didn't; I was anxious to hear from Braun and Chen, so I blew off the office and hurried back to my home. I should have gone to my office. Everything would have played out differently if only I had gone to my office.
But my instinct to go directly home paid off in its way-a fax was waiting in my machine by the time I reached home. The cover letter was addressed to Starkey, recapping that Braun had limited the search to unresolved Crimes Against Persons occurring thirty miles or less from Temecula, resulting in twenty-seven entries. Braun had worked fast thanks to Starkey's magic words: Bomb Squad.
I brought the pages to my couch, and read through them. The individual entries were each no more than a few lines written in an abbreviated shorthand that read like code-
Park Dr/Murrieta/prv.res;VIC Ronald L. Peters, wht, 41; aslt w/entrg hm/weap.red brick.RAS/DNS aslnt;no wit;no arr; no sus. Ofc #664.
The first entry described an aggravated assault and robbery that had taken place in Murrieta, California, which I knew to be five or six miles north of Temecula. The victim was a forty-one-year-old white male named Ronald Peters, who was assaulted while entering his home by an unknown assailant wielding a brick. The brick was recovered at the scene, but Peters did not see his assailant, no one else witnessed the crime, and the police had no suspects. The Reinnikes probably hadn't disappeared to flee assault and robbery charges. Peters had probably flashed too much cash in a bar, and been followed home in what amounted to a crime of opportunity.
Most of the entries were assaults and armed robberies like the first, but I found two rapes that gave me pause. The rapes occurred on consecutive nights about a week before the Reinnikes disappeared. The first happened ten miles south of Temecula, the next twelve miles east. Both victims were abducted by two masked assailants driving a white van. I wondered how I could find out if George Reinnike had a white van at the time he lived in Temecula. I made a note about it and moved on.
The next several entries were lightweight armed robberies and assaults, but then I reached a homicide. Kenneth Dupris had been murdered in Sun City, eight miles south of Temecula, and nine days before the Reinnikes disappeared. He had been murdered at home. The cause-of-death abbreviation was MLTP KNF/HD-an unknown subject had repeatedly stabbed Dupris in the head. The entry noted that Dupris's dog had also been stabbed. I made another note.
When I read the eighth entry on the third page, the context of everything changed-
SDC#H5009; 05/22/70; rsp. 1915hrs; HOM (MLP – 3); 625 Court
Ln/Temecula/prv.res;VIC H. Diaz, m, mex, 36; VIC M. Diaz, f,
mex, 32; VIC R. Diaz, m, mex, 12MC; COD BFT; aslt in hm/
weap.bbbat/RAS;WIT K. Diaz, f, mex, 4MC;no arr; no sus. Ofc(s)
#716, 952. DME#FG877-2.
A family had been beaten to death with a baseball bat nine days before the Reinnikes disappeared. The ages and genders of the victims indicated they were a father, mother, and son. The only surviving member of their family was a four-year-old girl, who was also the only witness. The victims were named Diaz. The surviving child was K. Diaz.
I went into the kitchen, drank a glass of water, then read the entry again. K. Diaz. I checked the dates, then did the math. K. Diaz would now be about the same age as Kelly Diaz, but the name Diaz was as common as Smith or Johnson. The L.A. general directory contained thousands of people named Diaz.
I was still thinking about it when my phone rang. It was Chen.
"That guy Pardy is a prick. He said I had to do for him like I do for you. He said if I don't help him out, he'll report me for doing outside work on LAPD time."
"John, I will cover you, okay? Did you get a chance to look at the image?"
"Yeah, yeah-I got all seven digits. The vehicle shows to a Payne L. Keller in Canyon Camino. That's by Magic Mountain."
Canyon Camino was a small community north of the San Fernando Valley, twenty minutes away.
"Is it stolen?"
"Not even an outstanding ticket. Either Keller loaned Reinnike the car, or Keller was another alias like Herbert Faustina."
Chen gave me the address on the registration. I asked if he had told Pardy.
"Yeah, he told me to call him first, that prick. I gotta call Beckett, too. Beckett has to notify the next