“Blaine’s restaurant. I’m sorry, but we’re just closing.”

“Is Kent there?” I asked.

“Who’s calling?”

“My name’s Zack Walker. But tell him it’s a friend of Lawrence’s.”

I leaned up against the kitchen counter and waited. Finally, “Hello?”

“Is this Kent?”

“Yes.”

“Look, you don’t know me, but I’m a friend of Lawrence’s.”

“A friend?” Suspicious. I could almost imagine the eyebrow going up.

“Listen, not a close friend. But I don’t know anything about Lawrence’s next of kin, or who should be contacted, but he mentioned your name one time.”

“Next of kin?” Kent asked. The words were, I realized as soon as I’d said them to Kent, loaded. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s at Mercy General. You should probably get there.”

I went downstairs and stepped out onto the sidewalk, took in a deep breath of the cool night air.

As if there weren’t enough cars at the curb, including the cab that brought me here, an unmarked black Ford with a whip antenna and mini-hubcaps screeched to a stop in front of Lawrence’s door. A tall man with a mustache and short black hair, dressed in a black Burberry trench, got out from behind the wheel. It took a moment before I realized who he was. Detective Steve Trimble, from two nights before, who’d been investigating Miles Diamond’s death-by-SUV at the men’s store on Emmett.

He glanced at me as he strode by, no doubt thinking he recognized me from somewhere, then bounded up the stairs two at a time to Lawrence’s apartment. In a matter of seconds he was back down, pointed in my direction, and said, “With me.”

He started back to his car, turned to make sure I was following him, which I was. He motioned for me to go around to the other side and get in. I did.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked. “I know you from somewhere.”

I said, “If I want to be spoken to like I’m a piece of shit, I can stay home. I’ve got teenagers.”

“Who are you?”

“Zack Walker. We met night before last. The thing on Emmett. Miles Diamond.”

Trimble squinted. “You were with Lawrence.” It was almost a question.

“That’s right.”

“And here you are again.” There was something about the way he said it, that this was some sort of cosmic coincidence.

“Yeah,” I said. “I found him.”

“Isn’t that interesting.”

“No more than his former partner showing up to find out who tried to kill him.”

He tried to conceal his surprise, but the flash in his eyes was there. “Yeah, we used to work together. Lawrence told you that?”

“Yeah.”

“What else did he tell you?”

I said nothing for a moment. “He told me a lot of things. Why don’t you ask your questions.”