Robert Crais - The Last Detective

"Cole, who is it? What?"

"It's DeNice. Starkey, they left Ben's shoe. Ben's shoe is in here."

"Did they leave a note? Is there anything else?"

"I don't see anything. Just the shoe."

The Missing Persons car rolled down the ramp with its blue dash lights popping, and Richard's limo brought up the rear.

Starkey said, "Get out of there. Bring his things with you. We might find something that tells us how he found them. Don't touch your face."

"What?"

"You have blood all over yourself. Don't get it in your eyes or your mouth."

"It's Ben's shoe."

I wasn't able to say anything else.

Starkey trotted away to intercept Lucas and Alvarez. I climbed out of the van and put everything on the ground. My hands were gloved in blood. The wallet and Ben's shoe and the other things were smeared with it. One of the uniforms stepped back like I was radioactive.

He said, "Dude, you're a mess."

Lucas stepped around Starkey and steamed to the van. She looked inside, then staggered backwards as if she had been slapped.

She said, "Oh, my God."

DeNice's wallet contained sixty-two dollars, a Louisiana driver's license for one Debulon R. DeNice, credit cards, a Fraternal Order of Police membership card, a Louisiana hunting license, and photographs of two teenaged girls, but nothing that indicated how he had found Fallon or had come to be dead in the van. I had also found a set of keys, a handkerchief, and two quarters, but that didn't help me, either.

Richard and Myers pushed past Alvarez, and Richard turned white when he saw the blood.

Lucas said, "Mr. Chenier, wait at your car. Ray, they shouldn't be here. Jesus Christ."

Richard said, "What's in there. Is it -? Is -?"

"It's DeNice. They left his head in Ben's shoe."

Richard and Myers looked into the van before Alvarez could stop them, and Richard made a deep gasping sound as if something were caught in his chest.

"Holy God!"

Richard grabbed Myers to steady himself, then turned away, but Myers stared into the van. His jaw flexed and knotted, but the rest of him was still. One of the big flies lit on his cheek, but he didn't seem to feel it.

I said, "They left Ben's shoe. Ben's shoe was in that."

Richard raked his hands through his hair and turned in a frantic circle. I thought about what Pike had said about men like Fallon doing whatever they did for money. I thought about DeNice in the van with the blood and the gore and Ben's lonely shoe, and I knew that they hadn't done this for me. They had done it for Richard.

"They didn't just kill him, Richard – THEY CUT OFF HIS HEAD! "

Richard threw up. Starkey looked worried, but maybe because I was screaming.

"Take it easy, Cole. You're shaking. Breathe deep."

Richard was bent over and heaving. He looked frantic and sick.

I said, "They hit you for ransom, didn't they? They're jamming you for ransom and you got cute with DeNice."

Starkey and Lucas looked at me. Richard straightened up, then hunched again.

"You don't know what you're talking about! None of that's true!"

Myers said, "You're talking out your ass, Cole. We're doing everything we can to find these bastards."

"These guys are using DeNice to scare somebody and they weren't trying to scare me."

Richard's face blotched with fury.

"FUCK YOU!"

Lucas said, "How can you say that?"

"Fallon's a mercenary. He doesn't do anything unless he's going to make money and Richard has money. They're working the ransom."

Richard lurched forward like he was going to hit me, but Myers took his arm. Richard trembled as if he was coming apart.

"This is all your fault, you bastard. I'm not going to stand here listening to this while my son is missing. We have to find my boy and you're talking bullshit!"

Richard stumbled to his limo. He leaned against the side of it and threw up again. Myers watched him, but his eyes didn't look so flat any more.

I said, "What's going on, Myers?"

Myers walked away and joined Richard at his car.

I said, "He's lying. They're both lying."

Starkey watched Myers and Richard, then considered the van.

"We're talking about the man's son here, Cole. If these guys were grinding him for ransom, why wouldn't he tell us?"

"I don't know. He's scared. Look what they did to DeNice."

"Then why all that stuff with you?"

"I don't know. Maybe it started with me about something else but when Richard got here they saw the money."

Starkey didn't look convinced.

"And maybe DeNice just got too close to them."

"DeNice wasn't good enough to find them. They arranged some kind of meet because they're hitting up Richard for ransom, and they used DeNice to make sure he pays."

It was the only way the pieces fit.

Lucas wet her lips, as if the notion of it disturbed her.

"I'd better speak with Mr. Chenier. I'll speak with Mr. Myers, too."

Starkey said, "Maybe we can backtrace DeNice's moves from last night to see how he got here. We can talk to that other guy, too, Fontenot. Maybe he knows something."

Lucas nodded absently, then looked back at the van as if it held secrets we might never know.

"This isn't a simple missing person case anymore."

Starkey said, "No. If it ever was."

Lucas looked back at Ben's shoe, then considered me.

"I have some Handiwipes and alcohol in my car. You need to take care of yourself."

Starkey stayed with Lucas and Alvarez to question Richard and Myers about what they knew. I took the Handiwipes and alcohol to my car. I took off my shirt and shoes, then poured the alcohol over my arms and hands. I got off as much of the blood as I could with the Handiwipes, poured on more alcohol, then used even more Handiwipes. I put on a T-shirt and an old pair of running shoes that I kept behind my front seat, then sat in my car watching the cops. Lucas, Alvarez, and the Parker Center detectives were bunched around Richard and Myers. Richard shouted that they didn't know what they were talking about. Richard was freaking out, but Myers was as calm as a spider waiting at the edge of its web. I stared at the van and saw what they had left in it even though I was a hundred feet away. I would always see it. I would never be able to stop seeing it. They had cut off his head, and the men who did it had Ben.

My cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. It was Pike. I told him about DeNice. I told him about going inside the van. My voice sounded strange, as if it was muted by fog and wind. I kept talking until I heard him telling me to shut up.

He said, "I found someone who can help."

I started my car and left.

Ben

Eric and Mazi treated Ben differently after Mike shot the man. They stopped to pick up In-N-Out burgers on the way back to the house (double meat, double cheese, and an order of onion rings and fries for everybody). When they reached the house, they didn't lock Ben in the room or tie him; they let him sit with them in the empty living room while they ate and played cards, and gave him an Orangina. They were a lot more relaxed. Even Mazi laughed. It was as if killing that man had freed them.

After they finished the burgers, Eric made a face.

"Man, I shoulda passed on the onions."

Mazi said, "Yes?"

Eric broke wind loudly.

Mazi said, "Ewe body is rotteen."

They sat in a circle on the floor. Ben snuck glances at the gun that bulged under Eric's shirt, trying to think of a way to get it. All he thought about for most of the afternoon was getting the gun, shooting them, then running to the house across the street. When Mike came back, he would shoot him, too.

When Ben looked up from the gun, he saw Mazi staring at him again. It creeped Ben out, the way he did that.