“I found another line I can follow—a man named Milos Jakovich. Do you know who he is?”

She stared into the dark for a moment, then shrugged.

“The old one. Michael, he work for him.”

“Do they have business together?”

“I do not know. The blood is not good.”

“They don’t like each other?”

“I don’t think so. Michael never tell me these things, but I hear. Like with his business. I am just whore.”

She turned back toward the canyon, and Pike felt uncomfortable.

“Maybe Jakovich or someone who works for Jakovich knows how to find Michael.”

“I don’t know those people.”

“Is there someone you could ask?”

She worried the inside of her cheek, then shrugged again.

“It is like a different family. I would be scared, I think.”

Pike let it go, thinking she was probably right in being scared. If Jakovich and Darko were in some kind of war, she might find herself in jeopardy from both sides.

Pike said, “It’s okay. Forget it.”

“I will do it if you wish.”

“Forget it.”

They stood in silence, then she leaned over the rail to peer down into the black canyon.

She said, “It is so dark.”

Pike didn’t answer.

“Do you have children?”

Pike shook his head.

“You should have children. You should make plenty of babies, and be a strong father.”

Pike didn’t answer again.

Rina held the bib to her nose, and Pike could feel her draw in the deep apricot smell and the scent of her child. She touched her belly where the knife wounds had scarred, as if the pain she felt then and now were linked, and he wanted to touch that place, too, but didn’t.

Pike said, “We’ll find him.”

“Yes. I know we will find him.”

Rina leaned into him, and gazed up with shadowed eyes that seemed to be searching.

“I would be with you. It is okay.”

“You don’t have to be with me.”

“Whatever you like, I will do.”

Pike turned away.

“Get your bag. I have a place where the two of you can stay.”

Pike went out without eating, and took them away.

Chapter 26

26

THE NEXT MORNING, Pike had Cole take him to check out the building in Sherman Oaks. It was a modern, three-story structure a few blocks south of Ventura Boulevard, across from a gourmet food store.

Pike said, “How many prostitutes does he have in there?”

“She says he had four, two on the top floor and two on the second, but that could have changed.”

“The pickup happens between four and six?”

“Yeah, but that’s only approximate. These people aren’t running an airline. We should set up early, plan on staying late, and be ready to wait a few days.”

Pike expected no less.

“It’s hunting.”

“Yes. It’s hunting.”