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Tony shook his head "You’re a remarkablein a re the el" Valdez He tapped it against his knee and looked at Tony and said, "I thinkplace this time"
"It sure looks that way," Tony said
Tucker slid forward on his chair "What was it you wanted?"
Tony told him about Bobby Valdez
"Well," Tucker said, "I don’t move in the circles I once did, but I’m not completely out of touch either I donate fifteen or twenty hours of my ti caot debts to pay, you know? A Self-Pride Volunteer spends about half his tiathering program, sort of like TIP You know about TIP?"
"Turn in Pushers," Tony said
"Right They have a nuhborhood drug dealers
Well, we don’t wait for people to call us at Self-Pride We canvas those neighborhoods where we know pushers work We go door to door, talk to parents and kids, pu they know
We build up dossiers on dealers until we feel we’ve really got the goods, then we turn the dossiers over to the LAPD So if this Valdez is dealing, there’s a chance I’ll know at least a little soree with Tony You are rather remarkable"
"Hey, look, I don’t deserve any pats on the back for ratulations In ht have done right if I hadn’t been there to steer the tih kids to balance the equation"
Frank took the photographs out of the envelope and gave them to Tucker
The black man looked at each of the three shots "I know the little bastard He’s one of about thirty guys we’re building files on right now"
Tony’s heartbeat accelerated a bit in anticipation of the chase to come
"Only he doesn’t use the name Valdez," Tucker said
"Juan Mazquezza?"
"Not that either I think he calls himself Ortiz"
"Do you knohere we can find him?"
Tucker stood up "Let ht have an address on him"
"Terrific," Frank said
Tucker started toward the kitchen to use the phone in there, stopped, looked back at theht take a fewat o into the study" He pointed to a set of double doors that opened off the living room
"Sure," Tony said "I’d like to see them"
He and Frank went into the study and found that it was even e expensive drawing table with its own la back stood in front of the table, and beside the stool there was an artist’s supply cabinet on wheels Near one of the s, a department store mannequin posed with head tilted coyly and shiny-sht cloth lay at its plastic feet There were no shelves or storage cabinets; stacks of sketches and drawing tablets and drafts one wall Obviously, Eugene Tucker was confident that eventually he would be able to furnish the entire townhouse with pieces as exquisite as those in the living rooardless of the inconvenience, he did not intend to waste money on cheap temporary furniture
Quintessential California optiht
Pencil sketches and a few full-color renditions of Tucker’s ere thumbtacked to one wall His dresses and two-piece suits and blouses were tailored yet flowing, feminine yet not frilly He had an excellent sense of color and a flair for the kind of detail that ns was clearly the work of a superior talent
Tony still found it so hard-bitten blackBut then he realized that his own dichoto the day, he was a homicide detective, desensitized and hardened by all of the violence he saw, but at night, he was an artist, hunched over a canvas in his apart In a curious way, he and Eugene were brothers under the skin
Just as Tony and Frank were looking at the last of the sketches, Tucker returned from the kitchen
"Well, what do you think?"
"Wonderful," Tony said "You’ve got a terrific feeling for color and line"
"You’re really good," Frank said
"I know," Tucker said, and he laughed
"Does Self-Pride have a file on Valdez?" Tony asked
"Yes But he calls hiht Jiather, he deals strictly in PCP I know I’er at other peoplebut so far as I’m concerned, a PCP dealer is the lowest kind of bastard in the drug trade I mean, PCP is poison It rots the brain cells faster than anything else We don’t have enough information in our file to turn it over to the police, but we’re working on it"
"Address?" Tony asked
Tucker handed him a slip of paper on which the address had been noted in neat handwriting "It’s a fancy apartment complex one block south of Sunset, just a couple of blocks fro from what you’ve told me about him," Tucker said, "and from e’ve learned about hiuy isn’t the kind who’s ever going to knuckle down and rehabilitate hi ti to try," Frank said
Tucker accompanied them to the front door, then outside, where the patio deck in front of the townhouse offered a wide view of Los Angeles in the basin below "Isn’t it gorgeous?" Tucker asked "Isn’t it so, beautiful city," Tucker said with pride and affection, as if he had created the alopolis himself "You know, I just heard that the bureaucrats back in Washington made a study of mass transit possibilities for LA They were determined to ram some system or other down our throats, but they were stunned to find out it would cost at least one hundred billion dollars to build a rapid transit railway network that would handle only ten or twelve percent of the daily commuter crush They still don’t understand how vast the West is" He was rhapsodizing now, his broad face alight with pleasure, his strong hands tossing off one gesture after another "They don’t realize that theof L A is space--space and mobility and freedom This is a city with elbow rooical elbow roo you want to be Here, you can take your future out of the hands of other people and shape it yourself It’s fantastic I love it God, I love it!"
Tony was so i for the city that he revealed his own secret drea with my art I paint"
"Then why are you a cop?" Tucker asked
"It’s a steady paycheck"
"Screw steady paychecks"
"I’ood artist?"
"Pretty good, I think"
"Then take the leap," Tucker said "Man, you are living on the edge of the Western world, on the edge of possibility Jump Jump off It’s one hell of a thrill, and it’s so damned far to the botto hard or sharp In fact, you’ll probably find exactly the sa down at all You’ll feel like you’re falling up!"
Tony and Frank followed the brick wall to the driveway, past a jade-plant hedge that had thick juicy leaves The une date paler’s side, Tucker called to him from the patio deck, "Jump!
Just jump off and fly!"
"He’s some character," Frank said as he drove away fro what it felt like to fly
As they headed for the address that Tucker had given them, Frank talked a little about the black ene Tucker’s advice, Tony gave his partner only half his attention Frank didn’t notice that Tony was distracted When he was talking about Janet Yamada, he really didn’t attempt to carry on a conversation; he delivered a soliloquy
Fifteen minutes later, they found the aparte was underground, guarded by an iron gate that opened only to an electronic signal, so they couldn’t see if there was a black Jaguar on the premises
The aparts, with open staircases and ays The co pool and a lot of lush greenery There was also a whirlpool spa Two girls in bikinis and a hairy youngaat one another’s banter as tendrils of steam writhed up froe of the Jacuzzi and asked theirls said, "Is he that cute little guy with the mustache?"
"Baby face," Tony said
"That’s him," she said
"Does he have a uy," she said "This one drives a terrific Jag"