Mahler saw the TV screen had changed to a battlefield scene from Afghanistan. “Where’re Eden and Daniel now?”

“Office. Why? You think we need to watch our backs?”

“Not a bad idea. I put an officer outside Frames’s room. Daniel knows what to do. One of us’ll need to watch out for Eden.”

“You still giving her a hard time?” Coyle asked.

In his mind’s eye, Mahler saw Eden’s face a few hours earlier, fighting back tears. “She say something to you?”

Coyle shook his head. “I just read her notes on the Partridge stuff in Vallejo. It’s good, especially for a new kid.”

“Yeah. It’s…promising. She’s smart enough. But she puts her head down, doesn’t see what’s around her.”

“Who’s that sound like, Eddie?”

“I never dug in like that. The research shit. Not to that extent.”

“Not the academic stuff. But the deep-in-the-weeds thing. That’s who you are. And I know you. You can’t help thinking something’s coming out of all that work, can you?”

“We’ll see if any of us survives the shitstorm that’s coming if we catch another homicide up in the park.”

Coyle took his coffee and stood. “You staying?”

“Yeah. The nurse said Steve won’t sleep much. I want to see if he remembers anything else… You okay?”

“I just wanted to thank you, Eddie, for letting me do more of the field stuff—interviewing the roommates and Jessica Alvarez.” Coyle heard himself stumbling over the words and realized he had never before directly addressed his assignments with Eddie.

Mahler saluted him with his coffee cup. “No problem. But now you’re out there, don’t let down your guard.”

Mahler watched Coyle walk into the corridor and saw his right hand lightly touch the spot on his belt where his gun was strapped.

(ii)

(THURSDAY, 3:07 A.M.)

Returning from the break room to the VCI office, Eden remembered her laptop was still open to the last file she read—a Google search on Eddie Mahler. A few minutes earlier, the office had been empty. Now Rivas was there, walking past her desk and glancing at her laptop screen. She watched until he looked up and met her eyes.

Rivas smiled. “Find what you’re looking for?”

Eden’s face reddened. She walked back to her desk. “I’m not sure what I was looking for. Just trying to understand what makes him tick, I guess.”

Rivas sat next to her. “Probably won’t be in any online search.”

“It doesn’t matter. I think the two of us are pretty far apart right now.” Eden closed the laptop.

“We’ve all got stories, Eden,” Rivas said. “You work here, you might as well know Eddie’s.”

“I didn’t mean to pry.”