Angel Face by Steven Henry

Author:Steven Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Clickworks Press
Published: 2022-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

“If it wasn’t for the NYPD, the takeout industry would collapse,” Vic said.

Erin nodded and scooped another mouthful of fried rice out of the little white box in her lap. They were camped out in her car, across the street from Teresa Tommasino’s apartment. They’d gotten Chinese from a restaurant along the way, and now they were just killing time until their witness came home. Rolf’s head protruded between the seats. He wasn’t begging, but twin streams of drool trailed down from his jowls at the smell of chicken and soy sauce.

“How do you want to do this, when she shows up?” Vic asked a few minutes later. “You gonna appeal to her sense of civic duty?”

“Is that very effective in your experience?” Erin replied. “Nobody cares about civic duty these days. I blame the politicians.”

“You could slip her a couple twenties,” he suggested. “That works on politicians, too. Hey, how come when people offer us money it’s bribery, but when we offer it to them we’re just developing sources of information?”

“We hold a position of public trust,” she said.

“Public trust. Right. You’ve got no idea what you’re gonna say to this girl, do you?”

“I’ll have to see how she reacts,” Erin said. “But mostly, I’m counting on her ultimately being willing to do the right thing.”

Vic snorted a laugh. When she didn’t join in, he stared at her. “Good God. You’re serious.”

“She’s a schoolteacher at a public elementary,” Erin said. “She’s got a conscience and she believes in helping people. Because she sure as hell isn’t in it for the money.”

“Hey, you want to know your fortune?” Vic asked. He had a fortune cookie in his hands.

“Sure.”

He cracked open the cookie and unfolded the little slip of paper from inside. “How about that,” he said.

“I’m waiting,” she said.

“It says you should buy the big, handsome beefcake in your car a case of Stoli.”

“That’s what it says, huh?”

“Well, it’s in Chinese. You have to interpret. If I’m saying it right, which I’m not, it’s ‘tianshi.’”

“What’s that really mean?”

“It means ‘angel.’ Y’know, that’s actually a little freaky.”

“The fortune’s on the other side. That side’s for learning Chinese.”

“Right.” Vic flipped the paper over. “Okay, it says, ‘A woman will tell you everything you need to know.’”

“And we’re back to making shit up.”

“What it really says is, ‘Worry about tomorrow tomorrow.’”

“Now that sounds more like Eastern philosophy.”

“It’s good advice. I think it’s in the Bible, too.”

“’Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof?’”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

Time passed slowly. Erin let Rolf lick up the leftovers of her fried rice, which he did with enthusiasm. Erin and Vic chatted about the sorts of things New York cops talked about on stakeouts: the Yankees, sleep deprivation, anecdotes from old cases, and the way the world was slowly but surely going straight down the toilet. Erin found herself yawning. The lack of sleep was really starting to hit her hard, now that the caffeine had worn off.

“Mountain Dew,” Vic advised. “It’s a lot more concentrated than coffee.

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