Pacific Avenue Read Online Free PDF Page A

it.” I set the tape down and reached for her to pass the sack to me.
    Angela pulled it out from under her and handed it over.
“Why are you so busy at work all of a sudden? Big project or something?” We
both glanced up as Willis came into the room.
    “Mr. Giannini got me an assistant,” I told her. “It’s
more trouble training a new person than it would be to do the work myself.”
    “Who did they hire, someone who never had a job before?”
Angela asked.
    I pulled my knife out of the sack and held it up to
inspect it. The blade looked a little bent from being sat on. Angela didn’t
much look like she cared.
    “To tell you the truth, I don’t know if she’s had one
or not,” I said. “Her résumé disappeared.”
    Angela shrugged. “Can’t you tell her to give you
another copy?”
    I shook my head. “I decided not to. I’m pretty sure she
snitched it back.” I sighted down the blade to check if it was bent. It wasn’t.
    Angela and Willis peered at me like a couple of owls.
“What do you mean, snitched it back?” Willis asked.
    “It wasn’t with her application. I think I saw her slip
it into her purse after George interviewed her.”
    They broke off staring at me and looked at each other.
Willis swiveled back to me. “Well, didn’t anyone else notice the résumé’s
gone?” he asked.
    “Guess not. Mr. Giannini is far too important to touch
a file cabinet,” I said. “And I’m not sure George has learned to read. Very few
jackasses have.”
    I picked up my masking tape and unrolled a length with
a little zipping sound. As far as I was concerned, they could drop this now. My
office wasn’t any business of theirs.
    But Angela wasn’t about to let go. “Mama, how do you know
this woman isn’t some criminal on the run?”
    That one took the cake. Angela was getting her master’s
in criminal justice, so she suspected everyone.
    “I wouldn’t go so far as to call her a woman,” I said,
pressing the tape carefully against the window frame. “She’s younger than you.
Way too young to be much of a criminal—and besides, she isn’t the type.”
    “There is no
‘type.’ Don’t you know that? There’s no age, either. What about those people
who kidnapped Patty Hearst? Barely old enough to vote, some of them. Maybe she
robbed a bank, same as they did. Hell, she could be one of them. They could be anywhere by now.”
    I tried to picture Kathy robbing a bank. She’d drop her
gun on the guard’s foot and say, “Oh, excuse me.” No way Kathy could rob a
bank.
    “I doubt it,” I said.
    “What about the Mansons? How do you know she’s not one
of them ?”
    I patted my tape work carefully into place. If I didn’t
get all the wrinkles out, the paint would leak underneath it. “They’re all in
jail,” I said.
    “How do you know? Maybe she’s one who got away—now
she’s trying to live a normal life. Waiting for them to get out. Mama, will
you stop with the damned tape for a minute? ”
    I set it aside. “If she’s waiting for Charlie Manson,
she’d better be prepared for a long wait. He’ll get out of prison one day after
hell freezes over. You ought to go to work for the studios, Angela—this stuff
would be about right for Columbo. ”
    Willis chimed in. “It’s not that far-fetched, honey.
She sounds guilty as hell to me. Better lock up the petty cash.”
    I laughed. “Any petty cash at Giannini’s is so petty,
no one would be interested.”
    “No lie,” said Angela. “That dude is a serious miser.
The first time I saw the office Christmas tree, I started looking around for
Bob Cratchit. I was sure Mr. Giannini had him in there someplace.”
    Willis snickered. “You got his number, all right.”
    “Anyone can get his number,” Angela told him. “It’s the
one the Arabs invented. Zero.”
    Willis turned back to me. “Why don’t you make the old
fool fix the place up? He’s making enough money.”
    “I already decided to talk to him. I guess I’ve gotten
used