The Narrows

much about its reputation and it carries too much weight in politics, going all the way back to J. Edgar Hoover himself. Eleanor Wish once knew an agent who had been assigned to Washington headquarters back during the time J. Edgar ruled the place. He said the unspoken law was that if an agent was in an elevator and the director got on, the agent was not allowed to address him, even to say hello, and was required to immediately step off so the big man could ride alone and ponder his great responsibilities. That story always stuck with me for some reason. I think because it carries the perfect arrogance of the FBI.
    The bottom line was I didn't want to call Graciela McCaleb and tell her that her husband's killer was still out there and that the FBI would handle it. I still wanted to handle it. I owed that to her and to Terry and I always paid what I owed.
    Back on the road the coffee and sugar got me going again and I pressed on toward the City of Angels. When I hit the 10 freeway I also hit the rain and traffic slowed to a crawl. I flipped on the radio to KFWB and learned it had rained all day and wasn't expected to stop until the end of the week. There was a live report from Topanga Canyon where residents were sandbagging their doors and garages, expecting the worst. Mud slides and flooding were the dangers. The catastrophic fires that swept through the hills the year before had left little ground cover to hold the rain or soil. It was all coming down.
    I knew the weather would cost me an extra hour getting home. I checked my watch. It was just past midnight. I had planned to wait until getting home to call Kiz Rider but decided it might be too late to call by then. I opened my phone and called her at home. She picked up right away.
    "Kiz, it's Harry. You up?"
    "Sure, Harry. I can't sleep when it rains."
    "I know what you mean."
    "So what's the good word?"
    "Everybody counts or nobody counts."
    "Which means?"
    "I'm in if you're in."
    "Come on, Harry, don't put that on me."
    "I'm in if you're in."
    "Come on, man, I'm already in."
    "You know what I mean. This is your salvation, Kiz. We got sidetracked. We both did. You and I know what we should be doing. It's time we both went back to it."
    I waited. There was a long period of silence from her, then finally she spoke.
    "This is going to upset the man. He's got me on a lot of things."
    "If he's the man you say he is he'll understand. He'll get it. You'll be able to make him get it."
    More silence.
    "Okay, Harry, okay. I'm in."
    "All right then, I'll come down tomorrow and sign up."
    "All right, Harry. I'll see you then."
    "You knew I'd call, didn't you?"
    "Put it this way, I have the papers you have to fill out sitting on my desk."
    "You were always too smart for me."
    "I meant what I said about us needing you. That's the bottom line. But I also didn't think you'd last long out there on your own. I know guys who have pulled the pin and gone the PI route, sold real estate, cars, appliances, even books. It worked fine for most of them, but not you, Harry. I figured you knew that, too."
    I didn't say anything. I was staring into the darkness beyond the reach of my lights. Something Kiz had just said triggered the avalanche.
    "Harry, you still there?"
    "Yeah, listen, Kiz, you just said books. You knew a guy who retired and sold books. Is that Ed Thomas?"
    "Yeah, I came to Hollywood about six months before he put in his papers. He left and opened a bookstore down in Orange."
    "I know. You ever been there?"
    "Yeah, one time he had Dean Koontz signing one of his books there. I saw it in the paper. He's my favorite and he doesn't sign books too many places. So I went down. There was a line out the door and down the sidewalk but as soon as Ed saw me he ushered me right on up to the front and he introduced me and I got my book signed. It was embarrassing, actually."
    "What's the name of it?"
    "Um… I think it was Strange Highways."
    That deflated me. I thought I was about to make a leap in logic and a connection.
    "No, actually, it was after that," Kiz said. "It was Sole Survivor-the plane crash story."
    I realized what she was saying and how we'd gotten confused.
    "No, Kiz, what's the name of Ed's bookstore?"
    "Oh, it's called Book Carnival. I think that was what it was called when he bought the business. Otherwise I think he'd have called it something else, something mysterious, since he sells mostly mystery books there."
    Book Car as in Book Carnival. I involuntarily pressed