Therapy

Milo said, “Sir?”

Quick’s smile was abrupt and unsettling. “I travel all the time, and it’s hell. You know the airlines, disciples of the devil. Frequent business flyer? They could care less. This time, after Sheila called me about Gavin, and I told them why I needed to go home, I got treated like a king. They tag you as bereaved, and you get prioritized all the way. Upgrade to first class, no one could do enough for me.”

He barked what might’ve been laughter. Smoked, coughed, smoked some more.

“That’s what it took. That’s what it took to get treated like a human being.”

*

Milo asked him about his daughter, and Quick said, “I told Kelly to stay in Boston. She’s got law school, what good can it do her to come here? If you release the… release Gavin to us and we have a funeral, then she can come home. When will that be?”

“Hard to say, sir,” said Milo.

“That seems to be your tune.”

Milo smiled. “Kayla Bartell-”

“Haven’t seen her around for a while. She knew Gav from high school, and they fooled around for a while.”

“Fooled around?”

“Like kids do,” said Quick. “Her father’s some kind of composer. Eileen informs me he’s important.”

“You’ve never met him.”

“Why would I?”

“Gavin and Kayla-”

“That was Gav’s business… to be honest, guys, I don’t get these questions,” said Quick. “What happened can’t have anything to do with Gav. He went up to Mulholland with some girl and a pervert- some sex fiend- took advantage, right? It’s obvious, right? Isn’t that what you’re thinking?”

Before Milo could answer, Quick’s eyes swung to the stairs. Eileen Paxton stomped down, ignored us, and hurried into the kitchen.

A kitchen faucet opened. Then, the hard clash of pans. Moments later, Sheila Quick made her way down the stairs, tentative, unsteady. She stopped on the bottom step, studied the floor, as if unwilling to commit. Her eyes were unfocused, and she gripped the banister for support. She wore a pink housecoat, had aged a decade overnight.

She saw us, said, “Hello” in a slurred voice. She noticed the cigarette in her husband’s hand, and her lips turned down.

Jerome Quick smoked defiantly. “Don’t stand on the bottom like that, come all the way down- be careful, you’re on Valium.” He made no effort to help her.

She remained in place. “Is there anything… new, Detective?”

Milo shook his head. “Sorry to bother you again, Mrs. Qui-”

“No, no, no, you’re helping me- us. You were very… gracious. Last night. It can’t have been easy for you. You were gracious. It wasn’t easy for you or for me.”

Jerry Quick said, “Sheila, go back to bed. You’re-”

“They were nice last night, Jerry. It’s only polite that I-”

“I’m sure they were great, but-”

“Jerry. I. Want. To. Be. Polite.” Sheila Quick came down the stairs and sat down on a side chair. “Hello,” she said, brightly.

“Ma’am,” said Milo, “we have learned that the girl with Gavin wasn’t Kayla Bartell.”

Sheila Quick said, “You said she was blond.”

Jerome Quick said, “There’s a rare commodity in L.A. ”

“I do have a picture,” said Milo. “It’s not a pleasant picture, it’s postmortem, but if you could look at it- if we could identify her, it might speed things along.”

Sheila Quick stared at him. He showed her the death shot.

“She looks so… dead. Poor little thing.” Shaking her head. She snatched the photo from Milo and held it closer. Her fingers trembled, and the corners flapped. “Are you showing pictures like this of Gavin to other people?”

“Sheila,” said Quick.

“No, ma’am,” said Milo. “We know who Gavin is.”

She examined the photo. “Gavin never said he had a new girlfriend.”

“Gavin was twenty,” said Jerome Quick. “He didn’t need to check in about his social life.”

Sheila Quick continued to stare at the picture. Finally, she handed it back.

“Another one,” she said.

“Ma’am?”

“Someone else’s baby is gone.”

CHAPTER 5

Milo received written permission to speak to Gavin’s doctors, and we left. It was nearly 5 P.M., the sky was milky white and poisonous, and both of us were low and hungry. We drove to a deli on Little Santa Monica, had sandwiches and coffee. Mine was roast beef with hot mustard on pumpernickel. Milo opted for a wet, multidecked monster layered with pastrami and coleslaw and pepperoncinis and some things I couldn’t identify, all stuffed into a French roll. When he bit into it, it collapsed. That seemed to give him joy.

He swallowed, and said, “Model family.”

“They’re no ad for domestic life,” I said, “but the father may be right, and it doesn’t matter.”

“Perverted stranger kills his boy. That sure distances it from the family.”

“I don’t see this as a family crime,” I said. “The fact that the family doesn’t know the girl could mean she’s the kind of girl you don’t bring home to Mother. Which may lead us to her being the primary target.”

“Someone with nasty friends.”

“The killer impaled her and took her purse. That could’ve been trophy-taking, but what if he didn’t want her identified quickly?”

“The primary target for sex, killing, or both?”

“Don’t know,” I said. “There was no sexual assault, but to me the impaling still has a sexual quality to it. Gavin was shot once- dispatched. That’s consistent with the killer wanting him out of the way so he could take care of his real business.”

“If Gavin was shot first. No way we can pinpoint that.”

“Logic says he was,” I said. “The girl was alive when the killer impaled her. It’s unlikely Gavin would’ve sat by passively while that happened. Or that the killer would’ve taken the risk of fighting a young, healthy male. He dispatched Gavin, with a single shot, then turned his attention to the girl. Her size, her fear, and the killer’s overwhelming dominance subdued her. Maybe he promised her he wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t resist. Any signs she fought back?”

He shook his head.

I said, “She watched Gavin get murdered, sat there, terrified, and hoped for the best. The killer used the spear on her, then he shot her, too. To me that says big-time anger. With both kids dead, he had time to inspect his handiwork, fool with the scene. Either Gavin and the girl had already begun a sexually charged tableau, or he set one up. Either because it was a sex crime, or he wanted it to be seen that way.”

He put his sandwich down. “You’re offering me lots of choices.”

“What are friends for?” I said. “Have you come across any other impalement murders?”

“Nothing yet.” He picked up his sandwich, and a huge chunk disappeared in his maw. Think the condom was Gavin’s, or did the killer bring it?”

“It was in his pocket, so it was probably his.”