"How's that dog of yours?" April came into the subject sideways.

"Peachy's great. What's up?"

"How are you, John?"

"I'm great, too. How about you?"

"I have a teeny problem."

"You need me?"

"I do. In normal circumstances I wouldn't be calling so late. Missing p. Last seen heading into Central Park in jogging shorts."

"You know I'm not going out at night on a cold lead."

"Oh yeah, I know."

"You got a missing doctor. I saw you on TV. What can I do that my friends in K-9 can't?"

"Yes, well, you always told me that Sid Slocum was an idiot."

"Did I say that?" John laughed. "Yeah, you always told me you gotta trust your dog. Slocum didn't seem to get what his dog was doing."

"What was she doing?"

"Looking for a place to take a dump. How do I know? I'm no tracker. Anyway, I met some friends of yours. They suggested Slocum was an idiot, too." "Really, who?"

"Couple of kids. Brandy Fabman and David Owen."

"No kidding, I used to know those two pretty well. They're camp friends of my daughter. What are they up to?"

"Guess what, they turned up this afternoon and talked their way into the park. Seems they saw the search from the girl's apartment and wanted to offer some advice on tracking."

John made a honking laugh. "Those kids! Ha ha. City rats. I never saw kids so turned on to tracking. I did some exhibitions up at their camp two years ago. They were so excited they came out to visit us during the winter. A couple of weekends, they came out for a day, helped me do some training." He chuckled some more.

"One time I took them out to the beach at Montauk. God, you wouldn't believe how much those kids were into it. How are they?"

"Well, they're into something else now."

"Oh, yeah?" Zumech's voice became a shade less hearty.

"They were high as kites, John."

His tone sobered. "That's too bad. They were good kids. Are you sure, April?"

"Yeah, John, I'm sure."

He was silent for a moment. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"I'd like you to try again, with Peachy."

Long silence. "Why?"

"The missing man is a friend of a friend. I'm afraid we might have overlooked something."

"What could you overlook? I saw clips of people mucking around in the rowboat lake. It's not very deep. If he was in there, you'd have found him. We're not talking great wilderness tract here. If he were somewhere in the bushes, any dog, even Slocum's, would have found him."

"I know, that's what Sid said, but I want to try again anyway."

"Ridiculous. The scent's been scattered by now. Hundreds of people have contaminated that area. You know the facts of life on tracking, April. A good dog can do a lot if you get going in a few hours, up to ten. But this guy went missing-when?"

Facts. April didn't want to hear any more facts of life tonight. "Last night. That's not so long."

"April, this is a city. Millions of people."

"So what?"

"There's nothing left of your guy for Peachy to smell."

"Unless he's dead," April argued.

John sighed. "What makes you think he's dead?"

"It's just a possibility, is all. We have a mental patient on the loose. Come on, help me out." She was exaggerating about Allegra, but it worked.

"A mental patient?" John whistled. "I didn't hear anything about that."

"It's not out yet." April didn't want to say more.

"You have anything with his scent on it?" he asked. She could hear him getting interested.

"Hers."

"Hers? A girl mental patient?"

"Yeah, and we don't have her scent. What are you doing tomorrow?"

John sighed again. "Fine, I'll give it a try. But no cars, no buses, no media, no people on CPW. Can you swing that?"

"Of course," she told him. A big lie since she was off duty and off the case. They set a time and a meeting place. Then, for the fifth time, she called the number Allegra had given her. Again no answer, just as Jason had predicted. Thank God for Woody's camera. They'd make up a wanted poster of the girl and circulate it tomorrow. They'd put it on TV if they had to. She had a family, people who knew her. They'd find her. April fell asleep waiting for Mike, but he never came.

Thirty-three

Pee Wee smelled corpse smell. He'd known that smell all his life. He knew it from the flood that took his brother and his dog when he was nine, and the tornado that flattened the barn and killed all the animals he'd tended. He knew it from ' Nam. He must have killed fifty people there. And he'd killed one or two more defending his territory since. Accidents.

He was sitting on the ground with his head in his hands, wondering what it was that he'd forgotten to do. Oh, that smell was strong. He shook himself, like a dog shaking off the hurt. Then he saw the girl and stumbled toward her. He'd lost track of time and thought it was the cop from the fight a while ago when everybody was yelling at him.

"Don't follow me," he raved angrily at the girl. "Why are you following me. I didn't hit nobody." We waved his arm, shooing her away. The scene spun out of control. Ants the size of fat caterpillars marched across his face. Other insects swarmed in front of his eyes, blurring his vision. A spider monkey swung down from the tree next to him and poked him in the chest, almost knocking him over.

"You're drunk, get away," the girl said.

The scene spun back into focus. Pee Wee remembered this wasn't the cop, this was the one who promised to give him that twenty to keep the secret about the guy they pushed into the cave. This one was here to give him that twenty so he could have a dog.

"I wan my tweny. Member my tweny?" he said hopefully.

"I said, get lost." She waved a tree branch at him.

The leaves on it looked like snakes, shaking their heads at him. Not so funny. He lumbered toward her. She smelled like a corpse. For a second he was back in ' Nam with the smell of the dead all around him.

The boy came up. He started talking to the girl. He told the girl to go for a walk. She wouldn't go away. He gave her a shake but she wouldn't leave.

"Don't do that… nice girl," Pee Wee mumbled.

"You scumbag!" The boy hissed at Pee Wee. He let go of the girl and came toward him.

"You gonna gimme that tweny?" Pee Wee said

"Yeah, sure I'll give it to you. Come over here."

Pee Wee moved toward him. The girl shook the branch at him, confusing him.

The boy told the girl to go away. She said she didn't want to. They started arguing. Pee Wee became confused again. He wanted to break up the fight. He put his hand up to protect the girl.

Suddenly the boy punched him. He fell to the ground groaning. "Wha-?"

He must have gone out for a moment. The next thing he felt was someone rolling him over. He saw blood on the sidewalk. He thought he was in the police station, having a shower. He didn't know what was happening. His sequences were all off. He felt drunk, but not good drunk. He pulled himself to his feet. The girl with the snakes was saying something. She wanted a trophy. He struggled to figure out what she was talking about.

The boy was trying to shut her up. He put his hand on her mouth. Pee Wee lunged to save the girl.

The girl shook the tree branch, hitting him with it. "Get out of here, you're drunk."

"Oh, no, ah'm not drunk. Yur drunk," he said angrily.

The big guy was coming after him, threatening him with a broken bottle. "No, you don't. No, no, no."

"No one needs scum like you."

The words galvanized Pee Wee. Nobody called him scum and lived to tell about it. "I'll fucking kill you," he cried at the tree branch full of snakes.

The girl swung at him with the branch. He plunged into the fight, grappling with three or four of them. He was fighting a whole army. A big guy came at him. Pee Wee felt all blurry and confused with all the screaming and yelling in his head and the smell of the dead. He thought he was in the war again. Hot liquid ran down into his eyes. It was blood. He was hit. He went down. Then, a second later he was up again, swinging. His hands were shaking. He fell over before he connected.