Survival Of The Fittest

Had he transferred out of West L.A. because of something he'd done in West L.A.?

Irit had been murdered in West L.A. When I'd visited the killing site after Latvinia's murder, I'd thought about a monster in a uniform.

A cop?

A big, strong, smiling, handsome young cop?

Disgusting… but a West L.A. cop would know the park's backroads, be able to lose himself.

A cop could always offer a reason for being somewhere.

West L.A. didn't patrol the park, the rangers did… a cop on lunch break?

Code 7 for doughnuts and homicide?

But no, that made no sense. Nolan had been dead several weeks by the time of Latvinia's and Melvin Myers's murders. And there wasn't a shred of evidence that Nolan had ever hurt anyone but himself.

Malignant imagination, Delaware. The time line, all wrong.

Unless there was more than one killer.

Not just a boy-girl thing, a killing club. That would explain the varying M.O.s.

A group game: dividing the city up, one police district per player. Nolan telling them how to do it because he was an expert on procedure…

Enough. I was defaming a dead man because he'd been smart. No doubt Nolan had revealed secrets Lehmann thought best left buried.

Still, Helena had run away.

Why?

Her home phone was disconnected now. Longterm move.

With both parents gone, no close family, who would she turn to in times of stress?

Distant relatives? Friends? I didn't know any of them.

Didn't know much about her at all.

She had mentioned one former relative: the ex-husband.

Gary's a pulmonologist, basically a nice guy. But he decided he wanted to be a farmer so he moved to North Carolina.

I called Rick at Cedars and he came on the line sounding impatient but softening when he learned it was me.

“Sure,” he said. “Gary Blank. He used to work here, too. Good lung man, Southerner. Kind of a country boy at heart. Why?”

“I'm wondering if Helena would have turned to him for support.”

“Hmm… the divorce was friendly. As divorces go. And Gary's an easygoing type. If she asked him to put her up, my guess is sure, he'd hold the door wide open.”

“Thanks.”

“So… you're still trying to reach her.”

“You know me, Rick. Never developed a taste for unfinished business.”

“Yup,” he said. “Used to be that way, myself.”

“Used to be?”

He laughed. “Yesterday.”

North Carolina had three area codes-704, 910, 919- and I tried Information for all of them before cashing in with 919.

Gary S. Blank, no degree. A rural route near Durham.

Dinnertime in North Carolina.

Helena answered after two rings.

She recognized my voice right away and hers got strained. “How'd you find me?”

“Lucky guess. I don't mean to be intrusive, but I just wanted to see how you're doing. If this makes things worse for you, just say so.”

She didn't answer. I could hear music in the background. Something baroque.

“Helena-”

“It's okay. You just caught me off-guard.”

“I'm sorry-”

“No, it's okay. I'm- I guess I'm touched that you cared. I'm sorry for skipping out without an explanation but… this is very hard, Dr. Delaware. I- it's just hard. You really caught me off-guard.”

“No need to-”

“No, it's okay. It's just- I got stressed out, decided to make a clean sweep.”

“Was it something you learned about Nolan?”

Her voice got higher. “What do you mean?”

“You never made another appointment after finding that family photo album in Nolan's garage. I was just wondering if there was something in there that upset you.”

Another long silence.

“Jesus,” she finally said. “Shit.”

“Helena-”

“Jesus Christ- I really don't want to talk about this.”

“No problem.”

“But I- Dr. Delaware, what I'm saying is, it's water under the bridge. Nothing I can change. None of my business, really. I've got to concentrate on what I can do. Get past this, move on.”

I said nothing.

“You're good,” she said. “Brilliant- uncanny- I'm sorry, I'm not making sense, am I?”

“Yes, you are. You learned something upsetting and don't want to rake it up.”

“Exactly. Exactly.”

I let a few more moments pass. “One thing though, Helena. If Nolan was involved in something that's still continuing and you have the ability to-”

“Of course, it's continuing! The world stinks, it's full of… that kind of thing. But I can't bear the responsibility for every bit of- what? Hold on.”

Muffled voices. Her hand over the phone.

She came back on. “My ex heard me shouting and came in to check.” Deep breath. “Listen, I'm sorry. Nolan's death was bad enough, but then to learn he was… I'm sorry, I just can't deal with this. Thanks for calling, but no. I'm fine. I'll cope… it's really beautiful here, maybe I'll give country life a try… Sorry for being so edgy, Dr. Delaware, but… please understand.”

Three apologies in not many more seconds.

I said, “Of course. You have nothing to be sorry for. Even if Nolan was part of something extreme-”

“I wouldn't call it extreme,” she said, suddenly angry. “Sick, but not extreme. Guys do it all the time, right?”

“Do they?”

“I'd say so. It's the oldest profession, right?”

“Prostitution?”

Silence. “What?” she said. “What did you mean?”

“I was just wondering if Nolan got into some sort of extreme political activity.”

“I wish. That I was used to.” She laughed. “So you're not a mind reader… politics. If only. No, Dr. Delaware, I'm just talking about good old whoring around. My noble police- officer brother's apparent obsession.”

I said nothing.

She laughed again. Kept laughing, louder, faster, until her voice took on a glassy edge of hysteria. “I couldn't care less about Nolan's politics. He was always jumping from one crazy thing to another, big deal. The truth is, at this point, I couldn't care less about