Leone scowled a bit and made no eye contact. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed at least.

“Just how did you end up here with no car?” he asked, pulling away from the curb in front of Anne Navarre’s home. “And why did it take three pages before you called me back?”

“I saw Miss Navarre home from the vigil downtown, and none of your goddamn business,” Vince answered, a big self-satisfied grin splitting his face.

Mendez groaned. “I don’t want to know.”

“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, junior.”

“You just did,” Mendez groused. Damn, the man moved fast. He had homed in on Anne Navarre like a fucking heat-seeking missile. And she had clearly welcomed him. “You’re a dog.”

“No,” he said, dead serious. His expression held a hint of warning. “No.”

Mendez raised his eyebrows. “Okay.”

“Tell me about the dentist.”

“So the Telex came in, then I called Oxnard PD and talked to one of the detectives there. They were running a series of sweeps for drugs and prostitution. This would have been fall eighty-three. Nothing fancy, just normal street sweeps. Round ’em up and herd ’em into the paddy wagon kind of thing.”

“Did they put Crane with Julie Paulson?”

“Interestingly, no. But Crane was among the johns, and Paulson was one of the hookers. He sat in the clink overnight, posted bond in the morning. He showed up for his court date later on, pled no contest, and paid his fine.”

“The detective remembered him?”

“In that Crane was the only one who wasn’t whining and crying and trying to get out of it when they busted him.”

“It wasn’t his first time then.”

“I’ve requested his record. We’ll see.”

“How big was this bust?”

“Twenty-five arrests. There was some kind of festival going on. I guess they get up to some mischief down in Oxnard. Who knew?”

“How far is that from here?”

“Thirty-five, forty minutes, depending on traffic on the 101.”

“It’s not in your jurisdiction.”

“No. It’s Ventura County.”

“And that bust was how long before the Paulson murder?”

“Seven months. Then Paulson showed up at the Thomas Center about six weeks before her death. She washed out of the program pretty quickly, which is why it’s taken us this long to find out she was ever there.”

“Crane goes to another county to have his fun,” Vince speculated. “It won’t make the papers here if he gets caught. He’s just another john in Oxnard. Then the hooker shows up here. At the Thomas Center, no less.”

“Blackmail?” Mendez suggested.

“Maybe. Or maybe Ventura County should be going back through their missing persons reports and unsolved homicides. The second homicide was in another jurisdiction too, right?”

“Yeah. To the east of here.”