Last Call Read Free

Homeboy’s. The front door to the bar was wide open.The latest hit song from Kool and the Gang filled the warm night air. The nearest street lamp had been shot out by the Grove Lords weeks earlier, so the only source of light was the half-moon and the blinking Budweiser sign above the entrance to Homeboy’s. The main crowd formed a semicircle that blocked Theo’s view of the fallen victim. Several shirtless teenage boys were on their bellies, getting the X-rated up-skirt view that Switch had mentioned. Not a cop was in sight, but sirens could be heard in the distance.Theo needed to move quickly. He was about to break through the crowd when someone grabbed him by the arm, halt-ing him.
    “Don’t go there,” the man said.
    8
    James Grippando
    Theo nearly slugged him in the darkness, but at the last moment he recognized his great-uncle. “Uncle Cy, what are you doing here?”
    “That don’t make no never mind. Just do as I tell ya. Don’t go there.”
    Theo glanced back toward his brother in the Chevy.“I gotta go.”
    “No, you don’t want to do that.” Uncle Cy tightened his grip.
    Theo noticed that the old man’s hand was shaking.At six foot two he was taller than Theo, but he was a thin reed who lived on gin and cigarettes and God only knew what else. Theo could have shaken him off like a fly, but Uncle Cy with all his flaws was the closest thing he had to a father.
    “You’re messing me up here,” said Theo.
    “I ain’t gonna let you do this.”
    Theo had no idea how the old man knew he was on a Grove Lord mission. He must have just figured that if Theo was out cruising with Tatum and Isaac, they had to be up to no good.“You need to let go.”
    “No can do, boy.”
    “Take you hands off me.”
    “Not tonight I won’t.”
    “Get out of the way.”
    “It’s for your own good.”
    “Don’t make me knock you on your ass.”
    “You’re gonna have to. ’Cuz I ain’t lettin’ you through here, boy.”
    Theo shoved him, and Uncle Cy went down like a bowling pin.Theo started through the crowd.
    “Theo, stop!”
    He kept going.
    “Come back, boy!”
    Theo ignored him.
    “Theo, it’s your momma!”
    LAST CALL
    9
    Theo froze.There was blood on the street, on her dress, in her hair—so much blood, the color of her long crimson nails dotted with cheap rhinestones. Flies buzzed with interest around the deep gash across her throat.The wound was just below the white leather choker around her neck, a few inches above the rose tattoo on her right breast.Theo didn’t want to see her face, but some inner curiosity made him take a good long look. He saw the open mouth, the painted lips, the vacant eyes staring into the night—two black pools behind a hooker’s false lashes and enough sparkling purple shadow to let the johns know exactly what she was.
    And he saw a leopard-print shoulder bag on the ground, beside the lifeless body.
    Sirens in the distance grew louder.Theo stood silent and stared, as if searching for the right emotions. He didn’t let his eyes go there, but he knew Switch was right: you could see right up her skirt.The view would have been only slightly less revealing had she been standing in her usual spot on the corner.
    “Theo,” his uncle said, but Theo ignored him.
    He stepped toward his mother, bent down on one knee, and checked to make sure that everyone was watching.
    Then he grabbed the purse and ran back to the Chevy.
    Twenty years later
    Chapter 1
    Jack Swyteck woke after midnight.The television was playing, but the sound was still on mute. Rene didn’t like sex in total darkness. Leno the night-light.
    Jack stole a glimpse of the gorgeous woman in bed next to him. He was a lucky guy, he supposed, on many different levels. He was a respected criminal defense lawyer with his own practice. He had an unlikely best friend in Theo Knight, an ex-con and former client who would do anything for Jack. His beloved abuela was healthy, and it had been ages since he and his famous