“Yeah, but that’s okay,” Julio told him. “They’re willing to work with us now. So, if you, like, can give us fifteen thousand in cash, we can work it all out.”

Ivan listened closely to the language and understood that Julio and his cousin had placed themselves in the middle of the deal. And since Ivan doubted Mike Elizondo would be hurting for money with production credits on multiple Dr. Dre records, he figured that Julio was using the opportunity to jump-start a bankroll for himself.

But that’s all right. I can’t stop a man’s hustle. As long as he can guarantee that they’ll be here, Ivan reasoned.

He said, “Well, I can’t send them fifteen thousand dollars in cash through the mail. They would have to be here to get it.”

Julio said, “That’s no problem. Just give me, like, five thousand as a down payment, and I’ll make sure on my cousin’s word that they’ll be here.”

Ivan asked him, “Will I get a chance to even talk to them first, just to say hi over the phone or something?”

“Oh, if you wanna do that, man, then yeah. We can make that happen. I just gotta let my cousin know.”

Ivan didn’t have the time to talk to Julio all night about it. He had a party to prepare for. So he cut their conversation short.

“All right, well, just call me back and let me know who’s ready to come down first and on what date. All right, Julio? But I gotta run now, man. I got another party to attend tonight.”

“Oh, yeah, where at?”

“In the Gaslamp.”

IVAN STROLLED OUT of his downtown apartment building after ten o’clock that Thursday night wearing a dark blue sports jacket over a cream-colored mock turtleneck.

“Have a good night, Ivan,” the on-duty security guard told him out front. He was aware of Ivan’s popularity as a party promoter, and he had seen him around a few times with the pretty women who surrounded him.

“Oh, yeah—you, too,” Ivan responded.

He now lived a five-block walking distance from the Fifth Avenue Gaslamp Quarter.

This is real convenient for me now, he thought as he paced forward with a wide grin.

Lucina called him on his cell as soon as he had made it halfway there.

“Are you on your way here?” she asked him. “Jeffrey Morefield from the Chargers is here with his fiancée. They have a wedding date now,” she told him.

Ivan could hear the music in the background through her phone.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in five minutes. So tell Jeffrey and his lady to hold tight for me.”

AS SOON AS LUCINA clicked off her cell phone to return to the party, one of her girls approached her in a panic.