XO

about you; you looked so tired. There was a lot of pressure on you. He wasn’t even sure it was a good idea to give the concert. He thought you should reschedule.”

Kayleigh’s eyes swiveled to her father once more but that topic remained buried.

“He said…” Suellyn struggled to get it just right. “He said sometimes Kayleigh needed to think more about what’s good for her. Too many people wanted a piece of her soul.”

Your shadow…

Bishop turned to his older daughter, asking casually, “How was the flight?”

“Jesus, Dad. Really.” Suellyn looked exasperated.

Kayleigh said she didn’t want Mary-Gordon here any longer. She was afraid Edwin would come back again to spy and might try to approach the girl. They should go with Bishop and Sheri to their house, outside town. And they should leave now.

Kayleigh blinked and then looked down, realizing she was still holding the goofy stuffed redwood tree. She started to throw it out angrily but changed her mind and set it aside, on a shelf.

Suellyn went into the den to get her daughter and the toys Kayleigh had bought her.

At that moment Dance’s phone rang; Dennis Harutyun was calling. She asked, “So you’ve identified the vic?”

“That’s right.”

“Is there any connection with Kayleigh?” she asked.

“Yes and no. You better come see.”

Chapter 29

THE STENCH WAS bad, but so much rubber and plastic and oil had burned that at least the smell of human flesh and hair was largely obscured. The wind helped too.

Not that Dance didn’t need all her willpower to keep from gagging, if not worse.

Love is fire, Love is flame…

The scene was a broad dusty field, a cracked and crumbling parking lot, a long-closed gas station collapsed in on itself and the burned shed, of which there wasn’t much left. The smoke was still rising in furious plumes. The heat you could feel from the shoulder of the road. Not far away was the gray-brown strip of low river that had inspired this location for the killing.

The CSU team was still at work, though the firefighters outnumbered the police. Fire was a much greater risk to the population of Fresno than a single crazed stalker.

Harutyun, the senior detective on the scene, explained what they’d found, which wasn’t much. The shell casings, the CDs, the money-the altar to Kayleigh. But even the twenty-dollar bill seemed to have been washed- literally laundered. And the fire had been such a serious threat that the men and women had charged onto the grounds with hoses to contain the flames, surely contaminating the scene worse.

Besides, Dance guessed, if Edwin was behind the killing he wouldn’t have left much evidence. He was too clever for that.

Harutyun continued the explanation he’d begun over the phone.

The victim had indeed known Kayleigh-and about a thousand other performers.

His name was Frederick Blanton. “He’s a crook,” Harutyun summarized. “Was a crook.”

Dance thought of the CDs, the altar… and what she knew of the music business. “Into illegal file sharing?”

“That’s very good, Kathryn. Yes.”

“What’s the story?”

“There were close to ten thousand computers on the network. People would download songs, music videos too. Kayleigh’s were among the most popular.”

“How’d you ID him?” Dance glanced inside. “Obviously, no prints.”

“Weren’t hardly even any hands or feet. One hand must’ve burned down to ash, gone completely. We’ll have to confirm with DNA but we found his wallet in a part of the shed that didn’t burn so bad. We checked his address-he lived in the Tower District, about seven, eight miles from here. A team’s going through his house now. They found his door kicked and it was a mess-all his computers were wrecked. We figured the perp probably forced him to destroy the file-sharing servers then made him get into the trunk of his car. If it’s Edwin he’s got plenty of room in that Buick of his. Drove him here, shot him and set the fire.”

Dance mused, “How easy would it have been for Edwin to find him?”

“Google ‘torrent’ and ‘Kayleigh Towne’ and ‘download,’ and his site”-a nod toward the shed-“was in the top ten. Some basic research and he’d’ve come up with the address, I’d guess. Our boy seems good at that.”

“And he left the altar as a warning not to steal from Kayleigh.”

A stalker’s likely to target anybody who’s a threat to you, or even offended you. He’s taking real seriously his role as a protector…

“And the crime scene at his house? Evidence?”

“Nothing. No prints, foot or finger. Some trace but…” He shrugged, an indication of its marginal usefulness. “They did find he had a partner.”

“Who’s feeling a little uneasy at the moment,” Dance speculated.

“Well, he’s not in the area.”

“Guess you don’t need to be next-door neighbors with your co-conspirator if you’re doing computer crimes. You could be in South America or Serbia. Where’s he based?”

“Salinas.”

Hm. Monterey County.

“You have the guy’s name-and physical or computer address?”

“CSU’d have it.” The detective made a call and asked that the information be sent to her phone. She noted that he’d memorized her number.

The unit chimed a moment later with the incoming message.

“I’ll send it to some people I know there. They can follow up with him.” She composed an email and sent it off.

Harutyun then said, “I’m trying to keep an open mind. I know it seems to be Edwin but I’m still looking into motives anybody else would have had to kill Bobby. I’ve been getting a lot of information about him but so far nothing jumps out. And now I guess I better add this guy into the mix. But, well, there’ve gotta be a lot of people who’d like to murder a file sharer. Half the record companies and movie studios.”

Another squad car arrived, crunching over the gravel, dirt and bleached twigs that bordered the site of the blackened earth. It parked near a faded Conoco sign depicting a pale green dinosaur. Dance’s daughter, Maggie, was presently in a Jurassic phase. Her room was littered with plastic versions of the reptiles. Dance tamped down a pang, missing her children.

P. K. Madigan climbed out, surveyed the scene with hands on his slim hips overshadowed by his belly. Then he joined Dance and Harutyun. “So, he was stealing her songs?”

“That’s right.”

Madigan grumbled, “Never thought he’d switch to landlines. Should have.”

“We all should have.”

“And where the hell is he? He’s got a car as big as my boat and it’s bright red, to boot. I don’t see how he keeps losing my folks.” His phone rang and he regarded the screen. “’Lo?… You don’t say… Naw, I’ll go myself.” He disconnected. “Well, all righty then. I can’t tell you where Edwin was when this fella died but I can tell you where he is now. He’s parked in front of Kayleigh’s house again. In the arboretum lot across the road.”

“What’s he doing?”

“Sitting on the hood of his car, happy as a clam, having himself a picnic. I want to have a talk with him. Well, actually, I’d like you to have a talk with him, Kathryn. You up for that?”

“You bet I am.”