Johnnie. They were next in line to catch but she couldn't get hold of either one. She left messages and paged them both. Noah returned her call just as she was pulling into the station lot.

'Dudess, word up?'

'Hey. You're on call. I pulled —'

'— I can't be! We're on our way to La Jolla, Les' playoff game.'

'Sorry. I need you available.'

'I'll call Ike or —'

'No! Do you know where Johnnie is?'

'Probably passed out in an alley,' Noah whined, 'I don't know! What's going on anyway? Why can't Bobby or Nook handle it?'

'They're out of rotation. Gloria Estrella got raped last night. Guy did it right in front of Tonio, in front of her kids, and Tonio went ape-shit on him. Then this bastard went even worse on Tonio. He's just a scrawny little kid. He's at King/Drew. They took his spleen out and his livers lacerated. Bobby and Nook are posted at the hospital until I find this cocksucker.'

'You know who it is?' Noah asked.

'Look, I can't talk. I'm on the cell.'

'Aw, come on, Frank.'

'Just know you're on. I'll talk to you later,' she said, hanging up. She hoped he'd have sense enough to go to the game anyway, and that nothing happened in the meantime. If I could just get hold of Johnnie, she thought taking the stairs two at a time, he could cover. Frank offered a silent thanks when she walked into the squad room and there he was, hunkered over late reports.

'Hey. Tried to page you.'

Johnnie fiddled at his belt. His shirt was wrinkled and he hadn't shaved.

'It wasn't on,' he grinned sheepishly.

'Work better when they are. I called No, too. You guys are up.'

She raised her palm at his expected remonstrance, continuing, 'You need to page him. He's at a game down south, let him know you'll cover 'til he can get his ass up here. Go downstairs and shave. You look like shit in a sack.'

His initial protest silenced, he just slumped in his chair. He sullenly asked the same thing Noah did and Frank explained without detail. Johnnie blew his lips at the ceiling and she closed her door on him. A few minutes later she heard a phone ring, and Johnnie's dejected rumble.

Frank gutted Placa's murder book, laying out the autopsy protocol, the tox results, lab reports, Placa's pictures, sketches, Bobby's reports — everything, all neatly arrayed in front of her. Hunched in her old chair she sifted through the papers like a fortune-teller reading the cards. She weighed options and deliberated. She sighed occasionally, shifted a piece of paper, but mostly she just thought. After a while she picked up the phone.

Foubarelle's wife curtly said her husband was busy. Equally curt, Frank told her, 'Tell him another Estrella's in the hospital. He might want to know.'

He called back in less than a minute.

'What's the problem?' he greeted shortly.

She told him. Then added, 'I'm charging him, John.'

'Now wait a minute.'

She heard the panic in his voice and would have been amused any other time.

'Langley clearly said you're not to do anything with this, and I won't have you going against him, Frank.'

'I have to. Even if this goes nowhere and the DA throws it back in my lap, he's at least got to know we're on to him, that I'm on to him. He can't keep getting away with this. I don't know how many people he has to kill before the department has the balls to move against him, but I'm not going to wait around and see. I'm charging him, John, with or without Langley's blessing.'

'You can't do that,' the captain protested, the whine and the fear higher in his voice. He seemed to get it under control, because his next words were more authoritative.

'I'm ordering you not to do this, Frank.'

'Sorry, John.'

She wasn't.

'You realize the ramifications of openly defying your supervisor.'

What should have been his boldest statement yet was couched with fear, and Frank played him as she so often did. It was like fishing, set the hook and reel him in. No wonder Joe liked it so much.

'Yes, I do. Do you want to call Langley or should I?' she asked needlessly.

She waited almost an hour for the phone to ring. Fubar nervously told her the DC was out of town. Frank was to meet him at Chief Nelson's house ASAP. Frank pulled her case together and started the long drive to Brentwood.