Pike said, 'Yes.'

Charles scrambled outside and peered in from the deck. Guess Joe scared him more than the snakes.

I said, 'I'll make dinner in a minute, but first we have to talk. Charles, come back inside.'

Charles crept back inside and the three of them stared at me, Charles snapping nervous glances toward Joe.

'I'm going to look for your father tomorrow, so I need clues. Did he say anything to anyone while he was home?'

They looked at each other, and shook their heads. Teri said, 'Not like you mean.'

'Nothing that might indicate where he was going?'

Winona said, 'He said we were going to move away soon. He said we could have a really big TV.' Great.

Teri said, 'He made some phone calls.'

'Anyone listen in?'

They shook their heads some more, but Charles wasn't particularly convincing.

'Charles?'

'I didn't do anything.'

'No. But you might've heard something.'

Charles squirmed, then shrugged. 'He said something about going to see someone.'

'You hear a name?'

'Ray.'

'He said the name 'Ray'?'

Shrug.

Pike said, 'How about "Tre"?'

Charles scrunched his face, but this time he didn't shrug. 'Yeah, maybe that was it.'

Pike shook his head and went out onto the deck.

I showed them my videotapes and told them to pick one. Winona picked Independence Day. I got them going with that, put two pounds of ground turkey in the microwave to thaw, and was just getting ready to join Pike on the deck when Lucy Chenier called again. I said, 'I was about to call you. Did you close the deal?'

There was a great silence from the other end of the line. 'I'm not sure there's a job offer to be closed.'

I stood in the kitchen with the phone in my hand. Winona and Charles watched great elliptical spaceships enter the atmosphere, but Teri watched me. I said, 'What do you mean, no job offer?' Pike looked in from the deck, curious as to what was keeping me.

'God, I've really needed to talk to you, Elvis.' Her voice sounded hollow and empty.

I held the phone tighter. 'Lucy?'

'When David got back to them, they reduced the term of the contract. They changed every one of the deal points, and said they were reconsidering the amount of my salary.' I could hear the hurt in her voice. 'I just don't understand it.'

'Maybe it's just a negotiating tactic.'

'David doesn't think so. He's done this a hundred times, and he says it's as if they've changed their minds about hiring me.'

I leaned against the counter and frowned. 'Maybe you should call Tracy Mannos.'

'I did. She hasn't returned my call.'

I frowned harder. I thought about Richard in my office, telling me that he wouldn't just let Lucy leave. I thought about it some more and shook my head.

'Richard came to see me.'

Silence.

'He hired a man named Epps to follow us when you were here.' I told her about Epps having searched my house, and about Richard coming to my office. You don't think I'm going to let her leave, do you?

She cleared her throat. 'My ex-husband, Richard. Ben's father.' She cleared her throat again. 'He came to see you?'

'Yesterday.'

'And you didn't call me.' It wasn't a question. More a statement, more just wanting to make sure she had the facts of her life straight. 'You didn't think that was worth calling me about.'

I sighed. 'Mistake, huh?'

Silence again. Pike and Teri were watching me until Pike shook his head and turned away. Sometimes you can't win.

'I thought about calling you, but it seemed small. It seemed like something between Richard and me, and I didn't want to bring you into it.'

'A boy thing.' How do you spell 'moron'?

'He's upset because you and Ben are moving away, and he stepped over the line with Epps and this other stuff, but it's a stretch to think he could have anything to do with KROK.'

'You don't know, Elvis. This is exactly the kind of thing he would do.' I could hear her breathing. I had never asked about her former marriage, or what led to her divorce, and I didn't want to go there now. She said, 'I think I should come out there.'

'Talk to Tracy first. You don't want to come out until you know what you're up against because if you're wrong, it will look bad for you.'

She didn't say anything for several seconds, and then she said, 'Elvis, I'm really sorry about this.'

'You don't have anything to be sorry for.'

'Richard.'

She hung up without another word. I stood in my kitchen, holding the phone and listening to the dial tone, and then I hung up and joined Pike on the deck. The end of the day was approaching, and the sky to the east was hazy with smoke the color of bone. Somewhere, something was burning. Pike said, 'What?'

I told him.

Pike listened without comment, then said, 'Figured we should kill him.' Always with the helpful comment.

'I just don't see it, but you never know. What could some guy from Louisiana have to do with a television station here in Los Angeles?'

Pike crossed his arms and leaned against the deck rail. His head tilted ever so slightly, like maybe it was beyond him. I could see the TV reflected in his glasses. 'First the Russians, now this. You've got a lot to think about.'

'Yes, but I am large.'

He nodded. 'Keep your head in the game. Think about the wrong thing at the wrong time, it'll mean your ass.'

'Thanks.'

'Maybe mine, or those kids'.' You see the way he is?

I said, 'You get a safe house?'

'Place in Studio City. Three bedrooms, furnished, phones. We can use it as long as we want.' He told me the address.

'Sounds good. I'm thinking maybe I should stay at Clark 's house tonight. If the Russians haven't gotten him, Clark might go back there. He might he there now.'

Pike's mouth twitched. 'Sure.'

'Well, miracles happen.'

Pike told me he needed to buy supplies for the safe house and that he would be back later. I went into the kitchen to start dinner. I had half a head of iceberg lettuce and a fresh bag of spring greens and a couple of tomatoes that would do for a salad, and maybe half a dozen new potatoes that I could roast with the turkey loaf. I was gathering things together when Teri came into the kitchen and said, 'Can I help?'

'Sure.'

I told her what I planned, then showed her the cutting boards and knives, and gave her a small Maui onion and two carrots to dice. She said, 'What are you going to do with the carrots?'

'For the turkey loaf.'

She looked at me.

'We'll toss in raisins, too, along with a little soy sauce and maybe some peas. You'll see.'

' Winona doesn't like peas.'

'Okay, forget the peas.'

She started with the onion. I worked with the potatoes. Teri used the knife carefully and well, and cut the onion into uniform pieces while Charles and Winona watched the destruction of the Earth. Twice I glanced up at her, and twice I caught her looking at me. Both times I smiled, and both times she looked away. After the second time, she said, 'How can Lucy be your girlfriend if she lives in Louisiana?'

'We didn't plan it that way, it just kind of happened.' I guess she'd been listening to my conversation.

'Do you date other girls?'

'No. I did for a while, but I kept thinking about Lucy, so I stopped seeing other people.'

'Does she date other men?'

'No.'

'How do you know?'

I frowned at her. 'She's been offered a job out here and she may move out – if she can work out the terms of the job.' If the job is still hers to be had.

Chopping. 'What if she can't move here?'

I chopped harder. 'We'll deal with it.' This kid was worse than Joe Pike.

When Teri was finished with the carrots I had her add them to the turkey, and then we mixed in the raisins and the soy sauce and a couple of eggs. I let Teri shape the loaf while I dug out a roasting pan. We put the meat in the pan and surrounded it with the potatoes. The fresh potatoes didn't look like enough, so I added a can of whole peeled new potatoes, and sprinkled everything with paprika. We put it in the oven at four hundred and set the timer for an hour. Teri said, 'I'm sorry about what happened at our house.'