I almost picked a fight right there. Did you know I’m from Tenttown, motherfucker?
Yuan Kim pushed his glasses up and rambled on. “Even her father thinks she ran away. Let me tell you, she’s no child, either. According to the neighbors, she’ll bang anything with a dick. For two weeks now, we’ve tried to talk the mother out of filing a report, but she won’t hear it. Now Josephs and I are stuck with the paperwork.”
He didn’t even realize how close he was to getting those glasses permanently tacked to his nose. I let out another uh-huh.
“Hey, how’s Maggie doing on her first case?”
“Good.”
The uniform standing with Kim snickered. “Maggie? Is that Magda Orzo?”
Kim said, “Yeah, her real name is Magda. What of it?”
The uniform pointed over his shoulder to the rookie wall. Photos of all the recent graduates grinned in their frames. What-where? Now I saw it…Maggie’s face with the caption “Officer Magda Orzo” underneath. There was a dripping penis doodled next to her smile and nippled breasts drawn over her uniform.
“Who did that?” I wanted to know.
“Josephs. Who else would find that funny?” Kim answered.
“You knew about this?”
“You know how he is, Juno. He doesn’t know when to stop. He screwed around with her picture, then came and got me and told me my girlfriend was in the lobby, waiting for me. I came down here wondering who he was talking about. I mean, I see a few girls, but none of them regular. He followed me down, bringing half the squad with him. I was wandering around looking for whoever she is, and he pointed the picture out and yelled, I mean yelled, ‘She’s right here, Kim!’ Then the dumbass started laughing like crazy.”
“Why didn’t you take the picture down?”
“Trust me, the best way to deal with Josephs is to ignore him. If he knows he’s getting under your skin, he won’t let up.”
“Hold these.” I handed Kim the soda bottles and reached up for the picture-too high. I told the uniform to get it down. He had to stand tiptoe to get it.
I went straight for the stairs, carrying the picture in my right. My hand was quivering-didn’t care. Kim trailed behind, asking me what I was doing. I didn’t answer. My vision narrowed down to a burning red tunnel.
I charged into homicide. Where the fuck is he…? There, sitting at a desk, his back turned to me. The people around him looked up at me and stopped mid-sentence. Josephs sensed something. He started to turn…
I slammed the picture glass side down over his head. Glass shattered, and the frame broke apart. Only the photo itself held it together.
Josephs wheeled in his chair. Shit he’s fast. He swung. Move! My body couldn’t move fast enough. His fist connected with my jaw…
“…Juno! Juno! You in there?”
I opened my eyes.
Yuan Kim knelt over me. “He’s awake, guys.”
I tried to sit up-too dizzy.
A hazy Mark Josephs sat at his desk holding a bloodstained towel to the top of his head. Don’t tell me…Shit! He knocked me out. Shit!
Two Kims pushed their blurred glasses up their blurred noses. “You okay, Juno? You been out for about a minute. He clocked you good. Do you need a doctor?”
“No.” Shit, my head hurt.
“Is your jaw broken?”
“I don’t think so. Help me up.”
“Maybe you should wait a few minutes…take it easy.”
I sat up. This time I was less dizzy. Kim pulled me wobbly-legged standing.
“Where’s my soda?”
“Here, right here.”
I grabbed the bottles and took short steps to keep upright. I walked down the hall, found the toilet, and rained vomit on floating cigarette butts. I made my way back to vice, got to my desk, and dug around for aspirin. I cracked open a soda and washed down the pills. I felt my teeth with my tongue-all there, one a little loose. How the fuck did Josephs get so fast?
Maggie came in wielding a fresh loaf, a chunk of cheese, and a hell-bent attitude. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“You heard?”
“I just ran into Kim. He told me what happened.” She launched into a string of rants. “I can take care of myself…I don’t need you to protect me…I can fight my own battles…You’re not my father.” That last one hurt.
I hung my knotting head and took it all. Why did I go after Josephs like that? It was the way that asshole treated Maggie. It just set me off. You don’t treat women like that.
I walked through the alley entrance to the Lotus. Perfume and incense-scented aircon tickled my nose. I turned down the houseboy’s offer of a clean shirt and sent him off to get Rose. I needed to ask permission to see if our peeper witness was back. I’d be surprised if he was back so soon, but it was worth a check.
Rose sauntered out with gaudy makeup and a dress slit on one side, exposing some thigh. “My word, Juno. What happened to you?”
The bruise on the side of my face had already developed-purple on my brown skin. I’d gone home after the fight. The aspirin wasn’t strong enough. Niki went through her stash, picking out the best painkillers for me. She gave me an ice pack and left me napping on the sofa after some appreciated babying. I slept the afternoon and early evening away in a drugged euphoria.
I told Rose I got into a little scuffle.
She said, “You have to take it easy, Juno. Would you like to lie down?”
“No thanks, Rose. I’m fine.” My face didn’t hurt. I was still looped. “It okay if I head on up?”
“Sure.” She checked her watch. “They should be done in room two any minute now. Do you mind waiting a bit for them to come out?”
“No problem. Is it okay if I wait upstairs?”
“You go right ahead.”
I climbed up the back stairs and waited at the end of the hall. I sat on a frilly bench and watched the door to room two. The sounds of somebody’s good time came through the walls at high decibels. I probed my jaw, finding the tender spots. What the hell was I thinking attacking Josephs like that? I knew he might kick my ass. And now that he had, the whole police force knew he could kick my ass. What the hell good was an enforcer nobody was afraid of?
The door opened. Out came an offworlder-genetically engineered perfection. Every one of them an Adonis. He buttoned his last button, and his hair self-straightened-never seen that before. Lagartans were starving to death while these narcissistic bastards thought up ways to obsolete combs. Attached to his elbow was one of Rose’s hookers, wearing yellow satin with lacy edges. They giggled their way to the opposite stairs.
I went into fuck-chamber two and surprised a couple on the floor, he on his knees, she on all fours getting her throat checked by his Doctor Johnson. The scene reflected off the mirrored walls with hundredfold intensity. She startled at my entrance, then grinned and went back to work with renewed relish. My face burned red. She pulled her mouth free and said, “It’s okay, honey. You can watch.” Both of them had offworld-white skin, not Lagartan brown. Holograms-used to get the johns in the mood. Rose forgot to shut down the system.
My embarrassment turned to anger at being fooled. The holograms adjusted to my frame of mind. Leather, spikes, and chains faded in. He had a hold of her hair now, yanking her head back and forth with rough jerks. These weren’t the cheap holos we got with the phone system. These auto-adjusted to your emotions. The Orbital must have been charging Rose a hefty fee to have these images beamed down.
They sensed my lack of arousal and shifted into two women. The system was searching for that perfect image, the one that sent my blood gushing south. I walked through the scene, my legs momentarily disappearing under their sweaty flesh. I approached the window, pulled my piece, and climbed out onto the roof.