TWILIGHT SETTLED like a murky shawl as I drove away from the crime scene. Marx had taken an enormous risk by threatening Lou Poitras. He would have anticipated I would tell Poitras, which meant Marx was confident he could control the situation however Poitras reacted probably by doing exactly what he had threatened. But people don't take enormous risks unless they're desperate, which meant Marx was hiding something important. If he wanted to make me back off, then I wanted to get even closer.

I pulled into a gas station on Ventura Boulevard, called Joe Pike, then an attorney named Abbot Montoya. It was late in the day, but I knew Mr. Montoya would take my call.

How are you, my son? It is good to hear you.

The smile in his voice was warm.

Abbot Montoya was a cultured gentleman in his seventies, but he had not always been cultured and no one in those days would have described him as a gentleman. Mr. Montoya was once an East L.A. gangbanger along with his best friend from those days, another young thug named Frank Garcia. Together, they had risen from the barrio, Abbot Montoya working his way through UCLA Law and Frank Garcia building a food empire worth more than a billion dollars. Frank owned a city councilman named Henry Maldenado. He probably owned others, as well.

It's good to hear you, too, sir. I have a favor to ask.

What you call a favor, we call an expression of love. However we can help, it will never be enough.

Frank Garcia had hired Pike and me to find the person who murdered his only child. We did, and they've been like this ever since.

Do you know anything about a political management firm called Leverage Associates?

I know of them. They are a firm of long standing.

I need background information on them and their clients. One of their clients is an LAPD deputy chief named Thomas Marx. Another is Nobel Wilts.

Councilman Wilts?

Yes, sir. Is Councilman Maldenado a client of theirs?

He is not, but it would not matter if he were. Would you like to speak with him about these people?

Yes, sir. If he would.

Mr. Montoya chuckled as if the thought of Maldenado refusing was laughable.

He will be most happy to see you.

Sir, I can't have Leverage learning of this. The people I ask about, they can't know I'm asking.

Para siempre. Trust me on this.

I lowered the phone but remained in the gas station, thinking how easily I had found Angel Tomaso. Having Jack Eisley as a contact had helped, but a couple of phone calls and there he was. Almost as if Bastilla and Crimmens hadn't been trying. Ivy Casik hadn't been much more difficult, and now I wondered if Bastilla had bothered to follow up. She had ignored me when I asked.