Compulsion (23 page)

“
No!
I noticed Tony was a little edged off tonight. But he didn’t say nothing.”

“Edged off how?”

“Looking around like enemies everywhere. Parking in a place no problem before then getting all paranoid it’s too easy to see and moving to another place and he’s still edged off. He coulda
done
that? To his
mama
?”

“What do you think?”

“I mean… I’m speechless, sir.”

“His mother gets murdered, he never mentions it,” said Milo.

“Nothing,” said Tasha. “Edged off like I said, but then just the usual.”

“Meaning?”

“Boom boom boom. Then getting all quiet. Then the
apologies.
”

When we were two blocks north of Gordito’s, Tasha said, “Drop me here, sir.”

Milo returned her purse and we watched her sway along Highland. Another he-she loitering near a phone booth waved. Tasha gave a barely visible nod and kept going.

“Wannaboo,” I said, driving away. “Must’ve missed that one.”

“You didn’t miss anything,” said Milo. “She made it up. How much of her story do you believe?”

“If she wanted to lie, she didn’t need to get into any of it.”

“ Tweed,” he said. “Just being a helpful guy.”

“If Korvutz was being righteous with me, he met Bright twice and Bright freelanced a double murder without being asked to. This is a prince who loves snipping off loose human ends.”

“Tony’s weak. Gotta start thinking about how to break him open. How do I get him to the office?”

“Ella collected service people’s business cards. Tell him you’ve linked her murder to a gang of home-improvement scammers who prey on the elderly, have some mug shots for him to look at. At some point you could even show him Bright’s DMV shot, let the name slip, see how he reacts.”

“Creative… okay, let’s aim for a planning session at nine – make it nine thirty. Once we finalize the script, I phone Tony, ask him to drop by the station. Guy never leaves before three p.m, we’re ready by noon, we’ll have him.”

By nine fifteen the next morning I was drinking strong coffee in Milo ’s office as he shuffled a new pile of message slips.

The parole office hadn’t been able to locate Bradley Maisonette and was “activating an investigation.”

Wilson Good was still nowhere to be found and St. Xavier High was “extremely concerned.” Good’s assistant coach, a man named Pat Crohan, had tried to contact Andrea Good through her work number at a graphic design firm. Mrs. Good had abruptly resigned four days ago.

Milo said, “Hubby and wifey on a major rabbit.”

“They have a dog,” I said. “If they’re gone for the long haul, they took it with them. If they’re just in temporary seclusion, weighing options, they may have boarded it. Want me to try to find out?”

“Sure… damn case, sixteen years – two from Gordon Beverly, just checking in… chief’s office wants a meet in three days on all pending matters.”

He pulled out a panatela. “Let’s talk about Tony.”

The phone rang. “What? I’m busy
– who
? Do they have an appointment… okay, okay, no matter, bring ’em up
– what
? Fine. I’ll come down.”

He shot out of his seat, strode to the door, flung it open. “Stay right there.”

Five minutes later, he was still gone. I used the time to look up canine-boarding facilities in the Hollywood area, found eight. Pretending to be a veterinarian named “Dr. Dichter,” I began working my way through the list, inquiring about the health of my patient, “Indy Good,” the acrobatic dachshund.

A pleasant woman at my fourth try, Critterland Pet Hotel said, “Oh, he’s fine. Is Andy concerned about something?”

“She called my office to verify his shots.” Whatever that meant.

“Oh. Well, Indy’s feisty as ever and not playing well with others. Did Andy say when she planned to pick him up?”

“Not to me. She left it open-ended?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Doctor, he’ll be fine. Any idea how her husband’s doing?”

“Something wrong with him?”

“That’s why she boarded Indy. To take care of Mr. Good, some sort of bad flu. And you know how Indy gets.”

“Feisty,” I said.

“Needing all the attention.”

“I assumed they were on vacation. Come to think of it, Andy didn’t sound relaxed. Anyway, Indy’s all caught up.”

“Great. Andy’s so nice. Never met her husband but he’s lucky to have her.”

Just as I hung up, an officer rapped the open door.

“Lieutenant’s in Five, says you should join him.”

I walked to the interview room. Milo had shoved the table out of the way and sat opposite two women.

“Ladies, this is Dr. Delaware, our psychological consultant. Doctor, Ms. Appel and Ms. Bruno.”

One brunette, one blonde. Nervous smiles from both.

Each was in her forties and wore a cashmere crewneck, tailored jeans, large-carat ring, tennis bracelet, stud earrings. All the jewelry set with clean white diamonds.

The brunette plucked at her plum-colored sweater. She had a clear oval face, a toned body, blue eyes, dark hair cut in a boyish cap.

Her fair-haired companion was rounder, a bit younger, with painted eyebrows and sharp, brown eyes. Pumpkin cashmere, frosted locks. She held out her hand first. “Barb Bruno.”

“Susan Appel,” said the brunette, a few decibels softer.

“We’re sisters.”

Milo said, “Susan and Barb own the property where Kat Shonsky was-”

“Disaster,” said Barb Bruno. “We got the call on the cruise ship. We’re still traumatized.”

Susan Appel said, “We were planning on building an Olympic pool for our families. To think…”

“Not that we’d ever change our minds, we can’t let something hideous like this stop us from living. For us it’s always been about family, our parents raised us that way. Do either of you remember the Circle F Ranch Market in Brentwood? That was our dad, Reuben Fleisher.”

I’d never heard of the place. “Ah.”

Susan Appel reached behind one ear, twisted a wisp of short dark hair. A look from her younger sister caused her hand to drop and I imagined a child’s voice remonstrating.

Stop
picking
at yourself.

Barb Bruno said, “We’re still not sure we did the right thing by coming in. You called Susan and she called me and we both agreed it was most probably nothing. Then we thought about it
– I
thought about it and I called Susan and we discussed it some more. We came to the conclusion that no matter what happens, it was our duty to call you.”

Milo said, “We really appreciate it. Now, if you could tell us-”

“Which isn’t to say our husbands are happy with us, they aren’t,” said Susan Appel, twisting her hair again and avoiding her sister’s eyes.

Barb Bruno said, “They’re both attorneys, head their own firms.”

“Corporate litigation,” said Susan Appel. “Both Hal and Mike will be the first to tell you they have no experience in criminal law, but they want to make sure we’re protected.”

Barb said, “Alpha dogs.” Out of a suede weave bag came a folded sheet of legal-sized paper.

Milo read, put it down. “You want guaranteed confidentiality.”

Barb said, “Doesn’t seem too much to ask, seeing as how we’ve come forth voluntarily.”

Susan said, “We’re not even sure we know anything useful. Frankly we hope we don’t. But just in case.”

“We could be in danger,” said Barb. “If we
have
hit upon something.”

“Knowing the perp,” said Sue. “Then ratting him out.”

Milo said, “Ladies, this kind of citizen involvement is so important. But even if I signed this, it would be worthless because I don’t have the authority to grant-”

“So who does?” said Barb.

“I really don’t know, ma’am. It’s never come up.”

“Oh, c’mon. I see it all the time.
Law and Order, Crossing Jordan.
”

Milo said, “Sometimes on federal cases, there are grants of confiden-”

“See?” Barb swiveled hard and tapped her sister’s knee. “That’s exactly what Mike said.”

Susan said, “Hal still thinks it could apply to a nonfederal case.”

Barb rolled her eyes.

Milo said, “Ladies, I promise to do everything I can to ensure your utmost security. Your names will not be part of any public record unless there’s a trial and a defense attorney requests-”

“That’s
exactly
what Mike said.”

“Hal’s not denying that-”

“Ladies, if it gets to that point – and that’s a big if – the suspect will be in custody.”

“What about bail?” said Susan.

“Unlike on TV, murderers don’t get bail, ma’am.”

“Murderers,” said Barb Bruno. “Hard to believe it happened to our property, so… degrading – you’re saying you won’t sign, Lieutenant?”

“I can sign it, but I’d be lying to you, ma’am. And if you do have relevant information, you really need to tell me.”

Silence.

“Ladies, you know as well as I do that it’s your obligation.”

Barb said, “Seems as if we’re being punished for doing our civic duty. If we hadn’t come forward on our own, we wouldn’t be in this position.”

“That’s true of any hero,” said Milo.

Barb blushed. The color spread to her sister’s face, as if by sibling osmosis.

Susan said, “We’re not trying to be heroes, but…”

Barb said, “I guess in a sense we
are
heroes.”

Milo folded the sheet and put it in his jacket pocket. “Please. Tell me why you’re here.”

Barb’s turn to mess with her hair. Susan watched, fascinated.

The sisters looked at each other.

Barb said, “If you can’t sign it, how about this: Once this whole mess dies down, we’re going to build our pool. It’s the obvious feng shui thing to do – the purifying nature of water. City codes have gotten totally bonkers, the zoning board’s been literally driving us crazy because they can’t grasp the concept of shared property and dual liability. They want to impose ridiculous limits on size, depth, are demanding ludicrous fencing even though all our kids are great swimmers and the whole point is building an Olympic-sized pool. Which will not impact the neighborhood because we have fabulous landscaping plans and our fence is right out of a Zen garden in Niigata, Japan.”

I said, “Where the koi are bred.”

She beamed. “Yes, exactly. We have a fabulous pond, show quality.”

Susan said, “My daughter’s on the Archer School swim team and needs the full lap length to work on her stroke.”

Barb said, “Everyone is way past the age where drowning’s an issue. We’ll even work with the lot-tie affidavit requirement. Though we don’t think it’s necessary. But we would like for you to exert some influence here, and smooth the process.”

“With the zoning commission,” said Milo.

“One agency talks to another,” said Susan. “That’s what Hal says.”

Barb said, “Have some big shot in your department or, better yet, the fire department because there’s an abatement issue as well – have someone call the head of the building division and smooth things out for us. It’s the least you can do.”

“That,” said Milo, “is feasible.”

Susan said, “It is?”

Her sister shot her a sharp glance. “Of course it is. When there’s a will.”

Milo said, “I’ll talk to the police chief personally. We’re having a meeting soon.”

“Fantastic,” said Barb, shifting her body closer to him.

Milo said, “Go ahead, please.”

Barb said, “Okay. When you called Sue and asked about that Bright person, she said she didn’t know him. Because she doesn’t. Neither of us do. But then we got to talking and we realized there
was
something that happened that we thought was a little creepy.”

Holding her hand out to Susan.

Susan said, “There was this person who tried to get our husbands to invest with him. Took us out to dinner at Cut – that’s Wolfgang’s new place at the Beverly Wilshire. Spent a lot on wine, very hotsy-totsy.”

“Four
Seasons
Beverly Wilshire,” said Barb. “Now we’ve got two Four Seasons, a mile apart, must be so confusing for the tourists.”

Susan said, “This person really laid on the sales pitch. Visited us at home. My house, because Barb’s kitchen was being renovated and she and Mike and Lacey were eating all their meals with us. Our husbands were still considering his offer so when we had the cocktail party, he was invited.”

“A benefit for MOCA,” said Barb. “My sister and I planned the entire event. The lot was set up with a tent and a band, people had a great time.”

“Everything was prepared in
my
kitchen,” said Susan. “We moved the furniture, people had a choice to come upstairs and see the view from the living room.”

“Great party,” said Barb. “People were talking about it for weeks. The only creepy thing was
him.
Something he said to both of us and the crazy thing is we never knew that until yesterday when we compared notes.”

Susan said, “So obviously it wasn’t just a casual comment.”

Milo said, “Obviously.”

Barb said, “First, he asked about the lot, seemed really interested in it. But plenty of people are like that because nowadays who has open land in the middle of Bel Air? And no one can understand how Sue and I share so wonderfully. So that alone wouldn’t have stood out. But then, after he found out the details-”

“About the pool,” Susan broke in. “Even though I’d already told him, he had the same conversation with Barb-”

“Playing games, as if we’d never compare notes,” said Barb.

“I guess we didn’t,” said Susan.

“Whatever. The point is, after talking about the pool, he gave this strange creepy smile.”

“Lecherous, if you must know,” said Barb. “I felt he’d been coming on to me all night.”

“Me, too,” said Susan.

“It was nothing you could call him on, Lieutenant, but you know – the handshake that lasts too long? The kiss on the cheek that moves a
leetle
too close to the lips?”

“Not too smart of him, seeing as he was chasing after Hal and Mike to invest with him. What did he think, we’d be turned on and work on the guys?”

“For a second I thought he was actually going to
plant
one on me,” said Barb. “Instead he whispered in my ear, ‘It would make a great family plot.’ I said, ‘Pardon?’ And he said, ‘A plot. For burial. Lots of wealthy families in Europe have them, it’s a mark of aristocracy.’”

“As if that was supposed to impress us,” said Susan. Blue eyes widened. “He told me the exact same thing, word for word.”

“We both ignored him and never mentioned it to anyone,” said Barb. “There was no need because Hal and Mike decided not to invest with him. They did some background checking, couldn’t find any.”

“Any background?” said Milo.

“Exactly. His excuse was he’d been living in Europe, all his projects were overseas. Mike said that sounded like four-plus bullshit.”