The tiny room held a closet smaller than a phone booth. The bathroom was across the hall. Pike went through the closet first, then the bath. The closet floor was deep with clothes, shoes, and an empty backpack. A corkboard had been tacked to the inside of the door and was covered with snapshots, cards, pictures cut from magazines, ticket stubs, and drawings. Ana was in most of the pictures, but not all, posing with people her own age, everyone smiling or mugging for the camera. Most of them had probably been taken in the past couple of years, and a few had writing. Luv, Krissy. You da bomb! BFF! Like that.
Pike didn’t take them all. He selected pictures that appeared the most recent, and those with handwritten notes and names, and tucked them into the yearbook. He had just crossed the hall into the bathroom when he heard a car door. He picked up the computer and yearbook, hurried to the front of the house, and saw two unmarked Crown Vics. Terrio and Deets were already out of their car, and two more detectives were climbing out of the second car. Terrio and Deets went to Pike’s Jeep, then scowled toward the house.
Pike left the way he had entered, went around to the side of the house, then slipped through the hedges to the wall. He didn’t go over. He stripped a.25 caliber Beretta from his ankle and a Colt.357 Python from his waist, then chinned himself up to see what was on the other side. He dropped the computer, yearbook, and guns into a soft cushion of calla lilies, then let himself out the side gate onto the drive.
Terrio and the others were halfway up the drive when Pike stepped out, letting them see him.
Terrio said, “You forget what that yellow tape means?”
“I wanted to see what happened.”
“You have no business seeing what happened. Did you enter the premises?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To see.”
Deets grinned at the other detectives.
“I like it. We have breaking and entering, illegal entry, interfering with a lawful investigation. How about adding burglary, Pike? Did you take anything?”
Pike spread his arms, offering to let them search.
“See for yourself.”
Deets moved behind Pike.
“Good idea. I’ve heard about this guy, Jack. Never know what he might be packing.”
The younger detective ran his hands over Pike’s legs, pockets, and belt line, but his grin collapsed when he found nothing.
Terrio didn’t look so happy about it, either, but he tipped his head toward the house, speaking to the other detectives.
“I’ll catch up with you. I’m going to walk Mr. Pike to his car.”
Terrio didn’t say anything more until they reached the street. He leaned against Pike’s Jeep. This bothered Pike, but he didn’t object.
Terrio studied Frank’s house for a moment.
“Why’d you come here?”
“To see. Like I told you.”
“That why you went to the hospital?”
Pike wondered how Terrio knew.
“That’s right.”
“The girl died this morning. That makes twelve homicides. If you think I’m spending all my resources digging up dirt on your friend, you’re wrong.”
Pike didn’t respond. He figured Terrio would make his point soon enough.
“I’ve got the mayor, the police commissioner, and the brass on my arm. I’ve got a rising body count, and no certain suspects. If you know something that could help, you should tell me.”
“Can’t help you.”
Terrio stared at Pike for a moment, then laughed.
“Sure. Sure you can’t. You’re here because you want to see.”
Pike’s cell phone buzzed. It buzzed so loudly that Terrio stepped away from the Jeep.
“Why don’t you get it, Pike? Might be important.”
Pike didn’t move. The buzzing stopped when the call went to voice mail.
Terrio said, “Get out of here.”
Pike watched him head toward the house. Pike knew Terrio would glance back when he reached Frank’s door, so he got into his Jeep and pulled away. He drove far enough so he couldn’t be seen from Frank’s house, then jogged back through the neighbor’s yard to the calla lily bed, recovered his guns and the things he had taken, and walked away.
14
PIKE DROVE TO THE far side of the park before he pulled over to check his phone. Cole had left a message, asking him to call.
When Cole answered, Pike said, “Me.”
“You wanted to know how a gangster could be connected to the nanny?”
Cole was being dramatic, and continued without waiting for an answer.
“Here’s a hint. Your girl Rina works for the Serbian mob.”
“Ana’s sister.”
“That’s right. Her sister is the connection.”
Pike watched the children in the park. He watched the toddlers run with short, awkward steps, and little ones try to stack blocks, and fail, because their tiny hands were too small to hold the blocks well.
“You’ve been on this less than two hours.”
“Am I not the World’s Greatest Detective?”
Pike glanced at his watch.
“Ninety-two minutes.”
“Karina Markovic, also known as Karen Mark, age twenty-six, arrested twice for prostitution, once for assault, and once for robbery-a john claimed she stole his wallet. Total jail time served is nine days. She was busted in a Serbian sex crib up in the Valley. She’s been in this country for at least eight years, and she’s probably here illegally.”
The San Fernando Valley was the porn capital of the world, and the Russian gangs discovered it as soon as they arrived. The sex trade was an easy moneymaker, but American women were difficult to control, so the Russians brought Russian girls over, and each new wave of East European gang sets followed the pattern-from the Ukrainians to the Armenians to the Serbs.
Pike said, “Does she have warrants?”
“None at this time, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be. Her license plate came back as inactive, which means the plate is not in active registration through the DMV.”
“Her car is stolen.”
“Stolen, or built from stripped parts. The Eastern Bloc gangs are into that-they build them from stolen parts, and ship them home. She might not know it was stolen. She might not even know the plate is no good. But the apartment address you gave me? Definitely not hers. The registered tenant is one Janic-with-a-J Pevich.”
Cole pronounced Janic with a y. Yanni.
“He have a record?”
“Nothing that I found, but the day is young.”
Pike lowered the phone, but did not move. He watched the children playing, and thought that now he understood why Rina Markovic was armed and afraid. The Serbian mob owned her, and someone in the Serbian mob had killed her sister. Pike wondered if this was the fourth man.
Either way, Rina knew who pulled the trigger.
Pike made his way toward Yanni’s apartment, wondering if Rina was there or if she had already moved on. Pike wasn’t worried about it. Even if she had gone, he could make Yanni tell him where to find her.
Pike cruised through the small visitors’ parking lot where Yanni’s truck had been parked before, but now it was gone. He took a space at the end of the lot, and tucked the Python under his belt. He didn’t bother to hide the pry bar.
Pike waited until two joggers passed, then hopped the gate into the residents’ parking lot. Rina Markovic’s car was still in the parking spot for apartment 2205.
Pike left the parking garage like any other resident and made his way along a sidewalk between the buildings. The grounds were large, with eight separate three-story buildings laid out like four “equals” signs end to end in a line. The buildings followed a curve of land between the river channel and a residential street, and were pleasantly shaded with tall gray eucalyptus trees and thick oleanders. Pike searched almost ten minutes before he realized the apartment number wasn’t 2205, but was apartment 205 in building number 2. He found the apartment in the second-to-last building.