The Narrows

cry.
    "It's okay," I said. "Mine's like that, too. You can read it." "It's her favorite book. Terry used to read it to her just about every night."
    She pulled the girl up onto her lap and brought the book up to read. I saw that it was the same book Eleanor had just gotten for my daughter. Billy's Big Day, with the monkey receiving the gold medal on the cover. Cielo's copy was worn around the edges from reading and rereading. The cover had been ripped in two places and then taped.
    Graciela opened it and started to read.
    "One bright summer day the circus animal Olympics were held under the big top in Ringlingville. All the animals had the day off from all of the circuses and were allowed to compete in the many different events."
    I noticed that Graciela had changed her voice and was reading the story with an inflection of excitement and anticipation.
    "All the animals lined up at the bulletin board outside Mr. Farnsworth's office. The list of events was posted on the board. There were races and relays and many other contests. The big animals got closest to the board and were crowding it, so the others couldn't see. A little monkey squeezed between the legs of an elephant and then climbed the pachyderm's trunk so that he could see the list. Billy Bing smiled when he finally saw it. There was one race called the hundred-yard dash and he knew he was very good at dashing."
    I didn't hear the rest of the story after that. I got up and went to the railing and looked down into the harbor. But I didn't see anything down there either. My mind was too busy for the external world. I was flooded with ideas and emotions. I suddenly knew that the name William Bing, the name Terry McCaleb had scrawled on the flap of his file, belonged to a monkey. And I suddenly knew that the story wasn't finished, not by a long shot.

CHAPTER 44
    Rachel came to see me at my house later that day. I had just gotten in after filing my paperwork with Kiz Rider at Parker Center and was listening to a phone message from Ed Thomas. He was thanking me for saving his life when all along it was I who owed him an apology for not warning him in the first place. I was feeling guilty about that and thinking about calling the bookstore when Rachel knocked. I invited her in and we went out to the back deck.
    "Wow, nice view."
    "Yeah, I like it."
    I pointed down to the left, where a small cut of the river was in the view behind the soundstages on the Warner Brothers lot.
    "There it is, the mighty Los Angeles River."
    She squinted and looked and then found it.
    "The narrows. Looks pretty weak right now."
    "It's resting. Next storm, it will be back."
    "How are you feeling, Harry?" "Good. Better. I've been sleeping a lot. I'm surprised you're still in town."
    "Well, I took a few days. I'm actually looking at apartments."
    "Really?"
    I turned with my back to the railing so I could just look at her.
    "I'm pretty sure this whole thing will be my ticket out of South Dakota. I don't know what squad they'll put me on but I'm going to ask for L.A. Or I was, until I saw what some of these apartments go for. In Rapid City I pay five-fifty a month for a really nice and secure place."
    "I could find you five-fifty here but you probably won't like the location. You'd probably have to learn another language, too."
    "No, thanks. I'm working on it. So what have you been doing?"
    "I just came back from Parker Center. I put in my papers. I'm going back on the job."
    "Then I guess this is it for us. I heard the FBI and the LAPD don't talk."
    "Yeah, there is a wall there. But it's been known to come down from time to time. I have some friends with the bureau. Believe it or not."
    "I believe it, Harry."
    I noticed that she was back to calling me by my first name. I wondered if that meant the relationship was over.
    "So," I said, "when did you know about McCaleb?"
    "What do you mean? Know what?" "I mean when did you know that Backus didn't kill him? That he killed himself."
    She put both hands on the railing and looked down into the arroyo. But she wasn't really looking at anything down there.
    "Harry, what are you talking about?"
    "I found out who William Bing is. He's a monkey from the pages of his daughter's favorite book."
    "So? What's that mean?"
    "It means he checked himself into the hospital in Vegas under a phony name. He had something wrong with him, Rachel. Something inside."
    I touched the center of my chest.
    "Maybe he was chasing the case, maybe not. But he knew something