face. Tell him to put it on his face.”
Yanni said, “I know what you say.”
Pike stepped around him and returned to the woman. He thought about putting his pistol away, but decided to keep it out.
“Is Darko still in Los Angeles?”
“I think yes. It is hard to know.”
Pike wasn’t thrilled by her uncertainty, but at least she seemed willing to cooperate.
“Let’s say he is. If he’s here, where can I find him?”
“I don’t know. If I knew where he was I would have the boy, yes? I would shoot him, and take back the boy.”
“Where does he live?”
“I don’t know. He move a lot.”
“How can you not know where your husband lives?”
She closed her eyes. Her hard face softened, but the corners of her mouth seemed bitter.
“He has not been my husband for many months.”
Pike thought about it, then waved the gun at her belly.
“He do that?”
She looked down and opened the towel, not giving a thought that she was naked. Or maybe she had. Her pale body looked softer now; her belly creased awkwardly at the scars because she was seated. Her breasts were small, but firm. She was a good-looking woman. A little too hard and cold, but maybe that came from the belly. These weren’t surgical scars. Someone had wanted to hurt her, and had likely been trying to kill her. Pike wondered who, and why, and how long ago it had happened. She had been cut deep, and the cuts had hurt. Pike liked it that she wasn’t self-conscious about the scars.
She considered herself before closing the towel.
“No, not Michael. He make me pregnant after the scars. They turned him on.”
“You have a picture of him?”
“No. He does not have his picture taken. He has no pictures.”
“How about a phone?”
“No.”
Pike frowned. Everything was no.
“What if the kid got sick? What if you needed something?”
“These things are paid for. There are other people I tell.”
She shrugged like Pike was an idiot for not knowing the ways of the world.
Pike thought hard, trying to come at it from a different direction. Either she was lying, or she knew almost nothing about him.
“Where would he take the kid?”
“ Serbia.”
“Not Serbia. Now. Before he goes to Serbia. He has to keep a ten-month-old baby somewhere. ”
“A woman, I think, but there are many such women. Michael is not going to change the diaper. He is not going to wake all night to feed.”
“Another whore?”
Her eyes flashed, and Pike felt bad for saying it so harshly. He asked again.
“Does he have a girlfriend? Is he living with another woman?”
“I don’t know. I am going to find out.”
Pike studied her. She was going to find out. She was going to take back her child. She.
“It was a mistake not to tell the police. You still can. You should.”
Yanni mumbled something in Serbian, but Rina snapped back, cutting him off.
Pike said, “English.”
“What will they do, deport me? I have been arrested many times. I am not here with the papers.”
“They won’t ask if you’re a citizen. And they won’t care about your record. Your child was kidnapped. The kidnappers murdered five people. Michael’s crew has murdered twelve people, altogether. That’s what the police care about.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know the police. I used to be a policeman.”
The remains of her smile grew nasty.
“Well, let me ask you this, Mr. Policeman-used-to-be. When I find this man, you think the police will let me shoot him in the head? That is what I am going to do.”
Pike thought, this woman means it.
Rina seemed to read his thoughts, and the sharp smile grew edges.
“This is how we do it, old-school, where I am from. Do you see?”
“Are all Serbian women like you?”
“Yes.”
Pike glanced at Yanni, still with the bag of ice on his face. Yanni nodded.
Pike looked back at the woman.
“Maybe you should come with me. I can put you someplace safe.”
“I don’t know nothing about you, and I got a lot of work to do. I will stay with my friend.”
Pike holstered the Python. He took her Ruger from his pocket. It wasn’t a fancy gun, but it was serviceable and deadly. He took out the magazine, then worked the slide to unload the chamber just as he had at the hospital. He thumbed the loose cartridge into the magazine, then tossed the gun and magazine onto the couch. They bounced against her thigh.
She said, “You aren’t going to call the police?”
“No. I’m going to help you.”
When he took out his cell phone, Rina jumped