"Who comes knockin' on your door at three-thirty, Claudia?"
"Fuck you. All you fuckin' cops."
Claudia's eyes were lit with rage, the old fire had finally been stoked back to life.
"Who's at your door at three-thirty?" Frank tried again, knowing as Claudia coldly recomposed herself that she'd lost her. She'd had her for a sec then played her wrong. Frank slowly drained her cup, then stood, scraping her chair against the floor.
"Thanks for the coffee. I'll see you at the funeral tomorrow."
When it was Frank's weekend on call she usually didn't get to the Alibi until the drinking was well under way. She found a space on the street and pulled in just as Gail was getting out of her car. The ME hadn't seen her and Frank caught up, following quietly a few steps behind.
"Hey."
"Oh, Christ! Thanks, Frank. I hadn't had my daily coronary yet."
"Got to be more careful out here. I watched you get out of your car and then I followed you. You didn't even see me."
"I wasn't expecting to get mugged."
"Nobody ever is. That's what the bad guys count on."
"Yes, Officer Friendly."
"Just be more careful. Look at what's on the street before you get out of your car."
"My God, you sound like a public service announcement. Are you always this didactic?" Gail asked reaching for the bar door. The noise assaulted them and Frank raised her voice, "Be a shame to see you laid out on one of your own gurneys!"
"Ha, ha."
The Nine-three was holding down two tables and as Frank threaded toward them, nodding here and there, she recognized Hunt, Dimmler, and a couple other uniforms around the tables. Johnnie was arm-wrestling Munoz, and actually winning for a change. Frank offered Gail the only empty seat and scavenged another one, putting it next to the doc. Bobby and Diego welcomed Gail, but Frank overheard Hunt mutter to Dimmler, "Somebody must've left the door open at the pound. All the bitches are loose."
Frank was surprised Hunt was smart enough to make up a joke and wondered if he'd stolen the line. She glanced at Gail who didn't seem to have heard.
"This place is mobbed," she semi-shouted to Frank. "What's the occasion?"
Frank replied quickly, "They all heard you were coming."
Picking Nance out among the harried waitresses and noting Ike cruising a knot of females from the DA's office, Frank asked Diego, "Noah come by?"
"He's in the can."
Frank leaned close to Gail and asked, "Gin and tonic?"
When Gail nodded, she said, "Be right back."
Frank went to the bar and yelled her order at Mac.
"Comin' up," he yelled back, slamming bottles and pouring with both hands. While Frank waited, Noah came out of the bathroom, saw her, grinned.
"What up, dudess?"
He flipped his palm up and she greased it. Mac slid the dripping drinks over and Frank carried them carefully, wondering how Nancy flew around with them on a tray.
"Move over," Noah said, wedging a chair between Diego's and Frank's. Gail clanked her glass against Frank's.
"To Fridays."
"Here, here."
As Dimmler vied for Gail's attention, Noah said close to Frank's ear, "I see Dim and Dimmer have joined us. Dimmler's all right," he conceded, "but Hunt's a freak. He'd rather be out knockin' heads than working."
Bobby and Diego cheered as Munoz' arm went down, then Frank looked down the table, asking Bobby how his talk with Itsy had gone. She'd come back home last night and her detectives had paged Frank so she could be in on the interview, but she hadn't been able to break away. She'd told them to throw another girl in Itsy's face but not to mention who it was.
"She was pretty strung out, wasn't in much better shape than when Nook talked to her the last time. We rattled her cage about a girlfriend and she took it pretty hard. She was asking us who it was, begging us to tell her. She's a mess. She couldn't even tell us where she was when Placa got shot. Thinks she was hanging around with a guy named Droopy. They were both trying to score."
"You find him?"
"We're looking. I got a CI might know who he is. He used to be a King until he got jumped out for using."
"So you don't think she knew about Lydia?"
"I doubt it. About all she thinks of anymore is where to get her next hit."
"Does she have wheels?"
"No. She went to El Monte with her mother. She's got an old Riviera. We asked about Ocho, if anything was going down with him and Placa. She said she didn't know. She's been out of the set for a while and most of the Queens just diss her now."
Frank watched the bubbles pop in her club soda, mulling this over. Putting her head close to Frank's, Gail asked, "Are you narrowing in on anybody?"
"Well, at first we had a good possible suspect, then we had two more, but they seem to be slipping through our fingers. At this point, I have to say no."
Bobby and Nook had checked out the other Playboys Lydia said were at the party, but had gotten nothing of substance. When pressed, they all admitted being there with Ocho, but were vague about the party's timeline. Ruiz could have slipped away anytime.
Dimmler vied for Gail's attention as a cop in civvies bumped Frank's chair. Kneeling behind her he said hello to the ME.
"Hello," Gail replied, obviously annoyed.
"I was wondering if I could buy you a drink."
"I already have one."
"Well, when you finish that one."
"I'm only having one."
"Hey, pal. She's at our table," Dimmler growled.
"Whatever," the cop in civvies said, then snickered, "Arnold."
Coming out of his chair, Dimmler said, "You want to make something outta this?"
"No, man, just relax."
When the cop stood, he was taller than Dimmler but not nearly as buff.
"Maybe later, doc. See you around."
"I hope not," she said to Frank.
"Sorry about that," Dimmler said. Gail took him aback when she said, "What are you apologizing for?"
Hunt grinned nastily while Dimmler stammered, "Well, for his behavior."
"Like yours is so much better? Honestly, you guys are like wolves fighting over meat scraps."
Her tone got the attention of the rest of the table. Noah started to say something but Hunt interrupted.
"Hey, lady," he drawled, his cowboy boots propped on the rung of Gail's chair.
Hunt reached into his lap as Gail glared at him. Unzipping his fly, he cupped his dick in his hand, and said, "I bet you've never seen one of these before."
Everyone at the table froze. Frank quickly decided the best way to deal with the situation, but Gail calmly peered into Hunt's lap and replied, "You're right. It looks like a penis but I've never seen such a small one."
Hunt's sneer faded, and Johnnie groaned. Frank was about to usher the cop out when Gail added, "I'm a doctor, you know. You should really have that looked at. It might need to be removed."
Nervous chuckles went around the table, and Dimmler, not as dim as his friend, thought it best to leave.
"Come on," he said tugging on Hunt's arm. "Let's go."
Hunt stood but shook him off, righting the cowboy hat on his head.
"Yeah, let's leave the cunt-lickers and their faggoty friends," he jeered. Johnnie jumped to his own defense but Munoz put a hand on him, calming him down. He accompanied his colleagues to the door as Noah congratulated, "Good one, doc."