It was nothing like Bellevue. Bellevue was urban chic: organic food markets, expensive bistros, and high-end retailers, all of it frequented by rich people who liked to pretend they were just like everyone else. A little seedy and run down, Tacoma was Bellevue’s ugly older sister. It was easy to picture the little gas station where I’d spotted Cormac on one of the pitted streets lined with sad minimalls and fast-food places. Scotty checked us in to a Best Western near the stadium and immediately left to meet his contact at the Tacoma PD. While he was gone, Marcus and I unpacked and went to a nearby diner for food. We were back in Marcus and Scotty’s room watching an old episode of 24 when Scotty finally returned. He didn’t have much to tell us. He was going to meet Detective Wilson Ling, an old colleague from the LAPD, at the station the next day and see what kind of resources they could drum up from inside the department. In the meantime, Marcus and I would visit the used-car lot and look into the surrounding area.
