There were two officers in the panda car. Javi mentally flipped through the various options for his plan, feeling his confidence in his plan waver. Why couldn’t the damn Russian have given him time to actually plan and prep something decent? Now he needed to make sure his imaginary problem was big enough hat it required two cops to solve, but not so big that they were going to tie him up all night or call Joe.

At least they seemed to be buying his performance so far. Apparently Lanny had been right to want help warding off the feds, since the guy who had rolled the window down glanced briefly up at the boathouse before giving Javi his full attention. These guys weren’t out here patrolling randomly – they knew something was going down. Javi got the distinct feeling he should have asked for more money.

The officer gave him the opportunity to run his mouth some more, which he seized upon in the hopes of dragging the conversation out.

“Are you serious, bro?” He stared through the window incredulously. Javi was a practiced liar, and it didn’t hurt when he had to fake a facial expression which ran close to his true feelings. “Like, they don’t even tell you what the 911 call is about? What actually is the point of them asking me all them questions? I gotta be interrogated on the phone and now you gotta interrogate me all over again? Nah.” He shook his head. “You lot just love questioning Latinos, huh?”

Javi clicked his tongue against his teeth and exhaled in a way which would have earned him an instant detention from a teacher.

“Bro, I see someone out there,” he gestured towards the old pier, in the opposite direction to the boathouse, “and it’s like real small, like a kid or a midget, and it ain’t movin’, you get me? And you people up here, making me wait out in the rain – ” he shook his sopping hoody again for effect “ – and you’re all, ‘oh we’ll get someone to you as quick as possible’, and I have to wait forever for you to rock up and be all, ‘is someone hurt?’ Nah,” he held his hands up. “Nahhh, sort it out, man. I’m out here being a good citizen and all, and you better be paying me because right now I’m doing your job better than you, is all I’m sayin’.”