As they made their way down the hall, Amy walked toward him across the living room. "What's going on?" she asked, her gaze going to Brodie.

"Ty Brodie, meet Amy Brewer."

"Hi, Amy."

"Hi, Ty."

"Listen, baby, I've got an errand to run."

"What kind of errand?"

"Just a guy I need to talk to." He turned to Brodie. "Okay if we take your truck?"

Ty shrugged. "Sure."

Amy's eyes widened when Johnnie tossed her his car keys. "You've been wanting to go see Mrs. Zimmer, visit little Jimmy."

"You're letting me use your Mustang?"

"I figure you can make it that far without wrecking it."

Amy closed the distance between him and threw her arms around his neck, gave him a smacking kiss on the mouth. Her big blue eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'll show you how grateful I am when I get home," she whispered in his ear.

h.e.l.l, even if she demolished the d.a.m.n car it would be worth it.

"Stay out of trouble," he said gruffly, trying not to think of the last time he'd said that and how she had gone to the village and started asking dangerous questions.

"I will, I promise."

Johnnie just grunted. All of them walked outside. Johnnie started toward the pa.s.senger side of Ty's snazzy little red Toyota pickup, a Texan's idea of a city car, but stopped before he got there.

He turned to look at Amy, his mind filling with worry. "I changed my mind," he said, suddenly recalling Wes Henley's gun barrel pointed at her head. "There's always a chance whoever's behind this might try to use you to get to Rachael."

"I'll be fine," Amy argued, clutching the keys against her breast as if they were solid gold.

Johnnie turned to Ty. "I'm just gonna ask Talbot some questions. You stay here with Amy."

Amy's pale eyebrows shot up. "Wait a minute-"

"I want you safe," Johnnie said. "I don't want to leave you alone."

Amy tossed him the keys, turned and stormed back into the house. Ty eyed him strangely. "Dev said you really liked her. Said his wife liked her, too. Looks to me like you're in love with her."

Johnnie just shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It wouldn't work out. Amy's smart enough to know that."

"Sometimes smart isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Johnnie couldn't think of anything to say so he just kept his mouth shut.

"I've got an idea," Ty said. "Why don't I take Amy over to visit her friend?"

"That'd be great. Make her happy and keep her busy till I get back."

"Hey, Amy!" Ty called out to her. "Come on, we'll go see that friend of yours." He winked at Johnnie. "I'll even let you drive my truck."

Amy raced back outside, her gaze shooting to Brodie's hot little pickup. "You mean it?"

"Johnnie trusts you to drive his Mustang." Ty tossed her his keys. "I guess I can trust you with my truck."

"I'll let you drive another time," Johnnie grumbled, not liking the way she was smiling at Ty.

Amy nailed him with a look. "I'm gonna hold you to that."

Johnnie turned and started walking. He had almost reached his car when he heard feminine footsteps racing up behind him. When he turned, Amy threw herself into his arms.

"Be careful, okay?"

"I'm always careful," he said a little gruffly, and kissed her quick and hard. Then she was running back to the pickup, holding up the keys and jiggling them in the air.

Johnnie watched her drive away, trusting Ty to take care of her. As the truck disappeared, he forced his mind away from Amy and focused on finding the man who wanted her sister dead.

On a street above Franklin, d.i.c.kie Talbot's duplex apartment was built into the side of a hill overlooking the city of Glendale. It was only noon on a workday, but a bright yellow Stingray sat in front of the single car garage attached to d.i.c.kie's unit.

As Johnnie climbed out of his Mustang, he noticed a brown, unmarked police car parked on the opposite side of the street a little ways down the block. Looked like the cops were there. He'd only made it halfway to the door when a series of gunshots shattered the quiet and sent him into action.

Johnnie yanked the pistol out of his shoulder holster and cautiously made his way toward the apartment. A guy in a brown suit, young and blond, ran around the corner of the house.

"Police officer!" he shouted, his gun pointed at Johnnie's chest. "Put down your weapon!"

Johnnie raised his hands, his Beretta dangling from his fingers. "John Riggs. I'm a P.I." Very slowly, he bent and rested his pistol on the sidewalk, straightened and lifted his hands into the air. "Your partner might need help. Let me get my ID."

The young detective kept his gun pointed straight at him, but his gaze swung toward the house. "Kick the pistol away and get down on the ground."

Johnnie used the toe of his boot to slide his weapon out of reach. "Just let me get my ID and you can go help him."

The kid glanced anxiously toward the door. "Go ahead."

Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, Johnnie eased his identification out of his pocket and flipped it open.

The young cop breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks okay. I gotta go."

"I'll go round back," Johnnie said as the kid turned and ran to the door. Retrieving his pistol, Johnnie took off toward the back of the duplex, but before he reached the side yard, Mitch Lansky, Vega's partner, walked out of the house. He looked even thinner than the last time Johnnie had seen him and the little fringe of gray around his bald head did nothing to improve his skeletal appearance.

Johnnie holstered his weapon. "What's going on, Lansky?"

"Talbot was a suspect in a homicide. He resisted when I tried to bring him in for questioning, pulled a gun on me. I didn't have any choice."

"Tell me he's not dead."

"'Fraid so."

Johnnie clamped down on his temper, but not quite enough. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it."

Lansky's young partner came out of the house and walked toward them, relaxed now that the incident was over. "Gun is still in his hand. Won't be any doubt it was a righteous shooting."

"Riggs, this is Detective Brian Mears," Lansky said.

"We met," the kid said.

"Why didn't you go in with Lansky?" Johnnie asked, trying to put the pieces together and when he did, not liking what he saw.

"Mitch sent me round back. I planned to come in from the rear, but then I spotted you coming up the walk."

On the surface that made sense. Not much else did. "You need me to make a statement?" Johnnie asked the older detective.

"Not at the moment. I've called it in. Uniforms will be here any minute. If we need you, I know where to find you."

"Mears filling in for Vega?" he asked because it was obvious the young detective was as green as gra.s.s.

"That's right. Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know why the h.e.l.l d.i.c.kie Talbot wanted Rachael Brewer dead."

"That's what we came to find out. Looks like it's a moot point now."

"Yeah," Johnnie said darkly. "Just like everything else."

Thirty-Three.

The m.u.f.fled sound of a cell phone ringing drew Dan's attention. He grabbed his laptop case off the floor and set it on his desk, unzipped the side pouch and dug out the disposable phone.

He was expecting this call.

He pressed the phone against his ear. "Give me some good news."

"The good news is the secondary problem is resolved. They can't get to you through Talbot."

"I never had any connection to Talbot."

"No, but I did, and if I go down, you're going with me."

Beads of perspiration popped out on Dan's forehead.

"We need to get rid of the girl," said the voice on the other end of the line. "So far, everything that's happened to her points to Ortega. They'll think his people wanted to keep her quiet. Once she's out of the way, we're in the clear."

"How do you figure?" Dan asked. "Talbot has no connection to Ortega and he's the one who hired Henley."

"Talbot's a lowlife. He was shot resisting arrest. And it was only speculation that he had anything to do with the attempt on Rachael's life."

"What about Henley?"

"Henley dealt drugs. He could have been one of Ortega's underlings. We just need the girl out of the way."

"Where is she?"

"DEA has her stashed someplace safe."

"Then how do we get to her?"

"That's the good news. Like everybody else, the agency hasn't got much money. They won't be able to protect her for long. At least not unless her memory returns."

"So we just sit around and hope it doesn't?" Dan didn't like where this was going.

"Unless you can figure some other way to get to her."

Dan's stomach churned. Could he use his position to find the girl without raising suspicion he was somehow involved?

"Think about it. Either way, with any luck it'll only be a couple more days until our problems are over."

Dan's jaw tightened. "You'd better hope so. That warning you gave me goes both ways."

The caller hung up the phone.

Amy sat in the kitchen of Mrs. Zimmer's cozy little Culver City home, Ty seated across from her. Since Amy couldn't tell Mrs. Zimmer about Rachael's safe return, "Angel" had offered to take little Jimmy to the Baskin-Robbins a few blocks away.

"Jimmy likes to go just about anywhere," the gray-haired woman said. "It doesn't seem to matter. He just loves riding in the car."

Ty grinned. "He's not the only one." He tipped his head toward Amy, who just smiled.

Mrs. Zimmer's lips twitched. After introductions had been made, she had brewed a fresh pot of coffee and poured each of them a cup. "I'll get Jimmy ready to go." She reached down and took hold of the little boy's hand. "You'll find some chocolate-chip cookies in the jar. Help yourself."

Amy brought Ty a couple and he finished one of them off in a couple of bites. "Man, I'm likin' this job better all the time." He polished off the second cookie in record time and drained his coffee mug.

Amy walked over and set their empty mugs in the sink. "Jimmy's really excited about going to the ice-cream shop. You don't mind taking us?"

"I like kids. Not a problem."

A few minutes later, Mrs. Zimmer led Jimmy back into the living room. Dressed in clean blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt with a hot rod on the front, he dashed across the room toward Amy.

She caught hold of his small hand. "Are you ready?"

Jimmy grinned and vigorously nodded.