Stealing a phone meant the man who took Ben had criminal experience. He had anticipated the line trace, which meant he had planned his action. Smart crooks are harder to catch than stupid crooks. They are also more dangerous.

Mr. Cole?

I'm here. I was thinking.

You getting those names together for me?

I'm doing that now, but I'm thinking about another possibility, too. I've had run-ins with people, Starkey, doing what I do. I've helped put some people in jail or out of business, and they're the kind of people who would hold a grudge. If I make a list, would you be willing to run their names, too?

Sure. Not a problem.

Thanks. I appreciate this.

I'll see you in the morning. Try to get some sleep.

Like that could happen.

The darkest part of the night stretched through the hours, but little by little the eastern sky lightened. I barely noticed. By the time Starkey arrived, I had filled twelve legal-sized pages with names and notes. It was six forty-two when I answered the door. She was early.

Starkey held up a cardboard tray with two cups from Starbucks.

I hope you like mocha. This is how I get my chocolate fix.

That's nice of you, Starkey. Thanks.

She passed one of the cups to me. Morning light filled the canyon with a soft glow. She seemed to consider it, then glanced at the Game Freak. It was on the dining table with the pages.

How far down the hill did you find the toy?

Fifty, sixty yards, something like that. You want to get going down there now?

The sun as low as it is, we'll have indirect light. That's not good. When the sun is higher, we'll get direct light. It'll be easier to see small objects and reconstruct what happened.

You sound like you know what you're talking about.

I've worked a few scenes.

She brought her coffee to the table.

Let's see what you have with the names. Show me the most likely candidates first.

I showed her the list of people from my civilian cases first. The more I had thought about it, the more it seemed likely that one of them was behind what had happened to Ben. We sipped the coffee as we went through their names. Beside each name I had written down the crimes they had committed, whether or not they had been sentenced to prison, and whether or not I had killed anyone close to them.

Starkey said, Jesus, Cole, it's all gangbangers, mobsters, and murderers. I thought you private guys did nothing but knock down divorce work.

I pick the wrong cases.

No shit. You have reason to believe that any of these people are familiar with your military history?

So far as I know, none of them know anything about me, but I guess they could find out.

All right. I'll run them through the system to see if anyone's been released. Now let's talk about these other four men, the guys who died. Could their families blame you for what happened?