Diaz said, "Then what? Someone picked him up, and they drove to an alley in the middle of nowhere? Why the alley? Why that alley?"

Pardy stared at her, and seemed absolutely confident in his answer.

"Because it was in the middle of nowhere. Because whoever brought him there intended to kill him. They might have even murdered him somewhere else, and the alley is just a body dump. We didn't find a shell casing. We didn't find the cell phone Cole said he had. A lot of things are missing."

Diaz frowned, but I was liking how Pardy was putting it together.

She said, "Beckett found no evidence the body was moved."

"If he wasn't moved far and he was moved right away, there wouldn't necessarily be anything to find."

I said, "How about the car? Did your guy see the car?"

"No, but it had to be nearby or someone gave Reinnike a ride. That alley is a long walk from the station. I walked it myself. Reinnike couldn't have made the walk in an hour."

Diaz studied Pardy as if she had never seen him before. A deep smile slowly split her face, but Pardy didn't smile back. Diaz fingered the little heart necklace.

"Well, now, that is outstanding police work, Detective. That is truly excellent work."

Pardy nodded, and Diaz went on.

"Have your wit bring you around to his friends. Talk to them, too."

"Already in the works."

Diaz smiled at him a little bit longer, but Pardy didn't return her smile.

"Okay, Cole, you're going to talk to your boy, Chen?"

"I'll bring it over now."

Pardy roused himself from the chair and picked up Stephen's computer.

"I'll bring it. I want to meet your pal, Chen. Maybe I can get my own private Walk-in Wednesday."

Diaz said, "Give Cole an evidence receipt."

"Sure. I can do that."

Pardy filled out a receipt for the computer, signed it, and then they told me to leave.

Chapter 39

Frederick F rederick did not open Payne's gas station that morning.

He had spent most of the night sick to his stomach with the growing certainty that he would not be able to escape.

The army of forces aligned against him was enormous, and might be anyone - Cole, a policeman, the priest, any random motorist who pulled to the pumps; everyone who crossed his path might be a tentacle employed by the beast that was trying to find him. Frederick imagined a dozen scenarios, all of them ending with his own terrible death, until finally he locked his trailer, brought the shotgun out to his truck, and drove back to Los Angeles to see if the police were still guarding Cole's house.

Chapter 40