“No, you can’t come!” Decker shot back. “Are you out of your mind? What are you doing here?” Again, he turned to the uniform—a boy not much older than Jacob. “Didn’t I tell you to take him home, Officer?”

The patrolman blushed. Jacob came to his rescue. “You know, I’ve been inside the place. At least let me draw you a map.”

Bastard turned to the teen. “You’ve been inside?”

Jacob felt himself going hot. “A long time ago.”

“Better than nothing!” Bastard turned to the teen and waited.

Decker bit back annoyance at being bested. “What do you remember?”

“I only recall one room.” His face took on more heat. “You open the door and walk right into the bed. I recall a closet and a bathroom. Like I said, it was tiny. A shack.”

“What about a kitchen?” Bastard asked.

“I didn’t see one. Maybe I just didn’t notice it.”

“Windows?” Decker asked. “How many?”

“Windows, windows…” Jacob tried to bring up an image. “One on the front wall, next to the front door.” He fishtailed his hand back and forth. “One on the left…no, right. One window on the front wall, one on the right as you walk in, on the left if you’re inside. The closet door was on the left if you were facing the back wall.”

“So you remember only two windows?” Decker asked.

“And one in the bathroom,” Jacob said. “Frosted…small. You couldn’t climb through it.”

“And no kitchen,” Bastard reiterated.

“Not that I remember.” He thought for a few seconds. “I don’t think there was a kitchen. I think I remember a hot plate.”

“How about exterior doors?” Decker asked.

“The front door. And there was a door…next to the closet on the left.”

“Opposite the window?”

“Yeah. I think when I stormed out of the place, I must have gone out that way and walked straight into the mountains. There’s absolutely nothing around.”

“Okay, that was helpful,” Decker admitted. “Now get out of here.” To Bastard, Martinez, and Webster, he said, “We find the place, surround it, bullhorn first. If there’s no response, we’ll lob in a couple of canisters of tear gas and see if that draws anyone out. If there’s still no response, then we’ll send in the dog and weapons team to make sure the son of a bitch didn’t rig something on the doors and windows. If everything else is clear, we go in and see what we find. If the shooter’s gone—and I’m almost positive he is—we’ll have to do a grid search of the hills. As a matter of fact, we can start cordoning off the back area as soon as the copters get here and give us some light.”