The Forgotten Man

"I'm busy. You develop it if you want."

Diaz looked as if she was going to say something more, but turned back to the laptop and angled the screen for a closer look.

"Okay, fuck it. We get this cleaned up, it might be good for a registration. I want to get this over there right away."

"Are you good with the pass for Thomas and Dana?"

"We're good, but not if they had anything to do with the murder. Everything about this killing stinks like sex to me. If it turns out they had something to do with the murder, all bets are off."

Pardy said, "It wasn't about sex."

He was slouched back in the chair with his arms crossed and his legs out, looking like he was about to fall asleep. Diaz's mouth tightened with irritation.

"Okay, genius, what do you think it was?"

"A straight-up murder."

Diaz swiveled to face him, and Pardy went on.

"I haven't been sitting on my ass, Diaz. A witness ID'd Rei

"What witness?"

"Homeless dude I know from Metro. Rei

Maybe Pardy looked sleepy because he had been working the case all night.

Diaz said, "Then what? Someone picked him up, and they drove to an alley in the middle of nowhere? Why the alley? Why that alley?"

Pardy stared at her, and seemed absolutely confident in his answer.

"Because it was in the middle of nowhere. Because whoever brought him there intended to kill him. They might have even murdered him somewhere else, and the alley is just a body dump. We didn't find a shell casing. We didn't find the cell phone Cole said he had. A lot of things are missing."

Diaz frowned, but I was liking how Pardy was putting it together.

She said, "Beckett found no evidence the body was moved."

"If he wasn't moved far and he was moved right away, there wouldn't necessarily be anything to find."

I said, "How about the car? Did your guy see the car?"

"No, but it had to be nearby or someone gave Rei

Diaz studied Pardy as if she had never seen him before. A deep smile slowly split her face, but Pardy didn't smile back. Diaz fingered the little heart necklace.

"Well, now, that is outstanding police work, Detective. That is truly excellent work."

Pardy nodded, and Diaz went on.

"Have your wit bring you around to his friends. Talk to them, too."

"Already in the works."

Diaz smiled at him a little bit longer, but Pardy didn't return her smile.

"Okay, Cole, you're going to talk to your boy, Chen?"

"I'll bring it over now."

Pardy roused himself from the chair and picked up Stephen's computer.

"I'll bring it. I want to meet your pal, Chen. Maybe I can get my own private Walk-in Wednesday."

Diaz said, "Give Cole an evidence receipt."

"Sure. I can do that."

Pardy filled out a receipt for the computer, signed it, and then they told me to leave.

39

Frederick

Frederick did not open Payne's gas station that morning.

He had spent most of the night sick to his stomach with the growing certainty that he would not be able to escape.

The army of forces aligned against him was enormous, and might be anyone-Cole, a policeman, the priest, any random motorist who pulled to the pumps; everyone who crossed his path might be a tentacle employed by the beast that was trying to find him. Frederick imagined a dozen scenarios, all of them ending with his own terrible death, until finally he locked his trailer, brought the shotgun out to his truck, and drove back to Los Angeles to see if the police were still guarding Cole's house.

40

John Chen was out of the office that morning working a homicide near Chavez Ravine. I left word on his voice mail explaining about Golden's computer, and asked him to call. After I left word for Chen, I called Starkey.

"Detectives. This is Starkey."

"It's me."

"Oh. Hey."

She sounded uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable, too.

"I feel bad about last night. I didn't mean it to play that way."

"What are you talking about? I didn't think twice."

"I could've played it better, is all. I should've asked you to stay. Lucy was all for it."

"Cole, please, you're making too much out of this. You had to adjust your plans. I'm cool with that."

"Okay. Listen, I want to talk to you about David Rei

"Look, Cole, what is this, a mercy meal? You don't have to feed me today to make up for last night. It's not like I don't have a life."

"I'm not trying to make it up. I still need a way to find Rei

She hesitated.

"C'mon, Starkey. Please."

"Begging is good, Cole. Begging, I like. I'll meet you in twenty minutes."

She hung up before I could say something smart.

Musso Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard was a five-minute walk from the Hollywood station. It's been in the same location since 1938, hunkered down behind glass-paned doors that have kept the restaurant safe since Hollywood 's early begi

I parked in the back lot and made my way inside. Diners lined the counter, and most of the red-leather booths were already filled with the typical Musso cross-section of businessmen, studio flacks, musicians, and bookies. Starkey was already seated in a narrow booth in the center aisle, set up with water and a couple of menus. I put Rei

"Hey. Thanks for meeting me."

Starkey looked uncharacteristically pleased with herself.

"Don't try to feel me up or anything, Cole. I don't put out on the first date."

Starkey's comment left me feeling awkward, especially when three women in the next booth glanced over.

"Look, I'm sorry if we had a misunderstanding. I didn't mean for last night to be a date date. It was just di

"I was teasing you, Cole. You're so fricking easy to tease."

Starkey popped two antacid tablets when the waiter took our orders. I went with a Denver omelet; Starkey ordered a tongue sandwich. When the waiter left, Starkey glanced at the reports and articles.

"I don't know what I can tell you about this."

"If Chen can't pull the registration, I'm out of ways to find George. Finding David might be as good as finding George."

I tapped David Rei

"Did you read it or just pass it along?"

"I read it. That kid had problems."

"Yeah, he did, but there was only this one arrest in his record. The newspapers said the neighbors called the police three or four times on this kid."

Starkey shrugged.

"It's newspapers, Cole. Newspapers get everything wrong. But even if it's true, the police roll out, somebody agrees to pay for somebody else's broken window, everyone calms down, and that's the end of it. The cops could have rolled out a dozen times-two dozen-and we wouldn't know."