The Gods of Guilt (Mickey Haller 5) (23 page)

“Well, the job is in the City of Ventura, so either there or not too far from it. I’d like to look at Ojai but it might be too expensive. I’m thinking Hayley would fit in real well with the riding.”

Ojai was a crunchy, New Agey village in a mountain valley in the northern county. Years back, before we had our daughter, Maggie and I used to go there on weekends. There was even a chance our daughter was conceived there.

“So . . . this riding is not a passing thing?”

“It could be. You never know. But she’s fully engaged for now. We leased a horse for six months. With an option to buy.”

I shook my head. This was painful. Never mind my ex-wife, but Hayley had told me none of this.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie said. “I know this is tough on you. I want you to know that I don’t encourage it. No matter what is going on with us, I think she should have a relationship with her father. I really mean that and that’s what I tell her.”

“I appreciate that.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I stood up off the rock. I wanted to get out of there and go home.

“Can you do me a favor?” I asked.

“What is it?”

I realized that I was improvising, running with a half-formed idea that had sprung from my grief and desire to somehow win my daughter back.

“There’s a trial coming up,” I said. “I want her to come.”

“You’re talking about this pimp you’re representing? Michael, no, I don’t want her to sit through that. Besides, she has school.”

“He’s innocent.”

“Really? Are you trying to play me like a jury now?”

“No, I mean it. Innocent. He didn’t do it, and I’m going to prove it. If Hay could be there, maybe—”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. There’s school, and I don’t want her taking time off. There’s also the move.”

“Come for the verdict. Both of you.”

“Look, I have to get going. The cops are stacking up around here.”

Cops waiting in the office to file their cases.

“Okay, but think about it.”

“All right, I will. I’ve got to go now.”

“Wait—one last thing. Can you e-mail me a picture of Hayley on the horse? I’d just like to see it.”

“Sure. I will.”

She disconnected after that and I stared down at the soccer field for a few moments, replaying the conversation and trying to compute all the news about my daughter. I thought about what Legal Siegel had told me about moving on past guilt. I realized that some things were easier said than done, and some things were impossible.

A
t seven p.m. that night I walked down the hill and over to the little market at the base of Laurel Canyon. I called for a cab and waited fifteen minutes, reading the community notices on the corkboard out front. The cab took me over the hill and down into the Valley. I had the driver drop me on Ventura Boulevard by Coldwater Canyon. From there I walked the last five blocks to Flex, arriving at the yoga studio shortly before eight.

Kendall Roberts was busy with closing duties at the front counter. Her hair was tied up in a knot on top of her head and there was a pencil stuck through it. The students from the last class were filing out, rolled rubber mats under their arms. I stepped in, got her attention, and asked if I could speak with her after she locked up. She hesitated. I had not told her I was coming by.

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“I taught four classes back-to-back. I’m starved.”

“Have you ever been to Katsuya down the street here? It’s pretty good. It’s sushi, if you like that.”

“I love sushi, but I haven’t been there.”

“Why don’t I go down, get a table, and you come when you’re finished here?”

She hesitated again, as though she was still trying to figure out my motives.

“It won’t be a late night,” I promised.

She finally nodded.

“Okay, I’ll see you there. It might be fifteen minutes. I need to freshen up.”

“Take your time. You like sake?”

“Love it.”

“Hot or cold?”

“Uh, cold.”

“See you there.”

I walked down Ventura and stepped into Katsuya, only to find the place crowded with sushi enthusiasts. There were no tables available, but I secured two stools at the sushi bar. I ordered the sake and some cucumber salad and pulled out my phone as I began the wait for Kendall.

My ex-wife had come through with an e-mailed photo of my daughter and her horse. The shot showed Hayley with the horse’s face leaning over her shoulder from behind. The animal was black with a white lightning-bolt stripe running down its long nose. Both girl and horse were gorgeous. I was proud, but seeing the photo only added to my hurt at the news about the impending move to Ventura County.

I switched over to the message app and composed a text to my daughter. She read her e-mails only once or twice a week and I knew that if I wanted to get a message through without delay I needed to text.

I told her that her mother had sent me the photo of her and her horse and that I was proud of her for pursuing riding the way she was. I also said I had heard about the impending move and that I was sorry she’d be so far away but that I understood. I asked her if I could watch her take a lesson on the horse and left it at that. I sent it off into the air and foolishly thought I might get an answer soon after my phone reported the message delivered. But nothing came back.

I was about to compose another text, asking if she got the first, when Kendall suddenly appeared at the open stool next to me. I put the phone in my pocket as I stood up to greet her, successfully avoiding the embarrassment that second text would have brought me.

“Hi,” Kendall said cheerfully.

She had changed clothes at the studio and was wearing blue jeans and a peasant shirt. Her hair was down and she looked great.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m glad you could make it.”

She kissed me on the cheek as she squeezed by me and onto the stool. It was unexpected but nice. I poured her a cup of sake and we toasted and tasted. I watched her face for a negative reaction to the sake but she accepted my selection.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m good. I had a good day. What about you? Kind of a surprise to see you come in the studio tonight.”

“Yeah, well, I need to talk to you about something, but let’s order first.”

We studied the sushi list together and Kendall checked off three different variations on spicy tuna, while I went with California and cucumber rolls. Before the election I had started taking my daughter to Katsuya as her palate grew sophisticated and Wednesday-night pancakes stopped being an attraction. Of course my food interests were stunted compared to hers, and I could never wrap my mind around the idea of uncooked fish. But there were always plenty of other things to eat for the nonadventurous.

Sake was another story. Hot or cold I liked it. I was into my third cup by the time one of the sushi chefs finally leaned over and took our order. I think the quick draw on the drink was in part due to my reason for being there and the conversation I felt obligated to have with Kendall.

“So what’s up?” she said after expertly using a pair of chopsticks to sample the cucumber salad I had previously ordered. “This is like last night—you didn’t have to come all the way out to see me.”

“No, I wanted to see you,” I said. “But I also need to talk to you more about this case with Moya and Marco, the DEA agent.”

She frowned.

“Please don’t tell me I have to go there and talk to that lawyer.”

“No, nothing like that. There’s no depo and I’ll make sure it stays that way. But something else came up today.”

I paused as I still had not formulated how I wanted to approach her with this.

“Well, what is it?” she prompted.

“The case is kind of dicey because of the people involved. You’ve got Moya up there in prison and then you have Marco, the DEA agent, down here, trying to protect himself and his cases. And in the middle of this, you have what happened to Gloria and then my client, who they charged with her killing but I don’t think did it. So a lot of moving parts in this and then this morning I found out that there’s a tracker on my car.”

“What do you mean? What’s a tracker?”

“Like a GPS thing. It means somebody’s tracking me. They know what moves I’m making—at least by car.”

I turned on my stool so I could look at her and directly see how she took this information. I could see the significance of it didn’t register to her.

“I don’t know how long the device has been on there,” I said. “But I went to your house twice yesterday. First with Earl and then last night by myself.”

Now it started to register. I saw the first inkling of fear move into her eyes.

“What does this mean? Somebody’s going to come to my house?”

“No, I don’t think it means that. There’s no reason to panic. But I thought you should know.”

“Who put it there?”

“We’re not a hundred percent sure but we think it was the DEA agent. Marco.”

At this inopportune moment the sushi chef lifted a large leaf-shaped plate over the counter and put it down in front of us. Five sliced rolls were displayed beautifully with pickled ginger and the hot wasabi paste that my daughter called green death. I nodded my thanks to the chef, and Kendall just stared at the food while considering what I just told her.

“I debated whether to even tell you,” I said. “But I thought you should know. Tonight I took precautions. I walked down the hill from my house and caught a cab. They won’t know I’m with you. My car’s sitting out in front of my house.”

“How do you know you’re not being followed, too?”

“I’ve had people working on that all day. It looks like it’s just the electronic tracker.”

If that brought any measure of comfort to her she didn’t show it.

“Can’t you just take it off and get rid of it?” she asked.

“That’s an option,” I said, nodding. “But there are other options. We might be able to use it against them. You know, feed them information that will be confusing or wrong. We’re still thinking about it, so for now it’s still on there. Why don’t you eat some of this?”

“I’m not sure I’m hungry anymore.”

“Come on, you worked hard all day. You said you were starving.”

Reluctantly she poured a dollop of soy sauce into one of the small dishes and mixed in a dab of wasabi paste. She then dipped a slice of one of the tuna rolls and ate it. She liked it and immediately sampled another. I was useless with chopsticks so I used my fingers to take a slice of California roll. I skipped the wasabi.

Two bites later and I was back to business.

“Kendall, I know I asked you this yesterday but I need to do it again. This DEA agent, James Marco, are you sure you never had dealings with him? He’s a dark-haired guy about forty now. Has a mustache, mean eyes. He—”

“If he’s DEA, you don’t have to describe him. I never had any dealings with the DEA.”

I nodded.

“Okay, and you can’t think of any reason you might be on his radar in regard to Gloria Dayton, right?”

“No, no reason.”

“You told me yesterday that one of the services you provided was to bring cocaine. Gloria and Trina got theirs from Moya. Where did you get yours?”

Kendall slowly finished the piece of California roll she was eating and then put her chopsticks down on the little stand next to her plate.

“I really don’t like talking about this,” she said. “I think you brought me here so I would feel cornered and have to answer.”

“No,” I said quickly. “That’s not true and I don’t want you to feel cornered. I’m sorry if I’m pushing this too far. I just want to be sure you’re in the clear, that’s all.”

She wiped her mouth with her napkin. I had a feeling the dinner was over.

“I need to go to the restroom,” she said.

“Okay,” I said.

I stood up and pushed my stool back so she would have room for egress.

“Are you coming back?” I asked.

“Yes, I’ll be back,” she said curtly.

I sat back down and watched her as she made her way to the hallway in the back. I knew she could leave through a rear door and I wouldn’t know it for ten minutes. But I had faith.

I pulled out my phone to see if my daughter had answered my text but she hadn’t. I thought about texting her again, maybe sending her a photo of the California roll from Katsuya but decided not to push it.

Kendall returned in less than five minutes and slid silently back onto her stool. Before I could speak, she made a statement that she had apparently worked out in the restroom.

“I got the product that I brought to clients from Hector Moya but it was indirectly from him. I bought it from Gloria and Trina at their cost. I never once met their dealer or crossed paths with a DEA agent while I was in that life. It’s something I’ve left behind and I don’t want to have to talk about it with you or anybody else again.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Kendall. I under—”

“When you asked me to dinner I was very happy. I thought . . . I thought it was for a different reason and I was excited. So that’s why I reacted the way I did when you asked about the drugs.”

“I’m sorry I messed things up. But believe me, I was excited, too, when you said you would meet me. So why don’t we forget about all the work stuff and eat some sushi?”

I gestured toward the platter. Most of our order was still there. She smiled tentatively and nodded. I smiled back.

“Then we need more sake,” I said.

O
n the way back home I decided to let the cab take me all the way to my door. I was tired from the work and news of the day and the hike up the trail at Fryman Canyon. I figured even if someone was watching my house and car, he would only be able to puzzle over where I’d been for the last four hours. I paid the fare, got out, and climbed the stairs to the front door.

At the top I paused to look out across the iridescent landscape. It was a clear night and I could see all the way to the lighted towers in Century City. It reminded me that somewhere near those towers in the lowlands was where Sly Fulgoni Jr. made his pitiful stand in the land of law.