more, but Carly finally shrugged.
“Then you showed up. And saved her.”
Pike thought about Karbo and Bender, and their motive for taking Isabel. Her first abduction could have been written off as a crime of opportunity. A second abduction suggested Isabel was a target.
Carly said, “Why are you staring at me? I’m not making this up. They stole her again!”
Pike stepped outside and took out his phone. He went to the edge of the porch.
Carly said, “Who are you calling?”
She followed after him, but Pike stopped her with a finger. He would say things he didn’t want her to hear.
The phone rang three times.
A familiar voice answered.
“Elvis Cole Detective Agency, two clues for the price of one. Discounts available.”
“I need your help.”
Cole’s voice turned serious.
“Anything.”
13.
Hicks
Hicks’s eyes burned from a lack of sleep, and his shoulders felt tight as rocks. The night had passed like a dying freight train straining to climb a hill, and the day wasn’t picking up speed. Hicks told Ronson and Stanley to keep down the noise, and pushed past the carpet they’d hung to muffle the sound. He carried his phone to a quiet part of the house. Stegner had called.
Hicks lit a cigarette.
“This is better. Tell me something good.”
Hicks had sent Stegner and Wallick to search the girl’s house.
Stegner said, “You said she lives alone.”
Hicks knew by the tone something was off. Stegner was good, but he was one of those guys who needed his hand held.
“That’s right. And?”
“We can’t get in. People are here.”
Multiple eyes had confirmed the girl’s living arrangements. Karbo and Bender had been in her home. Hicks had seen it himself. Isabel Roland lived alone.
“What people? A gardener? A housekeeper?”
“No, man. People. A man and a woman are on the porch. A young chick, about the girl’s age. A car is in the drive. A Volkswagen.”
Wallick mumbled in the background. Stegner paused to listen, then passed it along.
“The front door was open, so, obviously, they have a key.”
“Where are you?”
“A couple of blocks over. Not far. What do you want to do?”
Hicks wanted them to search the house.
“They’re probably friends, come by to check on her. They’ll leave.”
“With a key?”
“Close friends, sure. You think they’re police? Plainclothes?”
“Driving a Bug? I’m thinking one or both of these people live here. I’m thinking someone gave you bad intel, and she has a roommate.”
The tension in Hicks’s shoulders spread to his neck. He sucked the cigarette, and fired a stream of smoke out the side of his mouth.
“She lives alone. By herself.”
“If Wallick and I were in her house, someone with a key could walk in. Like these two.”
Wallick mumbled again.
Hicks said, “What’s he saying?”
“The dude, maybe. He’s got the look.”
Hicks was confused. Too little sleep, not enough coffee.
“What are you talking about?”
“The dude on the porch could be an off-duty cop. A big dude. Kinda rough. He has the look.”
Hicks had a weird premonition he knew the answer to the question he was about to ask.
“Dressed how?”
“Jeans, a sweatshirt like gym rats wear. You know, with the sleeves cut off?”
“You see his arms?”
“Buff. Like a jock.”
“Did he have tattoos?”
“I didn’t see—hang on.”
Wallick again.
“Wallick says yes. Something red.”
“Arrows.”
“Dude. We did not linger.”
A man with red arrows tattooed on his delts put Karbo and Bender down. The police report described him as a customer from Roland’s bank who witnessed the abduction by chance. A bystander who had no other connection to the victim, so Hicks had let it go. Yet here he was, bystanding the kid’s home.
Hicks remembered his name. Pike. Hicks decided to find out more about Mr. Pike.
Stegner interrupted his thoughts.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Kill a few minutes, and swing back around. Get the Beetle’s plate.”
“’Kay.”
“Don’t let them see you.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Stay close, and check back later. They’ll leave.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I say we need to search her house. Do it.”
Hicks ended the call, and dropped the cigarette. He watched it bounce on the golden oak floor in the gorgeous old Spanish revival, a home built in the twenties, a small mansion, big rooms, not a stick of furniture. The floors had been polished to a high luster, and truly were beautiful. Hicks crushed the butt, grinding it into the wood. The damn place was an echo chamber. This was why Hicks lined the room’s windows and doors with carpet. The girl screamed. Sounds carried.
14.
Joe Pike
Pike and Carly were on the porch when Cole pulled up in his pastel yellow Corvette convertible. Pike thought the understated yellow was beautiful when the