The Sentry - By Robert Crais Page 0,47
left.
“Our detective friends are split down the middle whether you or Smith did this. They’re even running a pool.”
“How’d you bet?”
“I don’t think you or Smith had anything to do with this. That mess with the heads in Smith’s shop, I don’t think these bangers had anything to do with it. Something more complicated is in play.”
Pike studied Straw for a moment, and thought he was probably right. Straw’s shakedown operation was finished, so now he was digging for a replacement.
“Like what?”
“No idea.”
“Weren’t you guys watching the shop?”
Straw showed his first sign of irritation.
“We were watching the entire street, Pike. We had the front of his shop. Whoever made that mess broke through the back and got away clean. But you know that. You were there the next morning.”
“Too bad you didn’t see something helpful.”
Straw’s jaw flexed one time, then he studied the ground for several seconds before he looked up.
“You have any idea where these people are?”
Pike nodded toward Mendoza’s body.
“I thought he had them.”
“If he did, someone else has them now.”
“Who?”
“Whoever. I’m seeing Smith and his niece jammed up by something a helluva lot worse than a shakedown.”
Straw handed Pike a card.
“You learn anything or need any help, let me know. I’d like to find these people before whoever did that to Mendoza finds them.”
Button and Futardo returned from their group. Pike thought they were coming to get him for the homicide dicks, but Button had news, and the news made him smile.
“Alberto Gomer is no longer missing in action. Homeless dude found him an hour ago in a parked car up at the north end of the canal. His throat was cut ear to ear. That makes your boy Smith two for two.”
Futardo gestured toward the homicide detectives.
“They’d like to speak with you now. You ready to talk?”
23
Elvis Cole
When Pike phoned Cole that morning to tell him about Button’s call, Cole heard the strain in his friend’s voice. Pike was a man who showed nothing, projecting a zen-like detachment that Cole sometimes found amusing, but also admired. Cole often wondered what such calm cost his friend, and whether Pike had no other choice but to pay it.
Cole was off the couch and out of the house sixteen minutes after Pike hung up. Who needs deodorant when you’re the World’s Greatest Detective? Who needs to brush your teeth when you’re fighting to absolve your friend’s guilt?
The morning traffic down from the canyon and westbound through Hollywood sucked. Bumper-to-bumper with garbage trucks, buses, and citizens headed for work, all of them funneled through streets torn up by poorly planned construction and maintenance projects.
Cole was still two miles from the freeway when his phone rang. He thought it would be Pike, but didn’t recognize the number.
“Elvis Cole.”
“This is Steve Brown in London, returning your call.”
Brown spoke firmly, as if he was used to being in meetings and getting things done. Cole did a quick calculation. Eight hours ahead made it five P.M. in London.
“Thanks for getting back, Mr. Brown. I’m trying to locate Wilson Smith and Dru Rayne. I was hoping you might know how to reach them.”
“Why would I know that?”
Cole thought that was an odd response, considering the people were living in the man’s house.
“I understand they’re house-sitting for you.”
“Uh-huh. And you understand this how?”
Now Brown sounded suspicious, which maybe went with getting a cold call from a total stranger six thousand miles away.
“Your neighbor. Lily Palmer. She told me about the house-sitting, and suggested I call.”
“Uh-huh. Okay. What’s this about?”
Cole had expected Brown to have questions, and had decided to limit his answers.
“Wilson’s shop was damaged. I’ve been trying to find him so I can tell him what happened, but it looks like they’ve gone away for a few days. I was hoping you would know how to reach them.”
“Uh-huh.”
Brown fell silent.
“Mr. Brown?”
“Let me ask you a question. These people are living in my house, Dru and this guy?”
Brown sounded angry, and Cole didn’t like where the conversation was going.
“Are they there without your knowledge?”
“I told Dru she could use the place. That’s it. I don’t know any Wilson Smith. I never heard of him, and I’m fucking pissed off if she’s shacking with some guy in my house.”
“He’s her uncle.”
“I don’t give a shit if he’s her twin brother, though I have my doubts. This wasn’t the deal. I didn’t want anyone else in the house, and she was cool with it. That’s why I let her use the place.”
Cole felt a soft chill, and liked