Double Take

one to find it. He saved the woman’s life. That’s got to give him some sort of bond with her. I’m sure that’s what the locals will think too.”
    “I’ll speak to the SAC in San Francisco, tell him to give Cheney free rein on this deal if the SFPD wants to involve him. Keep me posted, Savich.”
    Ruth knew she should back off fast, but her feet were nailed to the linoleum.
    Jimmy Maitland nearly ran her over when he came out of Savich’s office. He grinned. “Ruth, how’s it going? How are Dix and his boys?”
    “Ah, good morning, sir. Everyone is fine. I’m driving to Maestro for the weekend to watch Rob pitch in a big game against the hated Panthers of Crescent City.”
    Maitland shook his head. “Baseball, basketball, football, snow-boarding, driving my car—my damned boys littered the landscape with their broken bones. Dix might wish they’d take up a rock band, or something that’d be safer.” He waved to Sherlock, who was discussing a bizarre Little Rock, Arkansas, murder case with Dane Carver. He remembered that Dane and Cheney had gone to Loyola Law School. He wondered which one of them had ranked higher in his class.
    “Hey, Ruth,” Savich called out, “come tell me what you think of this sketch.”

CHAPTER 10
    Ruth knew Dillon was perfectly aware that she’d been eavesdropping, and yet here he was letting her off the hook, even involving her. She looked down at the sketch smoothed out on his desktop. A good-looking black man wearing glasses—he looked focused, like he knew exactly who he was and where he was going in life. She said without hesitation, “He’s a pro. And since we’ve got lots of pros entered in the database, the chances are good we’ll get a name. Look at those eyes—this guy is empty to his soul.”
    “Nah, not empty. Just cold. Hey, you needed something?”
    Then Savich looked at her face, really looked, and said, “Close the door.”
    She closed it.
    “Okay, Ruth, sit down.”
    She sat.
    “Because cops can’t stand not to know everything that’s going on, you were distracted for a couple of minutes listening to that conversation about Cheney Stone and Julia Ransom. But something’s going on. Nothing’s happened to Dix, has it?”
    “Oh no. Well, yes, it has. Dix called me from the Richmond airport. He’s on his way to San Francisco.” She gave him a desperate look. “It’s about his missing wife—Christie. Christie’s godfather called Chappy, swore he’d seen her.”
    A dark eyebrow shot up. He said slowly, “It’s not Christie, Ruth. She’s long dead. You know it, Dix knows it. But he has to go check this out, you know that too. Now, tell me what her godfather said.”
    “The godfather’s name is Jules Advere. He was positive it was Christie he saw even though he admitted she showed no signs of recognizing him.”
    And then Ruth repeated the story she heard from Dix, about what happened at the fancy fundraiser at the high-roller’s penthouse on Russian Hill in San Francisco.
    She felt drained when she finished. Savich studied her face, saw the anxiety in her dark eyes. “San Francisco,” he said slowly. “Do you mind if I give my father-in-law a call? Ask him if he knows these people—Charlotte and Thomas Pallack?”
    “No, I don’t mind. I’m sure Dix wouldn’t either.”
    “Sherlock’s dad, Corman Sherlock, is a judge and a native San Franciscan, a rare breed I’m told, and he’s into everything local. Also, he’s got money, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows these people socially. Maybe he can solve this problem right away, without any fuss.”
    She said, “I was picturing Dix walking up to this dripping-gold penthouse, ringing the doorbell, this snooty butler telling him that the lady of the house wasn’t available. He didn’t exactly have a plan except maybe climbing up the side of the house to her bedroom to get a look at her.”
    Savich leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands over his belly, never taking his eyes off her face. He said slowly, “I agree with Dix. His wife was murdered. What was it, three years ago?”
    “More than three years ago now. About this trip to the coast— Dix lied to the boys, asked me to keep a close eye on them this weekend. I gather Chappy will be around as well.” Ruth laughed then, ugly and raw, and then she gulped. “Dillon, what if it is
    Christie?”
    Savich rose and came around the desk. She stood up as well. He took her in his arms, hugged her, said against