Free Body of Shadows by Jack Shadows

said. “Here’s what I’m getting at. I don’t know if you or someone you know, a sister or friend or something, had anything to do with the woman’s death. I’m not going to ask you and I don’t want you to tell me if that’s the case. What I’m saying though is that if that’s the case, I’d let sleeping dogs lie. I’d just walk away from it right now. I don’t need an answer this second. You can think about it and call me later.”
    Sirens came from below.
    Pantage looked out the window.
    A cop car was weaving in and out of traffic at high speed with the lights flashing.
    “I’ll call you later,” she said. “Is that okay?”
    “Yes, it’s fine. I haven’t done anything yet in connection with the other part of the assignment, London Winger. I’ll start on that as soon as we hang up.”
    “Call me when you get something.”
    “I will.”
    She hung up.
     
    Renn-Jaa looked at her and said, “What was that all about?”
    Pantage studied her.
    “I might need a friend,” she said.
    “You have one. Tell me what’s going on.”

     
    26
    Day Two
    July 19
    Tuesday Afternoon
     
    Mid-afternoon Drift received a strange phone call from a female voice. “I may have information relating to Jackie Lake. I have to stay anonymous though.”
    “Don’t worry, I won’t—”
    “Totally anonymous,” the voice said, “even from you. Go to the 16 th Street mall. There are back-to-back benches at 16 th and California. Sit in the one facing towards Broadway. Don’t look at the bench behind you. Face straight ahead. After you’re situated, I’m going to come and sit in the other bench at your back. Don’t turn around. We’re going to talk. When we’re done, you’re going to get up and walk away. You’re not going to turn back. You’re not going to try to see who I am.”
    “This is a joke, right?”
    “Those are the conditions,” the voice said. “They’re not negotiable.”
    Drift looked at his watch.
    “When?”
    “Right now.”
    “This better be something real,” he said.
    “Don’t worry, it’s real.”
    The destination was a fifteen-minute walk from homicide. Drift did it in twelve and sat down. An old couple occupied the bench at his back. Drift flashed his badge and said, “I’m sorry but you’re going to have to leave. I need that bench for business.”
    The woman wasn’t impressed.
    “What kind of business?”
    “Detective business.”
    “Don’t you have an office?”
    “No.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “It’s being painted.”
    The woman pointed to an empty bench thirty yards down. “Use that one,” she said.

“Look, don’t turn this into an incident,” Drift said. “I need you to vacate that bench and I need you to do it now. Please and thank you.”
    “You just don’t like old people,” she said. “Just because we’re not as strong as you doesn’t give you the right to boss us around.”
    Drift exhaled.
    “Look—”
    “That’s not even a real badge,” she said. “I’ve seen real badges. That one’s not real. Even your eyes aren’t real. They’re two different colors. Who has two different color eyes? No one, that’s who.”
    Drift smelled alcohol on her breath.
    He pulled a ten out of his pocket, dangled it in front of her and said, “Do you want this?”
    A pause.
    The woman snatched it.
    “Take your stupid old bench.”
    Then she was gone, the man too.
     
    Drift faced the way he was supposed to and kept pointed in that direction. The bench was in the sun. Heat radiated off every building in the stinking city. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Five minutes later the weight of a body sank into the bench behind him and a female voice said, “Don’t turn around.”
    “Next time pick a place in the shade,” Drift said. “You didn’t bring a cold Bud Light with you by an chance, did you?”
    The woman chuckled.
    “No.”
    “I didn’t think so,” he said. “Tell me why I’m here.”
    The woman cleared her