he had been dumped or rolled into the back of the van. His clothes and the floor around him were heavy with blood. His head had been cut from his body at the top of his neck. It was tipped against a spare tire just behind the front seat. Like that, his face was hidden. Fat desert flies covered the body like bees in a blood garden. Ben was not in the van. Starkey said, 'lesus Christ, they cut off his fucking head.' The detective nodded. 'Yeah. The things some people will do.' 'You get an ID.' 'Uh-uh, not yet. I'm Tims, out of Robbery-Homicide. We just got here, so we haven't been cleared. The CI's on the way.' They wouldn't disturb the victim until the Coroner Investigator examined the scene. The CI was responsible for determining the cause and time of death, so the police weren't supposed to do anything but preserve the evidence until the CI cleared the scene. I said, 'We're looking for a boy.' 'What you see is what we got--one corpse and no blood trails. Why'd you ask about a boy?' 'Two men driving this van kidnapped a ten-year-old boy two days ago. He's missing.' 'No shit. Well, if you have suspects here, I want their names.' Starkey gave him Fallon's name and description, along with a description of the black guy. While he was writing it down, I asked him who opened the van. He nodded :z37
toward the kids with the uniforms.
'Them. They came down here to ride on the ramps-you know, go up and down? They saw the blood dripping and opened it up. Way the blood's still leaking out the side panel over there, I'd say this couldn't have happened more than three or four hours ago.'
Starkey said, 'Did you check them for his wallet?' 'Didn't have to. See on his butt where the sport coat's pushed up? You can see the bulge. Wallet's still in his pocket.'
I said, 'Starkey.'
'I know. Tims, listen, if we can put this van to a location or get a line on Fallon, we'll be closer to finding the boy. The vic might have had a hand in it. We need an ID.'
Tims shook his head. He knew what she was asking.
'You know better than that. The CI's on his way. It won't be long.'
I glanced at Starkey, then went to the driver's door. Tims said, 'Don't touch anything.'
Blood had pooled around the driver's seat. I could see part of the body, but I couldn't see his face. I looked under and around the seats as best I could without touching the van, but all I saw was blood and the grime that builds up in old vehicles.
Tims and Starkey were still at the rear. The other two detectives and the uniforms were with the kids. I climbed up into the front seat and squeezed between the
seats into the van's bay. It smelled like a butcher shop on • a warm summer day.
When Tims saw me, he lurched toward the rear doors as if he was going to jump in with me. He didn't.
'Hey! Get outta there! Starkey, get your partner outta there!'
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Starkey stepped in front of Tims and braced her arms across the door as if she was peering inside at me. She was also blocking the door to keep him from pulling me out. One of the detectives and two of the uniforms ran over to see why Tims was shouting.
'Cole. Would you please do this fast?'
Flies swarmed around me in an angry cloud, pissed off that I had disturbed them. The blood on the floorboards was as slick as hot grease. I took the dead man's wallet, then went through his pockets. I found a set of keys, a handkerchief, two quarters, and a card key from the Baitland Swift Hotel in Santa Monica. An empty shoulder holster was strapped under his arm. I tossed the wallet and other things onto the front seat, then turned back to the head. The skin was purple and streaked with grime. The cervical vertebra showed openly in the flesh like a white marble knob and the hair was jellied with blood clots; it was obscene and awful, and I didn't want to touch it. I didn't want to be here with the flies and the blood. Tims was shouting, but his voice receded until it was just another fly buzzing in the heat. I balled the handkerchief and used it to upright the head. When I tipped the head, I saw that it had been placed on a black
K-Swiss cross-training shoe. A boy's shoe.
'Cole, who is it? What?'
'It's DeNice. Starkey, they left Ben's shoe. Ben's shoe is in here.'
'Did they leave a note? Is there anything else?'
'I don't see anything. Just the shoe.'
The Missing Persons car rolled down the ramp with its blue dash lights popping, and Richard's limo brought up the rear.
Starkey said, 'Get out of there. Bring his things with you. We might find something that tells us how he found
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them. Don't touch your face.'
'What?'
'You have blood all over yourself. Don't get it in your
eyes or your mouth.'
'It's Ben's shoe.'
I wasn't able to say anything else.
Starkey trotted away to intercept Lucas and Alvarez. I climbed out of the van and put everything on the ground. My hands were gloved in blood. The wallet and Ben's shoe and the other things were smeared with it. One of
the uniforms stepped back like I was radioactive.
