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“What’s this?” I whispered as we stepped over beside Agent Rothkopf
Rothkopf shook his head grimly
“LAPD Detective Division just received an e-mail with an attached video They think it’s from Perrine”
The screen focused, and then Perrine was there Sitting in a Dodger-blue leather chair, he earing disposable white Tyvek coveralls From chest to knees, the coveralls were splattered in blood
He must have been in one of the stadiuame consoles behind him, video monitors, bar stools Behind hier jerseys of Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda
The camera zoomed back a little, and beyond theof the suite, the packed stands could be seen There was a sudden loud, swelling, sizzling sound as fans stood in succession, doing the wave Perrine waited and then did it as well, rising out of his club chair with his hands raised before swiveling back for the camera
“Hey, LAPD, FBI, and all ht in La-La Land How are you doing this fine evening? As you can see, Ia blast here in your city”
Perrine smiled as he did a little drumroll on the ar himself
Fro It was a hot pretzel with mustard on it He looked it over and then carefully took it by the napkin before he took a bite
“I wanted to take this opportunity,” Perrine said, chewing, “to communicate with this task force that has been set up to find me Ask yourselves hones
tly, are you truly up for the job? You people have families, people who depend on you Hoill you be able to look out for theht and they have some—what is the term—assembly required?”
He took another bite, thu mustard off the corner of his mouth
“I always give people a chance to get out ofhis thu you to relieve yourselves of your present duty You should take this opportunity to transfer, retire, or, better yet, quit In fact, if I were you, I would leave Southern California with your families as soon as possible”
The two dozen of us standing there looked from the screen to each other with the same question etched in every face Say what?
“See, ladies and gentles, but it isn’t Why do you think hlywhat the cowardly Mexican governo, I ahtful owners, the Mexican people