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Tony looked away frohts of the cars in front of them and studied his partner’s face Frank wasn’t aware of Tony’s scrutiny His attention was focused on his driving; he peered intently at the quicksilver flow of traffic on Wilshire Boulevard The green glow frohted his bold features He was not handso in his oay Broad brow Deeply-set blue eyes The nose a bit large and sharp The ri jawline The face unquestionably contained power and appeal--and le- ho into a trance that lasted fro
In addition to their willingness to work extended hours, Tony and Frank had a few other things in coh many plainclothes detectives had tossed out the old dress code and now reported for duty in everything from jeans to leisure suits, Tony and Frank still believed in wearing traditional suits and ties They thought of the a job that required special skills and education, a job as vital and de as that of any trial attorney or teacher or social worker--, in fact--and jeans sie Neither of them smoked Neither of them drank on the job And neither of them attempted to foist his paperwork on the other
So ht Maybe in time I can quietly convince him to use et him interested in films and food, if not in books and art and theater The reason I’ to hih But Jesus, if only he’d talk a littlethere like a lump!
For the rest of his career as a horeat deal of anyone who rode with him because, for five years, until last May 7, he had worked with a nearly perfect partner, Michael Savatino He and Michael were both from Italian families; they shared certain ethnic memories, pains, and pleasures More important than that, they employed similar methods in their police work, and they enjoyed many of the same extracurricular activities Michael was an avid reader, a film buff, and an excellent cook Their days had been punctuated by fascinating conversations
Last February, Michael and his wife, Paula, had gone to Las Vegas for a weekend They sao shows They ate dinner twice at Battista’s Hole in the Wall, the best restaurant in town They filled out a dozen Keno cards and won nothing They played two-dollar blackjack and lost sixty bucks And one hour before their scheduled departure, Paula put a silver dollar in a slot ressive jackpot, pulled the handle, and won slightly more than two hundred and twenty thousand dollars
Police work never had been Michael’s first choice for a career But like Tony, he was a seeker of security He attended the police academy and climbed relatively quickly from uniformed patrolman to detective because public service offered at least ave the department a sixty-day notice, and in May he quit All of his adult life, he had wanted to own a restaurant Five weeks ago, he opened Savatino’s, a small but authentic Italian ristorante on Santa Monica Boulevard, not far from the Century City complex
A dream come true
How likely is it that I could make my dreaht city through which they as, o hundred thousand bucks, quit the police force, and take a shot atit as an artist?
He did not have to ask the question aloud He didn’t need Frank Howard’s opinion He knew the answer How likely was it? Not very da he was the long-lost son of a rich Arabian prince
As Michael Savatino had always drea a restaurateur, so Tony Cle as an artist He had talent He produced fine pieces in a variety of media: pen and ink, watercolor, oil He was not merely technically skilled; he had a sharp and unique creative iination as well Perhaps if he had been born into a middle-class faone to a good school, would have received the proper training froiven abilities, and would have become tremendously successful Instead, he had educated hih thousands of hours of painstaking drawing practice and experimentation with materials And he suffered from that pernicious lack of self-confidence so coh he had entered four art shows and had ton top prize in his division, he never seriously considered quitting his job and plunging into the creative life That was nothing ht daydream No son of Carlo Clemenza would ever forsake a weekly paycheck for the dread uncertainties of self-eas
He was jealous of Michael Savatino’s good fortune Of course, they were still close friends, and he was genuinely happy for Michael Delighted Really But also jealous He was human, after all, and in the back of hisoff and on, off and on, like a neon sign: Why couldn’t it have beenTony out of his reverie, Frank blew the horn at a Corvette that cut him off in traffic "Asshole!"
"Easy, Frank"
"So out citations"
"That’s the last thing you wish"
"I’d nail his ass"
"Except s or maybe just plain crazy When you work the traffic detail too long, you tend to forget the world’s full of nuts You fall into a habit, a routine, and you get careless So maybe you’d stop him and walk up to his door with your ticket book in hand, and he’d greet you with a gun Maybe he’d blow your head off No I’m thankful traffic detail’s behind n to have to deal with You never forget there’s going to be soun or a knife or a piece of lead pipe up ahead somewhere You’re a lot less likely to walk into a nasty little surprise when you’re working homicide"
Frank refused to be drawn into another discussion He kept his eyes on the road, grumbled sullenly, wordlessly, and settled back into silence
Tony sighed He stared at the passing scenery with an artist’s eye for unexpected detail and previously unnoticed beauty
Patterns
Every scene--every seascape, every landscape, every street, every building, every roo--had its own special patterns If you could perceive the patterns in a scene, you could then look beyond the patterns to the underlying structure that supported therasp the method by which a surface harmony had been achieved, you eventually could understand the deepest ood painting of it If you picked up your brushes and approached the canvas without first perforht wind up with a pretty picture, but you would not produce a work of art
Patterns
As Frank Howard drove east on Wilshire, on the way to the Hollywood singles’ bar called The Big Quake, Tony searched for patterns in the city and the night At first, co in from Santa Monica, there were the sharp low lines of the sea-facing houses and the shadowy outlines of tall feathery palms--patterns of serenity and civility and more than a little money As they entered Westwood, the dohrises, oblong patches of light radiating fros These neatly ordered rectangular shapes forht and corporate power, patterns of even greater wealth than had been evident in Santa Monica’s seaside homes From Westwood they went to Beverly Hills, an insulated pocket within the greater fabric of the eles police could pass but in which they had no authority In Beverly Hills, the patterns were soft and lush and flowing in a graceful continuureenery, exclusive shops, and more ultra-expensive automobiles than you could find anywhere else on earth
From Wilshire Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard to Doheny, the pattern was one of ever-increasing wealth
They turned north on Doheny, crawled up the steep hills, and swung right onto Sunset Boulevard, heading for the heart of Hollywood For a couple of blocks, the famous street delivered a little bit on the proht stood Scandia, one of the best and ant restaurants in town, and one of the half dozen best in the entire country Glittering discos A nightclub specializing in e hypnotist
Coe flashy billboards advertising current filhts and hts Initially, the boulevard supported the university studies and governeles and its suburbs formed the richest metropolitan area in the nation, perhaps the richest in the world But after a while, as Frank continued to drive eastward, the blush of glamor faded Even LA suffered froinally but unmistakably cancerous In the healthy flesh of the city, a few rowths swelled here and there: cheap bars, a striptease club, a shuttered service station, brassy s desperately in need of renovation, more of thehborhood, as it was in others nearby, but every day it gobbled up a few more bites of healthy tissue Frank and Tony did not have to descend into the scabrous heart of the tuht The bar appeared suddenly in a blaze of red and blue lights on the righthand side of the street