The Gentlemen's Hour

123

“Fuck you,”

Johnny says.

Boone’s not too surprised—he knows that Johnny’s royally pissed about the Blasingame case and probably shouldn’t even be talking to him outside the office about the Schering murder. “Johnny, I—”

“Save it, friend,” Johnny says. “

I hear you put me square into Burke’s sights for the Blasingame trial. It’s going to be about me now? Just for the record, Boone,

friend, in case you guys are planning to turn me into Mark Furman, I’ve never used the word ‘cracker’ or ‘whitey’ in my life. Late.”

“Don’t,” Boone says. “I have a break in the Schering murder.”

“Bring it to the house.”

“Can’t.”

“Of course not.”

“Johnny, this will make the case for you.”

“On Nichols?”

“No.”

“’Bye, Boone.”

The line goes dead. He walks back over to Nicole.

“Is your cop friend going to meet us?” she asks him.

“Not yet,” Boone says. “You hungry?”

“I could eat.”

He walks her over to Jeff’s Burgers.

They’ve spruced the tiny place up a little bit. Its two long narrow rooms have a fresh coat of white paint and murals of the Coronado Bridge with little sailboats gliding underneath. Nicole stands at the counter and looks up at the menu printed on the board above.

“What’s good?” she asks.

“At Jeff’s Burgers?”

“Well, yes.”

“A Jeff’s Burger,” he says.

She asks for a Jeff’s with everything, fries, and a chocolate shake. Boone doubles the order, then they go sit in a booth. The food is ready in a couple of minutes, and she digs into it like it might be her last meal.

“S’good,” she says.

“Stick with me,” Boone answers. “I know all the good places.”

She keeps wolfing it down. Doesn’t say a word until she’s finished the whole thing and then says to him, “Okay.”

“Okay, you’re done?”

“Okay, I trust you.”

“Because of a burger?”

She nods and tells him that’s pretty much it. If he was a slime bucket on Bill’s payroll he would have taken her to the nearby Marine Room, bought her an expensive meal, and plied her with wine. Only a genuine surf bum chump would be dumb enough to take her to Jeff’s Burgers.

Well, Boone thinks, you work with what you got.