Boulevard by Bill Guttentag Page B

smoke?”
    â€œOnly fifteen years plus. I started when I was a kid.”
    â€œYou miss it?”
    â€œI miss the way it sorta punctuates the day. No matter what happened at work or anything else, before I’d go to bed, I’d go outside and have a smoke. Every night. It was great.”
    â€œI do the same thing. But Rick thinks I should be ableto stop.”
    â€œHe never smoked?”
    â€œNo. He’s this serious athlete and all. He thinks you should have enough control over your body to quit. When I was pregnant I stopped. It was actually pretty easy. But at the hospital, when the baby was sleeping, I’d go to this nice little courtyard they had there, smoke, and think about the baby. Sometimes I’d try to get Rick to come outside and talk. But it never happened.”
    â€œKnow how that is.”
    â€œThe person wanting to talk? Or the one not saying a word?”
    â€œBoth. But mostly the one who should’ve been talking, but wasn’t.”
    She turned towards him. Their eyes met for a moment, as though she didn’t know whether or not to go on. It was quiet. Only the distant rumble of traffic from the Strip. Erin smoked. Jimmy wanted to say more. He wanted to talk about Rancher. It was different, he knew. But pain is pain. He wondered if Erin was the person to talk to about him. No one else was. Jimmy turned to her—then heard a noise by the kitchen. The screen door swung open, and both waiters were back, each with a can of Tecate.
    Seconds later, Jimmy, with Erin just behind, came into the kitchen. The waiters looked over in a panic, but then held still, seeing they had no place to run. One was about twenty. The other was a couple of years younger.
    â€œOkay. Okay. I go with you,” the older one said.
    â€œHold on,” Jimmy said. “We’re not migra , we’re LAPD.”
    â€œIt’s about the man who was killed,” Erin said.
    â€œThe governor friend?”
    â€œClose enough,” Jimmy said. “You brought an order up to him the night he died, right?”
    â€œI no give it to him, sir.”
    â€œYou went to room 310?”
    â€œSi. But I no give it to him.”
    â€œYeah? Who’d you give it to?”
    â€œThe girl.”
    â€œGirl? What girl?” This was news.
    â€œShe took the tray. Gave me good tip.”
    â€œWhat did she look like?”
    â€œBrown hair. Long. She pretty.”
    â€œHow old was she?”
    â€œDunno, sir.”
    â€œTake a guess.”
    â€œSixteen—fifteen?”
    â€œHow tall?”
    â€œDunno. Not big. Not tiny.”
    â€œAnything else you can remember about her?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œHow about you,” Jimmy said to the other waiter, “You see her?”
    â€œNo, señor.”
    â€œSir, there was something,” the older waiter said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI do remember something about her. She was wearing two earrings in both ear.”
    Jimmy laughed. The waiter looked at him.
    â€œSeñor?”
    â€œNo. You just gave me a description which only fits two thousand girls in Hollywood.”
    â€œNo señor. She was muy pretty. No like every girl.”
    Jimmy looked at Erin. She gave him a shrug.
    â€œThanks, guys.” Jimmy and Erin went for the door. The waiters followed them. Jimmy stopped by the door and turned back around.
    â€œHelp you?”
    The waiters got it. They were happy. Jimmy had next to zero. On the other hand, all that garbage about working alone, it was just that—garbage. As they walked through the Chateau courtyard, Jimmy looked at Erin and thought, she was beautiful, she was sweet. He liked talking with her, and she had a heart the size of the Chateau. He wondered, if there was any chance? He had Dani, and things were okay there. And after what she had just been through, Erin was a definite no. Any chance?—no chance.

13
Casey
    C asey followed the boy from the alley up the narrow path