I cocked my head to see him as if we were looking at each other. His eyes were open and would remain that way until a mortician closed them. They were brown, like mine, but dulled by the loss of their tears. That's the first thing you learn when you work with the dead: We're gone when we no longer cry.

"What do you think? You know this guy?"

"Uh-uh."

"Ever seen him before?"

"No, I can't help you."

When I looked up, all three of them were watching me.

O'Loughlin flicked his hand at Pardy.

"Show him the stories."

Pardy took a manila envelope from his coat. The envelope contained three articles about me and a little boy who had been kidnapped earlier in the fall. The articles hadn't been clipped from the original newspaper; they had been copied, and the articles clipped from the copies. All three articles made me out to be more than I was or ever had been; Elvis Cole, the World's Greatest Detective, hero of the week. I had seen them before, and seeing them again depressed me. I handed them back without reading them.

"Okay, he had some news clips about me. Looks like he copied them at the library."

Diaz continued staring at me.

"He told me he was trying to find you."

"When this stuff hit the news I got calls from total strangers saying I owed them money and asking for loans. I got death threats, fan letters, and time-share offers, also from total strangers. After the first fifty letters I threw away my mail without opening it and turned off my answering machine. I don't know what else to tell you. I've never seen him before."

O'Loughlin said, "Maybe he hung around outside your office. You could have seen him there."

"I stopped going to my office."

"You have any idea why he would think he's your father?"

"Why would total strangers think I'd loan them money?"

Pardy said, "Were you down here or anywhere near here tonight?"

There it was. The coroner's office was responsible for identifying John Doe victims and notifying their next of kin. Whenever the police took action to identify a victim, they were acting to further their investigation. Diaz had phoned me at four A. M. to see if I was home; she had sent a car to confirm I was home, and asked me down so they could gauge my reaction. They might even have a witness squirreled nearby, giving me the eye.

I said, "I was home all night, me and my cat."

Pardy edged closer.

"Can the cat confirm it?"

"Ask him."

Diaz said, "Take it soft, Pardy. Jesus."

O'Loughlin warned off Pardy with a look.

"I don't want this to become adversarial. Cole knows we have to cover the base. He's going out of his way."