Everything about the man’s body language defined him. Guard. Darko probably traveled with bodyguards, and this man was likely one of his guards. Pike wondered how many more guards were inside and around the building.

Pike decided against calling their phone number again. He wondered if the phone rang in the smaller front building or the large corrugated building. Darko might be in one or the other. The man who murdered Frank and Cindy Meyer, Little Frank, and Joey.

Pike said, “Almost there, bud.”

Three of the Latin workmen broke away from the group by the entrance, and came toward Pike across the parking lot. They had probably been waiting for work since early that morning, and were taking a bathroom break or going for a piece of fruit.

Pike rolled down his window and motioned them over. Pike spoke Spanish pretty well, along with French, gutter German, a little Vietnamese, a little Arabic, and enough Swahili to make himself understood to most Bantu speakers.

“Excuse me. May I ask you a question?”

The three men exchanged glances before they approached, and the youngest man answered in English.

“My cousin is a very good mason, but we can also work with pipes and rough carpentry. I have three years’ experience with painting and dry wall.”

They had mistaken Pike for a contractor.

Pike said, “I’m sorry, but I am not looking for workmen. I have a question about the business across the street.”

He pointed, and all three men followed his finger.

“The scrap yard?”

“Yes. I see people and cars, but the entrance is chained. I have metal to sell, but the sign says closed. How long has it been like this?”

The three men spoke among themselves in Spanish. Pike understood most of their conversation, and gathered that all three were regulars at the home improvement center. He knew this to be true at home improvement centers, paint stores, and hardware stores throughout Los Angeles. The same workers gathered daily at the same locations, and were often met by the same contractors, landscapers, and construction foremen.

The three men reached a consensus, and the younger man finally answered.

“The people are there, but the chain is up. It has been like this three or four days.”

Since the murders in Westwood.

“Before that, the chain was down and the business open?”

“Yes, sir. Before the chain, the trucks come to bring or take the metal, but now, they no longer come. My cousin and I, we go there to see if they need good workers, but they tell us to leave. Now the chain is always up, and the trucks do not come, just the men in their nice cars.”

“The men you spoke with, they were here in the front? The little building is the office?”

Pike pointed again, and the men nodded.

“Yes, the men in there. They are not friendly.”