“I’m not here about the banger dudes. I was hoping you could tell me how long Dru’s been living next door.”

“Dude. I’m so bad with time.”

Cole waited, letting the silence press Jared for an answer.

Jared finally shrugged.

“Gotta be three months. Steve hooked it back to London three months ago. That dude has cash. He’s always in Europe.”

“She moved in the day he left?”

“That’s the way it works. Steve brought her over, introduced her to my mom, this is my house-sitter, all of that stuff.”

“When did her uncle move in?”

Jared glanced across the street and made a sly smile. Cole wondered at both the hesitation and the smile.

Jared said, “The next day.”

Jared glanced across the street again, and Cole sensed Jared wanted to say something so badly he could not maintain eye contact.

Cole said, “What?”

“I see things, dude. Dru has a hot body. She lays out a lot. I’m up in that window for a reason.”

“Tell me, Jared.”

“I don’t think Uncle Wilson is Uncle Wilson. They don’t always act like relatives, if you’re catching my subtext here.”

Cole stared at Jared for a long time. He felt cold inside, but his mouth was dry and the morning sun was hot on his skin. A knot of anger blossomed in his chest like cherry-red fire.

“Do not say this if it’s bullshit.”

“Dude. I have a dead-on view of their yard. I can see in their windows, and she doesn’t pull the shades. I’ve seen them fucking. I think she digs it that I watch.”

The cold grew until Cole felt numb. He stared at Steve Brown’s house, and wondered who these people were and if everything the woman told Pike was lies.

Cole looked back at Jared, but didn’t know what to say. The best he managed was a nod.

Cole did not try to hide what he did next. Jared might have gone back into his house, but Cole didn’t notice because Cole didn’t care.

Cole found the key in its place by the gatepost, opened the gate, and let himself into the house. He knew what he wanted and what he would do with it.