Pike was staring at the pedestrian bridge that joined the north end of Smith’s street. There would be another bridge at the south end. With Gomer watching the north side, Mendoza would have been watching the south. Each fact was a word to build the story.

Pike started to end the call, but his eyes found Dru’s house again.

“Did you find any prints on the things Elvis gave you?”

Chen’s voice grew wary.

“What things?”

“The things Elvis gave you today.”

“I didn’t see Elvis today.”

“I just left him, John. He told me about it.”

Chen hesitated even longer than before.

“You’re not mad, are you? He told me not to say.”

“I’m fine. Did you get anything?”

“I haven’t even had time to piss. I’m sorry, man, I’ll get to it before I leave. Promise.”

“That’s okay. Just asking.”

“I know it’s important, her being your girlfriend and all.”

Pike was sorry he brought it up.

“She wasn’t my girlfriend.”

“All women are rotten, bro. Nobody knows that better than me. I can’t even get a bitch to break my heart.”

Pike closed his phone, then forced himself to think about Mendoza and Gomer, imagining them set up to watch Wilson’s house. It occurred to Pike that Azzara might have had them killed. Maybe he found out they murdered Wilson and Dru, and was angry they did it against his orders. He could have ordered them to the canals for a phony reason, then sent a crew to kill them. Pike was considering this when he remembered the upstairs light and jimmied window. A crew sent by Azzara to murder Mendoza and Gomer would have had no reason to enter the house. The window had been jimmied by someone else, and Pike now suspected this was their killer.

Pike reset the image of Gomer and Mendoza watching the house. The killer was good. Neither man had fought back or tried to defend himself. He had taken them by surprise, and killed them cleanly and efficiently with overwhelming speed. This suggested a professional, or someone with professional training. If the killer had jimmied the window, then he was probably already in place when they arrived, which meant he had not come for Mendoza and Gomer—he had come for Wilson and Dru.

Pike felt the pieces begin to fall into place. The words began to feel like a story.