Pike returned to the first corner, and studied Azzara’s street from a position behind a cigar shop. Pike felt a dull but steady ping as if he was about to be hit by an incoming missile, but neither guard acted as if they had seen him.

The wall killed his view of Azzara’s house, and he saw no good way to approach without being recognized. Pike knew he could work closer once it got dark, but he didn’t want to wait. The Tercel promised that Dru and Wilson were inside and alive. Pike didn’t want to risk losing them.

Pike studied the buildings along Sunset, and noticed that the building immediately above Azzara’s house was an older, two-story commercial space with a huge Regency billboard on the roof. The billboard faced Sunset so oncoming drivers saw its ad, but the back of the billboard cast a shadow over Azzara’s home.

Sixteen minutes later, Pike climbed a service stair and crawled to the edge of the roof overlooking the alley. The far side of Azzara’s roof was visible through the ficus trees, but nothing more.

Pike backed away, and considered the billboard again. Its back was a frame of steel I-beams supported by three enormous legs made of heavy steel pipe. A caged ladder climbed the center leg to a catwalk that extended from one end of the billboard to the other and wrapped around to the front.

Pike climbed to the frame, then edged along the catwalk. He used the billboard for cover until he found the best view, then wedged himself between the I-beams. Pike now saw most of the backyard and the rear of the house, but the yard was all he needed.

Floor-to-ceiling glass doors along the back of the house looked out at the clean lines of a rectangular swimming pool and patio. Dru Rayne lay on a chaise lounge facing the pool, with oversized sunglasses masking her face. A few feet behind her, Wilson Smith stood with Azzara and three other Latin men, one of whom was the cowboy Pike had seen at the body shop. All five men were laughing. Another cowboy was seated by himself on a deck chair on the other side of the patio, and another was inside on a couch in the living room.

Ping.

Pike stiffened with the feeling, but none of the men shouted or ran.

Ping.

He checked the roof below the billboard, but saw no one. He checked what he could see of the alley and the street in front of Azzara’s, but the guards had not seen him.