5
NICK RODE SHOTGUN AFTER Willie picked him up at the Central Division. He’d dropped twenty bucks into Ray’s pocket and wished him luck. There were no guarantees Cobb would take the money now that Nick had him back on paper, but if he didn’t check in at Dawkins every night, Nick couldn’t protect him anymore. Innocent or not, he was the only lead in a murder investigation, in a division where closing cases was nearly impossible. No matter how hard the cops in Central Division worked, they were up against it, their jurisdiction covering Skid Row, downtown, and many neighborhoods chiseled out into warring gang territories. If an easy closure was handed to them, they took advantage of it. Ray was smart to invoke Archer’s name. It was unlikely anything would be done to find another suspect. It
