65

By 10 p.m. the search of the Montecito house had turned up nothing.

“The place is just about empty,” Sepulveda told Petra. “A little furniture in the living room and one bedroom; the rest of the rooms have nothing.”

“Check for secret passages?” she said, only half in jest.

Sepulveda stared at her. “I'll let you know if the Phantom of the Opera shows up.”

She and Ron headed back to L.A. She'd been running up his cell-phone bill, talking to airline supervisors, some of them impressed by her title, others skeptical. So far no, no flights under Balch's name had turned up, and a 9:50 call from Wil let her know he was meeting with the same results. Thoroughness would demand paperwork, the proper forms. Tomorrow. She was exhausted, angry at Schoelkopf for keeping the news about Balch under wraps.

The kid he publicizes, but this scares him.

She and Ron talked about it till they got to Oxnard. Bosses were always easy targets. When they reached Camarillo, the car turned silent and she saw he had his eyes closed.

He awoke when she stopped the car in front of his house.

“Rise and shine,” she said.

He smiled groggily, apologized, then leaned over to kiss her.

She shifted her hips in the seat and met him halfway. One of his hands passed behind her head, pressing gently. The other found its way to her breast. He was smoother when fatigued.

He squeezed her softly then began to remove his hand. She held it in place. The next kiss lasted a long time. He was the first to pull away, and now he looked wide awake.

She said, “Some first date.”

“Second. The first was the deli.”

“True.” She realized she'd thought of that as getting acquainted.

He said, “Well, you've got plenty to do. I won't keep you.”

She initiated a third kiss. He didn't try to feel her; kept both hands above the neck. Then he cupped her chin. With Nick she hadn't liked that- too confining. He did it differently. She traveled his mouth with her tongue, and he made a small, baritone noise of contentment.

“Oh, man,” he said. “I really want to see you again- I know it's not a good time to be thinking about going out.”

“Call,” she said. “If I say I'm too busy, it'll be the truth.”

He kissed the tip of her chin. “You are so pretty. The first time I saw you, I-” Shaking his head, he got out, groped in his pocket for his keys, and waved.

“Wait,” she called out as he turned and started toward his front door.

He stopped.

“Your phone.”

He laughed, returned to the driver's side, took it.

“Make sure you send me the bill,” she said. “It's going to be huge.”

“Sure,” he said. Then he kissed her again.

Back on the 101, she could barely keep her eyes open. Exhaustion even in the face of all that adrenaline meant she was severely sleep-deprived. She'd go home, take some caffeine, squeeze in another hour or so of phone work, then enough.

By the time she reached her apartment, it was 11:23. One message on her machine. She let it sit there, changed into a flannel nightie, and got extra-strong coffee going. Realized she still hadn't called Stu. Too late now. She felt lousy. One day this case would be over, but Kathy's experience would last forever. Would Stu remember her as being neglectful during his crisis?

The message turned out to be him, phoning at 11:09, and asking her to call back up to midnight. The St. Joe's operator was reluctant to put her through this late, but finally she heard Stu say, “Petra?”

“So sorry for not calling sooner. How's Kathy?”

“Fine,” he said. “Resting.” Someone who didn't know him would have thought he sounded okay.

“Everything went smoothly?”

“Very smoothly- they did a mastectomy. One breast. The surgeon says she'll have total recovery.”

“That's great.”

“I got through four years of TV Guide-”

“Don't worry about that, Stu. How can I help?”

“Thanks, but we're okay,” he said.

“You're sure? Do the kids need anything?”

“Just their mom,” he said, and his voice changed. “They'll get through it, Petra. We'll all get through it.”

“I know you will.” One breast…

“Anyway,” said Stu, “how was your day?”

Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Keeping her at arm's length. He'd cried once in her arms, probably vowed never to lose it again.

“Actually, a huge amount of stuff hit the fan, Stu.” She told him about Estrella Flores, the bloodstained Lexus, Balch's attempt to rabbit by charter. Then William Bradley Straight, ID'd but still unaccounted for, left without a mother.

“Poor kid,” he said. “I leave you alone for one day, and look at all the trouble you get yourself into.”

Everything coming together, and he had nothing to do with it. She wanted to tell him it was okay, but it wasn't.

“Balch,” he said. “He fits that well?”

“As well as Ramsey does.”

Stu didn't pick up on that. He was the veteran. Maybe she should focus.

“So we track Balch,” she said.

“Any idea where he is?”

“My bet is some other state or out of the country, but S. says we can't publicize it, yet. Near arrest of an innocent man, and all that scared the hell out of him. But it's nuts, right? With the Straight kid we go media-wild, but on Balch we're gagged, giving him a head start. Oh yeah, something else: Karlheinz Lauch died a year ago, but the similarities between Lisa and Ilse Eggermann got me thinking. Eggermann was picked up in Redondo and dumped in the Marina. Balch lives in Rolling Hills Estates, right down the coast.”

“A serial?”

“Wouldn't it be weird if he was some big-time creep and this is just the tip of the iceberg?”

Silence. “The number-two man strikes out to achieve dominance… another inadequate psychopath.”

“Exactly.”

“Hold on,” he said, and Petra heard him talking to someone. “That was the night nurse. Okay, what can I do to help?”

“Right now? Just stay with Kath-”

“She's sleeping,” he said sharply. “I want to work tonight, Petra. What airlines have you checked?”

“Wil and I split them up. We haven't gotten through to some of them. They want paper. I figured-”

“What about international carriers?” he said. “Does Balch have a passport?”

“Don't know-”

“I've already made contact with the passport office on Eggermann. I'll do international- and the domestic carriers you haven't reached. You sound bushed, get some sleep. I'll talk to you in the A.M.”

66

Let them think he'd rabbited to Vegas.

Let them think they were dealing with someone stupid.

It would help him tie everything up. He liked being neat.

Not as bad as Lisa. She was compulsive, wanting everything just so. Irregularities set her off. That vicious mouth…

She hated surprises. So he gave her one.

The German girl too. Little stupid Sally.

One more surprise left, and the stupid cops were making it a little easier, leaking “anonymous tips.” Venice Beach. Ocean Front Walk. Could the kid still be there? Maybe. Sometimes those runaways bunked down.

How far could a street kid go? If he'd tunneled deep, could he be found?

Should he forget about the kid? Was he overreacting? Obsessing? Sometimes he did that, like the way he'd worry a hidden pimple till it got infected and festered and he'd have to lance it himself, coat it with Neosporin, live with the pain. No one knew that about him.

Maybe the kid hadn't even been in the park. If he'd seen something, wouldn't he have turned himself in, tried to collect the reward?

But that assumed he read the papers, watched TV, knew what was going on in the world. Some of those kids were so stoned-out or brain-damaged, they didn't have a clue.