The small restaurant was empty now, except for the lone man in the corner by the window—the one in the T-shirt and jeans. He read the paper from page one to the end, then folded it neatly on the table. He continued reading through some papers he pulled from a envelope, than he put those back inside the leather jacket that hung over the back of his chair. It was much too warm for leather in the LA heat. And even in jeans, the man seemed out of place in a beach town where in June the population had begun wearing shorts and bikinis several weeks before, and would until the end of September. But it was more than his clothes that made him different. Despite his casual attire, he had a sophisticated air about him, and a way of combing his untidy black hair away from his angular face in a gesture
