The Sentry Part 18

"Yeah. I think there's something to what you said. Did you find him?"

"No."

"I can help you with that. Got something here I want you to see. Come take a look."

b.u.t.ton's voice was so flat Pike knew this wasn't a friendly request, and something in the nature of his word choice and the early time of the call cut Pike like a desert wind.

"Is it Wilson and Dru?"

"You want a ride, I'll send a car."

"Did you find them?"

"I'm at Was.h.i.+ngton Boulevard where it crosses the ca.n.a.l. Can't miss me."

"Tell me if it's them, b.u.t.ton."

b.u.t.ton hung up without answering, and now the desert wind blew through Pike's chest like a cold rail. Pike worked his way out of the bush, slipped over the fence into the neighbor's yard, then ran for his Jeep. He was less than ten minutes from b.u.t.ton's location, and filled Cole in as he drove.

Cole said, "You want me back on Mendoza?"

"Not now. If this is Wilson or Dru, the police will be all over their house as soon as they clear the scene. If there's more to find on their street, we have to find it now."

"I'm on it, Joe, but listen-"

Cole's voice softened.

"Hold a good thought, okay?"

Pike broke the call in silence. Moments later he was bogged down in traffic three blocks from the ca.n.a.l, and knew he was heading for a major crime scene. Westbound traffic was rerouted through the marina by a uniformed officer who forced everyone to turn.

When Pike identified himself, the officer directed him into a parking lot behind a Thai restaurant. Several radio cars were along both sides of the ca.n.a.l, and two more blocked the Was.h.i.+ngton Boulevard Bridge. A Medical Examiner's van was on the far side of the ca.n.a.l. Even as Pike pulled into the parking lot, he saw that the water level was down. The Venice Ca.n.a.ls did not flow freely into the sea. Once or twice a week, locks built into the bridge were opened, allowing the ca.n.a.ls to drain with the falling tide, and refill with clean water as the tide rose. Now, the tide was out and the water was down, revealing a low wall of gray concrete stones that firmed the banks and the shallow slope of the bottom.

Pike spotted Futardo as he parked. She was with a small group of detectives and uniforms at the edge of the ca.n.a.l who stared at something in the water. b.u.t.ton was on the other side of the bridge with Straw. The man with the orange s.h.i.+rt was with them, only now he wore blue. He saw Pike first, then b.u.t.ton and Straw turned. b.u.t.ton came across the bridge to Futardo and motioned Pike to join them.

Pike felt his heart rate increase as he got closer. Two men in waders stepped into the water while two other men in knee boots spread a blue plastic sheet on the muddy bottom. All four wore long rubber gloves that reached to their shoulders. A stretcher waited solemnly nearby.

b.u.t.ton's face was blank as Pike approached, but a deep line cut Futardo's brow. Pike wondered what she was thinking. b.u.t.ton's jacket was already off in antic.i.p.ation of the coming heat, and his hands were in his pockets. He didn't take them out to shake. Instead, he nodded toward the ca.n.a.l.

"There you go."

Pike looked, and in that moment he realized all his a.s.sumptions were wrong.

22.

Reuben Mendoza's body was on its side in the shallow trough of water that remained in the ca.n.a.l. The arm with the cast reached toward the bank as if he had been trying to pull himself out when he died, but Pike knew this had not been the case. Mendoza's neck was cut so deeply the white core of bone was revealed, and the blue-gray pallor of his flesh indicated he had bled out long before he drifted to the bank. He wore baggy khaki shorts, a long-sleeved plaid s.h.i.+rt so big it cloaked him like a shawl, and Keds-the same clothes Jared described. Carla Fuentes would be able to keep her house.

b.u.t.ton clucked his tongue.

"Looks to me like your boy Mendoza here didn't abduct anyone."

Futardo moved closer, watching him the way cops watch a suspect.

"Do you recognize this man?"

Pike nodded.

"When is the last time you saw him?"

Pike glanced at Futardo, and saw b.u.t.ton smile.

"Detective Futardo here wants to work homicide. She thinks you're a person of interest."

Futardo flushed dark and her thin lips grew tighter as b.u.t.ton went on, lecturing her.

"This isn't Pike's style. Pike here, he'd shoot the guy point-blank or beat him to death, but he wouldn't do this. Hey, Eddie-"

A man in waders looked over.

"Roll him and open the s.h.i.+rt, please. We want to see the wound."

Most of the body was still in the water. They rolled it to face b.u.t.ton, then pulled back the plaid s.h.i.+rt. The s.h.i.+rt was unb.u.t.toned as Jared described, but the T-s.h.i.+rt beneath was ripped from the upper left chest down through the center of the s.h.i.+rt to his pants. Washed clean of blood by being in the ca.n.a.l, picket-fence ribs protruded through the chest and internal organs bulged like blue balloons from the abdomen.

"Gutted him. Cut his neck to kill him, then gutted him thinking the body would stay down."

Pike watched the team maneuver the body, then gazed up the ca.n.a.l. Grand Ca.n.a.l was the longest ca.n.a.l of the six, letting the five smaller ca.n.a.ls breathe from the sea through the locks built into the bridge. Pike wondered how long it took for the body to work its way down from the upper ca.n.a.ls as the water drained.

"How long has he been in the water?"

"Thanks, Eddie. That's good."

The recovery team returned to its work as b.u.t.ton answered Pike's question.

"Cold as the water is, the window is wide open. More than six, but less than twenty-four. They'll tighten it up when they get him on the table, but that's the CI's best guess for now."

"Could have happened after. He took them first, and someone killed him after."

"Whatever you say, Pike. And maybe the one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other, but I wouldn't bet on it."

"You find Gomer?"

"You think Gomer killed him?"

"Did Jared make him as the man with Mendoza?"

"Didn't see him well enough, but I doubt it was Gomer. Gomer's too lightweight for something like this. You kill someone the way this man was killed, you're a heavyweight."

Pike guessed b.u.t.ton probably had several candidates for the kill, and Pike was probably high on the list despite b.u.t.ton's comment to Futardo.

Futardo moved closer again.

"The homicide detectives want to talk to you. You feel like answering a few questions or you want to lawyer up?"

"Now's fine."

b.u.t.ton smiled again.

"I was you, I'd lawyer up."

"I'm good."

Pike wasn't going to tell them anything b.u.t.ton didn't already know. If he told them more, they would promote him from person of interest to suspect.

b.u.t.ton glanced at Futardo.

"Tell'm they can have him when I'm finished. Stay with them so Pike and I can have a word."

b.u.t.ton watched her walk away, then turned back to Pike.

"Let me ask you something, between you and me, and I don't care what you tell the homicide d.i.c.ks. You know where Smith and his niece are?"

"No."

"You think Smith did this?"

The thought had occurred to Pike, but he hesitated before he answered.

"Open the ribs like that, you have to be strong, and you have to know what you're doing. I don't know that he has the skill or the strength."

b.u.t.ton grunted.

"Maybe not, but cooks know their knives. Mendoza and Gomer go to threaten the man like they did in his shop, only this time they get the big surprise."

"It's still two on one."

"Gomer's a runner. Ran before when you showed up, and this time he beat feet when the knife came out. Then it's one on one, only the girl's there to help her uncle. Once the body is down, they panic and decide to get rid of it. Then Smith calls me with that bulls.h.i.+t about Oregon to buy some getaway time."

"They didn't have to run. If that's how it happened, they killed him in self-defense."

b.u.t.ton grunted again.

"People lose their minds when they kill someone, Pike. That's why they call it blood simple."

Pike wondered why b.u.t.ton was sharing his theory, like they were in this together, until he realized b.u.t.ton's true purpose. He was trying to read whether Pike was involved in the murder or subsequent cover-up with Wilson and Dru.

Pike shrugged, willing to let b.u.t.ton think what he wanted, when Futardo reappeared. She looked excited.

"Boss, they need you over here. It's important."

b.u.t.ton told Pike not to leave, and went over to see what the detectives wanted.

The men in the waders had the body on the plastic sheet. Working together, they lifted the body, but their footing in the mud was bad. One of the men slipped, and the body went down.

Pike took out his phone. He was going to let Cole know what was happening when he saw Straw approaching. The man in blue remained on the bridge.

Straw didn't hurry. He strolled over like a man rehearsing what he wanted to say. When he arrived, he nodded at Pike.

"This time yesterday, I had a serious hard-on for you. Today, not so much."

Straw paused. Pike knew he was now supposed to ask why Straw no longer had a hard-on, but Pike didn't ask. He didn't care. Straw finally nodded toward the homicide crew. The homicide detectives were talking as if they were excited about something, and two were on phones. One trotted to a waiting radio car, and jumped into the back seat as it 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?"