"Joel?"

"What?"

"Remember I showed you those still photographs?"

"What about them?"

"They came off surveillance videos," Myron said. "Do you get my drift?"

Fishman's face blanched.

"To put it grossly," Myron said, "I saw fluids exchanged, not cash."

Joel Fishman began to sob again. He put his hands in prayer position, the key chain between his fingers like rosary beads.

"If you're going to lie to me," Myron said, "I see no reason to keep my word."

"You don't understand."

Again with the understand.

"What I did was terrible. I'm ashamed. I didn't see the point in telling you that part. It doesn't change anything. I don't know her. I don't know how to reach her."

Fishman started wailing again, holding up the photo key chain now like wolfsbane to ward off a vampire. Myron waited, considered his options. He stood, crossed the room, and pocketed the gun. "I'm going to turn you in, Joel."

The crying stopped. "What?"

"I don't believe you."

"But I'm telling you the truth."

Myron shrugged and reached for the doork.n.o.b. "You also aren't helping me. That was part of the deal."

"But what can I do? I don't know anything. Why would you punish me for that?"

Myron shrugged. "I'm bitter." He turned the k.n.o.b.

"Wait."

Myron didn't.

"Listen to me, okay? Just for a second."

"No time."

"Do you promise not to say anything?"

"What have you got, Joel?"

"Her cell number," he said. "Just keep your word, okay?"

13.

It's a prepaid mobile phone," Esperanza said. "No way to trace it."

d.a.m.n. Myron pulled his Ford Taurus out of the cemetery lot. Big Cyndi was jammed into the seat so that it looked as though her air bag had gone off. Yep, a Ford Taurus. Exterior color: Atlantis Green Metallic. When Myron cruised by, supermodels swooned.

"Point of purchase was a T-Mobile store in Edison, New Jersey," Esperanza said. "Paid with cash."

Myron started to turn the car back around. Time to visit Joel Fishman for one more favor. Ol' Crush would be delighted to see him.

"Something else," Esperanza said.

"I'm listening."

"Remember that weird symbol next to the 'Not His' post?"

"Yep."

"Like you suggested, I put it on a fan page for HorsePower to see if anyone knew about it. A woman named Evelyn Stackman replied, but she won't talk over the phone."

"Why not?"

"She wouldn't say. She wants to meet in person."

Myron made a face. "Over some symbol?"

"That's correct."

"Do you want to handle it?" Myron asked.

"Maybe you didn't hear me," Esperanza said. "I said, she. She, as in a reluctant-to-talk female."

"Ah," Myron said. "So you figure, what, I could use my wiles and manly charm to seduce the information out of her?"

"Yeah," Esperanza said, "let's run with that."

"Suppose she's gay?"

"I thought you had the kind of wiles and manly charm that work on all preferences."

"Yes, of course. My bad."

"Evelyn Stackman lives in Fort Lee. I'll set up the meet for this afternoon."

She hung up. Myron turned the engine off. "Come on," he said to Big Cyndi. "We'll pretend to be parents of a middle schooler."

"Oh, fun." Then Big Cyndi seemed to consider that. "Wait, do we have a boy or girl?"

"Which would you prefer?"

"I really don't care as long as he or she is healthy."

They made their way back into the school. Two parents waited outside the cla.s.sroom. Big Cyndi cued her tears for them, claiming that their "little Sasha" had a "French emergency" that would only take a second. Myron used the distraction to enter the cla.s.sroom alone. No reason for Joel to see Big Cyndi and freeze up.

Not surprisingly, Joel Fishman was very unhappy to see him. "What the h.e.l.l do you want?"

"I need you to call her and set up a meet."

"Why would we meet?"

"How about-oh, I don't know-pretending you're a drug dealer seeing if she needs to score?"

Joel frowned. He was about to protest, but Myron just shook his head. Joel did a quick calculation and realized that the best way to get through this was to cooperate. He took out his cell phone. He had her in his contacts as "Kitty"-no last name. Myron kept his ear near the phone. When he heard the tentative, skittish "h.e.l.lo" on the other end of the line, his face fell. No doubt about it: The voice belonged to his sister-in-law.

Fishman played his part with the perfection of a sociopath. He asked her if she wanted to meet up again. She said yes. Myron nodded at Fishman. Fishman said, "Okay, cool, I'll come to your place. Where do you live?"

"That won't work," Kitty said.

"Why not?"

And then Kitty whispered something that made Myron's heart freeze: "My son is around."

Fishman was good. He said that he could take a rain check, just drop off the "package," whatever she wanted, but Kitty was equally cagey. They ended up agreeing to meet near the merry-go-round at the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. Myron checked his watch. He'd have enough time to talk to Evelyn Stackman about the symbol on the "Not His" post and then be back to see Kitty.

Myron wondered what he would do when that happened-when he met up with Kitty. Should he jump out and confront her? Ask her gentle questions? Or maybe not show up at all. Maybe the best move was to have Fishman cancel after she showed up so that he could follow her home.

Half an hour later, Myron parked the car in front of a modest brick cape off Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee. Big Cyndi stayed in the car and fiddled with her iPod. Myron headed up the walk. Evelyn Stackman had the door opened before Myron could even ring the bell. She looked to be fiftyish with curled frizz that reminded him of Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born A Star Is Born.

"Ms. Stackman? I'm Myron Bolitar. Thank you for seeing me."

She invited him inside. The living room had a worn green sofa, an upright piano of light cherry wood, and posters of HorsePower concerts. One was from their first show at the Hollywood Bowl more than two decades ago. The poster was signed by both Lex Ryder and Gabriel Wire. The inscription-in Gabriel's handwriting-read, "To Horace and Evelyn, You Both Rock."

"Wow," Myron said.

"I've been offered ten thousand dollars for it. I could use the money but . . ." She stopped. "I Googled you. I don't follow basketball, so I didn't know your name."

"That was a long time ago anyway."

"But you now manage Lex Ryder?"

"I'm an agent. It's slightly different. But, yes, I work with him."

She mulled that over. "Follow me." She led him to the steps heading down to the bas.e.m.e.nt. "My husband, Horace. He was the real fan."

The small finished bas.e.m.e.nt had a ceiling so low Myron could not stand upright. There was a gray futon and an old television on a fibergla.s.s black stand. The rest of the bas.e.m.e.nt was, well, HorsePower. A fold-out table, the kind you might put out when your dining room table couldn't handle all your family, was covered with all things HorsePower-photographs, alb.u.m covers, files of sheet music, concert advertis.e.m.e.nts, guitar picks, drumsticks, shirts, dolls. Myron recognized a black shirt with snap b.u.t.tons.

"Gabriel actually wore that during a concert in Houston," she said.

There were two fold-out chairs. Myron saw several photographs of "Wire sightings" from the tabloids.

"I'm sorry it's such a mess. After the whole Alista Snow tragedy, well, Horace was heartbroken. He used to study the paparazzi sightings of Gabriel. See, Horace was an engineer. He was so good with math and puzzles." She gestured toward the tabloids. "They're all fake."

"What do you mean?"

"Horace always found a way to prove the images weren't really Gabriel. Like this one. Gabriel Wire had a scar on the back of his right hand. Horace got the original negative and blew it up. There was no scar. On this one he ran a mathematical equation-don't ask me to explain how-and figured that this man was wearing a size ten shoe. Gabriel Wire has a size twelve."

Myron nodded, said nothing.

"It must seem weird. This obsession."

"No, not really."

"Other men follow a sports team or go to the racetrack or collect stamps. Horace loved HorsePower."

"How about you?"

Evelyn smiled. "I was a fan, I guess. But not like Horace. It was something we did together. We camped out for concerts. We would turn the lights low and listen and try to come up with the real meaning behind the lyrics. It might not sound like much, but I'd give anything for one more night like that."

A shadow crossed her face. Myron wondered whether he should go there and then decided, yes, maybe he should.

"What happened to Horace?" he asked.

"He died this past January," she said, a small choke in her voice. "Heart attack. He had it crossing the street. People thought a car hit him. But Horace just fell in the crosswalk and died. Just like that. Gone. He was only fifty-three. We were high school sweethearts. Raised two kids in this house. We made plans for our old age. I'd just retired from my job at the post office, so we could travel more."

She flashed a quick "what can you do" smile and looked away. We all have our scars and torment and ghosts. We all walk around and smile and pretend everything is okay. We are polite to strangers and share the road with them and stand in line at the supermarket and we manage to disguise the hurt and desperation. We work hard and make plans and more often than not, that all goes to h.e.l.l.

"I'm really sorry for your loss," Myron said.

"I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's okay."

"I know I should get rid of this stuff. Sell it. But I just can't yet."

Not knowing what to say, Myron went with a cla.s.sic: "I understand."

She managed a smile. "But, really, you want to know about the symbol."

"If you don't mind."

Evelyn Stackman crossed the room and opened up the filing cabinet. "Horace tried to figure out what it meant. He looked up Sanskrit and Chinese and hieroglyphics, things like that. But he could never place it."