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when I got here but I wanted to make certain. My father’s family was from Michigan and we used to go there in the summers and I would fish with my father. It’s not the first time I’ve seen northern pike fingerling.’
    She moved another with her boot.
    ‘Most grow to two feet but I’ve seen them as big as three. When I was seven I was watching a mother duck and a line of ducklings and then one of these came out of the water and the duckling at the end of the line was gone. After that my father couldn’t get me to put a toe in, at least not on that trip. This is what you’ve been afraid of, isn’t it?’
    ‘It is.’
    She was quiet for a moment, then said, ‘There are enough northern pike here to start a colony. Are we looking for sport fishermen?’
    ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘Who else would do something like this?’
    ‘That’s what I’m working on.’
    ‘John, really, what’s going on here? This is an awful lot of pike and I know what these fish can do. There won’t be any other species left. Why would anyone want that?’
    ‘The usual reasons.’
    ‘But where’s the money in this?’
    ‘I don’t know yet but it’s in there somewhere.’
    ‘Well, I don’t get it.’
    Marquez moved his flashlight beam over the fingerling pike at their feet.
    ‘You don’t have to get it. This is all we need to know.’
    They worked their way back up to the truck and then to her rig where she gave him what she had on the driver and the pickup that was registered to a corporation. The name on his license was Enrique Jordan and it was clear he was in bad shape. They were working to keep him conscious and there was urgency in their voices. He was almost free, almost on his way to a hospital, but not out yet. It sounded as if they hit a rock trying to dig around his arm and now were having to work around it.
    Marquez and Headley moved back up to the levee road and were there as Enrique Jordan was freed. Four first responders supported his body and they brought him up the slickened muddy track on a backboard. He was unconscious but alive when they loaded him and left. Marquez got the name of the hospital where they were taking him and watched their lights disappear down the dirt road.
    The pickup got dragged out of the trees and winched up to the road and he and Headley retrieved items thrown from the truck and went through everything inside it. Marquez searched for an hour for a cell phone. He swept the brush with a light trying to find it and criss-crossed the slope as the sun rose red over river fog. He was there as a DFG biologist arrived and took samples and confirmed the fish were northern pike.
    Before the pickup was loaded and hauled away Marquez went through it one more time. He searched a wider area around the crash site, refusing to give on finding a cell phone. Everyone carried one. The driver wouldn’t be out here without one. He stood at the edge of the levee road reluctant to leave without finding it.
    ‘John, when did you first hear about pike?’
    ‘Three weeks ago from a guy who called me with a tip but no real information. He’s danced around and is looking for something for himself and I’m not sure what that is yet.’
    ‘I grew up on this river,’ Headley said and Marquez got it. He understood.
    He copied down the address of the impound yard and walked the slope once more with Headley and gathered a few pike samples of his own.
    ‘What are you going to do with those?’
    ‘Fry them in oil and have them with scrambled eggs.’
    She smiled, but not much of a smile.
    ‘I’m going to freeze them. We may need more samples later. Did you and your dad fish the Sacramento?’
    ‘We did and it’s lucky we had that. I was out of control when I was fifteen and my dad was real smart. He knew if he couldn’t get me to do anything else he could get me on the river with him, and if he could do that he could get me to talk. He talked me through some mistakes I made. I miss him a lot.’
    She waved