"I'll find out soon enough. Meeting with the chief in an hour."

"That should be fun." She walked us to the door. Milo said, "Thanks, Doc."

"Thank you. For what you did on Bobby. Bobby was a great kid. I know I'm supposed to be objective but when I found out the b.a.s.t.a.r.d ambushed him, I allowed myself a little pleasure when I peeled his d.a.m.n face off his d.a.m.n skull. And by the way, I remember my pledge about autopsies. Long as you don't push it."

CHAPTER.

45.

Milo drove to the chief's office and I returned home.

Detouring, I drove past the lot on Borodi. All the embers gone, bulldozed clean and level, surrounded by a new, substantial fence. Doyle Bryczinski sat in his car by the curb. He seemed to be snoozing, but as I drove by, he waved.

I backed up. "Back on the job, huh?"

"Company finally got their act together," he said. "Realized they better have me every day, all day. Sometimes they give me a double. When Mom doesn't need me, I'm here."

"Keep up the good work."

He saluted. "Only way I know how."

Milo didn't phone after the meeting with the chief and I wondered if it had gone badly.

Probably on his way to Southwest Division. Maybe that rib joint was still operative and he'd dive into seven courses of trans-fat bliss.

He dropped in the following morning, wearing a puce aloha shirt, baggy brown pants, desert boots. I'd been working on custody reports, Blanche curled on my lap.

She bounced off, smiled up at him.

He said, "I gotta bend? Next time get a Great Dane," but patted her head far longer than mere courtesy called for.

I said, "Vacation or wishful thinking?"

"Two weeks of sun and fun, Rick managed to finagle some time, we're headed for the Big Island tomorrow morning."

"Think of me at the luau."

"What I think of at a luau is more luau."

He walked to the kitchen, took a half pint of orange juice out of the fridge, put on gla.s.ses and read the expiration date. "A week past, I'm doing you a favor." He upended the carton, guzzled.

Blanche watched, fascinated. His eating habits have never stopped puzzling her.

I said, "Two weeks. No Southwest gig?"

Crushing and tossing the empty carton, he took out a plate of cold roast beef, brought it to the table. "Change of plans."

"Gunrunners off the radar?"

"Still on the radar but I won't be watching the screen."

"Chief's happy."

"Not a relevent concept for him. What I did was bring up the fact that I'd closed Backer and Doreen well before his deadline, in addition to preventing a potential arson disaster by nabbing Helga. But that I wasn't happy, because of two skeletons in a Prius. Yeah, it was Van Nuys' case but I'd checked and Van Nuys wasn't working it, no one was, and I thought that was a crying shame. I also informed him that when I drove out to Van Nuys Airport a few nights ago, Hangar 13A was totally cleared. No jet, no cars, no gazillion dollars' worth of gold and furs and diamonds and art. No accounting of the skeletons ever being taken to the crypt and the FAA had no record of the jet ever taking off. Not to mention the absence of a single letter of press ink. His Exaltedness's response was his brand of empathy."

"I know what you're going through?"

"'Don't b.i.t.c.h, Sturgis, we're both victims of the politicians and the diplomats, they're all Ivy League f.a.ggots compensating for short d.i.c.ks-and don't get touchy about "f.a.ggot," I'm talking generically.' Then he ushers me out of his office, informs me I need to concentrate on West L.A., not stick my nose in any other sectors' cases. I say, 'Can I take that to mean Southwest as well as Van Nuys, sir?' He says, 'Don't make me explicate, Sturgis. It saps my prostate.'"

CHAPTER.

46.

During his interview of Lara Rieffen, Milo had used John Nguyen's relentless approach to prosecution as a scare tactic.

A bit of performance art, but part doc.u.mentary, as well.

Rieffen's defense lawyers filed motions to dismiss; Nguyen countered each with growing ferocity, won every time.

Their next step was to attack the admissibility of various pieces of evidence. As part of that, I was deposed to testify about Rieffen's mental state during "Detective Sturgis's clearly intimidating and abusive interrogation."

Nguyen said, "Don't respond, I'll handle it," and when the defense team tried plea-bargaining down to a series of lesser charges, Nguyen threatened to go for the death penalty, pointing out that Rieffen's prints on the murder weapon made it a no-brainer, special circ.u.mstances due to multiple victims, lying in wait, extreme cruelty and depravity, murder for profit.

Rieffen pled guilty to one count of second-degree murder in exchange for the theoretical possibility of parole.

Nguyen said, "I'm happy with it, anyone else isn't, that's their problem."

I kept checking the Internet for some mention of Dahlia Gemein or Prince Teddy.

Her name never came up, but four months after the turret murders, an Asian news service reported the "tragic death of Prince Tariq Bandar Asman Ku'amah Majur in a diving accident off the coast of Sranil." The sultan, "grief-stricken and dismayed," had declared a week of national mourning and announced that the pediatric cancer center crowning the world-cla.s.s medical center planned for Sranil would be named after the prince.

"My brother was a selfless man with a special place in his heart for children."

One week later, insurgents attempted to storm the island's southern beaches. The sultan's troops turned them away but several commentators believed this was only the beginning.

Logging off, I got into running clothes, jogged south on the Glen, made a few well-practiced turns, ended up on Borodi Lane.

Doyle Bryczinski was gone. Men in hard hats were busy nailing up the framework of an enormous house. Three stories, subterranean parking lot, multiple gables, and adventurous windows. A style that couldn't be pinned down beyond Look At Me!

Where a sidewalk would be, if this was that kind of neighborhood, a couple stood, pointing and talking.

Stunning blonde, mid-to late thirties, well-toned body, sculpted face. She wore pink cashmere, a pale blue silk scarf, brown croc pumps, big diamonds. The man with his arm around her was closer to sixty, a little thick around the middle, with wavy silver hair of a tint that required effort. Soft blue blazer, white linen pants, a red pocket handkerchief that tumbled from his breast pocket like blood from a gunshot wound.

Designer sungla.s.ses on both of them.

As I ran past them, the woman said, "Oh, it's going to be gorgeous, honey."

To Faye

Books by Jonathan Kellerman

FICTION.

ALEX DELAWARE NOVELS.

Evidence (2009) Survival of the Fittest (1997) Bones (2008) The Clinic (1997) Compulsion (2008) The Web (1996) Obsession (2007) Self-Defense (1995) Gone (2006) Bad Love (1994) Rage (2005) Devil's Waltz (1993) Therapy (2004) Private Eyes (1992) A Cold Heart (2003) Time Bomb (1990) The Murder Book (2002) Silent Partner (1989) Flesh and Blood (2001) Over the Edge (1987) Dr. Death (2000) Blood Test (1986) Monster (1999) When the Bough Breaks (1985) OTHER NOVELS.

True Detectives (2009)

Capital Crimes (with Faye Kellerman, 2006)

Twisted (2004)

Double Homicide (with Faye Kellerman, 2004)

The Conspiracy Club (2003)

Billy Straight (1998)

The Butcher's Theater (1988)

NONFICTION.

With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars (2008)

Savage Sp.a.w.n: Reflections on Violent Children (1999)

Helping the Fearful Child (1981)