Everything else was going to hell, so I said, “Why not?”
To celebrate our new independence we took the bags of chips and jars of salsa into the office. We opened one bag and one jar and ate them while we talked. Both of us had a mouthful when the phone rang.
I pushed the speaker button so we could both hear and said around the food, “Heawoe.”
“Baca, is that you?” It was Sergeant Vick Best.
I chewed faster and swallowed, “Hello, Vick. How you doing?”
He was silent a moment before saying, “You eating something? Say, those better not be my chips!”
“Vick, it’s nine o’clock in the morning. What in the world would we be doing eating your chips at this time of day? I mean, jeez, think about it.” Hondo scooped what looked like a half-cup of salsa on one chip and raised it to his mouth.
Vick said, “Hondo, you’d tell me if Ronny was eating my chips, right?”
Hondo stopped the chip an inch from his mouth and said, “I’m looking at him right now, and there’s not a thing in his mouth.” He opened wide, put the chip in his mouth and smiled as he chewed.
“All right then. What I called for, the crime scene team finished up at Landman’s Malibu home. Now, I know you two said you weren’t there and I’m not gonna push it, but I thought you might want to know what we found.”
I sat a little straighter, “Yeah, Vick, we would.”
Vick said, “There were blood types from three people, so it was quite a fight. We also found the top part of an ear that had been bitten off.”
“Is Mike Tyson a suspect?”
“Very funny. The ear was from a white guy. We also found some long hair that had been pulled out of someone’s head.”
“The roots come with it?”
“Yeah, male, O positive.”
“The ear and the hair from the same guy?”
“Nope, two different people.”
“What color was it?”
“What, the hair?”
“Yeah.”
“Blond.”
“Blond-blonde, or some other kind of blond?”
“If you know something, Baca, you’d better tell me.”
“I just want to help, Officer Vick. If I run into some blonde with a chunk of hair missing, I want to be clear on whether to call you or not.”
“It’s sort of dishwater blond, like that. Hell, I’m not a beautician.” We could hear somebody in the background talking to him. He said, “I have to go. There’s another meeting with the press. Got the Mayor and the Governor both here with me on this one.”
“Your right profile’s your best. It’s very Clint Eastwood. Keep it toward the camera.”
“Yeah, funny guy. Just you and Hondo be careful. We’ve got two missing persons now, and lots of blood around. I don’t want you going into anything with your eyes closed.”
“Thanks, Vick.”
“Get me my chips.”