“Real time, Mendoza and Gomer are at their house right now. This is when Jared saw them.”

“They used the pedestrian bridge.”

“Yeah. And if your killer used the bridge and stayed at the end of the alley, we’re not going to see him, either.”

“Play it out.”

Cole let the image advance in real time, and, at 8:53, the Tercel crept into view. Pike leaned forward when it appeared even as Cole paused the image, rolled it back, and brought it forward one frame at a time.

As the image grew, Pike saw three people in the car. Wilson was driving. Dru was in the passenger seat, and another figure was in the back. This confirmed the bad guys had used the footbridge to enter, and forced the victims to drive them out. It was a good plan considering the narrow dead-end street with so many potential witnesses.

Pike said, “Mendoza is in back, but I only see three people.”

“Could have left by the bridge, the way he came. Is that Dru in front?”

“Yes.”

Cole printed her picture, then walked the frames forward.

Six frames later, the angle had changed enough to reveal a fourth person in the vehicle.

Cole said, “Here we go.”

The second man sat directly behind Wilson, though he was still difficult to see. Cole advanced the image two more frames, and the second man’s face emerged from behind Wilson’s head.

Pike studied the blurry face, then leaned closer to the screen.

“Bring it one more.”

Cole advanced the image.

“One more.”

Pike felt a spike of surprise, then the surprise melted into the calm he felt when he steadied the crosshairs on a target. Cole was watching when Pike looked up.

“What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t Gomer. It’s Miguel Azzara.”

“I thought he didn’t know anything about this.”

“He lied.”

Cole glanced at Azzara.

“Two people are dead, two more are missing, and here’s El Jefe in on the abduction. This is bigger than a couple of bangers being pissed off because they got arrested. You think these guys found out about Straw’s investigation?”

“Don’t know.”

“Maybe Azzara was worried Wilson could hurt him. Maybe Mendoza and Gomer were killed because he thought they were cooperating with the Feds.”

Pike didn’t know, but it was no longer important. Azzara gave him a target, and if Pike could see his target he could hit it.

Cole was printing Azzara’s picture when his phone rang, and he told Pike the caller was Lucy Chenier. Cole took the phone outside onto his deck for the call, and Pike resumed watching the recording.