the mouth of the dining room. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were war, pestilence, disease, and famine-the four forces that could destroy the world. Herbert Faustina had added love to the list.
Thomas glanced at Dana, then me.
"We don't know nothin' about a murder. She didn't have sex with him or solicit anything, so this ain't prostitution. It ain't against the law to be paid for saying your prayers, am I right?"
"That's right. No harm, no foul."
"So what can they pop me for if I drove her to pray?"
"Nothing."
"All right, then-"
He nodded some more, still circling his commitment, then finally went for the meat.
"All right, he had a brown car."
Dana looked horrified.
"Thomas-"
He stopped her with the finger.
"That asshole Stephen hadda bring me into this, now I got to look out for me. All I did was drive you to pray, and now I'm gonna cooperate with the police and earn my love. You got to give to get, and I will NOT go to prison. This is me, being a good citizen. He had a brown Honda Accord. The left rear hubcap was missing and it had a big dent back there, right by the wheel."
I stared at him, then looked at Dana, but Dana had an empty expression like she didn't have any idea what he was talking about.
"Were you in his car? Did you go for a ride with him?"
"She didn't go anywhere with the man. She finished with the praying like she said, and came out and got in the car-my car- and told me about what they did, the prayin', and that's when I set her straight about the Horsemen. Then we talked about what we want to do, get something to eat or go have some drinks or come home, and she says, hey, look, that's him."
Dana suddenly nodded, as if she only now remembered and saw it clearly.
"That's right. He came outside."
Thomas silenced her with the finger again and kept going. He had made the commitment, he had the floor, and nothing would stop him now.
"So now I'm lookin' 'cause I want to see this stupid john with all his prayin', and there he is. He got into a car and drove away, the brown Honda."
"You see his license plate?"
"No, man, I was too busy lookin' at this goofy asshole, in there crying 'bout forgiveness."
"Was it a California plate?"
"Never even looked. He come backin' out and there's this big-ass dent and the car all dirty. I tol' her, look at that piece of shit he drivin'. He got two hundred to spend on pussy, he oughta wash his car."
I suddenly felt a pulse of my own hope. Brown Honda Accords were as common as sand fleas, but a brown Accord with a missing left rear hubcap and dented wheel well was a specific vehicle. The dent meant it wasn't a rental.
"Okay. Then what?"
"Nothing. What you think, what? He went off, and we went over to Stephen's, drop off his cut of the money. We shared a blunt, then came home. Stephen like to spark up, he get some money. He keep a lot of dope in that house."
Thomas made a nasty smile when he mentioned the pot, like he was paying Stephen back for putting him in this position. He would mention it to the police, too.
I wanted to tell Diaz about the car. If Faustina's car was still near the scene, an alerted patrol officer might find it. Then we could trace his name and address through the vehicle registration. If the shooter was currently joyriding in Faustina's car, we might even catch the killer.
I thanked them for their time, then started out when I saw the pictures again. I looked back at them. Dana had come up beside Thomas, and slipped her hand into his.
I said, "What Faustina said about love being the Fifth Horseman? He was wrong."
I pulled the door, then hurried back to my car, and called Diaz. If I couldn't reach her, I planned to call Starkey, but Diaz answered on the third ring.
She said, "Cole, is that you? I've been trying to get you the past hour."
I hate my cell phone.
"I have a possible car description, Diaz. It's-"
"We have his name. Beckett got the ID from those things in his legs. We know Herbert Faustina's real name."
John Doe #05-1642, also known as Herbert Faustina, had been identified through the appliances in his legs as George Llewelyn Reinnike, originally from Anson, California. I made her spell Reinnike. She told