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clear that I don’t want any part of it, but the decision is coming from the top.
    “ Hollywood Detective . My friends work for the studio and I heard something about it last night. I don’t want any part of it either.”
    “Understood.” He took a moment, brushing a hand through his white hair and gathering his thoughts. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and, if they do agree to do the show, one of the other units will be chosen.”
    I exhaled. “I’m not feeling very lucky these days.”
    “How was the time off?”
    Oz was like a father to me and I knew he was genuinely concerned. “Actually, it was good. It gave me some time to decompress. I also talked to the man I thought might be my father.” Oz knew all about my family history and I’d previously told him about Collin Russell.
    “How did it go?”
    “He wasn’t my dad, just a good friend of my bio-mom when she was alive. He gave me a letter she’d written to me. I haven’t read it yet.” I smiled, trying to make light of the subject. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear my mother speaking to me from the grave.”
    Oz smiled. “When the time’s right, you’ll know it.” His phone was ringing as he added, “Just remember, if you ever need to talk, I’m always here for you.”
    I was grateful and told him I’d see him later. Bernie and I then left his office. I took a breath, mentally preparing myself to do battle with a bastard and a beast.

SIX
     
    As it turned out, the bastard wasted no time attacking me.
    “Let’s get some ground rules straight,” Alex said as he drove Bernie and me to the Police Administration Building, or PAB, in downtown Los Angeles where the cold case unit worked. “You stay out of my way, out of my face, and follow orders. Any deviation and I report it up the chain.”
    I glanced at him, thinking that his mushy profile looked a little like the famous movie director, Alfred Hitchcock. “The last time I checked, we were the same rank and pay grade.”
    “I was working the streets when you were still in high school.”
    “So what.”
    “So, I’m the lead. You’re just along for the ride.” His dark eyes found me. “Besides, everyone knows you’re a jinx.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about cases that go sideways and about your crazy family.”
    I was never big on impulse control and what he’d said popped my cork. “My cases that went sideways, as you call it, did so because of the suspects’ actions. It had nothing to do with my work. As for my family…” I took a breath, searching for something positive to say. I finally gave up and just said, “Just shut the fuck up and leave my personal life out of things.”
    He laughed. “Are we a little sensitive? First your old man, who wasn’t your old man from what I heard, gets wasted. Then your mother also gets whacked.” He finger-combed his mustache and glanced at me. “And then there’s your adoptive mother. I hear she’s also a nut job. I could go on and on about your friends and….”
    “And I could talk about your mother, tell you how she gave birth to a human asshole that behind his back everyone calls the Pillsbury Doughboy with a mustache.”
    “You just…”
    I was on a roll. “And then there’s your father. I heard the big ball of lard did some hard time for assault. He probably bashed baby boy in his big stupid head, taught him everything he knew.”
    His voice pitched higher, telling me that I’d hit a nerve. “My family’s none of your business.”
    I felt my cheeks flush. “And mine is none of yours.” I took several even breaths, brushed my sweaty palms on my pants. “Tell you what, let’s just agree to put our personal feelings aside while we’re at work. Once we’re no longer partners, we can go back to mutual hatred.”
    A couple of breaths rattled in his throat. “Whatever.”
    We rode the rest of the way in silence. I wasn’t sure if it was what he’d said about my family or me being a jinx that