Past Sixth Street the traffic slows even more. It’s Hebrew schools, art galleries, design centers, then lighting companies and more of the ubiquitous photo labs. Rudy Sancerre—where did he figure into all of this? If he was the person who introduced Monica Fullbright to Cathy Vega, then he had to have a pretty good idea what they were involved in. My first thought was that they were dealing cocaine. I’d seen Rudy. I’d seen Monica’s setup in her apartment but it didn’t quite make sense. The coke in LA was all coming in from Colombia via Miami or through the Jamaican posses. Monica and Cathy could be penny-ante dealers, but why would Cathy, or Carmen, go to Mexico? Or Guatemala? If in fact she had gone to either of those places. I couldn’t remember ever hearing of any drug coming in from Guatemala. The major export was what? Coffee, I guessed. But if it was Mexico Cathy Vega had gone to, it was heroin. Mexico is the largest supplier of heroin to the U.S. At least since the end of the Vietnam War and the CIA’s departure from the Golden Triangle.

But hadn’t Cathy Vega died while shooting cocaine in the loft? Why would she get involved with heroin? Granted, her boyfriend had a history of heroin use but she had left him. There exists on the part of cocaine users a certain snobbishness toward junkies. There are proprieties. Levels of social stratification based on one’s drug choice.

Maybe she and Monica liked to speedball. It seemed like a lot of trouble for them to go to for the relatively small amount of heroin that would be necessary for their personal consumption. Besides, Monica Fullbright wouldn’t have spent a grand on my services for a small amount of heroin. Speedballs. Of course. It was so Hollywood. Spending tons of money to get the feeling of going up and down at the same time. Just like the fucking studio execs who drove around in 450 SLs and wore Levi’s 501s they’d ripped holes in. Distressed leather. Monica and Cathy were going to sell it. That had to be it. Did either of the women have a record for sales? The next time I went to the court building, I would have to check into that.

I headed for Third to see Rudy Sancerre again. Punk clothing stores and fifties furniture places gave way to the surge of Central American commerce. Did Rudy know Monica was missing? Perhaps she had told him where she was going. That was assuming she had gone somewhere rather than being kidnapped by the Guatemalans who ransacked her apartment.