I wasn’t waiting to be asked again. I was up and moving with no intention of slowing down for any parting pleasantries.

Dennis was on his way back to New York with the cello. At least I hoped he was. I was eager to see if Claire had stayed behind. With the divorce and the girlfriend, the odds that she would be waiting for me seemed better than ever. Besides Claire’s temper, the biggest surprise was that she had led me to believe the divorce wasn’t final. The only reason she might lead me to think otherwise was to keep me at a distance. Maybe she knew in her heart that even though the divorce was done, she and Dennis weren’t. They would always have unfinished business. The cello was just the box where they kept it.

Welper didn’t move from his chair. “I can’t leave without Mr. Arrons.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Dunphy grabbed my arm. “Not so quick, Ben.”

Welper’s voice was soft, almost resigned. “I can’t. I won’t. My son-in-law is missing. I’m afraid he’s gotten in over his head.”

“What’s your son-in-law got to do with this?”

“My son-in-law is Josh Arrons.” Welper was suddenly uncomfortable. “He’s not exactly a trained investigator.”

Dunphy sighed. “What exactly is he?”

“A cello maker. A luthier. I invited him along because I thought he might be useful in identifying the del Gesù cello. He was supposed to stay put in Price at the Holiday Inn and wait until we called him. When Ms. Delacroix failed, we had to put something else together in a hurry. He was available. I thought it would be safe enough. If he’d done just what he was supposed to it would have been. Unfortunately, he took matters into his own hands.”

Dunphy was unmoved. “Missing is not the same as kidnapping or homicide. File a missing-person report. Or maybe you’d prefer to keep the police out of it. As usual.”

“I’ll do whatever I need to do. Please. I’m afraid he’s been the victim of some kind of foul play. Forcefully detained. Badly hurt. Even murdered.”

“I think you’re overreacting. Why would he take off on his own?”

Welper sent a grim nod in my direction. “If Mr. Jones hadn’t turned Ms. Delacroix down, Mr. Arrons wouldn’t have been involved. She’d never failed before. She certainly never failed with someone like Jones. Packed up her wounded pride and left town in a huff. So we improvised with the reality show story. I was in Logan running down another lead when Josh got the idea to follow Mr. Jones. By the time I got back, Josh had rented a Jeep in Moab. He left me a note at the hotel. Probably because he didn’t want me to stop him. The note said he was going to follow Mr. Jones.”

“What day was that?”

“He rented the Jeep on Friday. The note was written early Saturday morning. No word from him since the note.”

Dunphy said, “Ben?”

“He was in one of those fire-engine-red Moab rental Jeeps,” I said. “Hard to miss. But I don’t know where he is now. I kind of liked the guy. Those Jeeps usually have homing beacons in them. Check the rental company.”

“Did that first thing this morning,” Welper said. “He rented the Jeep for a week. The beacon must have malfunctioned. They aren’t getting a signal. Maybe it’s been disconnected.”

Dunphy was out of patience. “File your report. It hasn’t even been seventy-two hours. If he hasn’t shown up in another day or two, I’ll authorize the search. That’s the best I can do.”

Welper wasn’t about to leave it alone. He was begging. “Can’t you start the search tonight? I’ll pick up the bill. Every penny. Overtime. Whatever it takes. Whatever your opinion of me, just put it aside. Money is no object.”

Dunphy said, “Mr. Welper, of the few certainties I’ve come across in life, one of them is that when a person says money is no object, the opposite is most likely true. Money is the only object—or will be.”

“If you can get the ball rolling, I’ll write a check right now.”

Dunphy was still on top of his game. “You seem to be in a big hurry. It makes me think there’s something you haven’t told me. I’m giving you one chance. What is it?”

This was not a time to hold back. Welper didn’t, though he took his time getting started. “I was confident Jones would have some answers. I still think he knows more than he’s saying. It doesn’t seem like I’m going to get any more. Now I’m worried.”

“About what? Be specific,” Dunphy asked.

“The father of the Chinese princess is a businessman. You know what I mean?”

“You mean he’s a criminal?”

“Yes,” Welper said. “Powerful, slick, and untouchable. From what I hear, methodical and ruthless. He’s not the kind to file a police report. He’s the kind to take back what’s his in his own way. Whatever and whoever it takes. We had a gentleman’s agreement that he’d stay out of it for two weeks. Those two weeks are up. For all I know he’s got his people on the ground here in Utah. With his resources he probably knows as much as I do. Including about Mr. Jones here. Probably more.”

“Why would a cello maker risk getting crosswise with Chinese thugs? And alone at that?” Dunphy knew the answer. He wanted Welper to say it.

“I didn’t tell him about the Chinese thugs. There was no need. He was supposed to stay out of the way. Maybe he would have taken off anyway. I think maybe he wanted to impress me and come home a hero to my daughter. It was stupid.”

“Not as stupid as you’ve been. If he’s found trouble, it will all be on your head.” Dunphy said he’d return in a few minutes, and left the room.

“Does Mrs. Tichnor know about the father’s line of work?” I asked.

There was a lot going on behind Welper’s eyes. “Not at first. Probably now. She’s smart. Everything she’s done has been carefully planned. Why do you care?”

“I just do,” I said. “I care about your son-in-law, too. Probably more than you do. I think what you’re really afraid of is how your daughter will react if harm has come to her husband.”

My concern about Ginny had been growing. Maybe Welper and his crew hadn’t been the only ones watching me. I wasn’t too concerned about Claire. At least her safety. She had Walt and the secret of Desert Home. But Ginny couldn’t say the same. Even if the Chinese weren’t responsible for Ginny’s disappearance, Welper might be, one way or the other. He seemed like the kind of man who might do anything if he convinced himself it was part of his job, even leveraging Ginny to get to me. If he thought I was holding out, or if I’d done something to his son-in-law, he might have taken Ginny as a bargaining chip. She was pregnant. She had no one. She was the only personal link to me that he knew about. Which meant that the father’s camp could have made the connection as well.

“If it’s any consolation,” I said, “I don’t think there are any Chinese poking around 117. There aren’t many people out there. A car full of Chinese would stick out like a sore thumb.”

Welper screwed up his face so I would know he thought I was an idiot. “Don’t you think they would know that? With all the wars going on, the world is filled with highly trained mercenaries. It’s a growth industry. I strongly doubt he’d use Asians for exactly that reason. Men in Han’s position have their own private armies on retainer.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said patiently. “If you’d only lived out there for ten years, you’d still be considered a stranger. The same goes for the town of Rockmuse. They can spot outsiders from a mile away. No matter what color they are. If there are people poking around and asking questions, I’d say there is a better chance they’d be the ones to disappear.”

“That would be the case with Josh as well, wouldn’t it?” he asked.

I didn’t want to admit it. I had to agree that it would.

Welper dropped his chin. He leaned across the table and lowered his voice. “Now let me tell you what I think. I think you know a whole lot more than you’ve said. I’m a little off balance because of Josh, but I’m damn good at what I do. You’ve got your former coach running interference for you. Enjoy it, because it won’t last long. I’ve got cards I haven’t played yet. If you’re between me and Mrs. Tichnor and that cello, you are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I guarantee you this: you will get crushed. If you’ve had any part in bringing harm to my son-in-law, any part at all, I will come after you. If you have information, now is the time. The last time. Don’t hesitate. Don’t hold back. Do you understand?”

I thought about what he’d said. “I might be able to help with Josh. Not because of you or the cello, or anything else but Josh.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Let me finish,” I said. “You said your piece. Here’s mine. My little friend, as you call her, has been missing for a couple of days. Maybe she’s one of those unplayed cards you just mentioned. You know anything about that?”

“Not a thing,” he said. “I only talked to her that one time.” He sounded convincing. He should have stopped right there. He didn’t. “Kids like that go missing all the time. Drugs. Alcohol. One bad choice after another. Most show up eventually. Some don’t. And when they don’t, it’s not a big loss to society. In fact, sad though it might be, it’s a blessing. Kids like that are a drain on everyone else. My guess is that she’ll show up. Now tell me what you know about Josh.”

It had been quite some time since I’d gone after someone in a blind rage. It took every ounce of self-control I had to keep from going after Welper. I took a few shallow breaths. “Let me tell you about my little friend,” I said. “She’s bright as hell. Sure, she’s made some mistakes. Who hasn’t? But she’s seventeen, homeless, alone, pregnant. She works the night shift. She’s going to college.”

Welper cocked his head to one side. He enjoyed my speech and the anger behind it. To his way of thinking he was gaining the upper hand. “Well,” he said. “I guess I had your little friend all wrong. Make sure I get an invitation when she graduates from Stanford.”

We sat for a minute without speaking. I relaxed a bit and worked up a smile for him. “I’ll do that,” I said. “But let me tell you what’s going to happen if she gets hurt because of you. And by hurt, I mean anything from simple inconvenience to death, hers or the baby’s.” I let him wait. “Nothing. Not a damn thing.”

Welper laughed. “Nothing? You need to brush up on how to make a threat.”

“No threat. Nothing,” I said calmly. “Because I’m nothing. I’m just a high-school-educated truck driver. I’m probably not even that anymore. I’m in debt. My rig is about to be repossessed. I have no family. I’m not even a Mormon. I’m broke. If it weren’t for the money Josh paid me, I wouldn’t have enough money to eat. You can do any shitty thing you want to Ginny and me, or anyone else that gets in your way. You can say it’s not you, it’s the job. You have power. I understand power. I understand it the only way someone without power can understand.”

“What’s your point?”

“No point.” I shrugged. “I’m invisible. I have nothing to lose. I think your cello will show up. I think Josh will show up. I think you’ll go home and go on being successful and powerful. You’ll get even more powerful friends to call when you need a favor. You’ll forget you ever met me. This whole cello deal will be a story that won’t even entertain your grandchildren. Then some night you’ll be in your bed. Not asleep, just drifting maybe, that time when small, unimportant things go through your head. Maybe during one of those times I will be an answer to one of your life’s trivia questions, the truck driver in Utah. Just for a second or two. Maybe in those seconds you’ll think of Ginny, too. You’ll think for those couple of seconds that people like us who don’t count and have no power just might be the most powerful and dangerous people in the world. The thought will go as quickly as it came. You will sleep like the dead.”

“Now that sounds like a threat.”

“Strange it sounds that way to you. All I remember saying is that nothing will happen. Nothing at all. Sometime in the future.”

When Dunphy came back in, Welper and I were sitting quietly. He paused at the door and took in the silence and the two of us. “Looks like I missed something important.”

“Nothing at all,” I said.

Welper was busy trying to stare me down.

Dunphy said, “We’ll start looking for your son-in-law tomorrow.”

Welper thanked the captain. “Mr. Jones was just telling me he thought he could be of assistance in locating my son-in-law.”

“Is that true?”

“I can show search and rescue the general area where I last saw him. It might not help, but it’s a place to start.”

“Can you make a map?”

I told him it would be better if I could just show them. The captain said he understood. “Be here tomorrow by ten.”

Welper stood. “One more thing,” he said, “I’d like to take a look inside Mr. Jones’s truck and trailer.”

“You’ll need a warrant for that. Unless Mr. Jones has no objection.”

I did object. For a moment I didn’t know why. “No,” I said.

My answer didn’t sit well with Dunphy. “That’s your right, Mr. Jones. Mr. Welper here will make a few calls, and a judge will sign a warrant. It will take some time. Meanwhile, your truck and trailer will stay in our impound lot. The warrant will take even less time if I think we need one. I’m beginning to think it would be a good idea.”

There was only a small chance they wouldn’t find Duncan’s remains wrapped up with the ice cream. If they did find it, all I had to do was tell the truth. Not so good for Fergus. Under the circumstances, I had no choice. I might have had to tell the truth anyway. I hadn’t had much time to consider what I was going to do with the body that wouldn’t lead to Fergus going to jail, which was where he belonged.

“Go ahead. I don’t have anything to hide,” I said. Probably what everyone who has something to hide says.

The corridor was empty. The three of us walked out into the dimly lit impound lot. The wind had died down. The damp air was charged with electricity. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck move as if insects were crawling under my skin. A bolt of lightning flashed to the south under rolling fists of dense clouds. A few seconds later came the thunder. I lifted the sliding door, exposing the empty trailer. Several bursts of lightning splintered the dark horizon. Dunphy paid no attention. He aimed his flashlight into the trailer. Welper and I looked out toward the lightning. Maybe he was thinking of Josh. I was imagining Claire again, and Walt. It was going to be one hell of a night out on 117.

Dunphy hoisted himself up into the trailer. “I don’t see anything. It looks empty to me.”

Welper struggled to get a meaty leg high enough for a foothold up into the trailer. “Give me a hand.”

I thought about giving him a hand with my foot. Dunphy flashed the beam in Welper’s face. “Stay where you are.”

Welper insisted he was coming up. Dunphy repeated his order. Welper got a foothold and stood waist-high against the open door searching for a way to pull himself the rest of the way up. Dunphy nudged him back down to the ground with the toe of a boot.

Welper hit the ground and dropped to one knee. “I’m coming up,” he insisted. He was the dumbest smart guy I’d ever met. “Don’t make me go over your head, Captain.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, but Dunphy did. “You’ve already been over my head,” he said. “I’ll be damned if I’ll have you up my ass.” Welper put his fingers on the edge of the trailer floor right where Dunphy’s boot heel could find them. He swore as he jumped backward and stayed where he was.

The two of us watched as Dunphy’s flashlight beam bounced around the walls and floor of the trailer. It seemed as if he might stop and not go any further. I began to think that would be the end of it. The beam found the chrome handle that opened the small door to the refrigerator unit at the far end of the trailer. He opened the door and squeezed himself through. He was inside for a few minutes. I thought I heard him moving around in the cramped compartment. He came out carrying something.

“What’s that?” Welper asked.

Dunphy tossed a half-gallon carton of butter brickle ice cream up and down in his left hand. “Butter brickle ice cream. My wife loves this stuff. Can I buy this from you, Ben?”

I told him he could have it.

“No gifts,” he said. “It might be construed as a bribe.”

“Ten dollars,” I said, and put out my palm.

“Bullshit,” he replied. “I’ll give you five.”

He hopped down from the trailer and handed the ice cream to Welper while he extracted five dollars from his wallet. Welper stared at the ice cream and continued to hold the carton while Dunphy went through the cubbyholes and glove box in my cab. He was thorough. He checked under the seats and above the visors. “We’re done here.”

“Can I go now?” I asked.

He told me to wait a minute and turned his attention to Welper. “Mr. Welper, be here tomorrow morning at nine to fill out a missing-person report on Mr. Arrons. If you’re not here or you don’t fill out a report, wherever he is, that’s where he’ll stay until you do.”

Welper walked away, still holding the carton of ice cream. After a few steps, he turned and threw the carton at Dunphy. It missed and bounced harmlessly off a tire.

It was an amusing little tantrum. “Isn’t that an attempted assault on a police officer?” I said.

“Technically,” Dunphy said. “But what self-respecting lawman could write that up without laughing?”

I climbed into the cab and told Captain Dunphy I would be back at ten as promised.

“You and I need to talk about Duncan Lacey.” He let what he’d said sink in. “But not tonight.”

“You saw him?”

“Both halves.”

It was a wash as to what shocked me more, the news that he knew who was in the makeshift body bag or his decision not to mention it. Dunphy hadn’t used Duncan’s real name. It was possible he didn’t know of his past.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

Dunphy started to leave, then changed his mind and came back. “Not tonight. It looks like an accident to me. He’s not going anywhere, is he?”

I shook my head in reply.

“Good. I’m a one-shitstorm-at-a-time guy.” He reached into his lapel pocket and handed me his card. “Just in case you think of something you’ve forgotten to tell me.” He raised his eyebrows. “Or you could save me the phone call and tell me now.” He waited for me to talk. When I didn’t, he bent over and picked up the carton of ice cream. “This stuff is an aphrodisiac to Mormon women. Especially my wife.”

His footsteps on the gravel echoed across the quiet impound lot.