Heaven, INC: Chapter 62: WHERE ARE THEY?

When the going gets weird,
the weird turn pro.
— HUNTER S. THOMPSON

POLICE HEADQUARTERS,
12th & BROADWAY
2:50 PM PDT

ON THE ELEVATOR RIDE UP, Carmella didn’t like Elmond’s expression. Elmond talking to the patrolman— apparently, one El played softball with— that he’d sent over to Lahaina’s to find Jimmy Francisco’s bandmates, Owen McClain and Brody Cannon. Carmella knew their names from Tony, who’d always talked of them, in fact Jimmy’s whole band, with a profound sense of musician’s respect.

Now, Owen and Brody were nowhere to be found.

“What do you mean, they’re nowhere to be found? You found the carpet van, right? Unh-hunh . . . Right . . . So then where are they? Unh-hunh . . . Who were these — what does that mean, government looking guys? That’s the description? Government-looking guys?” Elmond shaking his head, “Okay . . . Yeah, I agree, the chicks there are pretty hot . . . Unh-hunh . . . No shit? No shit . . . No shit! Yeah, who wouldn’t be distracted, seeing that? Unh-hunh . . . Alright, well, if you wouldn’t mind taking a roll through the neighborhood . . . Thanks, Billy. Call me if you find something . . . Yeah, for the big game. See ya, bro.”

Elmond looked at Carmella while dialing up another call. “You are not gonna believe this shit going on with these two guys . . . Yo, Jimmy, it’s El, gimme a call, bro, I got some news about your boys that’s not necessarily good, but it’s also not necessarily bad. Hit me up, Yo.”

Carmella read Elmond’s expression as he killed the call. Not good.

Elmond said, “Well, the sitch is, patrol says Owen and Brody came in together, knew some people— Brody Cannon’s some kind of local skate legend as I understand it, plus there’s the band— and were hanging out when three guys in suits come in and order beers they don’t drink while watching Jimmy’s friends. Not long passes before they come up flashing DNS credentials and cuffs. Jimmy’s boys wanted no part of it.”

Carmella nodded. “They could miss the show.”

Elmond gave Carmella a look, like not getting the importance of The Show she’d learned growing up with Tony, it was just something a good musician could never do, miss a show.

Elmond said, “So it sounds like things got pretty crazy, because this Brody cat somehow manages to get half the girls on the deck to take off their tops, seriously, no shit. This happens, the place bursts into absolute alcohol-fueled pandemonium—”

Carmella’d been to Lahaina’s. Once. Drunken beach brats were not her scene, but she could imagine just how rowdy it could get on a Friday afternoon the middle of summer.

“— it’s pure chaos long enough for the two of them to get away while the suits are still working their way through a sea of drunken, boob-crazed idiots— oh, and one of the suits did pause to threaten to come back and arrest all of them. I don’t know,” Elmond said, “maybe boobstruction of justice or something.”

The elevator doors opened onto the Forensics floor as Carmella said, “So Owen and Brody got away?”

“At this point, we don’t know. Last thing people saw was the suits getting back in the car and heading down an alley, so there’s reason to hope.”

Carmella thought about this, about a crowded deck at Lahaina’s on a Friday, a bunch of kids in bathing suits and buzzes and three squares in suits, thought about places you’d run to get away and wondered how much back-up the suits had and why they’d pussy-footed around in the first place instead of going right in with the cuffs. But she still had a bigger question.

“What reason did DNS give for trying to take them?”

“Said they wanted them for questioning. Which is why I wanna talk to Jimmy, see what’s going on and if Owen called him. And it’s odd Jimmy’s not answering, he’s generally good about that.” Elmond shaking his head, saying, “Weird day, hunh?”

“Yup,” Carmella said, knocking on a door marked MULTI-MEDIA. Of course, any time she had to deal with Raymond Cho was weird on its own.