‘Seriously. Did you see the catalogue on Howard’s desk? Those dolls cost upwards of two grand each. I can’t imagine many perverts have that kind of cash to splash around, and if they’re married, they wouldn’t want the thing in their house. But there must be plenty of guys willing to pay a hundred bucks for an hour with one. Or six minutes, or however long these guys last.’

We climb into the car and she starts the engine.

‘You think they’d be willing to have sex with a doll someone else has just used?’ I ask.

‘Well, they fuck human hookers, don’t they? And we’d obviously wash them between customers. Plus, a doll can work twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week.’

‘I thought you were against the whole concept.’

‘What can I say? Howard was very convincing.’

‘You think a guy would spend two hundred and sixty dollars to rent a doll?’

‘That sounds too much for … Wait. You reckon that’s why Biggs took the cash out?’

‘No,’ I say. ‘Just thinking out loud.’

Thistle stops at a red light. Pedestrians shuffle across in front of us. An old man with a walking frame, a lady with a briefcase, a teen on a scooter. Something on the radio catches my attention. I turn it up.

‘—at least sixteen victims from around the Houston metropolitan area. The killer, nicknamed the Crawdad Man, seems to target white males between the ages of twenty and forty. The FBI has not named a suspect at this time.’

‘There goes our head start,’ I say. How long have I got before Warner realises I’m still on the case?

The director’s voice comes through the speakers. ‘We’re devoting all available resources to the investigation, and we’d encourage any members of the public with information to come forward.’

‘Why “the Crawdad Man”?’ I ask.

‘Maybe all the good names were taken. You know the Grim Sleeper killings were originally called the Strawberry Murders?’

‘The dump is in Louisiana. Maybe that’s why?’

‘Or because it’s a dump,’ Thistle says. ‘Don’t crawdads eat decomposing matter?’

The radio host is reciting a phone number. ‘And we’d like to hear from you. This just in on the text line: What a surprise that the police are focusing all available resources on a killer of white men. Hmm, interesting. Thanks for your feedback, Vanessa.’

The light goes green. Thistle waits for the last few jaywalkers to hurry off the road, and then we’re moving again.

‘Do a U-turn,’ I say. ‘Quickly.’

Thistle flips her blinker on. ‘Why?’

‘I just saw the guy who ran from us at the dump. The one who stole the tractor.’

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 25

If five dogs can eat five bones in five minutes, how long does it take four dogs to eat four bones?