“Which this one doesn’t,” Mike said. “So you don’t know this was him.”

“I know,” Drex said. “He’s showing off. Catch me if you can, asshole. That’s what he’s thinking.”

Talia broke in. “I see an empty space in there.” She pointed out the parking lot of a busy restaurant. “This may be as close as I can get, and we’ll be inconspicuous here.”

Drex nodded approval. She pulled into the parking lot and claimed the space. The instant she cut the engine, Drex reached for the passenger door handle.

“Drex, you can’t go,” Gif said. “Neither can Talia. Last thing Locke said, he warned me that Rudkowski would bulldoze his way into this, whether CPD liked it or not. If you’re seen—”

“We’re had.” Drex cursed Gif’s rational thinking and underscored the curses with additional ones because Gif was right.

Mike said, “You stay here. Gif and me will nose around and pick up what we can.”

“Thanks all the same, Mike,” Gif said, “but you’re too much mass to go unnoticed.”

Drex said, “He’s right.”

“No offense taken. I’ll stay here in the nice, dry car, and update you off my laptop.”

Drex asked Gif for Locke’s phone number, which he supplied. Before he got out, he asked Drex if there was anything specific he wanted him to look for. “Rudkowski,” Drex said.

“Goes without saying.”

“You see him, shrink out of sight and come right back. Also keep your eyes and ears open for a calling card from Jasper.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wants me to know it’s him,” Drex said. “He’ll have left me a sign.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. It’ll be something subtle. A inside joke between him and me.”

After Gif left, Drex called Locke. He could tell the detective was in a moving vehicle. “Where are you?”

“Menundez and I have been called to the scene of a homicide.”

The way he said that was his way of signaling to Drex that he hadn’t told Menundez about their previous conversation. “That’s a boon to me,” he said.

“It’s not our investigation, but they wanted us to take a look, see if there may be a connection between this homicide and ours last night.”

“Other than gender of the victim?”

“Yes. Something that would indicate the same perp.”

“I already know it’s the same perp. If you find evidence of it, call me immediately.”

“I’ll see how it goes.”

It became plain that Locke wasn’t going to talk where Menundez could overhear. Drex guessed it was as much for the younger man’s protection as for Locke’s own. Even though the honorable gesture was working against Drex right now, he admired the detective for not wishing to compromise a junior partner.

“All right. I’m reading you. But when you can give me more details—”

“No promises.”

“Understood. But as a show of faith, I’ll text you my phone number and our current location.”

“How long will you be there?”

“Till we’re not.”

“How long will the phone number be good?”

“Till I don’t answer.”

“I’ve got to go,” Locke said. “We’re here.”

The detective clicked off, and so did Drex. He sent the promised text immediately. Then, tapping the phone against his chin in frustration, he related to Talia and Mike what Locke had told him.

“Somebody might overlook a vital link. Dammit.” He reached for the door handle and lifted it.

“Drex?” Talia exclaimed.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” he said.

“You’ve got to, Drex,” Mike said. “If you’re caught intruding, you’ll be shut down. Gif and me, too. Locke will be hung out to dry, because Rudkowski will know it was him who tipped you.”

“I’m not going to let Locke catch the flak.”

“That won’t be your call. Do you want to cost him his job?”

Gripped by indecision, he kept the car door open but didn’t get out. He looked at Talia, who said, “Mike is right.” He cast a look over his shoulder at Mike, whose expression was more baleful than usual. Drex conceded the wisdom of discretion. “Okay, but I can’t just sit. I’ll keep to this parking lot. Stretch my legs. Clear my head.”

He flipped up the hood of his rain jacket and got out.

With the intention of joining him, Talia reached for the driver’s door handle, but from the back seat, Mike said, “Give him a few. He’ll be all right. He gets like this.”

She settled back into her seat. “It pains him, doesn’t it? What he does.”

“It’s been known to. When it does, we—Gif and I—keep our distance, let him work through it. He eventually comes out of it.”

“The Drex Easton I met—good Lord. It was a week ago today,” she said, amazed by how much longer it seemed that he had been in her life. “That Drex was laid back and witty.”

“That’s a side of him, too. He can be a real cut-up.”

She watched Drex disappear into the rain. He was walking shoulders hunched, his hands crammed into the pockets of his windbreaker. “How long has he been doing this?”

“Officially? Since he got his PhD in criminal psychology.”

She looked back at Mike, who took up more than half of the back seat. Seeing her surprise, he tipped his head in the general direction Drex had gone. “Dr. Easton.”

“I had no idea.”

“He doesn’t let on.”

“I take it that he and Rudkowski go way back.”

“Way back.”

“They had a falling out?”

“No. That implies they were once allies. They started out like oil and water.”

“Over what?”

“Rudkowski’s ineptitude. It became readily apparent to Drex early on, out in California. Santa Barbara woman went missing.”

“Never found.”

Mike nodded. “Or her money. Anyhow, after that case, Rudkowski relocated to Louisville. He hated like hell that Drex settled in Lexington. Being that close makes it easier for Drex to keep a finger on Rudkowski’s pulse, but it also makes it easier for Rudkowski to stay on top of Drex. And he does. Like chain mail.”

“Which is why Drex works around him.”

“Rudkowski is a joke and knows it. He’s envious of Drex. Drex is smarter, a born leader, better looking, gets lots of girls.”

He’d paused before the last phrase, and Talia understood that he’d tacked it on only to provoke her. She opted to be provoked. “Are you trying to put me in my place? To let me know where I stand with Drex? With you?”

He didn’t say anything.

“You know, Mr. Mallory, in the past thirty-six hours my life has collapsed around me. It’s in shambles, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to free myself of the wreckage, or even survive. So winning you over is not a priority. The truth is, I really don’t care if I do or not.”