It must have been planted by the killer.”

“Nice try. Why didn’t you get rid of it?”

He looked down at his empty glass and wouldn’t answer.

“What?” Lena said. “You think that I’m gonna bust your partner? After tonight, I don’t think it would play in court. Tell me why you left it there.”

The door opened and Barrera stepped out. As he approached from the other side of the courtyard, Escabar lowered his voice.

“I was trying to take care of things,” he said. “I needed to call my partners and tell them what happened to Johnny. There was confusion. People were frightened. I gave myself an hour to shut the place down.”

“Did you call the DA?”

He appeared surprised by the question and didn’t know how to answer it.

“They were friends,” Lena said. “It’s seems only natural that Higgins would be your first call.”

He shook his head, but kept quiet.

“Is that an answer?” she said.

“I didn’t call the DA.”

He walked off just as Barrera reached them. Lena turned to her supervisor. From the look on his face, Barrera had news.

“We’ve got him,” he said under his breath. “It’s Tim Hight. Street cameras picked him up driving away from the club. His car. His plates. His face behind the wheel.”

“When?”

“About a half hour ago. He probably hung around to watch the chaos. Most of them do.”

Lena checked her watch. The night was slipping away. Too many people were involved.

“I want to notify Gant’s parents,” she said. “I don’t want them to find out what happened to him on their own.”

“He had a father and one brother. His mother’s dead.”

It had come up during the trial. Gant’s mother had been murdered when he was fourteen, her body found on a ball field a block from Santa Monica High School. Lena had forgotten. As Barrera handed her a three-by-five card with Gant’s contact information, she realized that she needed to pace herself better. Think things through more carefully and keep focused.

“Take Rhodes with you,” Barrera said. “Tito can help me get started on the warrants. But these guys need rest. I want to release them as soon as you’ve talked to Gant’s father.