On the table in front of the four men was a photograph of Jessica Shaw. It was a head-and-shoulders shot with a neutral background and professional lighting. Probably a profile picture taken from the biography section of her website.

Pryce had taken a ride over to Eagle Rock the previous night, as planned. It had been late when he’d finally finished up at the office, and any hopes of salvaging date night with Angie had been long gone. He had called his wife and told her not to wait up. Then he had swung by the Blue Moon Inn to make sure Jessica had taken his advice and left town.

He didn’t know what room she was staying in, but he knew what vehicle she drove. He had crawled slowly past the row of rooms and back again. It had been dark, and the only lighting provided by the motel was a blue neon light, but the beam of his car’s headlights was bright enough to pick out a blue Toyota and a green Ford pickup truck. No black Chevy Silverado. Satisfied Jessica was long gone from LA, Pryce had gone home, drunk a beer, watched a movie, and slept soundly for the first time in days.

Now, the feeling of unease was back. His hand went to his pants pocket and his cell phone. He stopped himself from pulling it out and checking for missed calls in front of an audience. He knew he would have felt the vibration if she’d tried to return the call already.

Even if Jessica was safely miles away, he needed to know why Nate Daniels was cruising around Eagle Rock with her photo stuck to his sun visor. A guy who was being questioned over the murder of another young woman. Whatever his interest in Jessica Shaw was, Pryce didn’t like it one bit.

He eyeballed Daniels. “I’m waiting for an answer.”

Munro said, “What’s going on, Detective Pryce? Do you mind explaining to us all what the relevance of this photograph is?”

Pryce could feel Medina looking at him. He knew Vic would have recognized the girl immediately, that he wouldn’t be able to brush off his partner so easily this time. His eyes met Medina’s briefly, and he gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head.

Let me handle this. We’ll talk about it later.

To Munro, he said, “This photograph was found in Mr. Daniels’s car.”

“So?” challenged the lawyer. “I’ll ask you again, Detective Pryce. Why is this photograph relevant to the case you’ve arrested my client in connection with? The woman in this photograph is clearly not the unfortunate Miss Ong.”

Pryce ignored the lawyer and turned to Daniels. “Why did you have a photo of this woman in your car?”