G'Day USA (16 page)

‘
I’ll shut it off. You call me at noon. I’ll turn it on then.’

‘
Yeah, but what if I find something out earlier?’

I thought about that. If he could get me information which could help, every minute would count. ‘Okay. Just make it fast, okay? I’m on half battery right now.’

‘
Will do. Stay safe for me.’

This wasn’t being done on my terms. I opened the settings on my phone, turned off Wi-Fi, turned off location services and turned off cellular data. I might get a couple of extra hours out of it.

And now I needed to figure out what to do with myself for the next three or four hours. I could only wander the boardwalk for so long. I was a wanted crim.

Chapter Fourteen

Perkins called his partner over. ‘What have you found so far?’

Stanfield scratched his chin. ‘I’ve had all of her haunts checked and nobody’s seen her. The bank account hasn’t been touched, but it’s early yet. I’ve got a warrant for the phone records and they’ve been asked to triangulate her position.’

‘
When did it go in?’

‘
It was just approved. Technically we should get something from them in about half an hour.’

Perkins stood. ‘Good. Hate that it’s come to this, but she’s gone off her stick. Sweeney should never have been let out.’

A voice responded behind him. ‘You’re right. He shouldn’t have.’

Detective Sampson poured a coffee from a glass urn and sat across from Stanfield. ‘What have you found implicating her?’

‘
Aside from the gun, matched by ballistics, an earring matching one in her apartment, and her hair at the scene, a witness placing her in the neighborhood in the time window of Sweeney’s death, nothing.’ Perkins smile was sad. ‘Got her dead cold.’

‘
I know her, and she wouldn’t do this. She’s strong, but she’s not psychotic. Has anyone verified the witness sighting?’

‘
Anonymous tip line. Haven’t confirmed anything yet. It’s a suburban neighborhood at 8:00 at night. We were lucky to get one witness.’

‘
Exactly.’ Sampson sipped the coffee and winced. ‘Shit, this is worse than usual.’

‘“
Exactly” what?’ Perkins crossed his arms. ‘What do you mean?’

‘
It’s too easy, don’t you think? A clumsy attempt at faking a suicide, one we both saw through in less than fifteen minutes, followed by a slam dunk case against a person with no alibi? If she did it, don’t you think she’d make sure she had an alibi?’

Perkins dropped in his chair with a barked laugh. ‘Right. Using those criteria I’ll have to reopen over half my cases. Sometimes it’s not an episode of
Castle
. Sometimes it’s just a straight forward murder.’ He scratched his nose. ‘And I’ve got no idea if she’s got an alibi. She ran. Almost killed a cop. Sure sign of guilt.’

Samson sighed. ‘Didn’t even touch him. And if he was in a bit better shape he could have gotten out of the way.’

Perkins shrugged. ‘It’s a pattern of behavior. Hey, I like the kid too. She made a fool of me back then, but I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong.’

Stanfield snickered. ‘I’ll say you’re big enough.’

‘
Shut up kid or you’ll see what my fist feels like.’

‘“
See” what it “feels” like? That makes absolutely no sense. How am I going to see what something feels like?’ Stanfield redirected his attention to his computer. ‘Incoming fax from the telco.’ He printed a couple of copies of the pages and tossed a copy on Perkins’ desk.

The Sergeant put on his glasses and looked at the call log handed to him. ‘What do we have here? Incoming call, text message, outgoing call all around the time we were at the theatre. A few more incoming, one from the agent - I was beside him when he made that call - and another one from Kent Williams.’ He looked at his junior partner. ‘Get his particulars. I think we need to have a chat with him.’

He scanned down the page. ‘A couple more incoming and a mess of text messages. Why don’t we have the contents of the text messages?’

‘
Can’t get the contents with this warrant. Did you look at the triangulation?’

Perkins looked at the second page, Sampson looking over his shoulder. ‘Is she crazy?’ He flipped the page over. ‘Is this the most current location?’

T
he green dot on the map turned gray and the Killer kicked back his chair and swore. ‘Fucking bitch. Motherfucking stuck-up bitch.’

He took a deep breath. ‘Calm yourself. This is merely a simple, small setback.’ He drummed his fingers on the arms of the chair and thought about next steps. That was the corporate lingo, he heard. Next steps and synergistic blah blah blah.

No matter.

He dialed the number. ‘Now is the time. You need to do it now. Go to the station. Tell them your story. Ask specifically for Perkins.’

‘
But I’ve already told them what I saw.’

‘
It was on an anonymous tip line. You need to put a face to it.’ The Killer took a deep breath. ‘Remember what’s in it for you if you do what I tell you. And remember what happens if you don’t.’

The Killer heard a sigh, then, ‘You don’t have to tell me. Okay. I’ll do it.’

‘
This morning.’

‘
This morning? I’m at work.’

‘
Make up something. You feel sick. Your kid is ill. It’s that time of the month. I don’t fucking care, just do it.’ He hung up without waiting for an answer. She’d do it. She had no choice. Nobody defied him.

He needed to find Ellie. She needed to die. And it needed to look like she killed herself out of anguish or guilt or some other plausible excuse. Guilt was winning by a nose.

The dot on the screen had turned from green to grey at the Venice Fish Pier. She had no car. The old one had been found in the Farmer’s Market parking lot that morning, and the new one was in her parking garage. Everyone knew it. So she was on foot. ‘Her legs are long, but she can’t make up that much distance.’

He checked his appearance in the hall mirror by the front door. He thought he looked fine. The sheen of sweat, the pallor of his skin and the dilated pupils didn’t register. ‘Looking good, man.’ He popped another pill, dry swallowed it and left for her rendezvous with death. ‘Grandiose. At all times. The dominos are teetering.’

P
erkins looked up from his notes. ‘Could you spell your name please?’

‘
I-n-d-r-a-n-i G-u-p-t-a. Indrani Gupta. It’s not difficult, Sergeant.’

‘
And could you tell me again what you saw?’

‘
It’s the same thing I said on the phone.’

‘
Ma’am, I didn’t hear the recording. I’d like to hear it from you, now.’

‘
Where do you want me to start?’

‘
Why were you in the neighborhood? Your address is on the other side of the Valley.’

‘
I was visiting a friend. She lives a block over. I was walking to the bus stop.’

‘
So you walked past this address?’ He slid a paper with Bart Sweeney’s address on it across the desk.

‘
Yeah, I would have.’

‘
And when you were near that address, what did you see?’

‘
A tall woman with long blonde hair was leaving the house. She got in a new VW Beetle and drove off in a hurry.’

Perkins placed a sheet of paper on his desk. There were six photos on it. ‘Can you pick out the person you saw leaving the house?’

Indrani took a quick look and pointed at Ellie’s photo. ‘Her. No question.’

Perkins made a mark on the paper. ‘And what time was this?’

‘
I was going to catch the 8:30 bus, so somewhere near 8:15.’

‘
We’re going to need you to testify in court.’

Indrani swallowed and shifted in her seat. ‘That will be necessary? Can I can sign an affidavit or something instead?’

Perkins shook his head. ‘You’re going to need to be in the courtroom, I’m afraid. You’re the linchpin of our case. It’s all circumstantial otherwise. But you putting her at the scene clinches it.’

‘
Really? Oh.’ She stood to leave.

‘
No, not yet. Please sit down Miss Gupta. I’ve got a couple of more questions.’

She sat, and took a deep breath. ‘Yes?’

‘
Why now?’

‘
Excuse me?’

‘
You left the anonymous tip yesterday. Most people would leave it at that. But you decided to come in today to retell your story. Why?’

‘
It seemed unfair he should be released from jail and then killed by the person who fabricated the evidence to put him in there in the first place. I couldn’t let it happen.’

‘
So you know Mr. Sweeney?’

Indrani pulled the cuffs of her sleeves down to her palms absent-mindedly as she talked. ‘Oh, no. I never knew the guy. I heard about him though. He came up with that
Blood Thunder
movie, then that Ellie girl framed him for murder and killed him after he was acquitted.’

‘
He wasn’t acquitted. His lawyer got him released on a technicality. He really did kill that young man and there was enough evidence to convict him. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for him, he had a very liberal judge who believe the stream of crap fed to him by Sweeney’s lawyer. If hadn’t been killed we’d be in the middle of appealing his release.’ He closed the file and stood. ‘Thanks for your time. I’ve got your contact details. We’ll be in touch in the lead up to the trial if we need you.’

T
he Killer. He liked the sound of that. He leaned on the horn to stave off a squeegee-ing at the corner. ‘“The Killer”. I should get it tattooed on my wrist. Ironically. The best place to hide is right in front of the people looking for you. Ellie’s a smart cat. Who would think she’d go back to Venice? The cops are probably scouring the Valley for her. They’ll find her when I want them to find her. She’ll be floating facedown in the LA River.’ He downshifted. ‘But she’s got to suffer as bad as I did.’ He squinted, believing himself to be channeling Eastwood. ‘If only I could figure out how to make her suffer as
long
as I have.’

He parked in a public lot at the north end of Venice and started strolling up the boardwalk toward the fishing pier. No way she’d still be there, but it was a place to start. He was getting distracted. The bikinis and the roller skates and the tight asses and the...he took a deep breath.

He pivoted and walked backwards watching a bikini bottom skate away from him. He licked his lips. ‘I should come down here more often.’ He sucked air through his teeth. ‘You, my sweet cheeks, will live.’ He turned back around and continued to walk, trying to pick out a tall blonde in the crowd of tall blondes. ‘Fuck. Like looking for a particular tree in the fucking forest. Tempted to cut down the entire lot of them.’

He sidestepped a panhandler and spit at his feet. ‘Get fucked, butt-wad.’ He shook his head. ‘Not worth the effort.’ He leaned down and looked the man in the eye. ‘You’re a lucky son of a bitch, you know that?’

The colors were bright and the sun hot. The skate park was full of kids. More BMX bikes than boards in the skate park today. He got in the face of a boy on a bike. ‘Shouldn’t you be in school, punk?’

The kid rolled up the inside of the bowl. ‘Fuck off asshole or I’ll fucking smash you.’

The Killer’s hand snapped out and grabbed the kid’s front wheel as it stopped on the upswing. The kid fell backwards, smashing the back of his head. He slid to the bottom, trailing a streak of blood.

He hopped in the bowl after his victim. ‘Smash me? You’re going to fucking smash me?’ He kick the prone kid in the ribs. ‘Get up ass-hat.’

He leaned over the prone body and grabbed him by the hair and lifted. ‘I said get up so I can knock you down again.’ He pulled hard, removing clumps of hair as the mostly stoned kid tried to get to his feet.

‘
What the fuck man? What did I do to you?’

The Killer looked at his victim’s friends, standing around the edge of the bowl watching. ‘Your friends are pussies. You’re all pussies.’ He grabbed the kid by the throat and punched him hard in the face. The impact jarred loose his grip on his neck and the kid dropped like a rag.

That roused the other three who came at him in unison.

‘
Oh, goody. A fight.’ He held up his hands and said, ‘Whoa, stop, stop, stop. There’s three of you and one of me. Not a really fair fight. You want to go get some more guys?’ He laughed at the look on their faces. ‘“More guys”. See what I did? Said it wasn’t fair and you’d assume I meant because I was outnumbered, but it’s because,’ he lashed out and punched the closest one in the throat, ‘you’re going to need more people if you think you’ve got even half a chance of coming out of this unscathed.’

The remaining two attacked at the same time, from either side, trying to double-team him. He laughed and elbowed the first one in the jaw and followed through with a punch to the other’s solar plexus, doubling him over.

He stood and looked at the four, three down and one struggling for air, and laughed. ‘I can
not
be defeated. By anyone.’