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.something about that name is familiar but I can�t place it.It could be a doctor.Maybe that�s where I heard it.� I waited a moment to see if it came to her but it didn�t.I pressed on.�Okay, one last thing, where is Terry�s car?� �It should be over there at Cabrillo, at the marina.It�s an old Jeep Cherokee.There�s a key on the ring I gave you.Buddy also has a key because he uses it sometimes.He basically takes care of it for us.I mean, me now.� �Okay, I�m going to check that out in the morning, so I�ll need to keep the key.Do you know when the first ferry goes back across?� �Not till Hine-fifteen.� �Then can we meet at seven-thirty or eight at your house? I want to get those records and also show you a few things.It won�t take too long and then I�ll grab the first ferry.� �Um, can we make it eight? I should be back by then.I usually walk Raymond to school and take CiCi to day care.� �No problem.I�ll see you at eight.� We ended the conversation and I immediately called Buddy Lockridge again, one more time rousing him from sleep.�Buddy, it�s me again.� He groaned.�Did Terry go to Las Vegas the month before he died? Like maybe around March first?� �I don�t know, man,� he said in a tired, annoyed voice.�How would I know that? I can�t remember what / did March first.� �Think, Buddy.He made a road trip around then.He didn�t bring the boat across.Where did he go? Did he tell you anything about it?� �He didn�t tell me jack.But I remember that trip now because the Jeep came back dirtier than shit.Had salt or some shit all over it.And I was the one who was left to wash it.� �Did you ask him about it?� �Yeah, I said, �Where have you been, out off-roading?� and he said, �Yeah, something like that.�� �And that was it?� �That�s all he said.I washed the car.� �What about the inside? Did you clean that out?� �No, I�m just talking about the outside.I took it over to the drive-through in Pedro and power-sprayed the thing.That�s all I did.� I nodded as I concluded I had gotten everything I needed from Lockridge.For the time being.�You going to be around tomorrow?� �Yup, I�m always around these days.Got nowhere to go.� �All right.I�ll see you then.� After ending the conversation I made one more call, punching in the number McCaleb had written at the top of the file flap after the name of Ritz, the detective quoted in the Times article.The call was picked up by a tape announcing that the Vegas Metro�s Missing Persons unit was open from 8 a.m.to 4 p.m.Monday through Friday.The message advised anyone with an emergency to hang up and dial 911.I closed the phone.It was late and I had an early start in the morning but I knew I wasn�t going to sleep any time soon.I had the wire in the blood now and knew from long experience that sleep was not an option.Not yet.I was marooned on a boat with two flashlights to see by, but there was still work to be done.I opened my notebook and started constructing a chronological record of the dates and times of events in the weeks and months before Terry McCaleb�s death.I put everything on the page, the important and not important, the real connections and imagined connections.Just as experience had taught me about sleep and the ability to go long stretches without it, I knew the details were important.The answer is always in the details.What is seemingly not important now is all-important later.What is cryptic and unconnected now becomes the magnifying glass through which things become clear later.CHAPTER 14You can always tell who the locals are.They�re the ones who sit inside and work crossword puzzles while the ferry makes the ninety-minute crossing.The tourists are usually up top or lining the bow or stern with their cameras and last glimpses of the island as it shrinks in the mist behind them.On the first boat out the next morning I was inside with the locals.But I was working a puzzle of a different kind.I sat with the file in which Terry McCaleb had made his case notations open on my lap.I also had the chronology I had worked up the night before.I studied it, hoping to commit as much of it as I could to memory.An instant command of case details is required for the successful completion of an investigation.Jan.7�McC reads about missing men in Nevada, calls Vegas Metro Jan.9�Vegas Metro not interested Feb.2�Hinton, Vegas Sun.Who called who? Feb.13�half-day charter with Jordan Shandy Feb
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