I printed the newspaper text, returned to DarkVisions, clicked the bloody knife contact icon, and inquired if anything new had come up on the case.

Within seconds, I had a reply.

hey alex jason blasco here aka DV ZAPPER aka the mannnn. no there is shit the cops don’t wanna talk maybe its prejustice or something tranh was veetnamise you know????? if you hear something you can post with me

Googling Jason Blasco brought up a similarly misspelled MySpace page.

I’d just corresponded with a gawky, dark-haired, fourteen-year-old, self-described “genius wizard gore-geek” who lived in Minneapolis and liked AC/DC “even tho theyr older then anteeks and have shit drumming.”

I asked him how he’d heard about the Ojo Negro case.

they were in a magzine one a those thrilling detectives or some shit is in a big pile

ebay???

don do that shit this is slo lets im

sorry no buddy list

kidding

sorry

sucks dude

so that magazine…

you like that shit????

if the stories are good

i like it when they find the guy and xecute

yeah that’s better

got tons a that shit you can buy it if you want thrilling det shocking det

how much

five bucks each

think about it

take or leaf

take

send cash dude no paypal yet

I asked for an address. He was ready with a P.O.B.

Ah, enterprising youth.

where are you alex geographic i mean

l.a.

cool manson nightstalker original and ramirez skid row slasher maybe even zodiac went down there not just san francsco

yeah hows minnesota

sucks send cash if you want fedex give me a number

snail mails ok

if you don mine slime trail gotta go

Milo phoned at seven p.m.

“Lots of tips?” I said.

“Think Noah looking out the window of the ark. One anonymous caller claims Tony Mancusi is ‘kinky.’ The rest is psychics and psychotics. I’m halfway through the pile and Gordon Beverly drops by. Nice man, he tried the friends himself, no luck. You do any better with Good?”

I described my meeting with Andrea and Indy.

He said, “Gets rattled and nearly strangles the dog. Interesting.”

“I thought so.”

“So now we have to look at respectable Mr. Good more closely.” He laughed. “You’d think people would get smart. Open the door, smile, lie pleasantly, we all move on.”

“Criminals think that way,” I said. “Average folk can get spooked.”

“Average folk with something to hide. Okay, I’ll pursue Mr. Good once I make some headway on Mancusi.”

“Want me to go back to Good’s house tonight?”

“No, big game coming up, guy’s not going anywhere. Let him simmer for a while. Even if I wanted to bug him, my night’s spoken for. One of my rookies was pulled off surveillance, I’ll be the one eyeballing Tony Mancusi in an hour.”

“Time for strong coffee.”

“Strong and bitter. Like moi. Talk to you tomorrow, Alex.”

“One more thing.”

“Is this gonna make me smile or cringe?”