“The sheriff’s department doesn’t have the LAPD’s high standards,” Knobb said.

“No wonder you’re cashing out now,” Prescott said to Duncan.

Duncan didn’t argue the point. “What’s the story on the dead man?”

“A jogger spotted the body and called 911,” Knobb said. “The operator called the LAPD. This fine young patrol officer showed up, saw the guy was not merely dead, but most sincerely dead, and brought us in.”

“What this officer failed to notice in all the excitement was the boulder.” Prescott pointed to the median, where a newly installed boulder sat in a bed of flowers with the words WELCOME TO CALABASAS and a soaring bird decoratively carved on its north face. “And which side of the boulder the truck was parked on.”

Knobb grinned at Duncan. “Your side.”

Sure enough, the truck was parked a few feet south of the invisible city limits line conveniently demarcated by the boulder, putting it in Calabasas. Eve looked at the road on the Los Angeles side and her anger flared. She didn’t like being played.

The uniformed officer shrugged sheepishly. “My bad.”

“So here you are,” Prescott said.

“Lucky us,” Duncan said with a weary sigh.

“We stuck around to secure the scene as a professional courtesy,” Knobb said.

“Really?” Eve said. The two LAPD detectives looked at her like a naughty child who’d spoken up while the adults were talking. “Because I thought securing the scene meant making sure it wasn’t disturbed.”

“It doesn’t look disturbed to me,” Knobb said.

“The truck is covered with pine needles,” Eve said. “It obviously spent the night parked under a pine tree, which is odd, since the nearest one is down at the corner in Los Angeles.”

Prescott snorted. “You ever heard of wind?”

She stared at the detectives, not bothering to hide the disgust on her face. “So why aren’t there any pine needles on the sidewalk or the street around the truck?”

The two detectives maintained eye contact with her but the uniformed officer looked away. Duncan shook his head at the two remorseless detectives.

“It’s your case and as a professional courtesy we’re not going to tell anybody about this little stunt.” Duncan hiked up his pants and shifted his attention to the officer. “But I want you to think about something, son. If forensic issues end up torpedoing their case, do you think these two will have your back or make you the fall guy? I’d protect my ass if I were you.”

Duncan walked back across the street and gestured to Eve to follow him back to the car. Eve got into the driver’s seat, started up the car, made a U-turn around the median and then a right back onto Mulholland Drive, heading east.

Eve assumed the detectives had pulled rank and ordered the officer to push the truck over the line. The officer’s patrol car had welded steel bars on the front bumper that would enable him to move the truck without damaging his own vehicle.