By five in the afternoon, Decker was ready to pack it in when his cell rang. Restricted number and that made sense. No one he knew well would call him on Saturday. “Decker.”

“It’s Eliza Slaughter.”

“Hey, Detective, how’s it going?”

“Nothing big. I just wanted to tell you that the techs went through the car that Donatti rented. We sprayed luminal throughout the car and the trunk and under the carpet in the trunk, in the wheelbases, under the carriage. There’s no evidence of blood. The car was cleaned by the rental company, but not immaculately. We picked up a lot of hairs and fibers. We’ll check them out to see if any belonged to Terry, but honestly, I don’t expect much.”

“Okay. What about the Mercedes that was junked?”

“I have nothing on Atik Jains. He may have owned the car, but he doesn’t have a California DMV license. I’m checking out-of-state licenses. I put him into the system, but nothing came back. Earlier this afternoon, I went back to the hotel and questioned what’s left of the staff. No one saw Terry leave in her car. I don’t know what to tell you. Could be her getaway was planned way before Sunday and she could be anywhere.”

“That is true.”

“I know we haven’t tracked down her husband, but without a body, a crime scene, and witnesses, our leads are thinning. It’s sounding like either the husband did it or she disappeared on her own.”

“I’m beginning to favor the disappearance.”

“Why?”

“I spoke to Gabe and he told me something interesting. He once found his mother talking to an Indian doctor—an older man, a visiting cardiologist whose father’s a maharaja in India.”

“Does that mean he’s wealthy?”

“I would think so.”

“Do we have a name?”

Decker fudged on this one. “Gabe never knew it.”

“Why did the doctor stick in his mind? I’m sure his mother talked to a zillion doctors.”

“That’s just it. She didn’t. All he said was that there was just something about the way the two of them were talking that tweaked his antenna. You know how perceptive kids can be to that kind of thing.”

“Did he say anything to his mother?”

“He asked who she was talking to. That’s when she told him he was a visiting cardiologist whose father was a maharaja.”

“And?”

“That was it.”

“You think she was having an affair with this guy?”

“Could be. And if she did run off to India, it sounds like the man is wealthy and well protected. She’d need both to escape her husband.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“It’s an open case. If she is alive, eventually she’ll try to make contact with her son. So from my perspective, we wait.”

“Where is the kid?”

“With me.”

“Okay.”