“So where we headed to?”

Mendez hulked behind the wheel of my mini cooper, looking ill at ease.

“If you’d let me drive -“

“Forget about it. Either I drive or we don’t go.”

I threw up my hands. “Hey, Mendez, this was your stinking idea, not mine!”

“Yeah, well. Whatever.” He fiddled with my CD player. “What do you have in here, nancy-boy? Probably nothing but nancy-boy music.”

I gritted my teeth. “Take a left on Patterson and then another left at the light. There should be a park there.”

“This loser’s taking my Jodi to a park? What the hell’s he gonna do, have a midnight picnic?”

“Exactly. For some weird reason, girls really seem to like that.”

“Huh.”

For a minute, we sat in the parked car, silent. Then Mendez wordlessly gunned the ignition.

“I’m going to kill this sonofabitch when I lay my hands on him,” he growled, his hands clenched on the wheel.

“You know, it is a free country. Jodi did agree to go with him.”

He scowled at me. “Well, he’s not gonna get away with this. And neither is she.”