The newspeople had been there for the purpose of interviewing Rosita Vasquez about Tami and her ordeal. They were putting stuff away, getting ready to leave when the shooting started. Needless to say, after the shooting, their cameras were up and rolling.

Tess had been so focused on Oliver that she’d not even noticed the crowd until after everything was code 4. As for the shooting of Smith, Tess herself felt confident that she’d had no choice, considering what she knew about the man. Briefly, she wished that she’d had a chance to interview him, but it was doubtful he would have talked. He killed people too easily; there was no room for half measures.

“Medford PD found another body in the hotel,” Steve told her.

Tess was sitting in one of the chairs on Oliver’s porch. The weather was balmy, in transition, the cold front having moved on, a warmer one moving in, so it was pleasant to be outside, and she didn’t want to be closed in. Jethro had taken Oliver to the hospital to get his chin stitched.

Steve sat in the other chair.

Tess turned to him. “Smith killed someone else?”

“We think so, yes. Dead guy is Doug Dugan. According to Agent Bass, who will be here shortly by the way, Dugan was Cyrus Beck’s girl Friday.”

Tess smiled. “That’s a funny way to put it.”

“I know. I thought we needed some levity. The guy was actually a decorated Vietnam vet, had worked for Beck for years.”

“Smith bit the hand that fed him.”

“Apparently.”

“There’s something else. What’s the matter?”

He gave a tilt of his head. “You always could read me. I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

“I’m too tired to pick what I want to hear first. Just give it all to me.”

“Okay, first the good news. LAPD is sending up a couple of cold case detectives right away to collect the gun we recovered. They’ve had a couple of dinosaurs working the case for years and they’ve uncovered some fresh clues and leads. They weren’t surprised about who had the gun.”

“Really? They knew about Smith?”

“Jim Smith is not his real name.”

“No surprise there,” Tess said. “Who was he?”

“Real name, Royal Redd. There were prints on the .357 we recovered. And since they had Redd’s prints on file, it was easy to make the comparison. He had minor arrests back when he was eighteen, but no police contact since then.”

Tess arched her eyebrows. “Seriously? That dirtbag hasn’t been in trouble with the law since he was eighteen?”

“He seems to have been good at staying off the radar. As far as Isaac Pink’s case goes, after speaking with the LA cold case guys, they’ve come a long way in twenty-five years.”

“New evidence?”