Survival Of The Fittest

most of the floor space. A four-drawer fake-wood dresser- another thrift-shop candidate- had been pushed away from the wall, all the drawers pulled out and tossed on the floor. Underwear, socks, shirts were scattered like buckshot. An aluminum TV stand stood near the foot of the bed, but no set remained. Rabbit-ear antenna in the corner. The black quilted bedspread was drawn back from sweat-stained white sheets and the mattress had been yanked halfway off the box. Two rumpled pillows sat propped against the wall like ghosts pummeled to unconsciousness.

A disc on the wall above the bed said a clock had once hung there.

And that was it.

“The thing I don't get,” she said, “is where all his books are. 'Cause that's one thing he always had plenty of. He just loved to read. Do you think the burglars could have taken them?”

“Literate criminals,” I said. “Were any of them valuable?”

“Collectors' stuff? I wouldn't know. I just remember Nolan's room at home, books all over the place.”

“So you were never here?”

“No,” she said, as if it were a confession. “He used to have a place out in the Valley and I was there a few times. But after he joined the department, he moved to the other side of the hill…”

She shrugged and touched the bedspread.

“It's possible,” I said, “that he gave his books away.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Sometimes people contemplating suicide give away things that are important to them. It's a way of formalizing the final step.”

“Oh.” Her eyes misted and she turned away and I knew she was thinking, He didn't give them to me.

“There could be another reason, Helena. You said Nolan changed points of view pretty suddenly. If the books were on politics, something he no longer believed in, he could have decided to get rid of them.”

“Whatever. Let's get out of here, see if the car's still here.”

More care had been taken in the rear garden than in front- well-pruned apricot and peach trees and several flowering citrus that perfumed the air. The garage was a double. Helena pushed up the left-hand door. A pullcord to the right illuminated the narrow, lathe-walled space.

The Fiero was bright red covered with a fine coat of dust, sitting on half-deflated tires. A while since it had been driven.

I went over and looked at the driver's door. Deep gouges near the lock, and the window was cracked but not broken.

“They tried, Helena. Panicked or ran out of time.”

She came over and sighed. “I'll have it towed.”

The rest of the garage was taken up by a wooden workbench, bracket shelves of paint cans and dry brushes, a bicycle with one wheel, an airless basketball, several cardboard boxes under a crumpled wet suit. The pegboard above the bench was empty.

“His tools are gone,” she said. “He had them since high school. He went through an artistic phase- wood carving- convinced Mom and Dad to get him a complete set. Expensive stuff. Soon after, he lost interest… Maybe there are books in those boxes over there.”

She went over to check, tossing the black neoprene aside. Five cartons, the top one unsealed.

“Empty,” she said. “This is a waste- oh, hold on, look at this.”

She lifted a second box. Heavy, from the way her arms tensed.

“Still taped.” Using the house key, she tried to slit the binding without success. I took out my pocketknife and cut deeply.

She gasped.

Inside were several large leatherette albums in a variety of colors. The top one was black and said PHOTOGRAPHS in gold script. Helena flipped it open to faded color snapshots under plastic sheets.

She turned pages quickly, almost frantically.

The same image in varying forms: heavyset mother, ectomorph father, two pretty blond children. Trees in the background, or ocean, a Ferris wheel, or just blue sky. Helena no older than twelve in any of them. Had family life stopped, then?

“Our family albums,” she said. “I've been looking for these since Mom died, never knew he had them.”

She turned another page. “Dad and Mom… they looked so young. This is so…” She shut the book. “I'll look at them later.”

She lifted the box and carried it out to her Mustang. Placing it on the front passenger seat, she slammed the door.

“Well, at least I got something- thank you, Dr. Delaware.”

“Sure.”

“I'll have the car towed tomorrow.” She placed a hand on her chest. The fingers shook.

“Nolan took the albums from Mom's house without saying a thing. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he tell me anything?”

14

The next morning, at ten, Dr. Roone Lehmann called.

“I've been going through Nolan's file. How's the sister doing?”

“Hanging in,” I said. “It's rough.”

“Yes. Well… he was a complex young man.”

“Complex and bright.”

“Oh?”

“Helena told me he tested gifted.”

“I see… interesting. Is she gifted, as well?”

“She's an intelligent woman.”

“No doubt- well, if you'd like to come by the office, say around noonish, I can give you twenty minutes. But I can't promise it will be earth-shattering.”

“Thanks for your time.”

“It's part of the job, isn't it?”

Minutes later, Milo phoned. “Coroner says no sexual assault on Latvinia. Hooks says Montez the janitor is alibied for the time of her murder.”

“Good alibi?”

“Not perfect but sometimes it's only criminals who come up with perfect alibis. Working at the liquor store from seven til eleven-thirty. The owner verifies, says Montez has an impeccable work record. Then home to the wife and kids- two older daughters, both of whom were up. All three of them swear he went to bed shortly after midnight, the wife is certain he never left the house. She got up at 3:00 A.M. to go to the bathroom, saw him there. His snoring woke her up again at five.”

“The wife,” I said.

“Yeah, but Montez is solid as they come: married thirty-five years, Vietnam service record, no criminal activity, not even traffic tickets. The school principal says he gets along great with everyone, always willing to go the extra mile, really does care about the school and the students. Told Hooks cutting the body down was exactly the kind of thing Montez would do. A couple of years ago a kid choked on something and Montez did the Heimlich maneuver and saved him.”