He called the lab about Fidella. Listened, turned serious. Hung up. "One palm print showed up on a gutter that runs down a corner of the garage. The sneaker impressions are probably Nikes, a common model, but too shallow to have evidentiary value. All the blood's Sal's and wherever there was no blood, the house was clean--definitely a wipe-down, same as with Elise. That and the computer theft tells me we're dealing with the same guy. In terms of the palm print, the garage is near where the body got dumped so maybe a glove slipped while it got dragged past. Nothing shows up on AFIS but palms haven't been cataloged long enough to make that meaningful. I get a suspect, it's sufficient for a match."

He phoned Martin Mendoza's house, got the boy's mother, listened for a long time with what sounded like sympathy.

But when he hung up, he said, "She said all the right things, but her tone wasn't right, Alex. Too... composed. Like she was reading a script. This after her husband said she'd been throwing up nonstop."

I said, "Not enough anxiety because she knows he's safe."

"Safe," he said, "is a relative concept."

Hitching his trousers, he growled. "Time to hunt."

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER
26

San Antonio PD agreed to two daily drive-bys of Gisella Mendoza's apartment for the next three days.

The shift supervisor said, "You got a serious fugitive, call the marshals."

Milo phoned Gisella again, reached her at work at Bexar Hospital.

"Too damn polite and she worked hard at telling me nothing. Time to get some pix of the South El Monte student body, maybe Gilberto can pick out our enterprising twosome."

No yearbooks available on a site that trafficked in academic nostalgia but the high school's website linked to its store where Eagle Pride DVDs sold for ten dollars.

Milo tried to placed a rush order, was told by an administrative assistant named Jane Virgilio that he had to purchase online and shipping would take at least ten working days.

"Even for the police?"

"Why would the police want our DVD?"

"It's related to a former student, ma'am. Martin Mendoza."

"Martin? Why in the world?"

"You know him?"

"He was one of our stars, everyone said he'd go to the major leagues, then that prep school stole him away. He's in trouble?"

"He's gone missing so knowing who his friends are might help locate him. Any idea who he hung out with?"

"Missing?" said Virgilio. "For how long?"

"Several days," said Milo.

"His parents must be frantic."

"They are, Ms. Virgilio. Who were his closest friends?"

"I can't really pinpoint any."

"No one?"

"Actually, Martin was kind of a loner."

"Team player but not a team player?"

"I--oh, I see what you mean. Guess that's true. Martin practiced pitching all the time, maybe he didn't have time to socialize."

"Any girlfriend?"

"I have no idea. The family didn't say?"

"They're not aware of any special girl in his life, ma'am."