Intimate Relations, Rebecca Forster [best ereader for manga .txt] 📗

were not bee-stung. Instead they bore a strange resemblance to a catfish Cori had hooked in the river near her house as a kid. She set it aside all the while wondering if there wasn't a market for discounted companions. Say a guy couldn't afford a perfect one. He got a discard, put a bag over its head, and he was good to go.

It was in the third quadrant that she found a plastic grocery bag, the handles tightly knotted. It was light when she picked it up, and soft to the touch. It didn't smell like garbage. It didn't feel like garbage. Cori started to work the knot.

All the while her young friend talked about painting, videos, pigs and cops, more painting, and the weather. Just as the pierced girl predicted a wet winter, Cori opened the bag. She reached inside, and with two fingers pulled out a piece of fabric. It was damp as if it had been washed. Cori held it up, noting the dark spots on the garment. If those dark spots were the victim's blood, that would be so fine. Tying the bag handles again, Cori was satisfied that there was nothing else to find. She climbed out of the dumpster, happy to be back on the ground.

"Found something, huh?" The girl seemed excited.

"You never know."

 Cori looked up into the sky. The day was getting on. She was dirty, tired, and satisfied.  She was also grateful to the girl who had led her here.

"What's your name?" Cori asked.

"Pedal," the girl said.

"Like a flower?" Cori asked.

No." She laughed. "Like to the metal. My mom says I popped out ready to run. Want a drink?"

"Thanks a bunch, but I need to get back to the office."

"Okay. I'm in 601 if you change your mind." She started away only to turn around and walk backwards. "Not just today. I mean whenever. We're always in and out of each other's places. We  love each other. That's the way around here."

Cori watched Pedal skip away, and then started for her car. She  could do without the friends around here since it seemed there might be one who could just love you to death.

Giving her hair a shake, hoping she didn't smell too bad but knowing she did, Cori had a revelation. Dumpster diving was an art in this place. Video was a way of life. Sharing was a matter of course. Put all that together and there might be something more to find. Whatever the 'something' was, it could have migrated from the crime scene. Someone might have picked it out of the dumpster. They could have passed it on to someone else who turned 'it' into an art project. In this place anything was possible. Cori paused. She started to walk, pondering, wondering what she might have missed and what someone else might have seen.

A couple of yards away from where she stood was a cluster of small units.  She wouldn't have noticed them had Pedal not shown her the private dumpster. Outside one of those units, lined up like bowling pins, were small statues. Cori ambled over, put her hands on her knees, and took a closer look. They were modern and not particularly well formed. Some had been glazed and others just fired. One caught her notice. It was a sweep of clay that looked like a lady wearing a mantel. Kind of like a madonna if you used your imagination. Cori thought it was beautiful. She also decided she would come back with Amber and Tucker when this was all over. She might even invite Lapinski. They'd make a day of it. Just as she was about to leave, the door of the unit opened.

"You can take one. They're free."

Cori squinted. The person who was talking to her was standing in the shadows and she was in the bright sun. When she focused, the first thing she saw was a young man. He was both beautiful and handsome. His hair was black and curly, his skin pale as parchment. His dark eyes were friendly behind wire-rim glasses. His clothes had seen better days, but he wore them well. He could have been middle eastern or Spanish; Indian or all American.  He was also young enough to be her kid.

"Thanks for the offer. I might come back and check out your stuff when I'm not working."

"No problem," he said and gave her the once over. "You look like you've had a hard day."

Cori couldn't argue with that. She was a mess. She raised her hands.

"Would you mind if I washed up. I'm going to stick to the steering wheel if I drive with all this gunk on my hands."

"Sure, come on in."

The young man held the door wide. Cori took a step up only to hesitate. Before she went through the door, she took notice of the second thing.

"Does that work?" She pointed at the Ring doorbell.

"Sometimes. Mostly it plays this little song whenever anyone passes by. It drives me nuts."

"Do tell," Cori said as she swept into his living room. Before he closed the door, she said. "LAPD, and I'd like to take a look at your phone."

Finn was twelve minutes early to his appointment with Ali Keyes so he grabbed a cup of coffee and waited it out. When ten minutes had come and gone, he walked the block and a half to a very fancy high rise on the Wilshire Corridor. He announced himself to the doorman, who announced his arrival to someone in the penthouse.

The elevator that took Finn up to the fifteenth floor was mirrored. He found it difficult to look at so many of himself, so he looked at his boots instead. When the door opened, he had taken the first step to exit the elevator only to stop and press the button that would keep the door from closing until he understood the situation.

Standing in front of him were two children. A boy and a girl.