MARX BACKED out of his garage at ten minutes after eight the next morning. I was across the street, sitting behind a stunted fig tree at the corner of his neighbor’s house. I had moved into position when the first grey fingers of morning pushed off the night. Pike was parked two blocks away beside a house that was being remodeled. Marx would drive past him if he headed for the freeway.
I hit the speed-dial for Joe.
“He’s getting into his Lexus. He’s wearing his uniform and he’s alone. His wife is still home.”
I shut my phone and waited. Pike called back two minutes later.
“I’m three cars behind him, southbound. Looks like he’s heading for the freeway.”
“Okay.”
Pike would follow him to the freeway before turning back. Marx might have loaded the files back into his car, but I couldn’t know that until I entered his house, so I sat in the fig tree and waited. I figured Marx would be gone for most of the day, but I was concerned about his wife. I wouldn’t enter the house as long as she was present, and she might be one of those women who never left home. A housekeeper or guest might arrive, which would be even worse.
I waited.
My cell phone vibrated a few minutes later, making a soft buzz against my thigh. I thought it would be Pike, but it was Levy. He sounded excited and filled with interest.
“I think you’re right about Deputy Chief Marx, Elvis. He’s been virtually absent from his office this week. He’s turned his regular duties over to his assistants.”
“He’s been busy. Bastilla and Munson have been removing task force files and giving them to Marx. Marx has been bringing them home.”
Levy was quiet, then cleared his throat.
“Which files?”
“I’ll know when I see them. I’m outside his house.”
“Outside his home?”
“In a fig tree. I can’t speak any louder.”
Levy cleared his throat again.
“You shouldn’t be telling me this. I’m an officer of the court.”
“Did you talk to Ivy Casik?”
“I couldn’t find her. I went to her apartment twice yesterday, but she wasn’t home. Do you know if Marx or his people reached her?”
“Not yet. Maybe I’ll know when I see the files.”
“Right. Well. Good luck.”
Levy sounded uncomfortable.
I ended the call and went back to waiting. Pike called again almost two hours later, at five minutes after ten.
“Want to switch places? Let you stretch your legs.”
“I’m good. I kinda like it here in the tree.”
“Your call.”
The day wore on with glacial slowness. The mail was delivered, cars passed, and UPS dropped off a package. I was beginning to think I should have hijacked Marx’s car when the garage door shivered open at twenty-six minutes after two and Marx’s wife got into her SUV. I pressed the speed dial as the engine started.
“She’s coming out.”
I had described her car the night before, but now I read off the license plate. The SUV backed into the street, then drove away in the same direction as Marx.
“Heading your way.”
“You going in?”
“Soon as she’s clear.”
I waited for three cars to pass, then stepped from beneath the fig tree and crossed the street. Mrs. Marx might be leaving for the rest of the day or only running out for a bottle of milk, but either way I didn’t hurry. I walked down their drive as if I were an old family friend, continued along the side of their house, and went directly to the kitchen door. The locks didn’t take long, a Master deadbolt and the inset knob lock, six minutes top to bottom. I called Pike again when the tension bar slid home.
“I’m good. I’m going in.”
I pulled on a pair of latex gloves and opened the door. I listened for a moment, then stepped inside. The house was cool and smelled of scented soap, but I didn’t like being there. I wanted to see what I needed to see, then get the hell out. I crossed through the kitchen, listened again, then hurried directly to the office.
A mahogany desk was angled in the corner, facing built-in cabinets, the closet, and a small TV. The unmistakable three-ring navy binder of a murder book sat on his desk. It hadn’t been on his desk last night, but now it was, as if he had looked at it this morning before leaving for work. The handwritten label on the spine read Trinh.
His desk and the area around the murder book were immaculate, with a desktop PC, a cordless phone, and a short stack of papers beside the keyboard. I fingered through the papers, but found nothing related to the case. Folders inside the desk drawers were labeled for personal things like insurance policies and utility bills. I went to the closet, and there was the rest of it. The box Munson gave to Marx was on the floor. Several thick folders held together by rubber bands were stacked on top, and two more murder books were on the floor beside the box. Repko and Frostokovich.
I felt a twinge of sadness when I saw them.
“Hello, Debra.”
I photographed the box and the murder books, then snapped a wider shot to establish the material was in the closet. I dragged the box into the room, put the murder books on top, then took more pictures from angles that included Marx’s desk and personal possessions, and the Trinh murder book on the desk. I wanted undeniable proof the missing files were in Marx’s home.
When I had enough pictures, I opened Sondra Frostokovich’s murder book. I was reading the first page, all good to go and work my way through the entire thing, when my cell phone vibrated.
Pike said, “Marx and Munson just passed, inbound. Thirty seconds.”
He didn’t waste time with more words. I had been in the house less than eight minutes, and now I was done. I had wanted to read through the material, photograph those things I found incriminating, and leave the files undisturbed to buy myself more time, but now I couldn’t play it that way. It was a lot of paper but I took it. The box was only half full, so I shoved in the loose folders and murder books, and carried it into the bathroom adjoining Marx’s office.
The garage door rumbled on the far side of the house as I stepped into the hall. I carried the box into the bathroom, set it on the toilet, and pushed open the window. The front door opened as I climbed out. Marx said something I didn’t understand as I reached back inside for the box.
I closed the window, slipped into the thick bushes between Marx’s house and the next, and hit the speed-dial for Pike. He answered like this:
“I’m here.”
“Never a doubt.”
I pushed through the hedges into the neighbors’ yard and saw Pike’s Jeep in the street. I probably should have walked, but I ran as hard as I could without looking back and without caring who saw me.
I jammed into Pike’s Jeep with the box in my lap, and Pike gunned away, the door snapping shut so hard it hammered my elbow.
Pike said, “Close.”
My eyes burned as I laughed. It was a stupid laugh, like a barking dog. I couldn’t stop until Pike gripped my arm.