Chapter 58

WE WEREN'T BACK in the car for five seconds before I was pressing my palms against Molinari's in an exhilarated, drawn-out high five. Deputy director or not, he had handled himself pretty well.

"That was good, Molinari." I could hardly contain my smile. "And you know how clumsy these police goons can be when they're lugging¹ heavy evidence...."

Our eyes locked, and suddenly I was feeling that nervous-ness and attraction again. I put the car in gear. "I don't know what's supposed to happen with your contacts," I said, "but I think we'd better start by calling this in."

Molinari speed-dialed his office with Hardaway's name and aliases². We got a quick response. His Seattle file detailed³ a criminal past. Weapons possession, arms theft, bank rob-bery. By tomorrow morning we would know everything about him.

Suddenly I realized I hadn't heard from Jill. "I gotta make a call," I said to Molinari, punching in her cell phone number.

Jill's voice mail came on. "Hi, it's District Attorney Jill Bernhardt...."

Damn, Jill usually had her cell phone on. But I remem-bered about how she said she had a long day ahead in court. "It's me, Lindsay. It's two o' clock. Where you been?" I thought about saying more, but I wasn't in private. "Call me. I want to know how you are."

"Something wrong?" Molinari said when I hung up.

I shook my head. "A friend... She threw her husband out last night. We were supposed to talk. It's just that the guy's turned into a real creep."

"She's lucky, then," Molinari said, "to have a cop for a friend."

The thought amused me. Jill lucky to have a cop for a friend. I thought of calling her at the office, but she'd get back to me as soon as she turned on her phone. "Trust me, she can handle herself."

We turned on the ramp⁴ to the Bay Bridge. I didn't even have to use the top hat, as there was almost no traffic into the city. "Smooth sailing," I said. "We caught a break. Finally."

"Listen, Lindsay..." Molinari turned to me, his tone changed. "What do you think about having dinner with me tonight?"

"Dinner?" I thought for a second. I turned to him. "I think we know that might not be the best idea."

Molinari nodded in a resigned way, as if the thought got the better of him. "Still, we both gotta eat...." He curled a smile.

Holding the wheel, I felt my palms starting to sweat. Geez. There were a hundred reasons why this could be wrong. But hell, we had lives, too.

I looked at Molinari and smiled. "We gotta eat."

1 lugging   

超载运转能力

参考例句：

• I would smile when I saw him lugging his golf bags into the office. 看到他把高尔夫球袋拖进办公室，我就笑一笑。 来自辞典例句
• As a general guide, S＄1 should be adequate for baggage-lugging service. 一般的准则是，如有人帮你搬运行李，给一新元就够了。 来自互联网

2 aliases   

n.别名，化名( alias的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Can you allow the user to enter aliases for the longer entries? 可以允许用户为过长的文字选择别名吗？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The criminal has several aliases. 该罪犯有数个化名。 来自辞典例句

3 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

4 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。