Husband

'A month?'

'Nice house, on the water. And so far it looks like he didn't have a job.'

'Jason thought work was strictly for inlanders, smog monsters.' Mitch saw that an explanation was required. 'Surfer lingo for those who don't live for the beach.'

'Was there a time when you lived for the beach, Mitch?'

'Toward the end of high school, for a while after. But it wasn't enough.'

'What was it lacking?'

'The satisfaction of work. Stability. Family.'

'You've got all that now. Life is perfect, huh?'

'It's good. Very good. So good it makes me nervous sometimes.'

'But not perfect? What's it lacking now, Mitch?'

Mitch didn't know. He'd thought about that from time to time, but he had no answer. So he said, 'Nothing. We'd like to have kids. Maybe that's all.'

'I have two daughters,' the detective said. 'One's nine and one's twelve. Kids change your life.'

'I'm looking forward to it.'

Mitch realized that he was responding to Taggart less guardedly than he had previously. He reminded himself that he was no match for this guy.

'Aside from the drug-possession charge,' Taggart said, 'Jason stayed clean all these years.'

'He always was lucky.'

Indicating the photo, Taggart said, 'Not always.'

Mitch didn't want to look at it anymore. He returned the photo to the detective.

'Your hands are shaking,' Taggart said.

'I guess they are. Jason was a friend once. We had a lot of laughs. All that comes back to me now.'

'So you haven't seen or spoken to him in ten years.'

'Almost ten.'

Returning the photo to the envelope, Taggart said, 'But you do recognize him now.'

'Without the blood, seeing more of the face.'

'When you saw him walking the dog, before he was killed, you didn't think — Hey, don't I know that guy?'

'He was across the street. I only glanced at him, then the shot.'

'And you were on the phone, distracted. Mr. Barnes says you were on the phone when the shot was fired.'

'That's right. I wasn't focused on the guy with the dog. I just glanced at him.'

'Mr. Barnes strikes me as being incapable of guile. If he lied, I expect his nose might light up.'

Mitch wasn't sure if he was meant to infer, by contrast to Iggy, that he himself was enigmatic and unreliable. He smiled and said, 'Iggy's a good man.'

Looking down at the envelope as he fixed the flap shut with the clasp, Taggart said, 'Who were you on the phone with?'

'Holly. My wife.'

'Calling to let you know she had a migraine?'

'Yeah. To let me know she was going home early with a migraine.'

Glancing at the house behind them, Taggart said, 'I hope she's feeling better.'

'Sometimes they can last all day.'

'So the guy who's shot turns out to be your old roommate. You see why it's weird to me?'

'It is weird,' Mitch agreed. 'It freaks me out a little.'

'You hadn't seen him in nine years. Hadn't spoken on the phone or anything.'

'He was hanging with new friends, a different crowd. I didn't care for any of them, and I didn't run into him anymore at any of the old places.'

'Sometimes coincidences are just coincidences.' Taggart rose from his chair and moved toward the porch steps.

Relieved, blotting his palms on his jeans, Mitch got up from his chair, too.

Pausing beside the steps, head lowered, Taggart said, 'There's not yet been a thorough search of Jason's house. We've only begun. But we found one odd thing already.'

As Earth rolled away from the slowly sinking sun, afternoon light penetrated a gap in the branches of the pepper tree. A dappled orange glare found Mitch and made him squint.

Beyond the sudden light, in shadow, Taggart said, 'In his kitchen there was a catchall drawer where he kept loose change, receipts, an assortment of pens, spare keys…. We found only one business card in the drawer. It was yours.'

'Mine?'

''Big Green,'' Taggart quoted. ''Landscape design, installation, and maintenance. Mitchell Rafferty.''

This was what had brought the detective north from the coast. He had gone to Iggy, guileless Iggy, from whom he'd learned that indeed a connection existed between Mitch and Jason.

'You didn't give him the card?' Taggart asked. 'No, not that I remember. What color was the card stock?'

'White.'

'I've only used white for the past four years. Before that, the stock was pale green.'

'And you haven't seen him in like nine years.'

'Maybe nine years.'

'So although you lost track of Jason, it seems like Jason kept track of you. Any idea why?'

'No. None.'

After a silence, Taggart said, 'You've got trouble here.'

'There must be a thousand ways he could've gotten my business card, Lieutenant. It doesn't mean he was keeping track of me.'

Eyes still downcast, the detective pointed to the porch railing. 'I'm talking about this.'

On the white handrail, in the warm stillness, a pair of winged insects squirmed together, as if trysting.

'Termites,' Taggart said.

'They might just be winged ants.'

'Isn't this the time of year when termites swarm? You better have the place inspected. A house can appear to be fine, solid and safe, even while it's being hollowed out right under your feet.'

At last the detective looked up and met Mitch's eyes.

'They're winged ants,' Mitch said.

'Is there anything else you want to tell me, Mitch?'

'Not that I can think of.'

'Take a moment. Be sure.'

Had Taggart been allied with the kidnappers, he would have played this differently. He wouldn't have been so persistent or so thorough. There would have been a sense that it was a game to him, a charade.

If you had spilled your pits to him, Mitch, Holly would be dead now.

Their previous conversation could have been recorded from a distance. These days, high-tech directional microphones, what they called shotgun microphones, could pick up voices clearly from hundreds of feet away. He'd seen it in a movie. Little of what he saw in movies was based on any truth, but he thought shotgun microphones were. Taggart might have been as oblivious of the taping as Mitch had been.

Of course, what had been done once could be done twice. A van that Mitch had never seen before stood at the curb across the street. A surveillance specialist might be stationed in the back of it.

Taggart surveyed the street, evidently seeking the object of Mitch's interest.

The houses were suspect, too. Mitch didn't know all of the neighbors. One of the houses was empty and listed for sale.

'I'm not your enemy, Mitch.'

'I never thought you were,' he lied.

'Everyone thinks I am.'