The newscaster made a face. “I had my choice of assignments. You mean I shlepped out here for nothing? In a white suit of all things. God damn those production assistants! I told them to scope it out beforehand!”

Decker tried a disarming smile. “I’ll make it up to you for eleven o’clock.”

The reporter swore. “Well, I’m not about to screw up a search for a baby.”

“Bad publicity for the station,” Decker said.

Alyssa glared at him. “For your information, I don’t want it on my conscience. Yes, even we newspeople have little Jiminy Crickets telling us right from wrong. So when can I do my story?”

“How about in a couple of hours?”

“Fair enough. I’ll take some scene footage in the meantime.” Alyssa blew air on her forehead. “You are going to give me an exclusive, aren’t you?”

“Yes, you scratch my back, Alyssa, I’ll scratch yours.”

“Medical examiner just phoned,” Annie said. “Traffic accident is clogging the freeways. He said to start without him. Just tread lightly.” She offered Decker her arm. “Shall we?”

A few feet later, Annie said, “You think Liam was trying to impress me with his door-to-hell firestorm thing?”

“Were you impressed?”

“Slightly.”

“Then it worked.”

Annie laughed. “Wonder how many times he’s used that as a pickup line. ‘Ever been in the eye of a firestorm?’ I mean, who can answer ‘yes’ to that? Got to hand it to him. It’s an original.”

They stopped in front of the blackened remains of the car. By this time, more deputies had come on the scene. The police photographer was snapping pictures, poking his head inside the auto frame. When he reemerged, his face had darkened from ash. “Got a piece of advice for you, Rabbi. Don’t breathe too deeply.”

Decker nodded and peered inside the car. In the driver’s seat was a scorched skeleton. The skull was skewed to the left, wedged between the wheel of the car and the bony thorax, the facial bones smashed, the occiput crushed from the impact of the roof of the car. Bits of brain had been exposed and had turned to cinders. The left arm, hanging limply at the side of the rib cage, still retained some flesh. The right was just a humerus; the ulna and radius had detached, both lying on the car floor. The pelvis was intact and attached to the femurs. Both sets of tibiae and fibulae were splintered and crushed. Where the tiny bones of the feet should have rested sat piles of dusty powder.

The driver was wearing a seat belt.

Decker wondered if the model had air bags. Not that it would have helped much. Air bags were for front-end collisions, offering little protection against a ton of metal crashing down on the head. Heart ramming against his chest, he put on his gloves and stuck his head inside the vehicle.