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Lena moved into the yard, watching Cobb vanish in the darkness and waiting to hear him drive away. Once she saw the headlights pass, she jogged back through the brush and returned with her car.

In spite of the hour, she was wide awake when she unlocked the front door and switched on the ceiling lights. Her eyes moved through the living room, searching for changes. She didn’t think that Cobb had wired the place up because he wasn’t carrying any tools. But as she reached the table by the slider, she saw the file beside Gant’s journal and noticed that the papers inside were askew. She pulled the chair out, feeling the seat with her fingers and noting its warmth. Then she reached underneath the lamp shade and touched the lightbulb. It was still hot.

Cobb had been sitting at the table. And he’d spent time here.

She didn’t know what to make of it. His behavior seemed so outrageous. So risky and bold.

She sat down in the chair and tried to see the table from Cobb’s point of view. Gant’s graphic novel appeared to have been pushed away, while the file and journal were front and center. Inside the file, Lena found her notes and a copy of the chronological record she had started the night after Bosco and Gant were murdered. Both her notes and the journal would have been new to Cobb. Information he could take back to Bennett.

Her cell phone started vibrating. Checking the touch screen, she saw Sid Kosinski’s name and recognized the number from the coroner’s office.

“Sorry for calling so late, Lena, but I just walked out of the operating room.”

The signal was bad. Opening the slider, she stepped outside onto the porch.

“What is it, Sid?”

“Maybe it’s nothing, but the detective who worked the Lily Hight murder was down here about three hours ago.”

“Cobb?”

“That’s him. He wanted to look at my notes from the autopsies we did on Bosco and Gant. He seemed nervous. And he was asking a lot of questions. What made it feel so odd was that most of his questions were about you.”

Lena sat down on the wall. “Did you show him anything from the case?”

“Of course not. But that doesn’t mean that he didn’t see what he wanted to see.”

“Why’s that?”

“He’s got friends around here.”

“What kind of friends?”

“From the old days,” Kosinski said. “When he used to work out of Robbery-Homicide.”

She decided that she didn’t really want to meet any of Cobb’s friends. She felt numb and looked out over the hill. The cloud of dirty air had filled in the basin up to the rim, concealing everything in the city except for the upper floors of the Library Tower downtown. The moon was up, lighting the cloud’s surface and making it appear solid enough to walk on.

“You still there, Lena?”

“I’m here, Sid. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“It’s probably nothing, right? Cobb coming down here? It’s probably nothing.”

She looked back at the dust cloud and shivered in the heat.

“Right,” she said. “It’s probably nothing.”

37

Vaughan lived on Hillside Lane, a short drive up through the canyon from the beach. Lena could see the house half a block ahead, but pulled over when she noticed a woman with blond hair walking out the front door with two young children and their nanny. Vaughan followed them out, opening the doors to his crossover and helping with the car seats. All three adults were laughing about something. Once the kids were finally strapped in, the blonde got behind the wheel and Vaughan waved as she drove off in his car.

Lena didn’t know what to make of what she was thinking or feeling right now. All she hoped for was that when she looked at Vaughan or Vaughan looked at her, things would be back to normal. She didn’t want to sense something extra going on. She needed assurance that what was happening in her mind was only happening in her mind, and not part of the real world.

She pulled up to the house. Vaughan walked over and poked his head in the passenger side window.

“You just missed the kids,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Where’s your car?”

“My ex-wife took it for the day. Hers is in the shop. When it’s fixed, they said they’d deliver it to my office. We’ll switch back later. You don’t mind driving, do you?”

“Not at all.”

“Let me grab my briefcase.”

He smiled at her. She caught the glint in those light brown eyes of his. Switching the radio over to KNX, she hoped that the news station might distract her and make things easier. But her efforts proved unnecessary. Once Vaughan got in the car, he spent most of the drive talking about what they had discovered yesterday. He couldn’t comprehend how two deputy DAs were able to step before a judge and look him in the eye knowing that they were trying the wrong man. The fact that they had the district attorney’s blessing made it all the more difficult to absorb. When Lena glanced over at him, she could see how revitalized Vaughan had become. She could see the transformation in his posture, in his face; the confidence and energy that comes from the thrill of the chase.

The drive took less than ten minutes. Vaughan checked the address and spotted a parking space a block off.

“Better take it,” he said.

Lena backed into the space, and they walked up the sidewalk to the corner. The house on Strongs Drive was easy enough to spot. A camera crane sat on the front lawn, and movie lights had been mounted outside the windows on the first floor. As they got closer, Lena realized that the house was backed up against the canals. She could see a large hot tub off the rear terrace. Beside the house was probably the only vacant lot in all of Venice. Two trailers were here, along with a grip truck, a catering truck, and several long tables with chairs set beneath a large tent. Both lots had been secured with yellow tape as if they were crime scenes. On the street, two off-duty cops leaned against their black and white cruisers providing security.

Lena gave Vaughan a nudge. “What’s the name of this show?”

“I keep forgetting the title. It’s one of those crappy reality shows. I see them when I’m looking for the cartoon channel for the kids. They put six losers in a house, shoot them talking about nothing, and somehow it sells.”

Lena noticed a small sign stapled to a telephone pole. The word Lowlife was printed across the top with an arrow pointing toward the house.

“That’s it,” Vaughan said. “That’s the name of the show. Lowlife.

It was one more reason on a list of a hundred other reasons why Lena seldom found anything worth watching on television. But she didn’t say anything. As Vaughan spoke with a young production assistant, Lena identified herself to the off-duty cops, then turned and followed Vaughan underneath the tent. Pete London was sitting at one of the tables, sipping coffee, and editing a script with a blue pen. When he noticed them enter, he stood up and they shook hands.

“Thanks for coming,” he said. “I appreciate it. Would you like coffee? Something to eat? The catering truck never closes. The food’s pretty good on this one.”

Both Lena and Vaughan thanked him but declined, and everyone sat down. London pushed the script aside, cradling the paper coffee cup in his hand. Remarkably, he looked like he could have been Tim Hight’s more polished brother. His hair was the same mix of blond and gray, but longer and better styled. Dressed in jeans and a light cotton shirt, he was on the lean side, wore glasses with tortoiseshell frames and seemed too cerebral, too intelligent to be producing a reality TV show called Lowlife for one of the music channels that no longer had any interest or influence in music.