Moon said, “I’m around later if you need to talk.”
We watched them go. I said, “You see that?”
“What?”
“Suri used her left hand to pull at Moon.”
Hondo pointed at two people in the crowd, “They’re both eating tacos with their left hands. It doesn’t prove anything.”
“But it’s something to file away in the old noggin.”
“Yes, it is.”
We watched the band get ready for their first number, then we left.
Hondo said, “It’s time to set ol’ Troy down and have a man to man. Something is going on, and it feels hinky.”
I said, “There you go, using technical terms again. Is this about Wilson?”
“Maybe not directly, but Troy’s not working in Bodhi’s best interest, I can guarantee you that.”
“When do you want to do it?”
“Tomorrow. Let’s go visit Charlie Manson’s old home site, snoop around a little and see if the detectives missed anything.”
“Maybe Juan’s around. We can ask him if we find him at the labor camp.”
As we walked back to the office, the three women with Moon waved to us. Moon wasn’t looking at us; he had his eyes on Eric and the other members of Electrical Testicle. It looked to me like he studied an adversary, giving him special attention. I wondered if it was because we were with them earlier, or because they told him to leave Bodhi alone.
A teenager on rollerblades made me jump as we almost collided. He said, “Watch where you’re going!”
I shouted, “You’re not the boss of me!” Hondo shook his head.
~*~
Yellow crime scene tape made a circle around the murder site, but one end came loose and flicked in the breeze like a kite tail. Tracks were everywhere. The message still showed on the boulder, looking like rust since it dried.
I said, “They had every cop in California stomping around out here, looks like.”
“We’ll look at other places. They recovered or photographed everything right here.”
We walked in opposite directions, going out in ever-larger circles. I didn’t see anything that caught my eye, but kept walking. A half-hour later, I stopped and looked around, hoping some supernatural force would send a giant finger out of the clouds and point at a spot, but that didn’t happen. I sighed and walked down into the small draw to meander among the trees and brush. I rounded a large bush in a familiar area and looked up the draw to the small cave I’d seen my last time here. My scalp prickled and the hair stood up on my arms. A message written in blood was on the back wall below the older original message. The complete inscription of old and new read:
Manson is prophet
Rise
Kill the never faithful
I called Hondo and he arrived a minute later, coming soundless through the leaves and sticks like some ghost. I said, “I haven’t been closer.”
“Go ahead, you won’t leave tracks here. I’ll stay back, you check it out.”
I eased forward scanning the ground for any possible evidence. Nothing caught my eye until I reached the lip of the small cave. Leaning close to the wall, I could tell the same person who wrote the note on the boulder wrote this one. I said, “Same person.”
“I guessed.”
I found nothing else, but took photos with my phone, then returned to Hondo, who called Vick. He reported our discovery and Vick said we could leave, he had people on the way out here. We looked at each other and said at the same time, “Let’s find Juan.”