Rotating, I faced Alfred Bayless, wearing the same black blazer, gray pants, and white turtleneck and taking up a whole bunch of my personal space. Up close, the building’s security chief smelled of Aqua Velva and ire. His nostrils flared. His pupils were dilated. Then he recognized me.

“Oh. Sorry, Doc. Noticed you hanging around but couldn’t see who you were from a distance. What’s going on?”

“I was doing some observation.”

“Of what?”

“How people react to an outlier. You’re the first person to pay me serious notice.”

He frowned. “What, you’re testing the system? Well, guess what, I saw you right away on the monitor, figured I’d watch you a bit, make sure you were actually a loony or a bum and not some rich dude in cheap clothes waiting for a big-shot lawyer, this is L.A., right? I mean no offense about the clothes.”

“It had nothing to do with your system,” I said. “I wanted to see—”

“Because maybe the fool who shot that lady hung out here? I could’ve saved you some time, Doctor. People don’t see a damn thing. They’re sheep.” He smiled coldly. “So nothing’s come up, huh?”

“Not yet.”

“Sturgis must be growing an ulcer.”

A trio of well-fed men in hand-stitched suits left the building. One of them, a silver-haired man in all black, eyed Bayless. Bayless had already spotted him.

Hard looks and curt salutes all around.

Bayless’s mouth turned down as he watched them pass from view.

I said, “Looks like you’re the exception.”

“What do you mean?”

“You just got noticed.”

“That’s ’cause I’m so handsome,” said Bayless. “No—off the record? Those guys are top brass. The one in the black silk Brioni manages big projects for the folks who own the building. The others work for him, they all flew in this morning for a security meeting.”

“Big-time fun.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Any progress?”

“In terms of getting some actual security?” Bayless laughed. “The plan is they go back to the über-boss and he consults personally with God and then there’s a meeting about having a meeting and then it’s shelved and reopened and maybe another set of meetings and who knows, Doctor, anything’s possible … so nothing at all on Ms. Corey?”

“Wish there was.”

“Well,” he said, “tell Sturgis I haven’t forgotten him. They may not be giving me cameras but I did manage to squeeze a couple of new hires out of them. Minimum-wage kids, no experience, but I have them patrolling the parking tiers.”

“I’ll relay the message.”

Bayless ran a finger under the hem of his turtleneck. “I keep thinking about that poor woman. Ran the tapes a bunch of times myself. Level with me, Doc: Did you come here because you think we’re high risk for a repeat?”