The Narrows

and took a beer out of the under-the-counter refrigerator. There was a bottle opener on the doorjamb. I cranked the bottle open and took a long draw. The beer cut through the desert dust and tasted good going down. I figured I deserved it.
    I went back to the balcony door but didn't step out. I didn't want to spook Jane again. Staying inside, I glanced out and saw that the limousine was gone and the new jet was buttoned up tight. I leaned out and checked Jane's balcony. She was gone. I noticed that in the ashtray perched on top of the railing she had butted out her smoke after only a quarter burn. Somebody ought to tell her that was a giveaway.
    A few minutes later the beer was gone and I was back at the dinette looking at my notes and McCaleb's map book. I knew I was missing something, I just couldn't touch it. It was there, it was close. But I just couldn't reach out to it yet.
    My cell phone rang. Finally, it was Buddy Lockridge.
    "Did you just call me?"
    "Yeah, I did. But I told you not to call me at this number."
    "I know but you just called me. I thought that meant it was safe."
    "What if it hadn't been me?"
    "I've got caller ID. I knew it was you."
    "Yeah, but how did you know it was me? What if it was someone else with my phone?"
    "Oh."
    "Yeah, 'oh' is right, Buddy. Look, if you're going to work for me you gotta listen to what I tell you."
    "All right, all right, I understand."
    "Good. Where are you?"
    "Vegas, man. Like you told me."
    "You get the stuff off the boat?"
    "Got it."
    "No FBI?"
    "Nah, man. Everything's cool."
    "Where are you right now?" As I was speaking I noticed something on my notes and remembered something else about the Times story on the missing men. Rather, I remembered the circle Terry had drawn on the newspaper clip.
    "I'm at the B," Lockridge said.
    "The B? Where's the B?"
    "The big B, man."
    "Buddy, what are you talking about? Where are you?"
    He whispered his reply.
    "I thought everything was on the QT, man. Like they might be listening."
    "Buddy, I don't care if they're listening. Quit with the code. What is the big B?"
    "The Bellagio. It's a simple code, dude."
    "A simple code for a simple mind. You're telling me you checked into the Bellagio on my tab?"
    "That's right."
    "Well, check out."
    "What do you mean? I just got here."
    "I'm not paying for the Bellagio. Check out and come here and get a room where I'm at. If I could afford to put you in the Bellagio I'd be staying there myself."
    "No expense account, huh?"
    "None."
    "All right. Where are you at?"
    I gave him the name and address of the Double X and right away he knew I was in a fringe location.
    "They got pay-per-view there?"
    "They don't have shit. Just get over here."
    "Well, look, I already checked in here. They're not going to give me my money back. They already charged my card and besides, I already crapped in the toilet. That's like implied ownership of the room, you know. I'll stay one night here and then I'll come stay over there tomorrow."
    There's only going to be one night, I thought but didn't say.
    "Then everything above what this dump costs is coming out of your pay, man. I didn't tell you to check into the most expensive place on the strip."
    "All right, all right, dock my pay if you want. Be that way. I don't care."
    "All right, I will. You got a car?"
    "No, I took a cab."
    "Okay, go down the elevator and get another one and bring that stuff over here to me."
    "Can I get a massage first?"
    "Buddy, Jesus Christ, if you don't-"
    "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Can't you take a joke, Harry? I'm on my way."
    "Good. I'm waiting."
    I disconnected without saying good-bye and immediately dropped the conversation from my radar screen. I was excited. I moved on. I thought I had inexplicably solved one of the mysteries. I looked at my re-creation of McCaleb's file notes and at one line in particular.
    Triangle theory?-1 point gives 3
    On the newspaper story he had also circled the word circle in the Metro detective's quote about the mileage on the rental car of one of the missing men, giving the investigators a large circle in which to look for clues as to what happened to the missing man. I now believed that McCaleb may have circled the word because he thought it was wrong. The search zone was not a circle. It was a triangle, meaning that the miles on the rental car formed the three sides of a triangle. Point one was the airport, the origin. The renter picked up the car and drove to point two. Point two was the place where