"Roxy's little sister," I said.

Tonic reacted like an experienced legal brawler. His expression remained stonelike. Then one corner of his mouth twitched upward. "I didn't know Roxy-Freya-had a sister. What's her name?"

"Lara Phillips."

"Phillips?"

"Married name," I said. "She's divorced."

"Any indications she might be more than an instructor?"

"You mean, are she and Journey screwing? Like minks, I'm sure."

Tonic laughed. "If he can keep it up, then hurray for the randy old bastard. Is there the possibility of hanky-panky between them that led to the breakup of her marriage?"

"Haven't checked into that," I said.

"Was this something Roxy discovered?" Tonic asked with glee.

"I have no idea," I answered. "Suppose Lara and Journey were hiding the salami while she was married, so what?"

Tonic chewed the bread and washed it down with a swallow of his drink. "It would mean a collapse of faith in Journey as a pastor. His evangelical flock might forgive him for robbing them blind, but they won't take it kindly if he's playing loosey-goosey with his dick. He'd lose his church. Everything."

"Then keeping the affair a secret might be worth murder," I replied.

"It might. Why are Dr. Mordecai Niphe, the Reverend Dale Journey, and Roxy's sister, Lara Phillips, sneaking around?" Tonic's hands pulled apart, as if stretching an imaginary length of string. "What ties them together? Roxy's murder?"

"It gets more complicated when you add Lucky Rosario, Cragnow Vissoom, and Councilwoman Petale Venin."

"Venin?" Tonic repeated. "Damn Felix, you're cutting a wide swath. And you expect to bring them all down?"

"Depends on what I find."

"I hope you find a lot." Tonic looked around and snapped his fingers to get the waiter's attention. "As soon as I get another drink, I'll toast your future success."

A ruby red glow sparkled on my silverware. I glanced and saw a red dot the size of a pea flicker on my left shoulder.

The red dot of an aiming laser.

The dot hovered on my shoulder.

I bolted from my chair and darted to the right.

A bullet ripped through the tablecloth and sent the bread basket flying. A second bullet drilled Tonic through the middle of his necktie. He gasped and fell face first into his vodka and tonic. The cocktail glass tipped over and rolled off the table to shatter against the floor.

Sitting at a table along the fence, I had been in a perfect spot for a drive-by and I hadn't noticed. I stayed crouched, out of the line of fire.

For the next few seconds it was as if God had turned off the volume and everyone in the restaurant pantomimed their reactions in slow motion.

A tight-faced, middle-aged woman at the next table noticed blood flecked on the sleeve of her white silk blouse. She turned her blond head to frown at me, looked back at her sleeve, and glared at Tonic's slumped form. Blood dripped from a red stain on the tablecloth.

The woman's eyebrows inched up, crinkling her forehead. Her fingers clutched the air and she let out a scream.

That wail was the signal for everything to jerk into fast-forward and at maximum volume.

People shrieked, sprang from their chairs, and crashed into one another. Food splattered on the floor. Feet and shins pummeled my sides and knocked me off balance. A pair of dainty feet in Manolo Blahniks scrambled across my hands and scraped my knuckles.

A metallic lump glittered under my table. The lump was the size of a fingertip and looked like a deformed mushroom. The thick stem was serrated with flat grooves-like the kind engraved by the lands in a gun barrel.

A bullet. It lay under the gash it had ripped through the table.

I picked up the slug, felt it burn, and flung it away.

A silver bullet.

Meant for me.

I grasped a napkin and reached again for the bullet. It could provide clues about the shooter. A black oxford kicked the slug under a dozen feet stampeding for the exits.

The scream of sirens echoed down the boulevard.

Forget the bullet. I had to get out of here before the police arrived. If Paxton was responsible for the shooting, then his goons in uniform could be coming to get another crack at me.

Tonic's arm swung lifelessly beside his chair. Wasn't much I could do now except feel sorry for the dead bastard.

I melted into the panicked mass crowding the front exit, both to hide my departure and mask myself in case another shooter waited. I kept in the middle of a group walking briskly on Wilshire to the end of the block.

Patrol cars barricaded the intersection. Cops ran out with guns drawn and surrounded the bistro.

The group I was with crossed the street, gabbing excitedly on cell phones.

"It was a shooting. My God, I thought we were in Compton."

"Sally. I'm okay. No biggie, I was almost done with lunch anyway. I got out without paying. Tell my two o'clock I can see him earlier."

I had to get back to my car. I left the group by ducking through a gap in a tall hedge and found myself facing a private patio behind an executive office complex. Men and women in business clothes lunched at tables and stopped in midchew to stare. I waved and ran off.

Nimble as a fox, I sprinted around shrubs and leapt over fences. I reached the street where I had left my Chrysler. I should've felt safe. Instead my fingertips tingled.

Up ahead one block, a white limousine turned the corner and came at me.

Fingers and ears buzzed. My kundalini noir bunched and writhed.

A dark blue Escalade followed the limousine. Tinted windows prevented me from seeing the interior. Both vehicles approached as silently and forebodingly as assassins' shadows.

Behind me, a second Escalade closed the trap from the opposite direction. Polished wheels reflected the sun like rotating scythes. The two Escalades halted, their boxy shapes as menacing as battle tanks.

Whoever was in the limousine and Escalades knew I was coming this way. Was I followed? Who tracked me? Vampires? They could be anywhere, and my aura wouldn't escape their eyes. The trees and tall buildings crowded around me with claustrophobic intensity.

Was the one who shot at me and killed Tonic in one of the vehicles? If so, why not open fire?

The limousine veered across the street to stop along the sidewalk close beside me. The driver's outside mirror almost touched my leg.

The driver's window lowered. Rachel, the receptionist from Cragnow's porn business, smiled from the driver's seat of the limousine. A vampire's red glare beamed from her eyes. She showed off a pair of shiny new fangs.

The rear door lock clicked. "Get in."