She said, ‘I told them I was going to make everything public. Not that I have anything, but I guess it’s made an impression. I don’t know if that was the lawyer calling me back, or if he’s just the intermediary. But I presume you get disbarred for making death threats.’

She seemed to have a knack for taking everything in her stride. Maybe after this morning, nothing seemed like a drama. He stepped past her to the window. The SUV was still down there at the bottom of Trenton Drive.

He said, ‘Here, check this out.’

He pointed where he was looking. Erin stood in front of him and followed his aim.

Vincent said, ‘You see that car? Bottom of Trenton there?’

He could see her head moving slightly, trying to pick it out. Then she was dead still.

She said, ‘Is it the same car? From this morning, I mean?’

She smelled like soap and hotel shampoo.

Vincent said, ‘I don’t know. Maybe not. But I imagine if you’ve got the sort of money that means you can lose thirty million bucks, you can afford a whole fleet of them.’

She moved away from him and sat on the couch. ‘One of the Page Swanson partners is this guy Terry Page. He represents Sylvester Crow … here, I found an article online.’

She had it up on her laptop’s screen. It was a Los Angeles Times piece, only a couple of months old. He read it quickly: Sly Crow, attorney Terry Page, the failed real-estate development. Drug-money allegations.

She said, ‘I don’t know what he was mixed up in. For God’s sake, he was worth a hundred million dollars. It’s not like he was short of money.’

Vincent looked at the car again. ‘Eugene told the story backward. You notice that? He said he brought Sly into the deal. But the article implies it’s the other way around—a joint venture between the hotel and Crow’s outfit. Sly Capital, or whatever it’s called. As if Sly had set it up himself, and then gone out looking for investors.’

She nodded.

Vincent said, ‘But I guess the article could be right, too. Maybe it was set up that way on purpose. If Eugene knew they’d be laundering drug money, he wouldn’t want his own name up in lights as a main investor.’

Erin said, ‘So he brought in Sylvester Crow, and made it look like his project.’

‘Yeah, maybe. He could’ve put the up-front investment through Sly’s business, and then pleaded ignorance when it all hit the fan and the DA got involved.’

‘Yeah, but …’ She rubbed her face with her hands. ‘Is today to do with this hotel thing, or is it something else?’

‘I don’t know. It’s the same players though, isn’t it?’