Death in North Beach by Ronald Tierney

out, remove the firing pins and drop the guns down the trash chute,’ he told Brinkman.
    Carly and Lang went to the trendy little neighborhood of Hayes Valley for lunch. They picked out some miniature sandwiches at the new Boulangerie, some bottled lemonade and, because the bakery was crowded, took their treasure to a narrow park – a wide median, between north- and south-flowing traffic ending at Hayes Street.
    â€˜I used to live in a little studio apartment at the Estrella,’ he said, pointing east to a thirties brick building, ‘when I first arrived. This area was basically Needle Park. I saw more fights at the laundromat than in most redneck bars. Now, its all shoe stores and restaurants.’
    â€˜And slender, fashionably dressed young people,’ Carly said with a sigh.
    â€˜And you are slender and fashionably dressed,’ Lang said.
    â€˜Two out of three, huh?’ She’d see if she could get by with ‘slender’. It wasn’t likely she could get by with ‘young’.
    â€˜Young is relative,’ Lang said, taking a bite of chicken and Brie downsized baguette. ‘This is why the rest of the country hates us.’
    â€˜Chicken or Brie or tiny sandwiches?’
    â€˜Brie mostly. I didn’t eat Brie until I was thirty-five.’
    â€˜You eat it often now?’ Carly asked.
    â€˜Usually with beef jerky, some pork rinds and a PBR. You?’
    She repressed a grin. ‘I do. I began eating Brie shortly after I was born.’
    â€˜Mmmmh, I hadn’t thought about that. You don’t need teeth. We should bring some back for Brinkman.’
    â€˜That’s cruel.’
    â€˜Have you listened to his graphic lectures on the horrors of growing old? That’s cruel. It’s heartless. It’s best to make that journey in blissful ignorance . . .’
    She laughed, but caught herself.
    â€˜They came to see you ,’ she said, trying to introduce the business at hand.
    â€˜That means it’s someone on my half of the list.’
    â€˜Somehow. Directly or indirectly.’
    â€˜Somehow,’ he agreed. ‘I talked with Richard Sumaoang, Marshall Hawkes and Marlene Berensen. So these two Mensa candidates were bought by someone who knew how to find them. I don’t see it.’
    â€˜People talk,’ Carly said. ‘One of your guys talked to someone who talked to someone who became worried.’
    â€˜Doesn’t give us much.’
    â€˜Thanh is following them,’ Lang said. ‘He’ll find out something, maybe only where they live or work. We can go from there.’
    â€˜What do you think of the people you talked to?’
    â€˜As I told you earlier, Marlene is well preserved, doesn’t seem too broken up. Richard gave me nothing. He’s in great shape. Physically he’d have no problem killing his prey. Marshall Hawkes doesn’t seem like a physical kind of guy, but using the pen as a weapon has a certain bit of poetry about it and Marshall seems to appreciate that sort of thing. What about your people?’
    â€˜The publisher. I’m not sure he’s agile enough to catch Warfield. Frank Wiley seemed so content to be on the outside looking in, I’m not sure what he’d have to lose if some secret came out, unless it could get him arrested.’
    â€˜That could be enough. Pedophile kind of taboo.’
    She sipped her lemonade from the bottle and looked at her watch.
    â€˜I have Nathan Malone at one thirty and Lili D. Young at four,’ she said.
    Behind Carly, a teen girl with a bare midriff twirled a hula hoop, entertaining a small audience, the most avid of which was a golden retriever. The park served its purpose, providing a brief respite to office workers on lunch break and a soft landing for a couple of homeless people who parked their shopping carts for a little while.
    â€˜Mr Chiu is always unavailable, Mrs Warfield is still grieving,’ Lang said.