The Sentry Part 22

Cole tipped his empty toward the vegetables.

"White bean salad with grilled veggies we can share. Maybe a little couscous. Carne asada for me. Sound good?"

"Good."

Sure.

Notice how the loyal friend prepares his subject for the evening's festivities.

"I'm having a beer. Get one, then you can fill me in while I'm prepping the coals."

Pike took a beer from the fridge. Cole grabbed a third, and followed him out. The cat trailed behind them. He liked to watch the slope for field mice and gophers.

Cole pushed at the coals, which was a completely unnecessary act. Notice the immaculate technique as the World's Greatest Best Friend stalls the moment of truth.

"You go first, then I'll go. What happened with Mendoza and Gomer?"

Pike related what he knew about Mendoza, then moved on to Gomer. At first Cole only pretended to listen, but the graphic nature of their murders drew him in. Gomer's body was found behind the wheel of a car parked near the north end of Grand Ca.n.a.l. The blood in the vehicle suggested Gomer was killed at the scene. The first cut was likely a downward stab wound on the left side of the neck that sliced through the carotid artery, the esophagus, most of the surrounding musculature down to visible bone, and into the upper thorax. The second cut was drawn from the right ear across the throat to the base of the left ear, also exposing visible bone.

Pike said, "They didn't have a good time-of-death on Mendoza, but Gomer probably died between eleven P.M. and one A.M. this morning. When the cops cut me free, I checked the spot where they found him. He had a head-on view of Wilson's house. Mendoza was probably set up on the other side."

When Cole realized what Pike was saying, he held up a hand.

"Waitaminute. Are you telling me these guys were watching the house?"

"Yes."

"But that doesn't make sense. If they grabbed Wilson and Dru this morning, why go back to the house? What did they want?"

"Maybe someone Wilson and Dru told them about, but that's only a guess. It was probably the man who killed them. The light I saw in the upstairs bedroom when I called you this morning, that was probably the killer. The same man who jimmied the kitchen window."

Cole didn't like it, or what it might mean.

"Mendoza and Gomer came back for this guy, but he was already there. He saw them first, and took them out?"

Pike c.o.c.ked his head the other way, and the tangerine sunset gleamed on his gla.s.ses.

"Yes. I think he was still watching the house when I was there this morning. I could feel him."

Cole prodded the coals, and watched firefly embers swirl in the heat. Everything had changed in the s.p.a.ce of a day. A neighborhood shakedown had become an illusion. Vandalism and a.s.sault were a sleight-of-hand trick to hide something worse, and now Cole knew the magicians were liars. None of it was real, and probably never had been.

Pike's voice came from the embers.

"Now you."

Cole looked at his friend.

"I spoke with Steve Brown today, the man who owns Smith's house, and I had another talk with Jared. I have to tell you some things, and you're not going to like it. I don't think Dru has been honest with you."

Cole paused for Pike to react, but Pike gave him no more reaction than a department store mannequin. The cat left the edge of the deck, twined once through Pike's legs, then sat, its eyes narrow and watchful.

Cole put his bottle on the rail.

"Brown has never met Wilson Smith or heard of him. He let Dru use the house because they had a relations.h.i.+p. She was supposed to be there alone, and Brown was furious when he found out someone was living with her. He knew nothing about her uncle, or Dru working at Wilson's food place, or any of it. He believed she was living on alimony. Until we spoke this morning, he expected to resume their relations.h.i.+p when he returns."

Pike remained motionless, floating at the edge of the deck. Cole wished he could see behind the black gla.s.ses, but that view was hidden.

"After I spoke with Brown, I talked to Jared. Jared told me things that put the lie to everything this woman told you about herself. It's not good, Joe. It's pretty d.a.m.ned bad."

"What?"

The cat crouched at Pike's feet. Its tail snapped and twitched as Cole repeated Jared's story. Cole kept it brief, but left nothing out.

"If you want to talk to him again, I'll go with you, but I believe Jared is telling the truth. When I left him, I took some things from their house that should have their prints, and gave them to John Chen. I don't know that these people are in the system, but they might be, and the prints might help us figure this out. Also, I spoke with Lucy. Until we hear back from Chen, all I could give her were their names, but her investigator is going to see what he can find in New Orleans. That's it. That's been my day."

Pike seemed to sway, as if pushed by a breeze, only the air was still.

"I'm sorry, man. If you want me to call off Chen and Lucy, I will."

Pike turned toward the canyon and placed his hands on the rail. Cole wondered if he needed the rail to stop swaying.

"No. Don't call them off."

"All right. You want another beer?"

Pike shook his head.

Cole said, "What do you want to do?"

"About what?"

"We're in this because you want to help this woman. I'm fine with that, but now, well, maybe things have changed."

"She still needs help."

"Okay. If that's what you want."

"That's what I want."

The cat whipped and twitched its tail at a furious rate, and its eyes were dangerous slits.

Cole said, "I'm sorry, man."

His phone rang. Cole wasn't going to answer, but decided to give Pike some time. He covered the grill then went inside for the phone. He scooped up the handset a second after the message machine, and spoke over the recording.

"Hey, I'm here. Don't hang up-it'll stop."

"Mr. Cole?"

Cole didn't recognize the man's voice.

"That's right. Who's this?"

"My name is Charles Laine. You were at my home today on the ca.n.a.l. You spoke with my housekeeper about my surveillance system."

Cole glanced outside to signal Pike, but Pike had left the rail.

"Yes, sir. Thanks for getting back to me."

"Not a problem. Is this about the police investigation? The police came by yesterday."

"Yes, sir, same thing, but I am not a police officer. I'm a licensed investigator working in private employ."

"I know. I have your card here. Irma says you asked if we record the camera feed."

Cole looked at the opposite end of the deck, but still did not see Pike.

"Yes, sir. We're looking to identify two men who might have pa.s.sed by your house yesterday morning."

"I might be able to help. The system I have here records, but I'm not sure if you'll see enough of the street. I know you can see some of it, but the camera is set up to show people who come to the gate."

"I understand. Could I take a look at whatever you have?"

"Sure. I'll try to burn a copy tonight. I've never done it before, but I have an instruction booklet somewhere around here. If it works, I'll get it over to you tomorrow. If not, maybe you could come here."

"That would be great, Mr. Laine. Thank you."

When Cole put down the phone, he went back to the deck. He wanted to share the one piece of good news he had gotten that day, but when he stepped outside, Joe Pike was gone.

"Joe?"

The cat was gone, too.

"Joseph?"

The canyon swallowed his voice.

Cole went to the rail. Down below, the first few flickering lights twinkled in the shadows. Darkness pooled in the deeper cuts like purple mist, and would climb as the sun died until it consumed him. But not now, and not yet.

"It's going to be okay, buddy. It only hurts for a while."

His voice a whisper meant only for himself.

Then the cat growled, somewhere to his right and below on the slope. It started low, and spiraled louder like a terrible war cry until it filled the canyon with an anguished wail as if the cat was in pain. Cole thought it was the cat. He was pretty sure it was the cat.

Cole leaned over the rail, trying to see. He stretched as far into s.p.a.ce as he could, trying to find the cat by listening to its scream, but saw nothing. The cat was there, but so well hidden he could not be found.

Sometimes you want to help them, but can't.

27.

The air felt clean when it cooled in the evening. Pike opened the Jeep's windows, letting the air chill his skin. Oncoming headlights, flaring brake lights, and neon signs scribed molten arcs on the Jeep's gleaming hood. As he neared the ocean, streetlights cast halos in the mist, each halo brighter than the last. Pike drove back to the ca.n.a.ls.

Gomer had been murdered in an empty lot on the west side of Grand Ca.n.a.l where a home had recently been razed. Pike had visited the site earlier when the police cut him free, but Gomer had been killed at night, so Pike wanted to see this place in the darkness as Gomer and his killer had seen it. He had no place else to go.

Pike parked on the street, and walked past an abandoned trailer across bare ground to the ca.n.a.l. Earlier, the area had been filled with officers, but now it was deserted. Not long after the project was started, a new foundation had been poured and the trailer was brought in for the construction manager, but somewhere along the way the money dried up and the project had been abandoned. Gomer had driven up onto the construction site and parked facing the ca.n.a.l.

Smith's house was several houses to Pike's right on the opposite bank not far beyond the mouth of an adjoining ca.n.a.l. The location offered a good view of Smith's backyard, half the ground-floor windows, and the second floor, but Pike thought Gomer was an idiot for having parked where he was openly visible. Pike could see families in the houses across the ca.n.a.l and people crossing the footbridge that spanned the adjoining ca.n.a.l, and knew any of them could see him just as they could have seen Gomer. One of the people who'd seen Gomer that night had left him soaking in blood.

Pike studied the houses and the shadows beneath the pedestrian bridge and the play of light on the water. He felt he understood everything that had happened until Mendoza and Gomer returned to the ca.n.a.ls to be murdered. He did not understand why they had returned, why they were killed, or who had killed them, and now this business about Dru and Wilson made him rethink himself, and them, and everything he had believed was true. Maybe that was good. He believed the answers were here in this place, so his task was to recognize the signs. If he found them, he could re-create the events, and then he would know what happened. The same as reading the words in a book. Reading each word and adding it to the next to build a sentence, then connecting the sentences to learn the story. The task was to find enough words.

Pike slipped out his cell phone and called John Chen, who answered in his typical paranoid whisper.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"Pike. Two bodies were bagged on the Venice Ca.n.a.ls this morning. You know about them?"

Chen didn't answer.

"John?"

"Sorry. I thought you were asking about something else."

"Their names were Mendoza and Gomer."

"That's Sandy Lancaster. I'm not on it, but she's here in the next cube. What do you need?"

Pike asked if either showed signs of defensive wounds or ligature marks, and whether the police had located the place of Mendoza's murder. Chen told him to hang on, and Pike could hear murmurs as Chen spoke with the criminalist in the next cube. A few moments later, Chen was back on the line.

"Nah, man. Nothing defensive and negative on the ligatures. These guys didn't see it coming, if that's what you're after."

"What about Mendoza?"

"They think so, but they can't confirm until the blood work comes back. She said they found a good-sized splatter on one of the pedestrian bridges they have down there. I don't know which one."

"That's okay, John. I can figure it out."

Pike was staring at the pedestrian bridge that joined the north end of Smith's street. There would be another bridge at the south end. With Gomer watching the north side, Mendoza would have been watching the south. Each fact was a word to build the story.

Pike started to end the call, but his eyes found Dru's house again.

"Did you find any prints on the things Elvis gave you?"