Trouble on Temple Street: An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery

He’s standing about a foot away from me. He holds his right hand behind his back. Could he have some sort of weapon?

My mind whirls. I don’t know how to play this. I decide to keep it casual, as if I don’t even suspect anything is askew. “Hi, Kyle. How have you been?”

“I heard that you were at the koban. Asking about me.” I try to create more space in between us, but Kyle’s not budging.

“Yeah, the LAPD is having a booth at Nisei Week, so I was wondering if maybe you can help out. Since …

“Grandma, let me see that log book.”

“Be careful; it’s old as dirt,” Grandma Toma cautions me as she hands over her father’s notebook that he kept while working as a policeman in Manzanar.

I sit down at her desk, crowded by Sudoku books, John Wooden biographies, and junk mail. Grandma Toma is a bit of a hoarder; it took us quite a while to empty out her house before she moved in. The only good thing about it today is that she’s kept my grandfather’s record of his connection to a military policeman named McDonnell.

The incidents throughout the …

When Aunt Cheryl and I arrive on Cortez’s floor at USC L.A. General Hospital, I feel my heart both rising and sinking at the same time. Rising because Cortez has come out of his coma. Sinking because I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to see him.

Appearing from the side waiting room is Nay, and Aunt Cheryl immediately becomes frostier than even usual.

“Girl, it’s about time you showed up,” Nay says, giving my shoulders a squeeze. Aunt Cheryl, meanwhile, doesn’t bother to say hello to Nay and continues through the automatic doors to the ICU.

“I see she’s …

“What?” I say, my voice rising as the din at Bottega Louie gets louder with the “ladies who lunch” crowd.

“The cop was dirty,” Rowan James repeats, and I suppress the urge to sock his drunken face in the mouth. How can he say that about my boyfriend, who may be fighting for his life at USC General Hospital in Lincoln Heights?

“Cortez Williams is not dirty,” I exclaim.

“You know him?”

“You’re not worthy to shine his shoes.” I don’t know where that came from. Maybe I heard my Grandma Toma say that one time. I had blown my …

I know that my boyfriend, Cortez Williams, will say I’m crazy. But he’s in a medically induced coma at USC General Hospital and has no say.

My parents, especially my mother, will say I’m crazy. So would maybe my Grandma Toma. My grandmother, Lita, would instead be proud of me and say something like my gumption came from her side of the family. Let’s not mention anything about my grandfather, my father’s bio dad, who served time in prison. That’s just something that the Rush family doesn’t talk about around our dinner table. I can’t even imagine what my Aunt …