Lost Light

didn’t seem to appreciate it.
    “Let’s start with the reason you called,” he said. “What are you up to?”
    I waited for a long moment, trying to work out how I should handle this. I wasn’t working for anybody other than myself. There was no confidentiality agreement. But I had always been resistant to bending over for the imperialist forces of the FBI. It had been part of the inbred LAPD culture. It wasn’t going to change now. I respected Lindell-like he said, we had been in the trenches together and I knew he ultimately would deal fairly with me. But the agency he worked for liked to play with a marked deck. I had to be careful. I had to remember that.
    “I told Nunez what I was doing when I called. I’m just checking out a case that I worked a few years back and that has always sort of stuck with me. There a problem with that?”
    “Who’s your client?”
    “I don’t have one. I got the private license right after I pulled the pin to keep my options open. But I started looking into this thing for myself.”
    He didn’t believe me. I could read it in his eyes.
    “But this movie caper thing wasn’t even your case.”
    “It was. For about four days. Then I got pulled. But I still remember the girl. The victim. I didn’t think anybody cared anymore so I started poking around.”
    “So who told you to call the bureau?”
    “Nobody.”
    “You just thought it up on your own.”
    “Not exactly. But you asked me who told me to call. Nobody told me to call. I did it all on my own, Roy. I learned about the call Gessler made to one of the detectives on the case. This was information that was new to me and I’m not sure it was ever followed up. It may have sort of fallen through the cracks. So I made a call to check it out. I didn’t have a name at the time. I talked to Nunez and here I am.”
    “How do you know that Gessler called one of the detectives on the case?”
    It seemed to me that the answer would be obvious. It also would mean nothing to Lawton Cross if I told Lindell about something that he freely had told me and that was probably part of the official investigative file.
    “I was told about your agent’s call by Lawton Cross. He was one of the Robbery-Homicide guys who took the case from me once it blew up big. He told me his partner, Jack Dorsey, was the one who got the call from your agent.”
    Lindell was writing the names down on a piece of paper he had pulled out of the file. I continued.
    “This was well into the case when Gessler called him up. Months. Cross and Dorsey weren’t even working it full-time at that point. And it didn’t sound like they were too impressed with whatever it was Gessler had to say.”
    “You talk to Dorsey about this?”
    “No, Roy. Dorsey’s dead. Killed in a robbery in a bar in Hollywood. Cross was hit, too. He’s in a wheelchair with tubes in his arms and up his nose.”
    “When was this?”
    “About three years ago. It was big news.”
    Lindell’s eyes showed his mind working. He was doing the math, checking dates. It reminded me that I had to put together a timeline for the case. It was getting too unwieldy.
    “What’s the prevailing theory on Gessler? Dead or alive?”
    Lindell looked down at the file on the table and shook his head.
    “I can’t answer that, Harry. You are not a cop, you have no standing. You’re just some guy who can’t let go of his badge and gun, out there running around like a loose cannon. I can’t bring you into this.”
    “Fine. Answer me one question then. And don’t worry. It won’t be giving anything away.”
    He shrugged his shoulders. His answer would depend on the question.
    “Was my call today the first connection you’ve come across between the movie money thing and Gessler?”
    Lindell shrugged again and it seemed he was surprised by the question. It was as if he had been expecting something a little tougher.
    “I’m not even saying there is a connection, you understand?” he said. “But yes, this is the first time this came up. And that’s exactly why I want you to back off and let us check it out. Just leave it to us, Harry.”
    “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. I think it was the FBI who said it to me, too.”
    Lindell nodded.
    “Don’t put us on a collision course. You’ll regret it.”
    Before I could come up with an answer he stood up. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a package of cigarettes and a yellow plastic lighter.
    “I’m going to go down and have a