“I’m not sure if it’s privileged information. Stan’s an okay guy. I think he’ll help me out. He may even have the name of Marie’s dentist, come to think of it. Marie’s health insurance is provided by the hospital, but it doesn’t provide dental insurance. Maybe Stan gave her a recommendation. I’ll call the office.”

Marge crunched down on a piece of ice. “What did the coroner come up with?”

“No baby bones.”

“You’re sure?”

“Reasonably. We combed the car trunk and immediate area and didn’t find anything. Captain’s currently conducting a full-scale search for the baby—Rangers, sheriffs, LAPD. Never seen so much cooperation between the different agencies. We’ve got an army’s worth of manpower on one spot. Not to mention the newspeople. Got them to hold off reporting until nightfall.”

“How’d you do that?”

“My charm.” Decker smiled. “And no one wants responsibility for lousing up the investigation of a kidnapped baby. If Caitlin Rodriguez is in Angeles Crest, we’ll find her.”

Decker stopped chewing and exhaled forcefully.

“I keep thinking about Caitlin. If Marie’s dead, where is that poor little infant? Is she safe? Is she hungry? Is she dirty? Drives me nuts! Then I start thinking about Rina and Hannah and how I should be home with them, making sure they’re safe.”

“Rina wants you here. You’re doing the right thing, Pete.”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

“You are,” Marge said, “What’d the coroner say about the body?”

“Female…a large female.” Decker polished off the pickle and started on the potato chips. “From the vertebrae, the doc figured her to be around five-ten. Marie was tall.” He stopped talking a moment. “I wouldn’t have guessed her as your height, but she was taller than Cindy, and Cindy’s five-seven.”

“You seem doubtful.”

Decker shrugged and resumed his eating. “As soon as we find Bellson’s dental X rays, Hennon’s ready to do the comparison. When I left, she was still in the lab sifting through debris. She told me there wasn’t a lot of frontal bone mass—the face was smashed pretty badly. Hennon figures some of the tooth structure might have fallen out among the ashes.”

“What about the back teeth?”

“Some of them are still intact. Hennon thinks she’ll have enough material to work with once she gets the X rays.”

Marge said, “Did you ask Hennon about Marie’s gold stud earrings?”

“She couldn’t tell if the body wore earrings or not—too burned. As far as the gold goes, it would be in small amounts, would have melted in the heat. We’ll look for gold when we sift through debris.” Decker finished his potato chips and drained his coffee. “I’d better get back to the lab and start my prospecting.”

“I’m off to Silver’s then.”

“Want my pretzel?”