Chapters (46)
- COVER PAGE
- PRAISE
- DEDICATION
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- SNEAK PEEK: EXIT .45
‘Yeah. I think so.’
Locke nodded, looking at him. He said, ‘I reckon you might be a character.’
He saw Locke’s focus shift, looking past him now, and Vincent turned and above the edge of the red-and-white curtain he saw the roof of an SUV—Erin’s Range Rover. Locke took out his wallet again and dropped ten dollars on the table. He was pushing back his chair as the front door opened with a ding, and Erin walked in.
Vincent said, ‘Thanks for the coffee.’
Locke looked down at him. ‘If you hear any more about missing people, or anything that might be pertinent to what happened yesterday, give me a call. I gave you that business card for a reason.’
Erin was at the table now. She and Locke exchanged hellos and handshakes and polite smiles, and then Locke was heading past her to the door, and the bell dinged again as Erin sat down.
She said, ‘I called Wayne Forsyth’s wife. She’s staying with a friend out in Redondo Beach. I want to talk to her first, and then maybe see your lawyer friend again, Terry Page. He might be more cooperative, second time around.’
Vincent said, ‘Sly’s dead. They found him in his swimming pool with a broken neck.’
She took a few seconds absorbing that. ‘Where, up in Santa Barbara?’
‘Yeah. According to Locke.’
He told her the Marshal’s theories about Lou and Andre and Sly, and he watched her think it over, not shocked or surprised, just working the news into whatever picture she had already built for herself. She was so well contained, it made him all the more intrigued about what was going on in her head. He was pretty sure he’d never met a woman anything like her.
She said, ‘All right. That changes things. Let’s talk to the lawyer first.’
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-FIVE
Vincent told her the theory about bodyguards, he was the one who was supposed to collect her—that way she wouldn’t be off the hotel premises without back-up. She said she’d keep it in mind, and then got in the car—up front this time, riding shotgun.
Vincent got behind the wheel and Erin said, ‘I decided to do the interview. It’s up at Warner Brothers. this evening. They’ll send a car for us. It’s a studio audience, but they put everyone through airport-grade security, so they said it’s safe enough.’
Vincent had heard that a few times in his career: safe enough.
He pulled out into traffic on Santa Monica and swung a U-turn. Page Swanson’s offices were on Wilshire—downtown Beverly Hills.
Erin said, ‘If Sly’s dead, I think we can assume it’s related to my father’s death. Just because of the timing—I can’t see how they’d be independent.’
‘I agree.’