The sentry

22

Reuben Mendoza's body was on its side in the shallow trough of water that remained in the canal. The arm with the cast reached toward the bank as if he had been trying to pull himself out when he died, but Pike knew this had not been the case. Mendoza's neck was cut so deeply the white core of bone was revealed, and the blue-gray pallor of his flesh indicated he had bled out long before he drifted to the bank. He wore baggy khaki shorts, a long-sleeved plaid shirt so big it cloaked him like a shawl, and Keds-the same clothes Jared described. Carla Fuentes would be able to keep her house.

Button clucked his tongue.

"Looks to me like your boy Mendoza here didn't abduct anyone."

Futardo moved closer, watching him the way cops watch a suspect.

"Do you recognize this man?"

Pike nodded.

"When is the last time you saw him?"

Pike glanced at Futardo, and saw Button smile.

"Detective Futardo here wants to work homicide. She thinks you're a person of interest."

Futardo flushed dark and her thin lips grew tighter as Button went on, lecturing her.

"This isn't Pike's style. Pike here, he'd shoot the guy point-blank or beat him to death, but he wouldn't do this. Hey, Eddie-"

A man in waders looked over.

"Roll him and open the shirt, please. We want to see the wound."

Most of the body was still in the water. They rolled it to face Button, then pulled back the plaid shirt. The shirt was unbuttoned as Jared described, but the T-shirt beneath was ripped from the upper left chest down through the center of the shirt to his pants. Washed clean of blood by being in the canal, picket-fence ribs protruded through the chest and internal organs bulged like blue balloons from the abdomen.

"Gutted him. Cut his neck to kill him, then gutted him thinking the body would stay down."

Pike watched the team maneuver the body, then gazed up the canal. Grand Canal was the longest canal of the six, letting the five smaller canals breathe from the sea through the locks built into the bridge. Pike wondered how long it took for the body to work its way down from the upper canals as the water drained.

"How long has he been in the water?"

"Thanks, Eddie. That's good."

The recovery team returned to its work as Button answered Pike's question.

"Cold as the water is, the window is wide open. More than six, but less than twenty-four. They'll tighten it up when they get him on the table, but that's the CI's best guess for now."

"Could have happened after. He took them first, and someone killed him after."

"Whatever you say, Pike. And maybe the one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other, but I wouldn't bet on it."

"You find Gomer?"

"You think Gomer killed him?"

"Did Jared make him as the man with Mendoza?"

"Didn't see him well enough, but I doubt it was Gomer. Gomer's too lightweight for something like this. You kill someone the way this man was killed, you're a heavyweight."

Pike guessed Button probably had several candidates for the kill, and Pike was probably high on the list despite Button's comment to Futardo.

Futardo moved closer again.

"The homicide detectives want to talk to you. You feel like answering a few questions or you want to lawyer up?"

"Now's fine."

Button smiled again.

"I was you, I'd lawyer up."

"I'm good."

Pike wasn't going to tell them anything Button didn't already know. If he told them more, they would promote him from person of interest to suspect.

Button glanced at Futardo.

"Tell'm they can have him when I'm finished. Stay with them so Pike and I can have a word."

Button watched her walk away, then turned back to Pike.

"Let me ask you something, between you and me, and I don't care what you tell the homicide dicks. You know where Smith and his niece are?"

"No."

"You think Smith did this?"

The thought had occurred to Pike, but he hesitated before he answered.

"Open the ribs like that, you have to be strong, and you have to know what you're doing. I don't know that he has the skill or the strength."

Button grunted.

"Maybe not, but cooks know their knives. Mendoza and Gomer go to threaten the man like they did in his shop, only this time they get the big surprise."

"It's still two on one."

"Gomer's a runner. Ran before when you showed up, and this time he beat feet when the knife came out. Then it's one on one, only the girl's there to help her uncle. Once the body is down, they panic and decide to get rid of it. Then Smith calls me with that bullshit about Oregon to buy some getaway time."

"They didn't have to run. If that's how it happened, they killed him in self-defense."

Button grunted again.

"People lose their minds when they kill someone, Pike. That's why they call it blood simple."

Pike wondered why Button was sharing his theory, like they were in this together, until he realized Button's true purpose. He was trying to read whether Pike was involved in the murder or subsequent cover-up with Wilson and Dru.

Pike shrugged, willing to let Button think what he wanted, when Futardo reappeared. She looked excited.

"Boss, they need you over here. It's important."

Button told Pike not to leave, and went over to see what the detectives wanted.

The men in the waders had the body on the plastic sheet. Working together, they lifted the body, but their footing in the mud was bad. One of the men slipped, and the body went down.

Pike took out his phone. He was going to let Cole know what was happening when he saw Straw approaching. The man in blue remained on the bridge.

Straw didn't hurry. He strolled over like a man rehearsing what he wanted to say. When he arrived, he nodded at Pike.

"This time yesterday, I had a serious hard-on for you. Today, not so much."

Straw paused. Pike knew he was now supposed to ask why Straw no longer had a hard-on, but Pike didn't ask. He didn't care. Straw finally nodded toward the homicide crew. The homicide detectives were talking as if they were excited about something, and two were on phones. One trotted to a waiting radio car, and jumped into the back seat as it left.

"Our detective friends are split down the middle whether you or Smith did this. They're even running a pool."

"How'd you bet?"

"I don't think you or Smith had anything to do with this. That mess with the heads in Smith's shop, I don't think these bangers had anything to do with it. Something more complicated is in play."

Pike studied Straw for a moment, and thought he was probably right. Straw's shakedown operation was finished, so now he was digging for a replacement.

"Like what?"

"No idea."

"Weren't you guys watching the shop?"

Straw showed his first sign of irritation.

"We were watching the entire street, Pike. We had the front of his shop. Whoever made that mess broke through the back and got away clean. But you know that. You were there the next morning."

"Too bad you didn't see something helpful."

Straw's jaw flexed one time, then he studied the ground for several seconds before he looked up.

"You have any idea where these people are?"

Pike nodded toward Mendoza's body.

"I thought he had them."

"If he did, someone else has them now."

"Who?"

"Whoever. I'm seeing Smith and his niece jammed up by something a helluva lot worse than a shakedown."

Straw handed Pike a card.

"You learn anything or need any help, let me know. I'd like to find these people before whoever did that to Mendoza finds them."

Button and Futardo returned from their group. Pike thought they were coming to get him for the homicide dicks, but Button had news, and the news made him smile.

"Alberto Gomer is no longer missing in action. Homeless dude found him an hour ago in a parked car up at the north end of the canal. His throat was cut ear to ear. That makes your boy Smith two for two."

Futardo gestured toward the homicide detectives.

"They'd like to speak with you now. You ready to talk?"