'Shh. Shh.'
'I needed someone to be there, and they were what I had. They came around with a stolen car, and I went
along for a ride. How dumb is that?'
She touched my lips.
'I mean it. You keep your life inside like little secret creatures. All of us do, I guess, but it's different now,
we're different, what it means to me is different.' She touched my chest over my heart. 'How many secret creatures do you keep?'
'I'll find Ben, Luce. I swear to God I'll find him and bring him home.'
She shook her head so gently that I almost did not see. 'No.'
'Yes, I will. I'll find him. I'm going to bring him home.'
Her sadness grew to an ache so clear that it broke my heart.
'I don't blame you for this happening, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that Ben is gone, and I should have known it would happen.'
'What are you talking about? How could you know?'
'Richard is right, Elvis. I shouldn't be with you. I shouldn't have let my child stay with you.'
My belly cramped with a sour heat. I wanted her to stop.
'Luce--'
'I really and truly don't blame you, but things like this--like what happened in Louisiana and last year with Laurence Sobek--I can't have those things in my life.'
'Lucy. Please.'
'My son had a normal childhood before I knew you. I had a normal life. I let my love for you blind me, and now my son is gone.'
Tears gathered on her lashes, then fell along her
cheeks. She didn't blame me she blamed herself. 'Luce, don't talk like that.'
'I don't care what that man said on the tape, but I could hear his hatred for you. He hates you, and he has my son. He hates you so much that you can only make it worse. Leave it to the police.'
'I can't walk away I have to find him.'
She gripped my arm and her nails cut into my skin.
'You're not the only person who can find him. It doesn't have to be you.'
'I can't leave him. Don't you see.V'
'You'll get him killed! You're not the only one who can do this, Elvis; you're not the last detective in Los Angeles. Let the others find him. Promise me.'
I wanted to help her stop hurting. I wanted to pull her close and hold her and feel her hold me, but my own eyes filled and I shook my head.
'I'm going to bring him home, Luce. I can't do anything else.'
She let go of my arms, then wiped her eyes. Her face
was as dark and hard as a death mask.
'Get out.'
'You and Ben are my family.'
'No. We're not your family.'
I felt impossibly heavy, like I was made of lead and stone. 'You're my family.' 'GET OUT!' I'll find him.' 'YOU'LL GET HIM KILLED!' I left her like that and went down to my car. I couldn't feel the chill anymore. The sweet scent of the jasmine was gone.
JOE PIKE
Elvis got into his car, but sat without moving. Pike touched a leaf out of the way, better to see. When Cole's cheek caught the light, he saw that Cole was crying. Pike took a deep breath. He worked hard to keep his moments empty, but that wasn't always easy. After Cole drove away, Pike left the rubber tree and slipped through the shadows alongside the bungalow and into the adjoining yard. He worked his way up an alley until he was a block behind Fontenot, then crossed to Lucy's side of the street. He moved in the shadows and passed within fifteen feet of Fontenot's car, but Fontenot did not see him. Pike slipped behind the birds-of paradise, then up to Lucy's door. Fontenot was out of the picture. The building blocked his view. Pike stood well back from the peephole. Lucy had been uneasy with him since the Sobek business, so he wanted her to see him before she opened the door. He knocked. Soft. The door opened. Pike said, 'I'm sorry about Ben.' She was a strong, good-looking woman, even wrung
I3O I3I
out the way she was. Before Lucy and Ben moved from Louisiana and before the Sobek thing, Pike had joined her and Elvis at a tennis court. Neither Pike nor Elvis knew much about tennis, but they played her just to see, the two of them on one side against Lucy on the other. She was quick and skillful; her balls snapped low across the net .just out of reach. She laughed easily and with confidence as she cut them to pieces. Now, she looked uncertain. 'Where's Elvis ?' 'Gore.' Lucy glanced past him at the street. She said, 'When did you get back from Alaska?' 'A few
