Waiters and busboys flowed in and out of the kitchen, and walked on tightropes between the tables.
We asked the people at the flower shop if they had seen anything, but they hadn’t. We asked every shopkeeper in the strip mall and most of the employees, but they all said no. I hoped they had seen so...
Wozniak wet his lips. You’ve got Paulette and Evelyn to think about. Wozniak’s wife and daughter. The cloudy eyes flicked to Pike, as bottomless and as dangerous as a thunderhead. I’ve been thinking a...
Second voice spoke, young and uncertain. This is Ilan. Can you hear me? Their voices had the hollow, faraway quality that came with being on speaker. I
The lobby pay phone, and called her. She answered on the second ring.
They could use in an identity search. Six feet, one ninety,
A dog barked further inland somewhere in Ghost Town, and Pike heard vehicles on nearby Pacific Boulevard, but here the houses slept. The smell of the sea was strong. The largest canal—Grand Canal—ran...
A fourth man entered, this guy a little shorter than the others, but wider, and hard to see when your eyes are blurring. He was in his fifties, with crinkly gray hair and a florid face and a dark blue...
A girl came out of the school. She was thin, and wispy, and appeared to be fifteen or sixteen. She stopped outside the doors, lit a cigarette, and inhaled hard enough to inflate her body. I watched he...
A left-behind look.
A sunset breeze out of Chavez Ravine stirred the warm air. Families were outside on their porches, some listening to the radio and others just talking. Pike heard Vin Scully, calling the game from nea...
A young Latin guy with thick shoulders and dull eyes came out when I stopped, as if he had been waiting. You the magazine guy? The magazine guy. That’s right. Elvis Cole. I have a ten o’clock with Ms....
Amber said, I love your earrings. The waitress rolled her eyes. Boyfriend medicine. Girl, don’t I know! They laughed together like besties forever. Tyson had seen Amber’s magic too many times to count...
An older woman wearing breeches and riding boots pushed a stroller out of a driveway and into the street. I stopped to let her cross. She smiled, thanking me. I smiled, saying take your time. A tiny h...
Behind him, McIntosh whispered. What if it’s people? It’s not. I know these are animal heads, but this could be human blood. These organs could be from people. They aren’t. Butchered people smell diff...
COLE STOPPED by his office that morning to pick up the calling logs before heading on to stay with the girl. His friend at the phone company had faxed twenty-six pages of outgoing and incoming phone n...
Cole was still working on the car when a dark green Lexus stopped across his drive. Cole straightened, and was surprised to see Pike and a young woman with ragged hair and big sunglasses get out. The...
Cole’s interest was a tell. He wasn’t expressing casual curiosity. He was all business, and carried himself like a man with a need to know. Scott didn’t like the way Cole’s friends were staring, like...
Cowly took the hand, and offered a perfunctory smile. Joyce
Criminals did not have friends. They had associates, suppliers, fences, whores, sugar daddies, enablers, dealers, collaborators, co-conspirators, victims and bosses, any of whom they might rat out and...
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