Death in the Haight by Ronald Tierney Read Free Book Online

good and evil?”
    Thanh nodded.
    â€œI thought about that earlier,” Lang said. In some odd and unexplainable way, the two of them were often on the same frequency.
    â€œGood and evil or, in my case, man or woman,” Thanh said. “I am a wrong he feels compelled to make right. So are you. You have breakfast?”
    â€œNo. I’m hungry and thirsty and tired. How’s Buddha?”
    â€œHe loves me. But then who doesn’t?” Thanh smiled. “We’re back to Stern, aren’t we?” Lang didn’t want Buddha back at his loft if Stern might show up, so he’d had Thanh pick him up. The cop was a petty, vindictive man. “Don’t kill him,” Thanh added.
    Thanh knew Lang. Knew that if Stern backed Lang against the wall, with no other way out, Lang
would
kill him. There were secrets that Lang and Thanh shared. And for those they had forgiven each other. But others might not forgive them. Some of what Stern suspected was true, but his interpretations of the facts were inventions, his own dark fantasies.
    â€œYou reviewed the photos of the Vanderveers—Mom, Dad, the kid?” Lang asked.
    â€œI did.”
    â€œJust follow them.”
    â€œIf Mom and Dad go in different directions?”
    â€œFollow Dad. I want to know if he talks to anybody. Take pictures. Call me if it looks like something is going down. I’ll be in the office. I need a couple of hours.”
    â€œGot it.”
    As Lang headed toward his car, he could see a few folks on the sidewalk. A man inside a rumpled robe walked by, bundled and hugging himself against the chill, holding on to a tiny, skinny dog pulling against its leash. People would pop out of buildings now. The old and early risers, the ambitious suits heading down to the financial district to get a jump on the Bay commuters, the restaurant workers.
    It struck him how many different worlds there were, crisscrossing one another in time and place, in thought and emotion. Too much to think about.
    Â * * * 
    Lang looked at his watch. He must have dozed for a couple of hours. He raised himself up from the green Naugahyde sofa. He smelled coffee and heard muffled conversation beyond the closed door, in the lobby. He also caught the scent of a cigar coming from the opposite direction.
    â€œYou’re not supposed to smoke in here,” Lang said to Brinkman, more out of habit than anything.
    â€œAccording to the insurance tables, I’m not supposed to be alive.”
    How could you argue with that? Lang thought. Instead of agreeing or disagreeing, he called Thanh.
    â€œAnything?”
    â€œSomething now. Dad came out of the hotel with a young man, and the two of them are on the cable car.”
    â€œA young man. You following?”
    â€œI am. At one point, Dad put his arm around the young man.”
    â€œThat’s interesting. If he’s with a blackmailer, he wouldn’t likely do that. Which way are they headed?”
    â€œDowntown. Heading toward the Embarcadero.”
    â€œMy guess is they get off in the financial district. Keep up the tail. Call me if things get weird.”
    Lang called Vanderveer.
    â€œYes?”
    â€œLang. What’s up?”
    â€œWe’ve been instructed to have the money at hand. That’s it. Nothing else.”
    â€œYou’re not at the hotel?” Lang asked, pretending he didn’t already know.
    â€œNo,” Vanderveer said, irritation in his voice.
    â€œYou should let me know about these things,” Lang said.
    â€œI’ll let you know what you need to know.”
    â€œWhen you hire someone to do a job you don’t know how to do, do you tell him how to do it?”
    There was no response,
    â€œAre you alone?” Lang pressed.
    â€œNo. My son James came in from Grand Rapids.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œHe wanted to be with us when we found Michael.”
    â€œYou need to tell me these things,” Lang said.
    â€œI