"What are you going to do?"

"Someone's in the garage."

Krantz swallowed, and I could see then that he heard the voice. "Ah, maybe I should do that."

I liked him then, for maybe the first time. "I'm better, Harvey. I'll do it. Okay?"

He stared at me, and then he nodded.

"Just get them out of the house. Where's Williams?"

"Covering the front."

"He got a radio?"

"Yeah."

"Tell him we're going inside and not to shoot me, then get those women."

I stepped through the doors. The smell of blood was thin, and raw, and the great black desert flies had already found their way into the house. Pike was out in the center of the floor, but I did not go to him. I stayed near the walls, trying to see as many doors as possible.

I whispered, "Just us, buddy."

The blood trails arced through the kitchen and into a laundry room, where they stopped at a closed door. The voice was behind the door. Maybe Sobek was sitting in the garage talking to the bodies. Lunatics do that.

Here's what you do: You open the door, or you walk away and wait for the Palm Springs PD. If you walk away, then whoever is in the garage bleeds to death and you have to live with that, and with knowing you didn't go in because you were scared. These are the choices.

I closed my eyes, and whispered, "I don't want to get shot."

Then I hammered back my pistol, took six fast breaths, and went in.

Sobek's red Cherokee was parked directly in front of me, the sheriff's car next to it, both engines ticking. The two deps were in the front seat of their car, the remains of their heads slumped together in death. The voice was coming from their radio. I looked under both cars, then glanced into their backseats. Sobek wasn't there.

I closed the utility door behind me, and went back into the kitchen. Krantz had freed Paulette and her daughter. They were behind him, just coming into the family room from the hall. I thought we were going to make it. I thought that we'd get them out of there, and safe, but that's when Jerome Williams shouted something from somewhere outside, and two fast shots cracked through the house.

Krantz shouted, "Jerome!"

Laurence Sobek ran out of a doorway at the end of the hall and in that crazy moment might have been Joe Pike; large and powerful, and dressed as Pike used to dress, even down to the sunglasses. But not. This was a mutant Pike, an anti-Pike, distorted and swollen and ugly. He didn't look like Curtis Wood now; he looked more like the inbred villain in a slasher movie.

Paulette, Evelyn, and Krantz were in the line of fire between me and Sobek. I yelled, "DOWN! GET DOWN!"

Krantz shoved Paulette out of the way, aimed past Evelyn, and fired twice, hitting Sobek in the big torso both times.

Sobek came off the wall firing blindly, his bullets hitting the floor and the ceiling. One of his rounds caught me under the right arm with a hard slap, knocked away my gun, and spun me into the refrigerator.

Paulette ran to her daughter, again blocking Krantz's line of fire.

I yelled, "Head shot, Krantz! The head! He's wearing a vest!"

Sobek charged straight down the hall, and barreled into Paulette, wrapping her in his arms and knocking Evelyn aside. He was crying, and his eyes were hopping as if his brain was on fire. He put his gun to her head.

"I'm not done yet. I'm not done."

Krantz yelled, "Drop your gun! Put it down, Curtis!"

My arm felt wet and tingly, as if worms were crawling beneath the skin. I tried to pick up my gun, but the arm wouldn't work.

Sobek jammed his weapon harder into Paulette's neck. "You drop your own fuckin' gun, Krantz! You put it down or I'll kill this bitch. I'll do it, you bastard. I'll do it right fuckin' now!"

Krantz backed up, his gun shaking so badly that if he fired he would as likely hit Paulette as Sobek. I think Krantz knew that, too.

I tried to pick up my gun with my left hand. Sobek didn't even seem to know I was there anymore. He was focused on Krantz.

"I MEAN IT GODDAMMIT KRANTZ I'M GONNA DO IT I'M GONNA DO IT RIGHT NOW BLOW HER BRAINS OUT AND THEN I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE!"

It is against LAPD policy for an officer to give up his or her weapon. They teach that at the Academy, they live by it, and it is the right thing to teach and live by. You give up your weapon, and you're done.

But if you don't do what Laurence Sobek says, and someone dies, you will always wonder. It is another choice and another door, and you won't know what lies behind it until you go there.

He was going to kill her.

"Okay, Curtis. Just let her go and we'll talk. I'm putting the gun down like you want. Just don't hurt her, Curtis. Please do not hurt her."

Krantz put his gun on the floor, and for the second time that day I liked Harvey Krantz.

I spoke quietly. "Sobek? Why'd you kill Dersh? He wasn't part of this?"

Crazy eyes danced to me. "Pike killed Dersh. Don't you watch the news?"

Krantz said, "Shut up, Cole. Curtis, put down the gun. Please."

Sobek walked Paulette closer to Krantz, shaking his head. "I'm not done yet. They're going to pay for the Coopster. They're going to pay for that."

Behind Sobek, Pike moved.

I said, "Tell us about Dersh, Sobek. Tell us why you set up Pike."

Sobek pointed his gun at me, and cocked the hammer. "I didn't."

Pike's eyes opened.

Krantz said, "Damnit, Cole, shut up. Curtis, don't kill him. Let this woman go."

Pike pushed himself up. His face was a mask of blood. His shirt was wet with it. He picked up his gun.

Sobek said, "She's gotta die, and Wozniak's kid is gonna die, too. But you know what, Harvey?"

"What?"

Sobek aimed his.357 point-blank at Harvey Krantz.

"You're gonna die first."

I said, "DeVille isn't dead."

Laurence Sobek stopped as if I'd hit him with a board. His face filled with rage, he aimed his gun at me again, then brought it back to Krantz. I could see his gun hand tighten.

He said, "This is for killing my father."

Krantz yelled, "NO!"

Sobek was squeezing the trigger when Joe Pike brought up his weapon and fired one round through the back of Laurence Sobek's head. Sobek collapsed in a heap, and then there was silence.

Pike fell forward onto his hands, and almost at once tried to push himself up again.

Paulette said, "Joe, lie down. Please lie down."

Krantz just stood there. I could hear the sirens far away now, but drawing closer.

I struggled to my feet and went to Joe. Blood ran down my arm and dripped from my fingers.

"Stay down, Joseph. Got an ambulance on the way."

Pike said, "No. If I go down now, I'll spend the rest of my life in prison. Right, Krantz?"

Krantz said, "You're going to bleed to death."

Pike found his feet and stood, using Paulette to steady himself. He put his pistol into the waistband of his pants, then looked at me. "You're shot."

"You're shot twice."

Pike nodded. "It's so easy to show you up."

He staggered then, but I caught him.

Paulette said, "Please, Joe." She was crying.

Pike was looking at me. "Maybe there'll be something at Sobek's to put him with Dersh."

"There wasn't."

Pike looked tired. He took a handkerchief from his pants, but the blood had soaked through and it was red.

Paulette Wozniak said, "Oh, damn."

She pulled off her shirt and used it to wipe his face. She was wearing a white bra, but nobody looked or said anything, and I thought in that moment I could love her myself, truly and always.

The corner of Joe's mouth twitched, and he touched her face. "Gotta go."

Paulette blinked at the tears.

Joe let his fingers linger. "You really are more beautiful."

Then he turned away for the door, leaving his fingerprints in blood on her face.