Myers glanced at Gittamon, then me.

"I'd like to get my people up to your house, Cole. I'd also like a copy of those names."

"Starkey has the list. We can make a copy."

He glanced at Gittamon.

"If SID is on the way, we'd better get going, but I'd also like a quick brief on what we know and what's being done, Sergeant. Can I count on you for that?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely."

I gave him directions to my house. Myers copied them onto a Palm Pilot, then offered to carry Ben's computer down to Gittamon's car. They left together. Richard followed after them, but hesitated when he reached Lucy. He glanced at me, and his mouth tightened as if he smelled bile.

"Are you coming?"

"In a minute."

Richard looked at Lucy, and the hardness around his mouth softened. He touched her arm.

"I'm staying at the Beverly Hills on Sunset. I shouldn't have said those things, Lucille. I regret them and I apologize, but they're true."

He glanced at me again, then left.

Lucy raised a hand to her forehead.

"This is a nightmare."

time missing: 18 hours, 05 minutes

The sun had risen like a mid-morning flare, so intense that it washed the color from the sky and made the palm trees glimmer. Gittamon had gone by the time I reached the street, but Richard was waiting by the black limo with Myers and the two men from the Marquis. They were probably his people from New Orleans.

They stopped talking when I came around the birds- of- paradise, and Richard stepped in front of the others to meet me. He didn't bother hiding his feelings now; his face was angry and intent.

"I've got something to say to you."

"Let me guess: You're not going to ask where I bought the shirt."

"This is your fault. It's only a matter of time before one of them gets killed because of you, and I'm not going to let that happen."

Myers drifted up and touched Richard's arm.

"We don't have time for this."

Richard brushed away his hand.

"I want to say it."

I said, "Take his advice, Richard. Please."

Debbie DeNice and Ray Fontenot moved to Richard's other side. DeNice was a large-boned man with gray eyes the color of soapy dishwater. Fontenot was an ex-NOPD detective like DeNice. He was tall and angular with a bad scar on his neck.

DeNice said, "Take his advice or what?"

It had been a long night. Pressure built in my head until my eyes felt hard. I answered him calmly.

"It's still morning. We're going to see a lot of each other."

Richard said, "Not if I can help it. I don't like you, Cole. I don't trust you. You draw trouble like flies to puke, and I want you to stay away from my family."

I made myself breathe. Further up the street, a middle-aged woman walked a pug. It waddled as it looked for a place to pee. This man was Ben's father and Lucy's former husband. I told myself that if I said or did anything to this man it would hurt them. We didn't have time for this nonsense. We had to find Ben.

"I'll see you up at the house."

I tried to go around them, but DeNice stepped sideways to block my path.

"You don' know whut you dealin' with, podnuh."

Fontenot smiled softly.

"Oh, yeah, you got that right."

Myers said, "Debbie. Ray."

Neither of them moved. Richard stared at Lucy's apartment and wet his lips again as he had upstairs. He seemed more confused than angry.

"She was stupid and selfish to move to Los Angeles. She was stupid to be involved with someone like you, and selfish to take Ben away. I hope she comes to her senses before one of them dies."

DeNice was a wide man with a lurid face that made me think of a homicidal clown. He had small scars on the bridge of his nose. New Orleans was probably a tough beat, but he looked like the kind of man who enjoyed it tough. I could have tried again to step around him, but I didn't.

"Get out of my way."

DeNice opened his sport coat to flash his gun, and I wondered if they were impressed with that down in the Ninth Ward.

DeNice said, "You don't get the picture."

Something flickered at the edges of light; an arm roped with thick veins looped around DeNice's neck; a heavy blue.357 Colt Python appeared under his right arm, the sound as it cocked like breaking knuckles. DeNice floundered off balance as Joe Pike lifted him backwards, Pike's voice a soft hiss.

"Picture this."

Fontenot clawed under his own jacket. Pike snapped the.357 across Fontenot's face. Fontenot staggered. The woman down the street glanced over, but all she saw were six men on the walk with one of them clutching his face.

I said, "Richard, we don't have time for this. We have to find Ben."

Pike wore a sleeveless gray sweatshirt, jeans, and dark glasses that glittered in the sun. The muscles in his arm were bunched like cobblestones around DeNice's neck. The red arrow tattooed across his deltoid was stretched tight with inner tension.

Myers watched Pike the way a lizard watches, not really seeing, more like he was waiting for something that would trigger his own preordained reaction: attack, retreat, fight.

Myers spoke calmly.

"That was stupid, Debbie, stupid and unprofessional. You see, Richard? You can't play with people like this."

Richard seemed to wake, as if he was coming out of a fog. He shook his head.

"Jesus Christ, Lee, what does DeNice think he's doing. I just wanted to talk to Cole. I can't have something like this."

Myers never looked away from Joe. He took DeNice's arm even though Pike still held him.

"I'm sorry, Richard. I'll talk to him."

Myers tugged the arm.

"We're good now. Let go."

Pike's arm tightened.

I said, "Richard, listen. I know you're upset, but I'm upset, too. We have to focus on Ben. Finding Ben comes first. You have to remember that. Now go get into your car. I don't want to have this conversation again."

Richard's jaw popped and flexed, but then he went to his car.

Myers was still watching Pike.

"You going to let go?"

DeNice said, "You better let go, you motherfucker!"

I said, "It's okay now, Joe. Let him go."

Pike said, "Whatever."

DeNice could have played it smart, but didn't. When Pike released him, DeNice spun and threw a hard straight punch. He moved a lot faster than a thick man should and used his legs with his elbow tight to his body. DeNice had probably surprised a lot of men with his speed, which is why he thought he could do it. Pike slipped the punch, trapped DeNice's arm in a joint lock, and hooked DeNice's legs from under him in the same moment. DeNice hit the sidewalk flat on his back. His head bounced on the concrete.

Richard called from the limo.

"Goddamnit, Lee!"

Myers checked DeNice's eyes. They were glassy. He pulled DeNice to his feet and pushed him toward the Marquis. Fontenot was already behind the wheel, holding a bloody handkerchief to his face.

Myers considered Pike for a moment, then me.

"They're just cops."

He joined Richard at the limo, and then both cars drove away.

When I turned to Joe, I saw a dark glimmer at the edge of his lip.

"Hey. What's that?"

I looked more closely. A red pearl colored the corner of his mouth.

"You're bleeding. Did that guy tag you?"

Pike never got tagged. Pike was way too fast ever to get tagged. He touched away the blood, then climbed into my car.

"Tell me about Ben."

Boy Meets Queen

"Help!"

Ben pressed his ear to a tiny hole cut into the top of the box, but all he heard was a faraway shush like when you hold a seashell to your ear.

He cupped his mouth to the hole.

"Can anyone hear me?"