Michael Connelly - Void Moon

The girl looked up from her ball when he got to within a few feet of the picket fence at the front of the property. The fence was a design flourish, not a safety measure. It was barely higher than Karch's knees. If needed he'd be able to reach over and grab her.

The girl didn't say anything. She just stopped her playing and looked at him.

"How do you do?" Karch said. "You're Jodie Shaw, aren't you?"

The girl looked back at her house and didn't see her mother at the door. She looked back at Karch.

"You are, aren't you?"

She nodded and Karch took the last few steps to the fence. He had his hands in his pockets, a subliminally nonthreatening pose.

"I was hoping so. See, your daddy sent me over from the office to pick you up for the surprise party."

"What su'prise party?"

Karch took his hands out of his pockets and stepped up to the little fence. He dropped into a baseball catcher's stance so he would be closer to her level. His face was still above the top of the fence. He looked over the girl's head at the front door. No sign of the woman but he knew he was on a clock. He turned his head and looked over both shoulders. No neighbors anywhere. No cars coming. He still had the green.

"The party he's having for your mommy. He doesn't want her to know about it. But it's going to be a lot of fun. With a lot of your friends there and there's even going to be a magic show."

He reached over the fence to her right ear and seemed to grab a quarter out of thin air. When he had removed his hand from his pocket the quarter had been clipped between his third and fourth finger in the classic Goshman Pinch sleight. The girl looked at the coin and her mouth opened into a surprised smile.

"Hey!"

"And what about this side?"

He pulled another quarter out of her other ear with his other hand. The girl was grinning broadly now.

"How'd you do that?"

"If I told you I'd have to… uh, well, you know if you come with me now to see your dad, then I promise he and I will teach you how to do it. What do you say, Jodie? Okay? He's waiting for us, baby."

"I'm not a baby. And I'm not supposed to go with strangers."

Karch silently cursed to himself and checked the front door again. Still clear.

"I know you're not a baby. It's just a figure of speech I use, that's all. And the other thing is, I'm not really a stranger. I mean, you and I just met for the first time but I know your daddy and he knows me. Enough for him to pick me to come get you for the party. "

He checked the front door one last time. He knew he was going too long with this. He was way over time. The green light was now red.

"Anyway, your daddy really wants you there at the office so – "

He straightened up and reached over the fence.

"-you can yell 'Surprise!' when your mommy gets there."

He reached under her arms and lifted her up. He knew the key thing was to keep her quiet for thirty feet – from the fence to the car. That was all. After that, it didn't matter. He turned and walked quickly across the street toward the Lincoln.

"Mommy?" the girl said in a timid voice.

"Shhhh, shhhh," he responded quickly. "We don't want her to know about this, sweetheart. That would spoil the surprise."

He got to the car, opened the back door and loaded her in. He then closed it and jumped into the front seat. He had done it, he realized. Grabbed her without incident or detection. He dropped the car into drive and started down Lookout Mountain.

"Is there going to be dancing at this surprise party?" Jodie said from the backseat.

Karch adjusted the rearview mirror so he would be able to watch the girl. The moment he did it he heard a scream in the distance. The windows were up in the Lincoln so the origin of the sound could not be pinpointed. Karch readjusted the rearview mirror and immediately saw the woman from the house run into the street fifty yards behind. Her hands were balled into fists and pressed against her temples as she stared at the retreating Lincoln. He quickly hit the button that turned on the stereo.

He checked the mirror again. The woman was still in the middle of the street screaming but the stereo was covering it in the car. It was Frank Sinatra singing "That's Life."

Karch started thinking about the license plates on the Lincoln. He doubted the woman had gotten a read off the back plate but he knew he needed to find a safe place to switch back to the originals. And he wasn't worried about having been seen himself. The windows were tinted too dark for that. He felt good. He was clear.

He remembered the girl had asked a question. He adjusted the mirror again and looked back at her.

"What did you ask?"

"Will there be dancing at the party for my mommy?"

"Sure, baby, plenty of dancing."

"I'm not a baby."

"Yeah? Who cares?"

THE gears of the Boxster whined loudly as Cassie wound them out on the way into Laurel Canyon.

"Nine-one-one emergency, how can I help you?"

She had the phone on speaker.

"Listen to me, you have an officer down. An officer down!"

She gave the address of the house on Selma and the location within where Thelma Kibble could be found. She also described the wound she observed and told the operator to dispatch the ambulance.

"I am doing that by computer while we speak. What is your name, please?"

"Just send the paramedics, would you?"

She disconnected the call and immediately hit redial. At first she got a recording saying all 911 lines were busy but an operator picked up before the recording was completed.

"Nine-one-one emergency, how can I help you?"

At first Cassie thought it might be the same operator.

"Can I help you?"

She decided it wasn't.

"There's a man trying to abduct a little girl. You have to send someone."

"What is the location, ma'am?"

Cassie looked at the dashboard clock. It was three-fifteen. She knew Jodie Shaw's schedule by heart and that she left Wonderland Elementary every day at three. If Karch hadn't already made his move he would have to do it at the house. She gave the operator the address of the house on Lookout Mountain Road.

"Hurry! Please!"

She disconnected the call. She caught the light at Hollywood and Laurel Canyon Boulevards and sped north into the canyon. She realized that she was probably closer than any LAPD patrol cruiser, unless there happened to be one already in the canyon or at Wonderland Elementary. She had to decide what to do if she got there first.

Traffic slowed as it winnowed to one lane and she found herself caught behind an old LTD that was meandering into the canyon.

"Come on!" she yelled, her hand pressed on the horn. "Let's go! Let's go!"

She saw the man in the car in front of her looking at her in his mirror. She waved him to the side but he just raised the middle finger of his right hand to her and seemed to intentionally drive even slower. On the next turn she passed him, a dangerous maneuver that made an oncoming car pull off the road. The driver of that car and the man in the LTD serenaded her with long blasts of their horns. Cassie stuck her fist out the window and raised her finger to the LTD. She sped ahead.

She made the turn onto Lookout Mountain and sped up the hill. She slowed as she went by Wonderland Elementary. There were still children in the play yard and the street was crowded with double-parked cars as parents stopped to pick up their children. Cassie picked her way around but didn't bother looking for Jodie. She knew the schedule. She was at home – or already with Karch.

As she made the last curve before the Shaws' house her heart jumped up into her throat. Up ahead was a police car, its lights flashing, parked in the street. Her hope was that it was there in response to her 911 call but her gut said that was impossible. She had made the call just three minutes earlier.