Editor’s Note: Please click here for Part 1, here for Part 2, here for Part 3, and here for Part 4.

I smiled as I turned around.

“What the fuck is the….”

The punch hit me like a ton of bricks and took all the air out of me. Some of the Buford might have come out the back end. The shot of whiskey fell to the floor. As I struggled to regain my breath, I looked up at my old friend Mark and wondered if he had found out I had slept with his sister last month.

He grabbed me and led me away from the bar to a booth where he sat me down.

“Be quiet. I’ll be right back.”

He walked over to the old man, grabbed a couple of beers, and sat next to me.

“Keep your voice low. I don’t want him hearing us”, he whispered.

“Dude! What the fuck was that for? Nice way to greet an old friend!”

“You were about to say the four-letter L word.”

“Oh shit! My bad. Yeah, I deserved that one. “

“What brings you to this shithole?”

“I hear the nachos are excellent. Five star Yelp reviews! What the fuck do you think? I’m assuming you’re here for similar reasons?”

“I’m actually here for the craft cocktails. Old Speedy is a whiz with cordials!”

“I guess the only question is whether it’s the same case. Who goes first?”

“Considering you banged my sister and never called her back, I think you should not only go first but you’re paying the tab.”

“Shit. She told you, huh?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Did she tell you any details?”

“Don’t really wanna know any, to tell you the truth.”

“I’ll call her, I promise. I’ll make it up to her.”

“See that you do. She’s a big girl but she’s still my sister. It’s really her fault for choosing to sleep with you so maybe she’ll learn her lesson?”

“Fair point. You ever heard of Rölf Royce?”

“That’s the shittiest stage name ever. Unfortunately, yes. Real name Hausen. Fuck me we’re working the same case aren’t we?”

“You heard about the niece?”

“That’s why I’m here. Been meeting her here for over a month. Let me guess. You’re the reason she’s not here?”

“That and she’s dead.”

Mark leaned back into the back of the booth.

“Fuck. That figures. She was going to give me the last piece I needed tonight to wrap my case up.”

“Case against who? Rölf?”

“I can’t really tell you. But it’s not Rölf. What does he have to do with this?”

“He hired me to find out what happened to her. In fact, there’s a lot of people asking about her.”

I told him about Mexicali and the brunch. I didn’t mention the lying to the cops part. Probably wouldn’t play well with one of the top investigators in the LAPD.

Mark went up to the bar and this time ordered two shots of whiskey. He brought them back to the booth.

“Thanks!”

“They’re both for me. I should be thanking you as you’re paying.”

“Dude!”

“Quit your bitching. You’ve spent two days on your case. I’ve spent the better part of two months on mine and now I’ve got nothing to show for it.”

“Why is it so fucking secret? It’s not like you and I are strangers.”

“It’s the people that are involved. Very powerful people doing very illegal and ugly things. If I’m not rock solid on this and word gets out, I’ll be lucky to keep my pension after writing parking tickets for ten years.”

“You can trust me.”

“Is that what you told my sister?”

Shit. I wasn’t going to get anywhere with Mark. He was right, though. Even if he told me what he knew, I couldn’t tell Rölf that these powerful people probably killed Lara and then collect my fee. He would seek revenge and people would start talking and Mark would be fucked.

“I get it. And you’re right. Let’s get the fuck out of this hell hole. Just one question: why meet here?”

“Trust me, it wasn’t my idea.”

I walked up to the old man and asked him, “How much?”

He replied, “55. Cash only.” I handed him a hundred dollar bill. He took it and stuffed it in his jeans pocket.

“Keep the change”

He gave me a look that invited me to get the fuck out of his bar. I took him up on the offer. After saying goodbye to Mark, I got in my car and pondered my next move while driving northwest.

I was down three hundred bucks on this case and all I had to justify Rölf paying that back to me was a nebulous story of her becoming a police informant against some powerful people I did not know. I wouldn’t even pay twenty bucks for that story if it were me. It brings up more questions than it provides answers.

It was close to 11 when I got to Palm Springs. I wasn’t tired, but I didn’t want to drive all the way home and then come back to explain my ineptness to Rölf. The brunch hotel seemed nice. What’s another hundred bucks anyway?

It was a really nice 70 when I walked out of the car and towards the lobby. Luckily, there was a room available in one of the bungalows. I grabbed the key card and walked across the same quad where I’d had brunch two days ago. The pool still reeked of chlorine.

Someone was fucking in the same cabana. Again or still? Was it the same dudes? That would be impressive, but no, this time you could hear a distinctly female voice.

The path to my bungalow ran right next to the cabana, so I had no choice but to listen to their increasingly louder and more frequent sex sounds. As I was walking right next to the cabana, I could even hear her queef. I giggled like a 12 year old as silently as I could. Then I heard something that sent a bolt of lightning down my spine and froze me on the spot.

“Oh, Rölf! You’re so big! Fuck!”

It was Claudia’s voice.