"Crais, Robert - Elvis Cole 08 - L.A. Requiem 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Crais Robert)

"You heard of Frank Garcia?"

"The tortilla guy. Regular, large, and Monsterito sizes. I prefer the Monsterito myself." You could walk into any food store in Los Angeles and see Frank Garcia smiling at you from the packages of his tortillas, eyes bright, bushy black mustache, big smile.

Pike said, "Frank's a friend of mine and he's got a problem. I'm on my way there now. Can you meet me?"

Pike and I have owned a detective agency for twelve years, and I have known him even longer since his days as a Los Angeles police officer. He had never once asked a favor, or asked for my help on a personal problem in all of that time.

"I'm helping Lucy set up her house. I'm wearing shorts, and I've spent the morning wrestling a ten-thousand-pound couch."

Pike didn't answer.

"Joe?"

"Frank's daughter is missing, Elvis. She's a friend of mine, too. I hope you can make it." He gave an address in Hancock Park, then hung up without another word. Pike is like that, too.

I stayed out on the balcony and watched Lucy. She was moving from box to box as if she could no more decide what to unpack next than where to put the couch. She had been like that since she arrived from Louisiana, and it wasn't like her. We had had a long-distance relationship for two years, but now we had made a very real move to further that relationship, and she had carried the weight of it. She's the one who had left her friends. She's the one who had left her home. She was the one taking the risk.

I turned off the phone, went back inside, and waited for her to look at me.

"Hey."

She smiled, but seemed troubled.

I stroked her upper arms and smiled back. She has beautiful amber-green eyes.

"You okay?"

She looked embarrassed. "I'm fine."

"It's a big move. Big changes for both of us."

She glanced back at the boxes as if something might be hiding in them.

"It's going to work out, Luce."

She snuggled against me, and I could feel her smile. I didn't want to leave.

She said, "What did Joe want?"

"The daughter of a friend of his is missing. He wants me to help check it out."

Lucy looked up at me, her face now serious. "A child?"

"He didn't say. You mind if I go?"

She glanced at the couch again. "You'll do anything to avoid this couch, won't you?"

"Yeah. I hate that damned couch."