Free The Manipulated (Joe Portugal Mysteries) by Nathan Walpow

like him.”
    “Some other time. I’m just going to hang by myself, okay?”
    “Okay. If you change your mind, call me. Or even later, in the afternoon, give a call at his place. Harold Portugal. He’s in the book.”
    “Yeah. Cool. Listen, I got things to do, so I’ll be going. See you.”The phone went dead.
     
    I spotted Ronnie a couple of times over the weekend. She had a nice tan. I supposed that with her back from Hawaii, sooner or later we’d have to talk over what happened at Dennis’s. I hoped I could avoid it. Like I’d avoided talking to Gina.
     
    Monday night. After eight. Rain outside. The doorbell rang.
    It was Ronnie. She had red splotches on her face and her eyes were a mess. She saw me and burst into tears. I shuffled us inside and kicked the door closed. Gina was in the kitchen, watching with a what-the-hell expression. I let Ronnie wail for a while, then maneuvered her to the couch.
    Gina brought her a glass of water. Ronnie reached for it. It slipped through her fingers, bounced off my knee, fell to the carpet. No breakage, water everywhere.
    “Tell me what happened,” I said.
    “They fired me.”
    “They what?”
    “They
fired
me. They said they’re not gonna renew my contract for next year, assuming the show’s picked up, which it sure as hell is gonna be with our ratings and everything.”
    She rubbed her eyes. A bubble grew from one nostril and burst. Gina handed her a tissue. Then another. Then the whole box.
    “They said they’d decided to go in another direction.”
    “Who said?”
    “Joanie Phillips.”
    “Who’s she?”
    “One of the producers. But it didn’t come from her. It came from Dennis.”
    “You know this for sure?”
    “I asked Joanie, and she said it was a hard decision but one everyone’d agreed was for the best, but I asked her was it from Dennis and she didn’t answer me and I knew it was.”
    Fresh tears, fresh snot, fresh tissues.
    “I think I must have done something, and I don’t know what it is. And I don’t know how to make it right.”
    “Everyone loves you, Ronnie,” Gina said.“Everyone thinks you’re adorable. If these idiots are dumb enough to drop you, someone will pick you up for something else.”
    “I don’t
want
something else. I want my job back.” She drew back far enough to look me in the eye. “What could I have done?”
    “You didn’t do anything,” I said.
    “I must have. I—”
    “No.
I
did something.”
    “What? What are you talking about? How could you have—”
    “That son of a bitch.”
    “Who? You’re not making any sense, Joe.” She looked at Gina. “What’s he talking about?”
    “Tell her,” Gina said.
    “Tell me what?” Ronnie said. She stood, looked down at me. There was anger mixed into the dejection. “Will you please tell me what the fuck you two are talking about?”
    She was pissed, all right. That “hell” a minute ago was as far as her profanity generally went.
    My turn to look at Gina. She shook her head. I had to do it.
    “You know about his mother,” I said to Ronnie.
    “How she disappeared? Sure. What’s that got to do with me?”
    “Dennis’s father asked me to track down a woman he saw who looked like her. Like Dennis’s mother. Dennis found out about this and told me not to do it. He tried to bribe me at first, and when that didn’t work he threatened you. Threatened to do exactly what he just did.”
    “That’s crazy? What’s one thing got to do with the other?”
    “Nothing.”
    “But you kept looking for her? Why?”
    “I guess I didn’t think he’d go through with it.”
    “This is your fault, then?”
    “No, it’s Dennis’s fault, but—”
    “What, you’re getting back at me for what happened at the party?”
    “Why would I do that? I don’t even know what happened at the …”
    I didn’t have to turn around. I knew Gina was looking at me in a way she’d seldom, if ever, done before. I knew I’d fucked up royally, and that she knew it and was