“Of course it is. We both know that. ” Monroe nodded agreement. “Those dumb bastards will be tripping all over one another. Listen to me, Alex. Will you just listen?”

When Carl Monroe wants something from you, he'll talk you into submission if he has to. I had seen this before and now he started up with me again.

"As the legend of Alex Cross has it, you're broke now.

“I'm doing fine,” I said. “Roof over our heads. Food on the table.”

“You stayed in Southeast, when you could easily have gotten out,” he continued with this broken record I'd heard before. “You still working over at St. A's?”

“Yeah. Soup brigade. Some free therapy sessions. lbe-Black Samaritan.”

“You know, I saw you in a play once at St. A's. You can act, too. You have real presence.”

“Athol Fugard's The Blood Knot. ” I remembered the time. Maria had lured me into her theater group. “The play is powerful. It can make anybody look all right. ”

“You follow what I'm saying? You listening to me at all?”

“You want to many me.” I laughed out loud at Monroe. “You want to go out on a date with me first, though. ”

“Something like that,” Monroe roared back.

“You're doing it just the right way, Carl. I like to be sweet-talked before I get fucked.”

Monroe laughed some more, a little harder than he should have. He could be buddies with you, then stare right through you the next time you met. Some people called him “Coconut” around the department. I was one of them. “Brown on the outside, white inside.” I had the feeling that he was actually a lonely man. I still wondered exactly what he wanted from me.

Monroe was quiet for a moment. He spoke again as we turned onto the Whitehurst Freeway. Traffic was heavy, and slushy streets didn't help.