I said, "Those things will kill you."

"Been there, done that. Chen's inside, sulking 'cause I made him come in."

"Thanks for setting this up, but you didn't have to make the drive. I know you're busy."

"What, and miss the chance to flirt with you? How else am I gonna get you in the sack?"

Starkey is like that. She turned toward the building, and I followed, the two of us threading our way between parked cars.

She said, "So what's the deal on the vic? You don't think he's related?"

"No, I don't think he's related. He was just obsessed or confused. You know how people get, like stalkers when they fix on a movie star. That's all it is."

"Lemme see that picture."

I had told her about the morgue shots, but I was irritated she wanted to see. She looked at the pictures, then me, then back at the pictures. It left me feeling vulnerable in a way I didn't like. She finally shook her head and handed them back.

"You don't look anything like this guy."

"I told you."

"He looks like a praying mantis and you look like a rutabaga."

"This is what you call flirting?"

Starkey squeezed between a couple of cars that were parked too close together, then waited as I walked around. She seemed thoughtful as we continued on, and maybe embarrassed.

She said, "Listen, maybe I shouldn't've joked about it. I didn't know about you not knowing your father. I can see how this would be weird for you."

"It's not weird. I'm not doing this because I think he's my father."

"Whatever."

"Don't make more out of it than there is."

"Tell you what, let's change the subject while we're still speaking to each other. Have you heard from Ben? How's he doing down there?"

Starkey had helped in the search for Ben Chenier. We met on the night he disappeared.

"He's doing well. We don't talk as often as we used to."

"And the lawyer?"

The lawyer was Lucy Chenier.

"We don't talk as often as we used to."

"I guess I shouldn't have brought that up, either."

"No. I guess not."

Starkey badged our way past the receptionist, then led me along a hall toward a sign that read TECHNICAL LABORATORY. SID was divided into three parts: the Technical Laboratory, the Criminalistics Laboratory, and the Administrative Unit. Chen, like the other field criminalists, worked freely between the Tech Lab and the Criminalistics Lab, though he could and did refer to specialists when needed.

Chen scowled when he saw us. He was tall and thin, with ill-fitting glasses and the hunched posture of someone sporting chronic low self-esteem. Some of the criminalists wore lab smocks, but most of them wore street clothes. Only John Chen wore a pencil caddy. He glanced around, making sure no one else was nearby. Furtive.