Page 55 of Anarchy Missing

“Because of me?” Case asks. He takes a sip of his wine and waits.

“A little bit of it is you, yeah. This lunch invitation. Plus, the fact that Cathedral City is in crisis down there.” I wave a hand at the window. Which reminds me. “And you have a very strange sense of humor.”

He laughs. “How so?”

“That talking glass. Steve told me to press my finger on it to make it tell me facts about the city and what it said was… just…” I shake my head. “Weird.”

“Well, it’s a little joke between me and my friends. It’s not the version we’re gonna sell the schools and city.” He walks over to his desk and picks up what appears to be a little tray made of glass. It’s a tablet, I realize when he touches the glass and it flickers to life. With handles on each side, so you can hold it and not touch the glass surface. “This is one of the products I’m working on. Just a prototype so far.” One fingertip taps the surface and it comes to life, playing music that might appeal to a small child. “Let’s play the ABC’s,” the tablet says.

“An educational toy,” Case says. “I call this product a SpyGlass and the computer that runs it, a special combination of silicon and oxygen, is called SmartGlass. Every school in Cathedral City will have one soon.”

Well, I feel a little silly for being creeped out about the one on the window.

“But I mean, come on, Lulu,” Case continues the other part of our conversation. “This city is filled with filth and corruption. Why not just be honest about it?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? You’re an assistant DA, Lulu. You should know better than anyone how bad it’s gotten.”

“I do know,” I say. “That’s why I’m here.”

He cocks his head at me in confusion. “You’re here… for me. I thought.”

“I am,” I say. And I don’t know why I feel so compelled to tell him the truth, but I think it’s because I know deep down, he’s not involved in any of that shit happening outside.

But then Randy’s voice is in my head. Lincoln Wade, Lulu. We’re after Lincoln Wade.

Whom I do not know at all. Not one bit. I don’t even remember meeting him casually back when Case and I were going to all those ball rehearsals.

“I am here for you. I have thought about you a lot, Case. And I’d be lying if I said you weren’t on my mind when I decided to take this job. You were.”

“Well, I think we’re getting off on the right foot, Miss Lightly. But I have to confess, I had an ulterior motive for asking you here today.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. You see, I know someone in the CCPD. Molly Masters?” he says. “Ever heard of her? She’s a detective.”

“Kind of,” I lie. I have most certainly heard far more about her than I should’ve over the last few days. “Her name at least. What about her?”

“I think your colleagues in the DA’s office are trying to set her up.”

“What?” I laugh. Could this day get any weirder?

“Yeah,” Case says, putting his wine down. “Something strange is happening. That bank robbery. Now the power’s out. The water treatment plant is down.”

“It is?” I say. “I haven’t been back to the office so I wasn’t aware that there was a problem with the treatment facility.”

“And SkyEye is the only phone service at the moment. So you can see how this might… make me and my friends uncomfortable.”

I just stare at him. Is he really going there? No pretenses? No disguising his motives?

“Thomas thinks they’re gonna blame him for the cell phone towers.”

“Towers?” I ask, feeling like I’m coming in on the middle of a conversation. “What’s wrong with the towers?”

“Someone blew them up.”

“Who?” I ask, bewildered. “Who would do that?”