Faye Kellerman - Blindman’s Bluff

“You’re welcome. I have the copies of the files.” She opened her purse/briefcase and peered inside.

“I hope you can read them, because I had to photocopy the papers. A lot of this stuff was forwarded material from elementary school.”

“Whose files did you get?”

“I’ve got Esteban Cruz, Alejandro Brand, Martin Cruces, and José Pinon. I hope I didn’t miss anyone.”

“Wow. That’s complete. Thank you very much. Are they related?”

“They all went to Pacoima High, and they all dropped out.” She shut her purse. “Not our success stories, I’m sorry to say.”

“Were Cruces and Pinon troublemakers?”

“I don’t know personally, but their records don’t show either as being a thug.”

“They’re Bodega 12th Street gang members.”

“That says nothing. The school is crawling with Bodega 12th Streeters.”

The waiter came back with the wine. “Are you ready to order?”

Carmen’s smile looked frozen. “I guess I’ll have the duck.”

“Excellent choice,” Mike told her.

“Black Angus, medium rare.”

“Excellent,” Mike repeated. “Would either of you like a side vegetable. Our creamed spinach is excellent.”

“Sounds good,” Oliver said.

“Excellent.” Mike took the menus and left.

“As a former English teacher,” Carmen said dryly, “I would tell him to look in the thesaurus for another adjective.”

Oliver burst into laughter. “Indeed. At least he’s pleasant.”

“Yeah, I hate snooty waiters. They make me nervous, like I’m not good enough.”

“That would never be the case.”

Carmen lowered her eyes. The next few minutes were spent in idle chitchat about their respective fields. But Oliver was antsy. He really had arranged the dinner for business purposes. When the time seemed right, he said, “Carmen, would you be offended if I took a peek at the records?”

“Uh…sure.”

“Why the hesitation?”

She put up a forced smile. “I don’t know if I was really supposed to copy the files and give them to you.”

“Ah…I’ll wait. No problem.”

Carmen slid her purse under the table. “You’re here for a purpose. I respect that. Take a peek, Detective.” She leaned over and wrinkled her nose. “Just be subtle.”

“It’s Scott, and thanks for being such a good sport. I owe you a dinner where we don’t conduct business.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“Then I’d like to take you out again.”

“Are you sure about that?” She grinned. “The evening’s not over.”

“I’m sure.” Oliver thought about Adrianna Whitcomb and decided she’d have to wait. At his age, he just couldn’t handle more than one at a time. He lifted one of the files from the briefcase on the floor and set it on his lap. Esteban Cruz; he flipped through the pages, but he couldn’t really make out the type because the lighting was so dim.

Then something stopped him cold.

Carmen said, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…nothing.” He put the file back and took out another one. This one was José Pinon. Again he paged through the sheets.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Sorry to be abrupt.” He stared at his date. “Where’d you score a copy of José Pinon’s fingerprints?”

“It came with their elementary school records. We have this program where we routinely print the kids in elementary school. We say it’s for kidnapping, but what it’s really been useful for is identifying bodies. We’ve got a lot of gang shooting where often the bodies are dumped without ID and-”

“Do you have the original fingerprint cards on file or do you just have copies?” He realized his voice was breathless.

“We have the originals.”

“With their names on them…just like the copies.”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s Scott. I need them, Carmen. Like as in right now. Do you have a key to the high school?”

“I have a key to the school, but I don’t know if I can give you the cards, Detective…Scott. There may be some invasion of privacy issues.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll get a warrant.”

Someone of lesser rank appeared to serve the entrées. Apparently Excellent Mike had bigger fish to fry. Carmen smiled as the waiter placed the duck in front of her. “Thank you very much.” To Oliver, she said, “Shall we ask them to wrap it to go?”

“Uh…” Oliver regarded his steak. “Uh, no. Just let me make a phone call to my partner and have her prepare the papers.”

“It’s really okay. I’m kind of an eat-and-run kinda gal anyway.”

“Give me five minutes, Carmen, and I’m all yours.” He tried to look charming. “Please. It’s going to take a little while anyway to get the paperwork. Why waste a steak?”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll wait. But if you don’t make it quick, I just may eat your steak. I don’t even understand why I ordered the duck.”

“Eat mine. I insist.” He excused himself and stepped outside. Marge came on the line a moment later. “I hit the jackpot. The school files have fingerprint cards for Martin Cruces, José Pinon, and Esteban Cruz.”

“Holy shit! That’s amazing! I’ll call Oldham for print analysis right now.”

“Hold on, Margie, there’s a rub. Carmen Montenegro gave us the files on the sly. She doesn’t think that it’s totally kosher to remove them from the school. We need a search warrant to get us into the original files. Rondo Martin identified Cruces and Pinon as being at the scene. That should be enough probable cause.”

“I would think so. Scott, I don’t want to get the lady in trouble. You don’t think a judge is going to be suspicious about us having to do this at eight in the evening?”

“Uh…good point.” Oliver was pacing. “I don’t want this to wait until tomorrow.”

“How about if I say that Rondo Martin just IDed Cruces and the suspect is in our sights now. That we don’t want him to flee like Pine did.”

“That’s good, that’s really good,” Oliver told her. “As soon as you get the warrant, I’ll meet you at the school with Carmen.”

“Where are you right now?”

“Still at the restaurant. We’ll finish up, and she’ll meet us at the school in her own car. It’ll look a little less suspicious.”

“So you’re still with the lovely lady?”

“Lovely indeed. And she just got a whole lot lovelier.”

MAN!” DECKER EXCLAIMED over the line. “That just saved us hours of work.”

“You ain’t kidding,” Oliver said. “Marge just got the warrant signed so we’re off to Pacoima High. Here’s to hoping that the fingerprint cards match our unknown prints.”

“Amen to that.” Decker’s cell phone beeped for a call waiting. “You put the dinner with Montenegro on your personal credit card, right?”

“Of course. I didn’t want it getting back that Carmen did anything improper.”

“Exactly. Is Marge with you?”

“She’s meeting Carmen and me at the high school. Carmen took her own car.”

Decker’s phone beeped in a second time from call waiting. He looked at the window. Restricted number. If you aren’t gonna trust me with your number, you can leave a message, bozo. “Call me when you have the fingerprint cards.”

“I will,” Oliver said. “Where are you now?”

“Just outside the hospital. Willy Brubeck is watching Rondo Martin, but reinforcements are coming up soon. Did either you or Marge find out anything else about the owner of Ernie’s El Matador and Baker Corporation?”

“Marge sent a team out to the bar, to press Sam Truillo for the name of El Patrón. I think it was Wanda Bontemps and Lee Wang.”