This voice was younger than the earlier voice and shaking with rage. One threat would have been easy to write off as a crank, but this made three. Maybe something was going around.

I deleted the messages, then found Bastilla's card on the edge of my desk and called her.

Bastilla.

This is Elvis Cole. I have a question for you.

When can I have your files?

Take it easy, Bastilla. That isn't why I'm calling.

We don't have anything else to talk about.

I didn't call to argue. I'm here in my office to get the papers together. I'm seeing Levy about it tomorrow morning. He doesn't think there will be a problem.

She hesitated, then sounded mollified.

All right. What?

Did Angel Tomaso change his story?

Tomaso.

Like she had so much on her plate she couldn't remember.

Tomaso was the last person to see Yvonne Bennett alive, or don't you know that? He was Crimmens's witness.

Right. We couldn't find him.

Tomaso was a major element in establishing the time frame. How can you ignore him?

We didn't ignore him. We just couldn't find him. That happens. Either way, the evidence we have is overwhelming.

One more thing

Cole, you're not a participant in this.

Was Byrd a suspect in any of the seven cases?

Only yours.

Mine. I now owned Yvonne Bennett.

Besides Bennett.

That's how good this guy was, Cole there were no suspects in any of the cases except Bennett. That was the only time he fucked up. Now if you want to know anything else, you can read about it in the paper tomorrow.

Bastilla hung up.

Bitch.

I decided to make a copy of the Lionel Byrd file. I would keep the original, but bring the copy to Levy. If he gave me the okay, I would give the copy to Bastilla.

I reread the pages and the notes as I fed them through the machine until I came to the witness list. The list showed a work number for Tomaso at the Braziliana Coffee Shop and a cell number. It had been three years, but I decided to give them a try. The cell number brought me to a bright young woman named Carly, who told me the number had been hers for almost a year. When I asked if she knew Tomaso, she told me she didn't, but offered that I was the second call she'd received from people trying to find him. The police had called, too.

I said, When was that, Carly?

A couple days ago. No, wait three days.

Uh-huh. You remember who called?

Ah, a detective, he said. Timmons?

Crimmens?

That's it.

At least Crimmens had done his due diligence.

I tried the coffee shop next and heard exactly the same thing. Crimmens had called for Tomaso, but the current manager had never met Angel, had no idea how to reach him, and was pretty sure Tomaso had left the job more than two years ago because that was how long she had worked there. I hung up and went back to copying the file.