“So what did you think about what you read up there?” Lindell finally asked.

“Looked like you made all the right moves to me. What about the gas station guy who saw her that night? He checked out?”

“Yeah, we came down on him six ways till Sunday. He was clean. The place was busy and he was there till midnight. We have him on the security video. And he never left the booth after she came and went. His alibi for after midnight checked out, too.”

“Anything else from the video? I didn’t see anything in the file.”

“Nah, the video was worthless. Other than the fact it shows her and it was the last time she was ever seen.”

He looked out the window. Three years later and Lindell was still hooked in deeply on this one. I had to remember that. I had to filter everything he said and did through that prism.

“What are the chances of me getting a look at the whole investigative file?”

“I’d say somewhere between zero and none.”

“The ninth floor?”

He nodded.

“They came up and popped the drawer out and took it. I won’t see that stuff again. I probably won’t even get the goddamn drawer back.”

“Why didn’t they put the freeze on me? Why you?”

“Because I knew you. But mostly because you’re not supposed to even know about them.”

I nodded as I turned onto Wilshire, the federal building in sight up ahead.

“Look, Roy, I don’t know if the two things are connected, know what I mean? I’m talking about Martha Gessler and the thing in Hollywood. Angella Benton. Martha made a call on it but it doesn’t mean that they are connected. I’ve got other things I’ll be chasing down. This is just one of them. Okay?”

He looked out the window again and mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

“What?”

“I said nobody ever called her Martha until she disappeared. Then it was in the papers and on TV that way. She hated that name, Martha.”

I just nodded because there was nothing else to do. I turned into the federal parking lot and drove up to the plaza to drop him off.

“That phone number in the file, it’s okay to call you on that?”

“Yeah, anytime. Make sure your own phones are safe before you do.”

I thought about that until I brought the Benz to a stop at the curb in front of the plaza. Lindell looked out the window and surveyed the plaza as if he was judging whether it was safe to get out.

“You get back to Vegas much?” I asked him.

He answered without looking back at me. He kept his eyes on the plaza and the windows of the building looming above.

“Whenever I get the chance. Have to go in disguise. A lot of people over there don’t like me.”

“I can imagine.”

His undercover work coupled with my team’s homicide investigation had toppled a major underworld figure and most of his minions.