TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, they were called nerds.
THE CONVERSATION WENT like this: ‘The case is fifteen years…
THE DRY FACTS of the homicide played out like this.
TOOLING THROUGH THE Santa Monica canyons with the windows opened…
WHEN HOMICIDE DETECTIVES were a hair shy of a solve,…
CALVIN VITTON AND Arnie Lamar had turned in their guns…
BY SIX IN the evening, most of the detectives had…
THE NUMBERS WRITTEN on Decker’s notepaper matched a small stucco…
WHAT?” MARGE SHRIEKED.
MELINDA LITTLE WARREN was not surprised by the detectives at…
A NUGGET POPPED INTO Decker’s mind.
AFTER WRITING COPIOUS notes on two packs’ worth of index…
WHILE THE MORNING coffee was brewing, Decker turned on the…
THE MESSAGE POPPED onto the machine after ten rings, giving…
THE STOREFRONT WAS old but spotless with Formica tubular tables…
MARGE LANDED WITH a half hour to spare, just about…
RINA POURED THE coffee. “Who were you talking to in…
ALTHOUGH DECKER HAD never met Rip Garrett, he recognized him…
THE ELEVATOR STILL wasn’t working, and the stairwell hadn’t gotten…
THEY CLEARED THE table, piling the china and silver into…
THE SHELL OF a 240Z took up valuable driveway space.
BANKS’S CELL HAD gone immediately to voice mail. It was…
IMRY KERIC WAS a spectral figure. Decker could see veins…
THE SUNSET WAS on the right, a fiery ball spewing…
JARED AND AMY Little were home by 9:45. There were…
STRAPP SCRATCHED HIS head. “Whatever you did to calm her…
BETWEEN THE MEMORIAL and his impromptu meeting with Genoa Greeves…
DECKER HANDED MARGE a slip of paper on which was…
DRESSED IN WHITE pants, a yellow polo shirt, and a…
WENDERHOLE STROKED THE arms of his wheelchair.
THE CALL WAS from Marge.
BY THE TIME Decker arrived home, Rina was dressed in…
VENICE BEACH SPANNED the socioeconomic spectrum in a ten-block radius:…
THE HOLLYWOOD SUBSTATION of the LAPD was a cinder-block bunker…
BY THE TIME Decker made it over to County Jail…
DECKER HAD BEEN operating on casino time—protracted periods under artificial…
THE WOMAN LOOKED as if she had just stepped off…
DECKER TOSSED MARGE the keys to the Crown Vic. “You…
DECKER LEANED BACK in his desk chair and regarded his…
PATIENCE WAS NOT only a virtue, it was a necessity.
WHO THE FUCK is this?”
IT TOOK A full week for Rina to even speak…