When the lieutenant finally spoke, his voice was flat—slack and lifeless as the window awnings in this windless courtyard. “Anyone know you’re here?” His words were barely audible over the sibilant rush of water.

By anyone, Keegan assumed he meant Eve. In fact, Keegan hadn’t told her, but that was none of the lieutenant’s business. He had no idea what this meeting was about, so it was best to be cagey if he could manage it. “You told me to keep it mum,” he said, an answer that wasn’t an answer. “A big secret meeting.” He grinned and gestured around them both. “And yet you chose the one place in town where the two of us stand out like missionaries.”

“This is as anonymous as we’re going to get,” the lieutenant said, his voice a little louder. “Nobody here knows us. Nobody here cares what we’re doing.” He shrugged. “Hell, most of them wouldn’t understand what we’re saying.”

The sun on the water was giving Keegan a headache, so he turned and leaned his back against the fence. A shopkeeper, broom in hand, stood watching them from the doorway of a gift shop. When he saw Keegan notice him, he backed into the shadows without turning away.

Keegan looked over at the lieutenant’s profile. “Ever hear of Nystrom and Day?” he said. “They were the jacks assigned to Chinatown at the tail end of the war.”

The lieutenant shrugged. “I’ve heard of them,” he said. “They were before my time.”

Keegan nodded. “They took retirement before you were in the academy.” Keegan hadn’t set eyes on them in decades, but he could still picture both men’s faces, their matching lantern jaws, the gap in Nystrom’s teeth. He sighed. “Hell, both of them are no doubt dead by now.” He smiled ruefully and turned to face the water again. “Anyway, those two had a name for the natives around here. Called them all ‘cue-balls’.”

Moore was still gazing down at the water, but he straightened up a bit, curious. “‘Cue-balls’?” he said.

“Yeah,” Keegan told him. He turned his head to catch Moore’s reaction. “‘The harder you hit ’em, the better their English gets.’”

The lieutenant glanced over at him and then away. His expression was hard to decipher, but he certainly wasn’t amused.

“Their words, not mine,” Keegan reminded him. “LA’s finest.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “But there is a guy watching us from inside that store, unless I’m being paranoid. I don’t know what this meeting is about, but he’s definitely paying attention.”