toward the house. A few seconds later, Straw joined him. They spoke for a moment, then Straw went to the kayak hanging on the dock. He rocked it absently back and forth, then spoke to Kenny, who only shook his head in answer. They stared at the house as if trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle, and neither appeared ready to leave.
Pike wondered if Kenny had finished checking the video or if Straw had simply lied.
Pike called Straw on his cell. He listened to Straw’s phone ring, and watched as Straw checked the incoming call window, then returned the phone to his pocket without answering.
Pike said, “Mm.”
Pike dialed again, and again watched as Straw checked the incoming call without answering. This time he said something to Kenny, who shook his head as he walked away.
Pike immediately dialed again, and this time Straw broke. He answered his phone.
“Hello?”
“It’s Pike. How’s it coming with the video?”
“You’re becoming a pain in the ass, you know that? We’re getting there.”
“I’ll pitch in. Maybe Kenny needs some help.”
“He’s doing fine without you.”
“He find anything yet?”
“No, Pike, I told you I’d call you, but here you are calling me, and it’s slowing us down. Don’t call again.”
Pike watched as Straw lowered his phone. He said something to Kenny, which made Kenny laugh.
Pike jogged back to his Jeep and drove along Venice Boulevard until he found the green Malibu. If Straw wasn’t going to check the video, Pike would check it himself.
Pike didn’t know what he would find or if he would find anything, but the Malibu’s back seat was filled with their duffels and sleeping bags. Pike checked to make sure no one was watching, then used a jiggler key to open the car.
Pike wanted the camera case, but did not see it, so he searched through the duffels. The top duffel was jumbled with clothes and toiletry bags. He quickly checked for the camera, zipped the bag, and shoved it aside. Pike was working fast, but when he opened the second bag, he spotted a thick manila envelope with Rainey written in longhand on the cover.
Rainey’s name stopped him.
Pike could tell by the envelope’s worn condition and faded ink that nothing about it was new. It looked old, and used, and as soon as Pike saw it he knew something about Jack Straw was wrong.
The envelope contained photocopies of what appeared to be reports and documents about William Allan Rainey written on Drug Enforcement Agency letterhead and field forms. The documents appeared official, and contained blurry, black-and-white photocopies of surveillance pictures. Like the envelope, the documents showed their wear with torn edges, coffee rings, and handwritten notes in the margins. Pike was fingering through the pages without reading them when he found a smudged picture of Rose Marie Platt with a banner for Jazz Fest behind her in the background. The picture quality was so poor she was almost unrecognizable, but Pike knew it was her.
Pike pushed the pages back into the envelope, and continued looking for the camera. He found it a few seconds later, closed the duffel, and left the bags on the back seat as he had found them.
Pike hadn’t been looking for files and documents, but now he wanted to see what Straw had. He took the camera and envelope, and drove to a quiet residential street three blocks away.
Pike checked the video first. He spent a few minutes figuring out how to work the camera, then watched several seconds of Straw’s recording. He fast-forwarded, then skipped between tracks to watch more. A hard knot between his shoulder blades grew larger with each scene he watched, and soon it spread down his back.
Straw’s surveillance team had not recorded Azzara or the members of Azzara’s gang. They had recorded Rainey and Dru. Entering and leaving the shop. Entering and leaving the house on the canal. Dru in the backyard. Rainey in the kayak. Driving their Tercel.
The video confirmed what Pike suspected the moment he saw the worn envelope bearing Wilson Smith’s true name.
Special Agent Jack Straw had lied. Straw and his team never cared about Miguel Azzara. They had known who Wilson and Dru were since the beginning. They were chasing Rainey and Platt.
40
Pike put the camera aside, then skimmed the reports. Most of the documents were case notes recounting meetings or conversations with Rainey by a DEA agent named Norman Lister, who appeared to be Rainey’s handler. Most of the reports were written while Rainey was still functioning as an informant,