"I walked into a door?"
"Yeah, right. Looks to me like that door worked you over pretty fuckin’ good, Simmons."
I didn’t see any point in commenting, so I didn’t. Richards was an idiot anyway. Finally Kirk came in and slammed the door behind him. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He stopped in his tracks when he saw me. "Shit, what happened to your face? No wait. Let me guess, you cut yourself shaving."
"No, he walked into a door." Richards laughed.
"Had to be one or the other." Kirk said, and took a seat next to me. "Anyway, Nick, I had you brought down here to see if you found out anything more about Jake Rollins."
"Why do you want to know, Kirk? What do you care about my missing persons case?"
"Because your missing persons case may be tied to several drug cases and a murder."
"I know about the drugs. What murder are you talking about?"
"Pamela Hendricks," Kirk said.
"Wasn’t that one of the people who you told me died of this mysterious drug overdose?"
"That was our first impression." Richards chimed in.
"Why are you calling it murder now?"
"Nick, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re the police. That means we investigate." I guess Kirk was trying to be funny, but he wasn’t successful. "That investigation has led us to come to a different conclusion."
"What brought you to that conclusion?"
"As near as we can tell, this Hendricks woman didn’t use drugs." Kirk asserted. "There were signs of a struggle in the general area where the body was found. So, I’ll ask you again, what have you found out about Rollins?"
"Nothing really. I’ve been working on another case. The more I talk to you guys, the more I’m convinced that I don’t want any parts of this. As a matter of fact, just last night, I told my client that I don’t think Jake wants to be found."
"You can say that." Richards laughed, and Kirk shot him a look. The more he talked the more the sound of his voice annoyed the shit out of me. Maybe Kirk felt the same way. "Your client thinks her husband, Chilly, is involved, doesn’t she?"
"I’m not at liberty to say."
Richards jumped out of his seat. "You’re startin’ to piss me off with that privilege shit, Simmons."
"So."
Kirk looked at him and shook his head. "Sit down, Richards."
"Like I said, Kirk, that’s all I know."
"What about Felicia Hardy?" Kirk asked.
"That’s the roommate, ain’t it? Wasn’t she a cop?"
"Yeah, you talk to her?"
"No."
"What were you doing in California?"
"I told you, I have another case. Why, is she in Cali?"
"We think so," Kirk said. "Her and the Hendricks woman grew up there. I think maybe she went back there."
"Hmm. Sorry I can’t be any more help to you, Kirk. But like I said, I backed off of this."