The Sleeping Doll

about nine fifteen, so it’d be after that.”
    “Any hope for prints?”
    “Doubt it.”
    Dance stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the battleground. Something felt wrong.
    The dim corridor, blood on the concrete.
    The open door.
    Turning slowly, studying the area, Dance noticed behind the building something in a nearby pine and cypress grove: a tree from which dangled an orange ribbon—the sort used to mark shrubs and trees scheduled for cutting. Walking closer, she noticed that the mound of pine needles at the base was larger than those beneath the others. Dance dropped to her knees and dug into it. She unearthed a large scorched bag made of metallic cloth.
    “Rey, need some gloves.” She coughed from the smoke.
    The young agent got a pair from an MCSO crime scene deputy and brought them to her. Inside the bag were Pell’s orange prison uniform and a set of gray hooded overalls, which turned out to be some kind of fire suit. A label said the garment was made of PBI fibers and Kevlar and had an SFI rating of 3.2A/5. Dance had no idea what this meant—except that it was obviously protective enough to get Daniel Pell safely through the conflagration behind the courthouse.
    Her shoulders slumped in disgust.
    A fire suit? What’re we up against here?
    “I don’t get it,” Rey Carraneo said.
    She explained that Pell’s partner had probably set the bomb and left the fireproof bag outside the door; it had contained the fire suit and a knife. Maybe a universal cuff or shackle key too. After he’d disarmed Juan Millar, Pell had donned the garment and run through the flames to the tree marked with the orange tag, where the partner had hidden some civilian clothes. He’d changed and sprinted off.
    She lifted the Motorola and reported what she’d found, then gestured an MCSO crime scene officer over and gave him the evidence.
    Carraneo called her to a patch of earth not far away. “Footprints.” Several impressions, about four feet apart—left by someone running. They were clearly Pell’s; he’d left distinctive prints outside the fire door of the courthouse. The two CBI agents started jogging in the direction they led.
    Pell’s footsteps ended at a nearby street, San Benito Way, along which were vacant lots, a liquor store, a dingy taqueria, a quick-copy and shipping franchise, a pawnshop and a bar.
    “So here’s where the partner picked him up,” Carraneo said, looking up and down San Benito.
    “But there’s another street on the other side of the courthouse. It’s two hundred feet closer. Why here?”
    “More traffic there?”
    “Could be.” Dance squinted as she scanned the area, coughing again. Finally she caught her breath and her eyes focused across the street. “Come on, let’s move!”
    •    •    •
    The man, in his late twenties, wearing shorts and a Worldwide Express uniform shirt, drove his green panel truck through the streets of downtownSalinas. He was intensely aware of the gun barrel resting on his shoulder and he was crying. “Look, mister, I don’t know what this is about, really, but we don’t carry cash. I’ve got about fifty on me, personal money, and you’re welcome—”
    “Give me your wallet.” The hijacker wore shorts, a windbreaker and an Oakland A’s cap. His face was streaked with soot and part of his beard was burned off. He was middle-aged but thin and strong. He had weird light blue eyes.
    “Whatever you want, mister. Just don’t hurt me. I’ve got a family.”
    “Wal- let ?”
    It took stocky Billy a few moments to pry the billfold out of his tight shorts. “Here!”
    The man flipped through it. “Now, William Gilmore, of three-four-three-five Rio Grande Avenue, Marina, California, father of these two fine children, if the photo gallery’s up to date.”
    Dread unraveled inside him.
    “And husband of this lovely wife. Look at those curls. Natural, I’ll bet any money. Hey, keep your eyes on the road. Swerved a bit there. And keep going where I told you.” Then the hijacker said, “Hand me your cell phone.”
    His voice was calm. Calm is good. It means he’s not going to do anything sudden or stupid.
    Billy heard the man punch in a number.
    “ ’Lo. It’s me. Write this down.” He repeated Billy’s address. “He’s got a wife and two kids. Wife’s real pretty. You’ll like the hair.”
    Billy whispered, “Who’s that you’re calling? Please, mister . . . Please. Take the truck, take anything. I’ll give