The highway side

There's never a cab when you want one but there it was, a Sky Blue Taxi sitting in front of the courthouse at 26th and California. I parked in a metered spot, walked back, and pointed at the whi

The highway side

The highway side

TWENTY The truck Jesse Lopez had been driving was registered to West End Trucking on Blue Island Avenue in Chicago. But all I found at the address was a poor man's bank: a 24-hour currency exch

The highway side

NINETEEN I took a nap with the balcony doors open. When I woke, it was dark. Out on the pier, the Ferris wheel was moving, and there was another ride next to it, both decked out with fancy carn

The highway side

EIGHTEEN I dialed the McKinley Truck Stop and asked for Maddy Miller. "Who?" "Sorry. Peggy Miller." I was in the trailer of an Allied Van Line rig, parked just off the shoulder of the Pacific

The highway side

SEVENTEEN The Vibrant Produce Company was in downtown LA, in an industrial area off Central Avenue. I crossed the Los Angeles River more than once searching for the place. I found streets with names

The highway side

The next installment of our central Illinois detective novel. Part fourteen: “Lonnie the lumper”

SIXTEEN Lonnie's voice came up the stairs ahead of him. "Bruce, you have any idea what time I gotta be up in the morning?" "Lonnie, this man came all the way from Chicago." "Is that so?" He

The highway side

The next installment of our central Illinois detective novel. Part fifteen: “Last seen at the quick pumper”

FIFTEEN I went back the way I'd come, over the highway, and then pulled into the truck stop. There was a restaurant inside and a "travel store." But the place was quieter than I'd expected at t

The highway side

The next installment of our central Illinois detective novel. Part fourteen: “Way outwest”

FOURTEEN The Fairmont Hotel was at the very end of Wilshire Boulevard, high on a bluff above the coast highway. The woman behind the front desk said she'd be delighted to give me an ocean view. When

The highway side

The next installment of our central Illinois detective novel. Part thirteen: “Nick meets 'Crazy Uncle Moe' ”