“Just like that, huh?” he said. “And he jumped. Without saying a word.”

The sergeant shrugged helplessly. It was not his story, the gesture said. He was only recounting what he had been told. “You don’t believe it,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Because it isn’t true, Sergeant.”

Rider tipped up his empty glass, taking an ice cube in his mouth. Reflectively sucking on it, he asked if Hook could produce any rebuttal testimony, any girls Chris had known and had sex with.

“As far as I know, he was a virgin.”

“That don’t help.”

“So I have to prove his innocence,” Hook observed. “But this Madera woman doesn’t have to prove his guilt.”

The sergeant shook his head. “She proved nothing. All she did was give us a possible motive for an act that was witnessed by another person. Alone, either of their statements might be suspect, but together they amount to something. And wishing it was otherwise won’t change a thing. You’ve got to have facts. Relevant facts.”

“Suppose I flew out his brother and sister and some of his friends from high school, and you talked to them? Suppose you found out that very few young men ever had more to live for than my son?”

“Kids change, Mr. Hook.” The sergeant signaled for another drink, and asked Hook if he would like something besides coffee. Would he like to eat?

Hook ignored the questions. “He was a track star, Sergeant. A miler. He was an honor student. He was elected president of his senior class without even wanting the job, or even running for it. He was loved by—” But suddenly Hook could not continue. To say another word would have been to cry out, to rage.

The sergeant mumbled something about what a damn shame it all was, and that Chris had indeed been a fine-looking boy.

The waitress served the sergeant’s drink and exchanged Hook’s cup of cold coffee for a steaming hot one. And there was no banter this time.

When she left, Rider apparently had decided it was time for straight talk and unpulled punches. “He may have been all that, Mr. Hook, but I’m afraid it doesn’t cut any ice. There’s still Mrs. Rubin’s statement. She saw him jump. Saw him.” The sergeant punctuated his words by tossing off a good part of his drink.

“Why should she lie?” Hook asked him, and saw in the sergeant’s eyes that it was just the question the man had been waiting for, a trump card in a game he did not particularly care to win.

“That’s exactly the point, Mr. Hook. What reason would she have to lie about your boy? None. She didn’t even know him.”

“Why don’t we ask her? Why don’t we go there now?”

Rider shook his head. “Maybe tomorrow. I asked both of them today if someone came to identify the body, would they mind talking with them. No dice. And it’s understandable, I guess. They’re both overwrought, especially the Rubin woman.”