“I had to come up with something. If I’d told him you came across it a week ago and I’d been sitting on it since, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’d probably be in lockup for contempt. Besides, the judge thinks Golantz is the fuckup for not finding it before the defense.”

That seemed to placate Cisco. He held up the file.

“So then, what do you want me to do with it?” he asked.

“Where’s the translator you used on the printout?”

“Probably in her dorm over in Westwood. She’s an exchange student I came up with on the Net.”

“Well, call her up and pick her up because you’re going to need her tonight.”

“I have a feeling Lorna isn’t going to like this. Me and a twenty-year-old French girl.”

“Lorna doesn’t speak French, so she will understand. They’re what, nine hours ahead over there in Paris?”

“Yeah, nine or ten. I forget.”

“Okay, then I want you to get with the translator and at midnight start working the phones. Call all the gendarmes, or whatever they call themselves, who worked that drug case and get one of them on a plane over here. At least three of them are named in that article. You can start there.”

“Just like that? You think one of those guys is going to just jump on a plane for us?”

“They’ll probably be stabbing one another in the back, trying to get the ticket. Tell them we’ll fly first class and put whoever comes out in the hotel where Mickey Rourke stays.”

“Yeah, what hotel’s that?”

“I don’t know but I hear he’s big over there. They think he’s like a genius or something. Anyway, look, what I’m saying is, just tell them whatever they want to hear. Spend whatever needs to be spent. If two want to come, then bring over two and we vet them and put the best one on the stand. Just get somebody over here. It’s Los Angeles, Cisco. Every cop in the world wants to see this place and then go back home and tell everybody what and who he saw.”

“Okay, I’ll get somebody on a plane. But what if he can’t leave right away?”

“Then get him going as soon as possible and let me know. I can stretch things in court. The judge wants to hurry everything along but I can slow it down if I need to. Probably next Tuesday or Wednesday is as far as I can go. Get somebody here by then.”

“You want me to call you tonight when I have it set up?”

“No, I need my beauty rest. I’m not used to being on my toes in court all day and I’m wiped out. I’m going to bed. Just call me in the morning.”

“Okay, Mick.”