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.�After closing my phone I decided to take a break before making another call.I thought about Lorna�s last question and realized I might be the one organizing the services she asked about.Unless an old woman in Detroit who had disowned Raul Levin twenty-five years ago stepped up to the plate.I pushed my glass to the edge of the bar gutter and said to the bartender, �Gimme a Guinness and give yourself one, too.�I decided it was time to slow down and one way was to drink Guinness, since it took so long to fill a glass out of the tap.When the bartender finally brought it to me I saw that he had etched a harp in the foam with the tap nozzle.An angel�s harp.I hoisted the glass before drinking from it.�God bless the dead,� I said.�God bless the dead,� the bartender said.I drank heavily from the glass and the thick ale was like mortar I was sending down to hold the bricks together inside.All at once I felt like crying.But then my phone rang.I grabbed it up without looking at the screen and said hello.The alcohol had bent my voice into an unrecognizable shape.�Is this Mick?� a voice asked.�Yeah, who�s this?��It�s Louis.I just heard the news about Raul.I�m so sorry, man.�I pulled the phone away from my ear as if it were a snake about to bite me.I pulled my arm back, ready to throw it at the mirror behind the bar, where I saw my own reflection.Then I stopped and brought it back.�Yeah, motherfucker, how did you ��I broke off and started laughing as I realized what I had just called him and what Raul Levin�s theory about Roulet had been.�Excuse me,� Roulet said.�Are you drinking?��You�re damn right I�m drinking,� I said.�How the fuck do you already know what happened to Mish?��If by Mish you mean Mr.Levin, I just got a call from the Glendale police.A detective said she wanted to speak to me about him.�That answer squeezed at least two of the vodkas right out of my liver.I straightened up on my stool.�Sobel? Is that who called?��Yeah, I think so.She said she got my name from you.She said it would be routine questions.She�s coming here.��Where?��The office.�I thought about it for a moment but didn�t think Sobel was in any kind of danger, even if she came without Lankford.Roulet wouldn�t try anything with a cop, especially in his own office.My greater concern was that somehow Sobel and Lankford were already onto Roulet and I would be robbed of my chance to personally avenge Raul Levin and Jesus Menendez.Had Roulet left a fingerprint behind? Had a neighbor seen him go into Levin�s house?�That�s all she said?��Yes.She said they were talking to all of his recent clients and I was the most recent.��Don�t talk to them.��You sure?��Not without your lawyer present.��Won�t they get suspicious if I don�t talk to them, like give them an alibi or something?��It doesn�t matter.They don�t talk to you unless I give my permission.And I�m not giving it.�I gripped my free hand into a fist.I couldn�t stand the idea of giving legal advice to the man I was sure had killed my friend that very morning.�Okay,� Roulet said.�I�ll send her on her way.��Where were you this morning?��Me? I was here at the office.Why?��Did anybody see you?��Well, Robin came in at ten.Not before that.�I pictured the woman with the hair cut like a scythe.I didn�t know what to tell Roulet because I didn�t know what the time of death was.I didn�t want to mention anything about the tracking bracelet he supposedly had on his ankle.�Call me after Detective Sobel leaves.And remember, no matter what she or her partner says to you, do not talk to them.They can lie to you as much as they want.And they all do.Consider anything they tell you to be a lie.They�re just trying to trick you into talking to them.If they tell you I said it was okay to talk, that is a lie.Pick up the phone and call me, I will tell them to get lost.��All right, Mick.That�s how I�ll play it.Thanks.�He ended the call.I closed my phone and dropped it on the bar like it was something dirty and discarded.�Yeah, don�t mention it,� I said.I drained a good quarter of my pint, then picked up the phone again.Using speed dial I called Fernando Valenzuela�s cell number.He was at home, having just gotten in from the Dodgers game.That meant that he had left early to beat the traffic.Typical L.A.fan.�Do you still have a tracking bracelet on Roulet?��Yeah, he�s got it.��How�s it work? Can you track where he�s been or only where he�s at?��It�s global positioning.It sends up a signal.You can track it backwards to tell where somebody�s been.��You got it there or is it at the office?��It�s on my laptop, man.What�s up?��I want to see where he�s been today.��Well, let me boot it up.Hold on.�I held on, finished my Guinness and had the bartender start filling another before Valenzuela had his laptop fired up.�Where�re you at, Mick?��Four Green Fields.��Anything wrong?��Yeah, something�s wrong.Do you have it up or what?��Yeah, I�m looking at it right here.How far back do you want to check?��Start at this morning.��Okay.He, uh.he hasn�t done much today.I track it from his home to his office at eight.Looks like he took a little trip nearby�a couple blocks, probably for lunch�and then back to the office.He�s still there.�I thought about this for a few moments.The bartender delivered my next pint.�Val, how do you get that thing off your ankle?��You mean if you were him? You don�t.You can�t.It bolts on and the little wrench you use is unique.It�s like a key.I got the only one.��You�re sure about that?��I�m sure.I got it right here on my key chain, man.��No copies�like from the manufacturer?��Not supposed to be.Besides, it doesn�t matter.If the ring is broken�like even if he did open it�I get an alarm on the system.It also has what�s called a �mass detector.� Once I put that baby around his ankle, I get an alarm on the computer the moment it reads that there is nothing there.That didn�t happen, Mick.So you are talking about a saw being the only way.Cut off the leg, leave the bracelet on the ankle.That�s the only way.�I drank the top off my new beer.The bartender hadn�t bothered with any artwork this time
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