Excerpt
Twilight was coming on quickly, the cool fall darkness that descends utterly in California's capital. Jamie was glad he only had a couple of miles to carry this guy. He figured he'd dump him out and circle back to the Hyatt's cab line and see what was going on. Tuesday like this, there were usually a couple of conventions in town and plenty of fares. The address in midtown was one of the new lofts that had been carved from old auto dealerships or offices and then sold to wealthy retirees who liked the growing excitement of midtown or the younger hustlers who worked the legislature. Jamie was surprised. He hadn't figured his talkative, graying passenger for this high-priced, showy real estate. He pulled up, got out, the guy already standing by the cab's trunk cradling his brown bag and gently rocking it in the crook of his arm. Jamie noticed that the animation had gone out of the guy's face and he was stone silent suddenly, looking up at the lights of the lofts on the second story. He started whistling a sad tune. A strong breeze rustled through the numberless oaks and elms along the street. A few cars, lights on now, rushed by. Jamie hauled out the two battered but expensive leather suitcases, the kind you rarely saw anymore. "That's forty-two even," he told his passenger, but the guy already had a hundred out. Jamie took it, trying to figure the change when the guy's sad whistling broke off. "Jesus!" he heard the guy shout. Jamie's head snapped up just as the first shots broke the early night. He dropped some bills, and put his hands in front of his face, vainly trying to protect himself.