“He’s been quiet for too long. I’m alive, Elena’s alive, even Whitey Dane is alive.”
“And Seth isn’t allowed to go to school or use the name Lefebvre.”
“Okay, so we take precautions where the boy is concerned. But there haven’t been similar cases of detectives or commissioners and their families murdered. I think the guy cut his losses after Phil and ran.”
Frank thought of the attack on Bredloe, but said nothing.
“All right, so sometimes I think he might still be out there,” Arden admitted. “But there isn’t much I can offer you on it — can’t get near enough to learn a damned thing. You can get in where I couldn’t. Look at the records for that box of evidence from the Randolph case. The man who killed Phil took the contents of that box.” He sighed. “I couldn’t figure out who would want Randolph and his family dead. Tory Randolph had the most to gain, but you’ll never convince me that she would have sacrificed her kids to get her hands on that money.”
“I agree. Even if I could believe she killed her own children, she didn’t have access to… no, wait… Jesus, she did.”
“Did what? You look like you swallowed a damned lemon.”
“I was going to say she didn’t have access to the evidence. But if she got help from the man she later married — Dale Britton — she could have easily managed it.”
“That stumbling clod?” Arden scoffed.
“He worked in the lab. Could he have lasted at that job if he was dropping beakers all over the place? Maybe he’s not clumsy all the time.”
“Maybe.”
“There’s a lot to sort out about Dane and Randolph, too. One of Dane’s men watched the funeral today.”
“The gent under the jacaranda?”
“Yes.”
They heard the door to the condo open above them.
Arden lowered his voice. “I wish you luck. Trail is colder than a polar bear’s nuts and the department wants this whole business out of sight and out of mind. But if there’s anything I can do, you let me know.”
He held out his hand and Frank shook it, saying, “It’s been an honor.”
There was the slightest questioning look in Arden’s eyes.
“I mean it,” Frank said.
The old man smiled. “You call me if I can help,” he said again as the others arrived.
Frank stood apart from the group as Seth and Elena said good-bye to Arden and Yvette. As these two members of Seth’s extended family drove away, Frank noticed a white van parked in the guest parking lot which was at the far end of the alley, at the intersection of the nearest street. He started to walk toward it when Elena said, “I guess you’ll have to be going now.”
“My jacket’s upstairs,” he reminded her, reconsidering his plan to approach the van on foot. “Seth, would it be okay if I took a look through your telescope before I go?”
“Sure!”
Elena made a sound of exasperation, but led the way.
“I’m not allowed to spy on the neighbors,” Seth said, when Frank lowered the angle of the telescope to look toward the guest parking area. Elena, who was apparently not going to let Frank have another minute alone with her son, smiled from the other side of the room.
“That’s a good rule,” Frank said. “I just want to see if this would be a good kind of telescope to use at work.”
“What do you mean?” Seth asked.
Frank could see only part of the van’s plate, but enough to tell that it began with “2JST.” It was not the same plate number as the one he had seen at the cemetery.
“I mean that sometimes we have to see things that are happening too far away to see with the naked eye.” He looked out onto the parkway between the buildings. Other than a gardener carrying a bulging green trash bag and a rake, there was no one nearby.
“Do you want to borrow it?”
“No, I’ll make the police buy their own if they want one. But thanks for letting me try it.”
“Thanks for visiting us,” Elena said. “Here’s your jacket. Say good-bye, Seth.”
Seth looked disappointed, then asked, “Can I visit you at your house?”
“Seth!”
“Sure you can,” Frank said, putting on the jacket. He smiled at Elena and said, “Don’t worry, he’s more interested in my dogs than me.”
“No, I’m not!” Seth said, laughing, then quickly added, “But they don’t bite, Mom, so can I visit them?”
“Seth…”
“I won’t bother him. He likes me, Mom.”
Until that moment, Frank was certain she would refuse. But at these words, she seemed ready to relent.
“That’s true,” Frank said. “We’d be happy to have both of you over. My wife used to know Seth’s dad, and I
