Stranger in Paradise

27.

Jesse invited Nina Pinero to lunch.

“In Marshport?” she said. “You don’t eat lunch in Marshport. I’ll come to you.”

They met at the Gray Gull. The weather was pleasant, so they sat outside on the little balcony over the water.

“Want a drink?” Jesse said when they were seated.

“No, if I do I’ll have to go take a nap, and I haven’t got time.”

Jesse nodded.

“You have one if you want,” Nina said.

“No,” Jesse said. “I haven’t got time, either.”

They ordered iced tea. Nina looked out over the harbor. Across the water, the Paradise Yacht Club was visible.

“Long way from Marshport,” she said.

“Pretty far from L.A., too,” Jesse said.

“That where you’re from?”

“It’s where I worked before I came here,” Jesse said.

“Cop?”

“Yes.”

“Why’d you leave?” Nina said.

“They fired me for drinking.”

“Ah,” Nina said. “Another good reason not to drink at lunch.”

Jesse nodded.

“What do you know about Latino gangs in Marshport,” Jesse said.

“A lot. It’s part of my job.”

“What exactly is your job?” Jesse said.

“Do-gooder,” she said. “Like you.”

“I just do this for the perks,” Jesse said.

“Perks?”

“Yeah, I can park where I want and I get to carry a gun.”

Nina smiled.

“That’s why you rode the bus with the kids and walked them into school,” she said.

“Did you see my gun?” Jesse said.

Nina laughed this time.

“Okay, what do you want to know about the gangs?” she said.

“Just one,” Jesse said. “Horn Street.”

“Oh, my,” Nina said. “The Horn Street Boys. That’s Esteban Carty.”

“Tell me about them.”

“Twelve, fifteen kids, hang out in an abandoned garage down at the end of Horn Street. Actually, small world, one of them has a little brother at the Crowne estate project. Esteban is the, I don’t know what to call him exactly, the driving force in the gang, I guess. His enforcer is a man name Puerco. Pig or Hog in English, and the name tells you mostly what you need to know. He is a fearsome psychopath. Even the cops are afraid of Puerco.”

Jesse smiled.

“What?” Nina said.

“They don’t have to be scared of him anymore,” Jesse said.

“Something happened to Puerco?”

“He got killed a few days ago,” Jesse said.

“Puerco?”

“Yep.”

“God,” Nina said, “I’d like to see the man who could kill Puerco.”

“Anybody can kill anybody,” Jesse said. “It’s just a matter of what you’re willing to do.”

“You ever kill anyone?” Nina said.

“Yes.”

They were quiet for a moment.

Then Nina said, “Esteban Carty has been on his own since he was little. I don’t know what he had for family. Maybe none, ever. He’s like a feral child grown up.”

“So he’s probably not bound by societal convention,” Jesse said.

“Oh, God, no,” Nina said. “That’s what the gang is for.”

“Any thoughts on what kind of boyfriend he’d make for a fourteen-year-old girl?” Jesse said.

She shook her head.

“Outside my purview,” she said. “I’m neither a shrink nor a fourteen-year-old girl.”

“But you’re female and you know something about Esteban,” Jesse said. “Puts you two up on me.”

“I believe that one of the rules of the Horn Street Boys is that girlfriends have sex with everyone in the gang,” Nina said. “All for one and one for all.”

“Great for building camaraderie,” Jesse said.