Faye Kellerman - Sanctuary

Decker covered the mike. “We have some houseguests. The woman’s husband, a diamond dealer, was just found murdered in Manhattan.”

“Jesus!” Davidson squinted. “You just say the guy was a diamond dealer?”

“Yep.”

“Any relation to our case?”

“Who knows?” Over the radio, Decker heard a perky lady say, “Tour-Time, this is Nancy speaking.”

“Nancy, this is Detective Sergeant Peter Decker of the Los Angeles Police.” He gave her all the requisite ID. “I have an emergency situation here. I have to get hold of a woman who rented one of your cars. And I don’t know where she is. Are your cars equipped with a location tracking system like the Lo-jack?”

“Yes, they are.”

“The woman’s name is Honey Klein. I need you to activate her car’s system for me.”

“One moment.”

Decker waited nervously. Davidson said, “You trying to track this lady down?”

“Better I tell her than my wife.”

Davidson nodded and started to walk away. He turned around and shouted, “You find her, ask her if she knows this Yalom character.”

Decker shouted back he would. A minute later, a less-than-perky Nancy came back on the line. “We have no record of a rental to a woman of that name. Are you sure she rented from us?”

Shit, Decker thought. No, he wasn’t sure. “She may have rented using an assumed name-”

“We ask for ID.”

“She may have assumed ID.”

Nancy was silent. Decker said, “She was a pretty, thin, blond woman. She rented the car yesterday around…maybe twelve, one P.M.”

“I wasn’t here yesterday.”

“The car she rented was an ice-blue Aerostar van.”

“Well, we do rent Aerostars. One moment.” Nancy checked and reported back five minutes later. “I do have records of a rental of a blue Aerostar yesterday at twelve forty-five. The identification we have belongs to a woman named Barbara Hersh.”

He said, “That might be the one. Can you activate the system on that car?”

“Yes.”

“How long will it take you to trace it?”

“About fifteen minutes to a half hour. I’ll call you back, Detective.”

“I’m in the field, Nancy. I’ll be hard to reach. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll call you back.” Decker cut the line and waited. Five minutes later, one of the dogs started barking furiously. The handler yelled out, “Lieutenant, I think we found another one!”

Decker came out of the car. He met Davidson. The Loo said, “You hear that?”

“Yep.” Decker stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“How far is this spot from the Yalom development?”

“About a twenty-minute, half-hour walk.”

“And you hit it the first time out?”

“This was the third mountain pass Marge and I checked out,” Decker said. “Perseverance pays off.”

“Tenacious suckers, you two are.” Davidson looked over the mountain. “Maybe the family took a walk and the boys popped them here. You got lucky ’cause the rains washed away the trail. It’s probably the husband. We’ll need another ID.”

Tug turned to the squad car where Orit Bar Lulu was resting.

“How’s she holding up?”

“I think she’ll be okay. Marge has been talking to her for a while.”

“Yeah, that’s what the females are good for. Talking to the other females.” Davidson rubbed his hands together. “How’s your home emergency? Your wife sounded shaky.”

“Under control.”

Davidson nodded and left to check out the newest discovery. Decker went back to the car and called Rina.

“He’s outside,” she said. “Officer Tim Calais?”

“That’s the one.” He checked his watch. “Are you feeling better?”

“I’m nervous Honey is going to walk in any minute. Peter, what do I say to her?”

“I’ll be home soon. Don’t say anything until I get there.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He hung up and checked his watch. Fifteen minutes had passed. He’d try his luck and call back Tour-Time. “Nancy, this is Detective Sergeant Decker-”

“We found the car, Detective.” Nancy’s voice was nervous. “It’s on the Santa Monica Freeway.”

Decker took out a pencil and his notepad. “The number ten freeway…Okay. Is the car heading west or east?”

“It’s not heading anywhere. It isn’t moving.”

Decker paused. “It’s on the shoulder?”

“Yes, it appears to be on the westbound shoulder, stationed right before the 405 off ramp south.”

The off ramp to the airport, Decker thought.

“We’re sending someone from the company out to investigate,” Nancy said. “We’ve also placed a call to the Highway Patrol. It could be she just had engine problems or tire trouble…” Her voice faded. “Maybe you’d like to call the Highway Patrol personally.”

“No problem.” Decker hung up, then asked the RTO to be connected with the CHiPs unit closest to the Aerostar. Again, that took some time. Five minutes later, Rachel Parks identified herself to Decker.

“I’m at the site.” She sounded tense. “I don’t know what you’re working on, but maybe you should come down here. The car has two flat tires, but no visible puncture wounds. Something’s screwy.”

“Anyone inside?”

“No, Sergeant. No one’s inside.”

“Is the car locked?”

“Nope.”

“Officer Parks, could you just take a peek inside the interior and tell me if something looks funny.”

“Hold on, Sergeant.” Rachel returned a minute later. “Nothing immediate. I take it you don’t want me poking around, messing up your evidence. You want to come down before the rental company picks up the car?”

“Yeah, I’ll be down.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Patrol Officer Parks hung up.

From the outside, he heard one of the lab men shouting. “Another one-male. Gunshot wound in the gut.”

Decker joined Davidson at the mountainside. The Loo said, “As soon as Bar Lulu makes the ID, I’ll put out an APB for the boys. I’ll also have a couple of uniforms check out the airlines. Free you and Dunn up for the major investigation.”

Decker nodded, staring at the lab men who were gingerly scraping mud off the buried corpse. “This is going to take a while.”

“You got a plane to catch?” the Loo asked.

Decker recapped his conversation with Rina and with Rachel Parks.

Davidson said, “It’s West LA’s problem, Decker.”

“Not when it affects my wife.” Decker kept his voice even. “Loo, the lady’s got four kids, they were staying at my house. Now I don’t care under whose jurisdiction it technically falls, I’m going out there.”

Davidson stared at the chilled ground and rubbed his hands together. “Body’ll keep. Be back in an hour.”

Decker nodded. “See you in an hour.”

Decker reflected: A twenty-minute ride from the corpses to his ranch-a sobering thought. He welcomed the sight of Tim Calais’s patrol car parked in front of the house, thanking Tim for coming through and offering to return the favor, if needed, in the future. When Decker opened the front door, he found Rina in the living room, pacing, Hannah bouncing on Mommie’s hip. In front of the fireplace was a suitcase. Decker kissed Rina, then took Hannah and gave her several smooches on her cheek. The baby took the assaults with stoicism, then patted Daddy’s chest. Decker’s eyes traveled back to the luggage.

“Planning an impromptu vacation?”

“I’m very good at reading your tone of voice,” Rina said. “You’re going to suggest we spend the night at my parents’ house.”

“Very good.”

“I’m willing to go. But what do I do with Honey and her family? I can’t just desert them.”