EPHRAIM GANZ AND I walked out of the North Precinct of the SPD almost twenty-four hours after my arrest. He nodded to a younger man with a lawyer’s satchel sitting in the lobby as we passed.
“Well,” said Ganz, “you beat Rusk out of the door. But not by much.”
“That was one of Ostrander’s people?”
“Um-hmm. Not even a partner. If he’s here, it’s because the deal’s already been cut and Rusk just needs a ride home.”
“Rusk and his goons beat Parson Yorke half to death.”
“Rusk says it was the other way around, that the big boy attacked them when they spotted his car and came to the house to question him.”
“How’d that story fly?”
“About as well as you claiming to have found that Smith and Wesson just lying around at the scene. But Rusk stuck to his version, and so did you, and here we are. Everybody’s too excited about finding Yorke.”
The news about the explosives had broken. Shattered might be a better word. I’d told the cops that Barrett had called me about her brother, and that when I went to find the kid, I had overheard Rusk interrogating him about the missing explosives. It was true enough to hold up, and it got the cops very interested in the origins of the Tovex that had been flung through my window. A sewage storm of legendary proportions was building around HDC, with Maurice Haymes at its center.
The downside was that everyone had concluded that Parson must be my mad bomber. And there wasn’t much evidence to indicate otherwise.
I picked up my pace to keep up with Ganz, who wove through the other pedestrians as easily as a mongoose through tall grass. “Parson told me he doesn’t have the explosives. I believe him.”
“But you’re certain that he helped Kend Haymes steal them. Why wouldn’t he be your guy?”
“I don’t think Parson ever knew what he and Kend were taking. I saw the security video of the theft. The cases of Tovex were unmarked. And while Rusk was beating on him, Parson claimed that he and Kend never opened the cases.”
Ganz looked skeptical. “The boy would steal dozens of heavy cases and never ask what it was?”
“Parson thought Kend was about the best guy who ever walked the Earth. Maybe Kend thought it would be safer for Parson if he kept the kid uninformed. He asked for help, and Parson jumped. But the next thing Parson knew, Kend was dead. Since then his life has gone straight to hell. He can’t even barter the explosives with the cops.”
“So who does have the repulsive things? The missing girl, what’s her name?”
“Elana Coll. She might have helped with the theft. But I’m sure that whoever murdered Kend and Trudy at the cabin must have the Tovex now.”
“The police are theorizing that Parson killed Kend and the Dobbs girl.” Ganz pointed and we hurried to make the crosswalk. “They didn’t say as much, but they have the look that all officers of the law get when they’re about to close a big case. Like overfed cats.”
“No. I’m guessing Kend stole the Tovex to ransom it to his dad and pay off his loan shark. But then Broch turned up dead, and the explosives are still missing.”
“It gets better,” Ganz said, smirking. “An inside source tells me police found a call record from Parson Yorke’s cell phone to none other than the late T. X. Broch.”
I stopped. Ganz kept walking and I rushed to catch up.
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“To the same rotten business where they found him dead. The kid knew Broch.”
“Damn. Maybe Broch killed them after all, and Parson killed Broch, and the cops will find the cases in the trunks of Broch’s crappy used cars.”
Ganz handed his valet ticket to a parking garage attendant. “What kind of loan shark would want bombs?”
“One who doesn’t care about money, maybe.”
And that spun me off on another mental thread, as we waited silently for Ganz’s car. It turned out to be a Tesla, as long and as shiny as a knife blade.
“Holy shit,” I said. “I should have gone to law school.”
“No good for you,” Ganz said regally. “They won’t let you shoot people to win arguments. Except in Small Claims. Drop you somewhere?”
“You can take me to the impound lot. I was in a hurry when I parked.”
“Luxury car my ass,” said Ganz. “It’s a wonder they let you drive anything at all.”
I didn’t expect to be done breaking traffic laws yet. It had been a full day since Parson had shown me the address of Elana’s new hiding place. If there were even a chance of finding her still there, I’d run every red light in town.