Time Bomb

“The old fashioned way: lie. ‘Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, no definitive ID pending autopsy.’ Which is almost true- she did take a couple of bullets in the face. But you could still tell it was the same face as the one on the license.”

I imagined the young, bland countenance swollen, perforated, bleeding; shook that picture out of my head and said, “Around noon should work out, anyway. I’m meeting with the kids at one.”

“Great. But if, for some reason, Frisk hasn’t gone public, neither do you, okay? I’ve got enough troubles without leaks getting traced back to me this early in the game.”

“What kind of troubles?”

“The usual.” His expression said: Change the subject.

We ate for a while. My mind kept drifting back to the license photo. “A girl sniper,” I said. “Hard to believe.”

“Women’s lib, Alex,” he said with his mouth full. “They’re trying to catch up to us in the asshole division.”

“Then they’ve got a long ways to go,” I said. “I remember County Jail- visiting Jamey Cadmus in the violent psych ward. One thing that impressed me was that they had twenty rooms for males, only two set aside for females, and those two were rarely used for females. What percentage of violent crime is committed by women?”

“Less than ten,” he said. “But the stats get interesting when you look at the age pattern- violent offenders under eighteen. The rate for males is still much higher than it is for females, but the overall rate for males is dropping, while for females it’s going up. The gap is closing. And even without the numbers, I’d know there’s something happening, Alex. On the streets. I can sense it- rules of conduct breaking down. Maybe Manson’s girls broke the ice, I don’t know- Squeaky and the other one taking potshots at Ford, those assholettes in the SLA. Now the gangbangers have started using fems as trigger-men… triggerpersons. They figure the courts will go easier on psychopaths in dresses, and they’re right. So far. Meanwhile, more and more Bonnies wanting to be Clydes.”

He cut a large piece of T-bone free and stuffed it in his mouth. “Hell,” he said, still chewing, “nastiest thing I’ve seen this year was some stenographer over in Mar Vista doing in her boyfriend with a Chinese cleaver. Jilted-lover stir-fry. Call the Frugal Gourmet.”

I looked at the sirloin on my fork and put it down.

“Bon appetit,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“Of course,” he said, “the distaff does have a long way to go. We’ve got thousands of years of experience behind us. Tankfuls of testosterone. But they’re working on it- the whole goddam culture’s changing. Female wrestlers, girls pumping iron, shooting steroids, talking dirty. Hell, you ever see women flipping off truckers on the freeway till recently? They’re feeling their oats, pal.”

I made another go at my steak.

“Prime, huh?” he said, taking another mouthful.

“Prime.”

“Private stock. Management knows me.” He patted his gut. “Which is to love me. Big tips and it’s cholesterol heaven.”

He dipped a piece of meat in steak sauce. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I have a thing against the fairer sex. Just telling it the way I see it.”

“I know that.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes people assume, you know?”

“I swore off assumptions for Lent.”

He gulped another gargantuan piece of steak. The meat was bloody-rare and some juice dribbled down his chin. He dabbed at it. “Did I ever tell you I once had a girlfriend?”

“Never.”

“Yup. High school days.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“No? What the hell does it take to surprise you?”

“How about an honest politician?”

His laugh was harsh. “Yeah, find one, put him in the cage next to the condor.”

I said, “Why bother?”

He laughed some more.

“Any indication the Burden girl was aiming at Latch or Massengil?”

“Ye olde participatory democracy?”

“I’m serious, Milo. Being able to tell the kids they weren’t the targets would make my job easier.”

“Then, by all means, go ahead and tell ’em.”

“No,” I said. “If I say it, I want it to be true.”

“Sorry, then,” he said. “Nothing solid to give you. She didn’t leave any political message at the scene, far as I know. No fringies have called yet expressing solidarity, and Frisk said he didn’t recognize her name offhand from his subversive lists, though like I said, they’ll be running her through the software. Maybe he’ll turn up something at her house- some diary, or wacko manifesto. Mean-while, all we’ve got is one dead girl and lots of question marks.”

He thought for a moment. “If she was trying for one of them, my guess would be Massengil. Looks like no one except Latch’s insiders knew their boy was going to be there.”

“The press knew.”

He shook his head. “Uh-uh. Only about Massengil. That much I confirmed from talking to the reporters. The invite came from Massengil’s staff this morning. It was supposed to be a one-man show. Latch didn’t announce he was coming. The idea was to surprise the enemy.”

“How’d Latch find out Massengil was going to be there?”

“Once the press knew, it wouldn’t be too hard for anyone to find out, would it?”

I said, “Anyone?”

“Anyone in the grapevine. Frisk does his job correctly, that’s the first thing he’ll check about her. Maybe she once worked for Massengil- or Latch. Or knew someone who did. No one on either staff recognized her name, but she could have been low-level- stuffing envelopes, whatever. Some meek little gofer they treated like shit, never took the time to notice. She swallows it for a while, then quits. No one notices she’s gone. Meanwhile, she’s smoldering, making plans for vengeance. Fits the mass-killer profile. Then again, maybe the political thing was coincidental- Latch and Massengil had nothing to do with it. Maybe all she wanted to do was kill kids, and bigger game intruded.”

“Local girl makes bad,” I said. “Wonder if she attended Hale.”

“Revenge for a bad report card?”

“Got anything that makes more sense?”

“As a matter of fact I don’t,” he said. “So far this is your quintessential senseless crime- as opposed to all the real sensible ones we get.”

“Were the reporters there when the shooting started?”

He shook his head. “No. The press conference wasn’t called until one. Massengil showed up half an hour before, walking around the yard, ‘observing.’ Latch dropped in on him a few minutes later.”

I said, “If Latch’s intention was to upstage Massengil, why not arrive when the media were in place? Make a dramatic entry.”

“We wondered about that too. According to Frisk, Latch’s explanation was that his object wasn’t to confront Massengil but to defuse him. He was giving Massengil a chance to call the whole thing off before the cameras showed up.”

“Saint Gordon.”

“Yeah, and I’m Mother Teresa. My guess is his real intention was to spook Massengil, work him up good. Massengil’s got a reputation for having a short fuse- got into a punch-out with another politico couple of years ago, likes to yell back at hecklers, go head to head. Latch probably figured in half an hour he could get the guy apoplectic by the time the media showed. Really make a jerk out of him. Then the shooting started and took the edge off their little drama.”

“One of the kids told me it sounded like war,” I said.