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CHAPTER 59

SECTION CHIEF CRAIG Steinmetz was overweight and balding, and the creases on his face made him look seventy. But Joe, who’d first partnered with Steinmetz twenty years ago, knew he was closer to sixty, just with a lot of mileage on him.

When Joe and Bao were seated in front of the chief’s desk, facing the two US flags flanking the plate-glass window overlooking Golden Gate Avenue, Steinmetz asked, “Can I get you anything? Coffee?”

“We’re good,” Joe answered for them both.

Bao said, “You said this case was urgent?”

There was a tone in her voice, maybe agitation left over from the interrupted conversation at lunch. Steinmetz caught it and gave Bao a sharp look. He opened a desk drawer, pulled out this morning’s edition of the Chronicle, and dropped it onto his desk. The headline was in seventy-two-point boldface type: DARIO GARZA JUDGE MURDERED .

An inch-thick folder followed the paper, and when Steinmetz opened it, Bao and Joe saw that there were enlarged photos inside, along with a packet of documents.

Steinmetz began slapping the photos face up on his desktop in the space between the two agents.

The pictures were gruesome. First, a bedroom with two decapitated bodies. Then a series of close-ups of the bullet holes in the male’s chest, the front and back of the female’s head, blood soaking the carpeting. And the final scene. The bathtub with the two severed heads, the male’s head tipped and leaning against the tub wall.

Steinmetz said, “These are the remains of Judge Martin Orlofsky and his wife, Sandra.”

“The FBI is going to get involved?” Joe asked.

Steinmetz said, “There may be a link to a Mexican operation. The only clue we have is this.”

He slapped down one more hideous photo; the decapitated head of a young man, Miguel Hernandez, perched on the top step of a flight of stairs.

“When he was alive, this poor guy was some kind of friend to Dario Garza, now on trial for his murder. Does the name Garza mean anything to you, Agent Wong?”

“Only in the sense that the name Garza is pretty common, and I’ve known of criminals with that surname.”

“Molinari?”

Joe knew a lot about the Dario Garza case from Lindsay and Yuki but kept his response neutral. “I’ve heard about him, yes.”

“The Orlofskys were shot before the killer did his surgery. The bullets don’t match anything in our database, but this is a fact: Dario Garza’s trial has been postponed.

“That’s why I called this meeting. I need the two of you to go to Mexico for some undercover work. See what you can learn. Principally, who’s behind this.”

Steinmetz laid his hand on the photos, then said, “Betty will arrange your airline tickets and will book a car to meet you at Monterrey International Airport. Agents from the Monterrey office will meet you there to give you anything you need, and perhaps some fresh news. Book your rooms today, and when you’ve worked out a plan, call me. Any questions?”

Joe said, “We can make the first flight tomorrow morning, Craig. Okay?”

“Fine,” said Steinmetz. “I’ll call your contacts. Good luck. And keep your heads down.”

He put the papers and the photos back into his center drawer, slammed it shut, and locked it.