"It's there," Gordon said, pointing. '
Miles walked over to the desk. On top of a manual typewriter was what looked like handwritten notes on a yellow legal pad.
"What do you make of it?"
The note was a list of names Liam had obviously drawn up. Miles picked up the pad and quickly scanned the list.
His gaze locked on a name in the middle, his pulse racing. Montgomery Jones. He turned toward Marina and her husband. "What is this?"
Marina faced him, looking pale. 'that's what we want to know."
"Did you ask your father about it?" ' "He won't talk." She took a deep breath. "I recognized that one guy's name, the one who was killed, and that's why I called you. Gordon and I thought that there might be some connection between the woman or whoever's stalking Dad and the person who killed that man."
"Do you think we should go to the police?" Gordon asked.
"Definitely," Miles said. "But don't get your hopes up. It can't hurt to let them know, put them on alert, but they probably won't do anything. In the meantime, I'll try to track down the names on this list. Obviously, your father knows of some connection between all these people. He seems to
think he knows why this other man was killed and why he's being stalked--"
"But he won't tell."
'then, you need to try and get him to tell. He might not be the only one in danger here. These others might be at risk as well.. Tell him that by not cooperating, he may cost some of these people their lives."
"We'll try," Gordon promised. "But he's stubborn."
Miles looked at the fist again, frowned. He thought Graham had kept all mention of Montgomery Jones' death out of the press. He turned toward Marina. "You said you saw his name in the paper?"
"No. On TV. Extra."
Extra? Graham had kept news of the killing out of the legitimate media, but it had made its way onto tabloid television? "I remembered his name because I couldn't forget the way he died." She shivered.
"Filled up with ice and drowned? What a horrible way to go."
"Filled up with ice and drowned? What are you talking about?"
Something suddenly occurred to him. He cocked his head. "Who are you talking about? Derek Baur." Derek Baur?
There were two of them.
Miles felt his pulse rate accelerate again. "Another man on this list, Montgomery Jones, was also killed recently. Torn in half. Up by the Whittier Narrows dam."
Marina looked at her husband, all of the color draining from her face.
"I don't know what's happening or what this is all about, but I suggest you get your father out here so we can try to talk some sense into him."
She nodded and hurried off down the hall.
"Can I take this to photocopy?" Miles asked Gordon. "I'll give it back to you."
"Take it and keep it"
"You'll need it to show the police."
Gordon nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Okay." He ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus."
"We'll get to the bottom of this," Miles promised. Gordon looked as though he was about to say something, but at that moment Marina pulled Liam into the room. She faced Miles. "Tell him!" she demanded, pointing at her father. "He won't listen to me. Maybe he'll listen to you."
"Two of the men on this list are dead," Miles said. "One, Montgomery Jones, was torn in half over in Whittier. I saw the body. I was there. The other than, Derek Baur
In Michigan, and than he was somehow filled with ice and drowned. If you know anything about either of these deaths, you'd better speak up because you and the other people on that list may be in danger, too."
Liam shook his head.
"Damn it, Dad!"
"Well, you obviously know of something that all of these people have in common. There's some reason you put them on this list. If you could just tell. us--"
"No."
He was surprised by the vehemence of the old man's response. It was impossible, he knew, and it made no sense, but Liam was acting guilty, as though he were in some way responsible for the deaths.
Miles spoke to him as though addressing a small child. "Your daughter hired me to find out who has been harassing you, who has been stalking you. I'll find out with or without your assistance, but your help would be greatly appreciated. It would also be in your own best interest since you are the subject of this harassment. It also appears that
your life is in danger: I have agreed that your daughter and son-in-law should go to the police with this list--"
"No!" He glared at Marina. "You have no right!"
She was practically in tears. "Stop being so stubborn!" she screamed at him. "This is your life we're talking about!" yes. he. shouted back. "My life!"
Miles backed off, staying out of it. Marina and her father yelled at each other for several more minutes before he finally stalked off. A door slammed down the hall.
Marina ran out of the room crying.
"I'll find a copy shop, make a quick Xerox, and bring this back," Miles told Gordon. "After that, I'll try to track these people down. You go to the police."
Gordon nodded.
"I have some personal business to attend to this afternoon, but I'll give you a call later this evening and we'll see where we stand."
'thanks," Gordon said.
Miles offered him a wry smile. 'that's what I get paid for."
He drove off, found a Sav-On Drugstore, made an overpriced 25-cent copy of the list, and brought it back. Marina, who was now settled and sipping coffee in the kitchen, looked at him before he left, her eyes still red. "I'm sorry about my father," she said. "He's just so stubborn. Maybe he'll break down a little later. But she was wrong, Miles thought, driving home. He'd gotten a look at the old man's face when he'd described to him the deaths of the two men. Her father wasn't stubborn. He was scared.
The kids were gone, off to a lunch meeting with Gordon's agent, and Liam made sure there was no one waiting for him outside, made sure the street was free of unknown vehicles and pedestrians, before venturing out of the house. He'd promised Marina he wouldn't leave the yard, but he'd broken a lot of promises lately, and the more he broke the easier it was to do.
There'd been six calls last night. It was the same woman, and though he knew he'd never heard her voice before, he could not shake the feeling that he knew who she was. Or that he should. Her identity bugged him, and he'd lain awake long after he'd finally taken the phone off the hook, trying to figure out where he should know her from and why.
Her last call, at midnight, had been the worst. "I'll pull your cock out through your asshole," she'd said, and for some reason her voice at that moment had reminded him of his mother's.
He'd given up nothing to either that obnoxious private dick---and the word served double duty here--or the police detective who came by later. They'd tried to crack him, and Marina had jumped all over him, yelling, crying, using every piece of emotional artillery at her disposal, but he had refused to cooperate. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew it was connected with the dam, with the town, and what had happened all those years ago in Arizona.
That was why he didn't want any cops or detecti poking their noses into this.
That was why he wanted Marina kept completely out of it.
Liam walked down the treet toward Pacific Coast Highway and the beach.
He desperately needed a smoke, but needed to buy a pack of cigarettes.
For the past twenty years Marina had bought into the lie that he'd quit smoking--just
as her mother had--and he did not want her to find out that he hadn't.
So he'd waited until she was out of the house. The liquor store was only a few blocks away, on PCH, and he'd be able to walk there, have a leisurely smoke, and walk back before Marina and Gordon even reached their restaurant. Hell, he could probably sneak a few backyard puffs after his own lunch and have time to rinse his mouth out with Listerine before they returned.