The church smelled of sage and urine. Beer cans and magazines dotted the concrete floor, filthy from the sand blown through the broken walls, and faded by time. Pike guessed the urine smell was left b...
The Police Administration Building was a beautiful glass-and-concrete building with a triangular atrium that looked like the prow of a crystal ship. The cops who worked there called it the Boat. The o...
Terry Ito had said Eddie Tang was on his way up. Maybe Eddie figured taking advantage of Mimi Warren and stealing the Hagakure were the keys to ascendancy.
Scott clipped the lead to Maggie’s collar, and paused beside the car to let her look around. He thought she might have to pee, so he took her on a short walk. Scott let her set the pace, and sniff tre...
Ramos walked away. Two. Got him. Pike stayed with Cole and Park, letting Stone pick up Ramos. They had designated Park as Target One and Ramos as Target Two. Jon was on Two. If the meet went bad, Jon...
Pollard took a breath. First Maria Juarez had disappeared, and now her tape had been destroyed, the same tape Maria claimed as her husband’s alibi. Pollard found herself smiling, though without any hu...
Pike stepped into the first bay and spotted the man from the Monte Carlo in an office at the rear of the building. He was in front of a television with his back to the door. The Dodgers were playing a...
Pike said, What’s wrong? His name isn’t Haines. It’s Hewitt, and he isn’t just your ordinary junkie. He’s on the run from the Russian mob, he used to be in the federal witness protection program, and...
Most dogs could hear four times better than a person, but Maggie’s enormous, upright ears evolved to detect quiet predators and distant prey. She could control each ear independently of the other. Eig...
I was halfway up a wide curving staircase when Mimi Warren and her friend Kerri came around the corner and started down. Mimi’s nose was red and her hair looked like she hadn’t brushed it. When she sa...
I thought it might stand out because of the nature of the arrest. A vice sting? A Serbian sex ring. They worked for a Serb gang set. Ah. Okay, that sounds familiar. NoHo Vice took down thirteen or fou...
I looked like an ad for Banana Republic. Maybe Banana Republic would give me a job. They could put my picture in their little catalog and under it they could say: Elvis Cole, famous detective, outfitt...
I have to make a couple of calls, then I want you to help me with something. She sat up, interested. What? Phone numbers. We have to build a phone tree tracing the calls to and from the phones Pike fo...
I glanced at Pike, but Pike was staring out the front door. Intimidating the neighborhood. I said, Maybe he mentioned a buddy who worked at a Shell Station or an ex-con he would have drinks with.
I came to do business, and you’re starting this shit? Park touched his arm. Come. We speak elsewhere. Fuck that. I’m not going anywhere. He shook off Park’s hand, but Park gripped him again. You are n...
He cupped her face and forced her to see him. She had to see past her fear. Her eyes met his and he knew they were together. Watch me. Don’t look at them or anything else. Watch me until I motion for...
He bent to take her arm, and I saw his shirt was spattered with blood. Streaks and drips of blood marked his shirt with slaughterhouse designs, and more blood speckled his face. I
Four hours later Pike was gone and I was cooking a very nice puttanesca sauce when I decided to call Lucy Chenier. I was most of the way through a bottle of California merlot. In the course of my life...
During the past two months, Holman had trained part-time as a trimmer in the printing plant, which meant his job was to load five-, six-, and eight-foot-wide rolls of fabric into the printer, make sur...
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...