“Hold on.” Decker slithered out of bed and tiptoed into the walk-in closet. On the second shelf, he kept two pencils and a pad of paper. “I’m here. I’m listening. What do you have?”

“There’s a small inn near Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica called the Sand Dune. It rents by the hour. Ladies go in and ladies go out.”

“Aha.”

“My sources tell me that the guy you’ve been looking for has been there recently. Different name, different hair, different clothes, but it’s probably him. They say that he pays in cash and they say he’s a chubby chaser. Whether any of it is true or not, I don’t know. I’m just passing it along. Don’t bother saying thank you; your friendship is all I ask for.”

“By friendship you mean almost killing me?”

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have. Besides, you always hurt the one you love.”

“By any chance, do you have a direct connection with this fine law-abiding establishment?”

“Me? Never. Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been known to help the ladies.”

“I’m a generous guy. I help everyone.”

“I assume that a certain lady told you all this. I’d like to talk to her.”

“Can’t help you there, but I won’t do you bodily harm if you go down to the establishment and talk to people. Just be polite.”

“Donatti, it’s a murder case. I need to talk to her.”

“Who knows if she even exists? And if she does, who knows if she’s telling the truth. People say all sorts of things to get on my good side.”

“You’ve got a good side?”

“I do. I just don’t use it too often. My bad side’s so much more fun.”

THE UNCERTAINTY FACTOR.

What if Donatti got it wrong?

What if Donatti was deliberately misleading him?

What if Rudy Banks didn’t show up?

What if he showed up and something went wrong?

What if he showed up, everything went according to plan, but he wasn’t involved in Ben Little’s death?

What if, despite Decker’s best efforts, the case was never solved?

For the moment, the “what if” was pushed aside to deal with the “what needed to be done.” Talking to the owner of the Sand Dune motel was a chore. It took a lot of cajoling before Mr. Craddle was thoroughly convinced that the detectives involved were from Homicide and not from Vice. At last the proprietor figured out that to help the police would benefit him in the long run.