Blood Flag: A Paul Madriani Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

response code,” she says. “You’re going to have to learn to do tickets. Otherwise you’re gonna spend your life watching chick flicks.”
    I look up at her. She winks at me. Twenty-something going on forty. The young men she is dating don’t have a chance. In terms of maturity, she has twenty years on them, all wrapped up in a package the maker designed for male seduction. Nature’s most efficient lure.
    “I don’t mind,” I tell her. “Romantic comedy is my speed.”
    “My kind of date.” She smiles. “The guys I used to go out with were into heavy action.”
    The way she talks about her dates, in the past tense, makes me wonder if she’s joined a convent.
    “All that fast action on screen gives me motion sickness,” I tell her.
    “It wasn’t the action on screen I was worried about. It was their hands I had to watch,” she says.
    It seems we’re talking at cross-purposes. The age-old conflict between men and women, that blurring boundary line between lust and love.
    “You should try streaming some movies on your iPad,” she tells me.
    “I don’t have an iPad.”
    “Why not?”
    My door starts to open.
    “I wouldn’t know how to use it.”
    “Tell Joselyn to buy you one. I’ll set it up, show you how.”
    “She has one,” I tell her.
    “What do I have?” Joselyn breezes through the door and closes it behind her.
    “An iPad,” I say.
    “Then she can show you how to use it,” says Sofia.
    “Yeah, I love it.” Joselyn crosses the room and gives me a kiss. “What are you two up to? If I didn’t know better, I’d be jealous.”
    “I have to go pick up a dog.”
    “Are you getting a dog?” asks Joselyn.
    “It’s a long story,” I tell her. I look at my watch. It’s almost five. Joselyn and I have dinner reservations at six.
    Sofia shouts: “Damn it!” Her hand goes to her mouth as she sucks the tip of her finger.
    “What’s the matter?” Joselyn turns.
    “Broke a nail.”
    “Oh, jeez! Let me see.” Joselyn is on her like a mother hen examining her finger. “Ouch, that’s bad.”
    If I had a coronary I would have to wait. Female code blue. Bring on the crash cart, nail files, and emery boards.
    Joselyn wastes no time. She digs in her purse. “How’d you do that?”
    “I don’t know. I think I snagged it on that ring from Emma’s keys. Getting the key to her car off of it.”
    “Who’s Emma?”
    “Part of the long story,” I tell her. “I’ll fill you in over dinner.”
    Joselyn comes up with a package of those little wooden sandpaper files from her purse and goes to work on Sofia’s finger.
    “Those things are treacherous. With nails like these what are you doing messing with key rings? You should let Paul do that.” Joselyn is looking at the wounded appendage, but she’s talking to me.
    “Sorry. I didn’t realize,” I tell her.
    “You think the police will come looking for her car? You said the police might impound it,” says Sofia.
    “Almost five o’clock, they won’t come again today. Which reminds me. When you get to her house, if the cops are there, they could still be executing the search warrant.” We haven’t yet seen a warrant for her car. “Give me a call on my cell if they’re still there.”
    “Sure.”
    “If they give you any trouble, take one of your business cards, tell them you’re with the firm and that you’re there to pick up the dog. There shouldn’t be any.” I am guessing if the young men in blue are still there, she and Dingus will get a police escort to the car, with the cops all collecting business cards. I am hoping that they haven’t already called animal control. If so, we will have to retrieve the pooch from the pound.
    “There you go. Best I can do,” says Joselyn. “How’s it feel?”
    “Fine. Thanks.” Sofia gives her a hug and says, “Bye! Have a good time at the show,” as she heads for the door.
    “Drive carefully,” I tell her. “You have her address, right?”
    “Keyed it into my iPhone.