Darcy said, Nice set of lumps there, bro. Those brothers are something, aren't they?

It's an acne flare-up.

Sure. Mrs. Repko called us this morning. She wanted us to do something about you.

So this is you, doing something?

Maddux stopped squirming long enough to glare at me.

This is us sticking our necks out. One day we're ordered to give up our work, a week later, Marx and his asshats clear seven cases.

Maybe the asshats are better than you.

And maybe they pulled Byrd out their ass.

Darcy and Maddux were watching me. We were under an elm tree in Pasadena, and they shouldn't have been here and they shouldn't have been talking to me. They were probably detective-twos, but they probably hadn't been on the bureau for more than six or eight years. They might be guys on their way up or they might be guys who had already topped out, or maybe they were working for Marx. If they weren't, they were hanging out over the edge just by talking with me.

I said, You have a problem with what the task force is saying, you should take it up with them.

We tried. They told us to eat it.

Darcy smiled at his partner.

Actually, they told us the case was no longer our concern. We didn't like that. Then they refused to return our case files. We liked that even less.

So this is what we call an off-the-record conversation?

Something like that. Either way, we don't think they should have closed the case.

Their curious cop gaze rested on me, content to wait beneath the elm for the world to turn and the seasons to change and the sun to cool.

I said, What if I told you the case isn't closed? What if I said the task force was here pulling fibers off the girl's clothes at the same time Marx went public about Byrd?

Darcy's eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

I'd tell you to keep talking. I'd say if we like what you're doing, we might be willing to help.

I walked them through Bennett first, then sketched out Byrd and what I knew of the other murders and how Debra Repko was different. I told them about Ivy Casik and the reporter who might or might not be a reporter. Darcy and Maddux knew almost nothing about Byrd or the previous five murders, but they had worked on Debra Repko's case for almost five weeks before it was taken, and were willing to tell me about it.

Debra Repko had spent the day performing her duties at Leverage Associates, then accompanied five other Leverage employees to an evening political event where she assisted with media interviews. Once the interviews ended, Debra and her supervisor, a woman named Casey Stokes, walked to their cars together. Casey Stokes was the last person known to have seen Debra Repko alive.

Darcy and Maddux caught the case the following morning, and thought they lucked into a game-winning break right away.