He pulled on the vinyl gloves as he went to the kitchen. During his earlier search, he had seen folded paper grocery bags wedged into the gap between the refrigerator and the counter. He pulled out several bags, shook one open, then placed it on the counter. He selected three glass tumblers from the dishes left on the counter, put each in a separate bag, and placed the three bags carefully into the open bag. He collected two empty Diet Coke cans and a water bottle from the family room, bagged them the same way, then went up to the master for the metal box with Wilson’s papers. He brought it down to the kitchen.

Cole stopped in the downstairs guest bedroom on his way out. A few of her things were there, but now he wondered if she really used the room or if it was just for show. An empty stick of Dry Idea antiperspirant deodorant was on the dresser. He added it to the bag, then locked the house and gate as he left.

Cole returned to his car, but did not start the engine. He called a friend named John Chen, who was a criminalist with the LAPD’s Scientific Investigations Division.

“John? I need you to check some prints. I need it done fast.”

“Dude. I’m at a drive-by in Hawaiian Gardens. I’ve been here all frakkin’ night.”

“I need this, John. It’s for Joe.”

Chen hesitated, which told Cole he would agree.

“Okay. Okay, for sure.”

“I can bring the samples to you. Where in Hawaiian Gardens?”

“Uh-uh, bro, way too many witnesses here. Meet me downtown in an hour. Make it an hour ten. Outside CCB.”

Cole closed his phone and headed for downtown Los Angeles.

Chapter 24

24

Elvis Cole

As an employee of the Los Angeles Police Department, John Chen, like the department’s sworn officers, was forbidden to perform unauthorized case work, use city resources for personal gain, or help civilian private investigators off the books. These were good and valid rules to preserve the integrity of case evidence, enforce a professional code of conduct, and discourage employee corruption.

John Chen was corrupt.

A paranoid with low self-esteem, Chen lived for the headline, and this was normally Cole’s ace. Cole often gave Chen information that allowed him to make breakthroughs on cases he would not have made otherwise. These breakthroughs led to a media profile few other criminalists enjoyed, Chen having been quoted more than a dozen times in the Los Angeles Times, interviewed by various local TV news anchors, and hired as a technical consultant on motion pictures based on two of his cases. Chen, whose obsessions in life revolved around women and money, currently drove a Porsche Boxster. The women had so far eluded him.