Don Winslow - California Fire And Life

The woman looks at the crowd in the church, points at Nicky again, and says, "HE KILLED MY SISTER! HE KILLED PAM!"

The heavyset security guy clamps his hand over her mouth and locks his forearm across her neck.

"Let her go," Jack says to him.

"The lady needs to leave."

Guy has a Russian accent.

"She's leaving," Jack says.

The other guy — tall, thin but wired — turns to Jack. "You want to get involved here?"

Same accent.

"Whatever," Jack says.

The guy wants to stroke him one, it's in his eyes, but there's something else that's saying best behavior, so he backs down. Jack can see him memorizing his face, though, for future reference.

Jack looks at the heavyset guy and repeats, "Let her go."

First guy nods and the other muscle releases his grip. Jack says to the woman, "Come on."

"He killed Pam."

"Everybody heard you."

He reaches out his hand and takes her arm.

"Come on."

She comes with him.

Jack can still hear the children in the background yelling for their aunt. Looks down there and sees Michael in tears. Mother Valeshin's face set in stone. Nicky looking like he could kill.

So does the boss muscle guy. He gives Jack a badass look.

"Yeah, it's okay with me," Jack says.

"We'll see."

"Yeah."

Jack walks the woman out of the church.

Into the front seat of his car.

"Jesus, Letty," Jack says. "You could have told me she was your sister."

I shouldn't be telling you this but I thought someone should know, the autopsy showed no smoke in her lungs.

She's still a looker, Jack thinks.

Shiny black shoulder-length hair, dark Mexican eyes, a body that won't quit. Makeup perfect, just enough jewelry, clothes perfect. It's hotter than hell out but she's wearing a white blazer over her jeans. Jack knows she wears the blazer to disguise the. 38 clipped on her belt.

He's half-surprised she didn't just shoot Nicky.

"My half sister," Letty says. "Same mother, different father."

"I didn't even know you had a sister," Jack says.

"She wasn't around much," Letty says. "In those days she didn't want to remember that she was half-Latina. Christ, I just lost it in there."

"It's okay."

"It's not okay. I'm supposed to be a professional."

"Letty, you're not working this, are you?"

She shakes her head. "Ng finds no smoke in her lungs, he calls over to us and I'm catching. Lucky me. I get to the morgue and I'm like, Oh my God. It's Pam. But I keep my mouth shut that she's my sister because I want to stay on top of what happens."

"Jesus, Letty."

"You know Ng. Ng wants to go out and interview Vale right away. But we better contact the fire inspectors first so they don't get their panties in a wad. He gets Bentley on the horn and-"

"'Don't fuck up my fishing.'"

"You got it," Letty says. "Accidental fire, accidental death. I ask him how come there's no smoke in her lungs and he says 'superheated air.'"

"Superheated air?" Jack asks. "What, he thinks she dropped her cigarette onto a hydrogen bomb?"

"I guess," Letty says. "Anyway, Ng is like, Fuck Bentley. He gets on the phone to Vale to tell him he's coming over and Vale's lawyer conferences in, says he's representing."

Pretty simple, Jack thinks.

Letty calls Bentley, Bentley calls Vale, Vale calls his lawyer.

"So anyway," Letty says, "that ends any chance of interviewing Vale. I mean, I'm about ready to bring him in anyway, then my boss calls me in. He's been getting his ass chewed on by Bentley's boss, and my boss tells me, Sorry, I don't have the stroke right now to take on the Sheriff's. I'm like, The fire inspector blew it, and he's, I know the fire inspector blew it, but Bentley already filed his report that says accidental, and the Sheriff's isn't going to put its guy on the stand and make him eat his own report."

"And?"

"And nothing, Jack," Letty says. "That's it. Major Crimes won't take over the file, and I get assigned to a Missing Persons on two Vietnamese punks with about thirty-seven priors each. Get thee out and find Tranh and Do. Teach me a lesson."

Jack knows the lesson. The lesson is you don't make another deputy look bad.

"So you called me," Jack says.

"Bentley said you'd been fucking around over there."

"And you knew I'd pursue it."

Letty shrugs. "He killed her, Jack. I know he did."

Jack takes her by the hand. Says, "Your sister died from an overdose of pills and alcohol. I saw the ME's report."

Letty shakes her head.

"She didn't drink."

Say what? Jack thinks.

Say what?

"I mean she quit," Letty says. "Had quit. Like, over a year ago."

They're sitting outside at a table at Harpoon Henry's, down at Dana Point Harbor. Their table overlooks the channel, so they can sit in the sun and watch the sailboats and sportfishing boats come in and out. Jack had heard that the yellowtail were running like crazy and so they're fresh and that's why he takes her here.

Letty says, "She, you know, went to rehab. That famous place where they make you take your own garbage out. Like that's a big deal. Anyway, she came out, she was clean. Doing the meetings and all that."

"Maybe she had a slip that night," Jack says.

"She didn't have a slip," Letty says. "She was doing great."

They stop talking because the waitress comes with food: grilled yellowtail tuna with roast potatoes and yellow and red peppers. A minute later Bob, the owner, is at the table to say hello to Jack.

"How's the surf?" he asks.

"Pretty good," Jack says. "The water's warm."

"I think that's why we're hitting the yellowtail."

"Trunk water," Jack says.

"Trunk water," Bob agrees.

"Bob, this is Letty…"

"It's still del Rio," Letty says.

"I'm Bob. How's your meal?"

"It's great," she says.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," Bob says. He smiles at Jack and takes off.

"Bob's your buddy?" Letty asks.

"He's a good guy."

"He always come around to get a look at who you're fucking?"

"Hey, Letty…"

"Sorry," she says. "What's trunk water?"

"It's water that's so warm you don't need a wet suit," Jack answers. "You can go in wearing just your trunks."

"So you're still surfing?" she asks.

Jack answers, "Work to live and live to surf."

He says, "There's a purity to the ocean. A cleanliness. It's an absolute."

"Wow," she says, only half making fun of him. "An absolute."

Jack says, "The ocean's going to do what it's going to do — what it has been doing for millions of years — with you or without you. So if you go into the ocean you just deal with its… absolute power. Which I find soul cleansing."

She says, "Good for you it's a big ocean."

Which makes them both laugh, and they eat in silence for a while and look out at the boats and then he gets the guts to say, "Letty, isn't it possible that she was having a real rough night and hit the bottle and the pills again?"

"No."

"Letty…"

She shakes her head. "You'd have to know her."

"Tell me," Jack says.

Tell me about Pam.

She wanted to be a princess.

Is what Letty tells him.

My little sister Pam always wanted to be a princess. She would make crowns from construction paper, and gowns from whatever old stuff was laying around the attic, and she would talk me into pulling her around in the wagon like she was Cinderella and we had to get back before midnight or the wagon would turn into a pumpkin. Which would have been about the only thing to grow on the place.

We're growing up on a shit-poor farm outside Perris; what my stepfather is mostly growing is withered lettuce, withered corn, and a few withered tomatoes because he doesn't have the money to irrigate. We have a few cows, some sheep, and "Dad" even tried raising goats for the milk products but the dairy equipment is too expensive so that goes bust, too.