Free The Last Word by Lee Goldberg Page B

me?”
    “That’s a good question. But I’m sure the chief realizes that if it wasn’t for the Stryker blackmail files that my dad handed to you, and all the high-profile prosecutions and publicity that came from that case, you wouldn’t be a serious contender in the mayor’s race.”
    “Oh, so that’s the game.” Burnside rose from his desk and pointed a finger at Steve. “I don’t owe Mark Sloan a goddamn thing. He can’t use Carter Sweeney to leverage any kind of influence with me. You tell him that.”
    Steve shook his head. “You’re paranoid.”
    “I’m the next mayor of Los Angeles,” he said. “Now get the hell out of my office. You might want to think about moving to another city while you’re at it. This isn’t going to be a very pleasant place for you and your father to live anymore.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    Steve and Jesse were both forty-eight hours away from leading major operations in which the slightest miscalculation could cost lives. So, naturally, there was only one thing they could do to prepare: They gorged themselves on barbecue.
    They met Mark and Susan for dinner at Barbeque Bob’s, the restaurant that Steve and Jesse had bought several years back when the original owner retired. The two of them shared the responsibility of running the place, arranging their work schedules so that one of them was there most of the time. And when one of them couldn’t be there, they could always count on Susan to take up the slack.
    The restaurant was still the run-down, ramshackle dive it had always been when Steve and Jesse were its best customers. The Formica countertops were chipped, the vinyl on the stools was cracked, and the tables were covered with names and drawings crudely carved into the wood with knives and forks.
    Despite the pressure on them, Steve and Jesse were in a festive mood, eating ribs and pie, running the grill in the kitchen, delivering orders, and cheerfully hobnobbing with the customers.
    Susan stayed in the booth with Mark. She was trying not to be too obvious about her concern for him, but he saw the way she was sneaking looks at him.
    “I’m fine,” he said. “You can stop looking at me like that.”
    “Are you worried about the transplant surgery?”
    “No,” Mark said. “Jesse has done a great job arranging everything, and the surgeons he’s got lined up are top-notch. It will go smoothly.”
    “Are you worried about the raid?”
    “Steve has taken bigger risks with far less preparation and backup before,” Mark said. “He’s in more danger just crossing the street.”
    “Then it must be the severance package that’s on your mind.”
    “How did you know about that?”
    “You dropped it off with some charts at the nurses’ station,” she said, reaching into her purse and passing the paper to Mark.
    “I guess I was a little distracted today,” he said, pocketing the offer. “It’s a good thing you found it. Did you read it?”
    She nodded guiltily. “You and Jesse have been a bad influence on me. It’s a generous deal.”
    “So they keep telling me,” he said ruefully.
    “The fact that you even kept the document means you’re actually considering their offer.”
    “There’s no harm in that,” he said.
    “There was a time you would never even have looked at it. You would have just walked away from the table and left it behind.”
    “Times change.”
    “You’ve been at Community General for over forty years,” she said. “It’s part of you. Do you really think you can leave?”
    “I’ve been feeling restless and uneasy for a while now,” he said. “It’s been worse since the accident.”
    “It wasn’t an accident, Mark. Someone tried to kill you. That’s enough to make any sane person restless and uneasy,” she said. “Maybe what you should give up is homicide investigation. None of your patients has ever tried to whack you.”
    “Because I’m so lovable and avuncular.”
    “That hasn’t stopped the killers from trying to