exercise the warrants I do get.'
'You didn't end up serving Richard?'
He shook his head. 'So much for any future relationship with Maclntyre. Spent all night with my Glendale colleagues. Who, by the way, will not arrest you for trespassing a crime scene.'
'They wouldn't know it was a crime scene unless I trespassed.'
'Technicalities, technicalities.' He punched the button again. Rubbed his face, loosened his tie, glanced over at the door barring the yard. 'Let's go back to the car, try to figure something out. Meanwhile, I'll run searches on Ulrich's aliases. He repeated the hiker M.O., used Michigan twice, so maybe he's recycled an identity.'
He tried DMV again, inquiring about Michael Ferris Burke, Grant Rushton, Huey Mitchell, Hank Spreen, with no success. We'd been sitting for a few minutes, alternating between silence and dead-end suggestions, when a small red car drove up and parked across the street.
Nissan Sentra, dark-haired woman at the wheel. She turned off her engine, started to get out when she saw us. Then she flashed a nervous stare and up went the driver's window.
Milo was out in a second, jogging over, flashing the badge. The Nissan's window stayed up. He produced his business card, I saw his lips move, finally the glass lowered. As if in appreciation, Milo backed away, gave the woman space. She exited the red car, looked at me, then at Milo. He had his hands in his pockets, was making himself a bit smaller, the way he does when he's trying to put someone at ease. I joined them.
The woman was in her thirties, slightly heavy, brown hair highlighted with rust, sooty shadows under her bright-blue eyes and a speck of mascara under one of them. She wore a bulky white cowl-neck T-shirt, black leggings, black flats. The rear of the car was filled with fabric samples in binders.
'What's wrong?' she said, eyeing the white house.
'Do you live in the neighborhood, ma'am?'
'My sister does. Across the street.'
'Ms. Stratton?'
'Yes.' Her voice strained half an octave higher. 'What's going on?'
'We came to ask your sister and Mr. Ulrich some questions, ma'am.'
'About what happened-about their finding Dr. Mate?'
'Your sister talked to you about that, Ms…'
'Lamplear. Kris Lamplear. Sure, we talked about it. It wasn't exactly an everyday thing. Not in detail, Tanya was grossed out. She called me to tell me they found it- him. Is there some problem? Tanya's already been through a lot.'
'How so, ma'am?' said Milo.
'She was sick a year and a half ago. That's why I'm here. She was sick and I'm overprotective. She doesn't like me to be, but I can't help it. I try to give her space, usually we talk only two, three times a week. But I haven't heard from her in a few days, so I called her at work Friday and they said she'd taken some vacation time. I held off yesterday, but today…'
She frowned. 'She's entitled to her vacation, but she should've told me where she was going.'
'Does she usually?' I said.
Sheepish smile. 'Honestly? Not always, but I don't let that stop me. What can I say? I decided to stop by this morning early, 'cause my kids have Little League in an hour. Just to make sure everything's okay. So there's no problem, you just want to talk to her?'
'Right, just following up, ma'am,' said Milo. He eyed the fabric samples. 'Interior-design work?'
'Fabric sales. I work for a jobber downtown.' Another glance at the house.
Milo said, 'Looks like they've been gone for only a day or so. Do they travel a lot?'
'From time to time.' Kris Lamplear's eyes jumped around. 'Paul probably took her somewhere on one of his impulsive romantic things.'
'He's a romantic fellow?'
'He thinks he is.' She rolled her eyes. 'Mr. Spontaneous. He'll come in and announce they're going to Arrowhead or Santa Barbara for a couple of days, tells Tanya to pack, call in sick. Tanya's ultraresponsible. She takes her job seriously. But she goes along with him, usually. He works for himself, so taking off like that's no big deal. He likes nature stuff, loves to drive.'
'Nature stuff,' said Milo.
'The great outdoors, he's a member of the Tree People, the Sierra Club, watches birds, actually reads the auto-club magazine. It was his idea to be up there on Mulholland at that hour. He's always pushing Tanya to rise and shine, exercise, all that stuff. As if that's going to do the trick.'
'Do what trick?'
'Heal her up,' she said. 'Make sure she stays in remission-she had cancer. Hodgkin's disease. The doctors said it was curable, she's got a good chance of being cured. But the treatment knocked her out. Radiation, chemo, heavy-duty. The whole thing changed her. She is fine, I know she'll be okay, but I'm sorry, I'm still the protective older sister, so sue me. She should at least tell me where she's going, don't you think? Our parents are gone, the two of us are it, she knows I worry.'
She tugged her shirt down, stared at the house. 'I know I'm being neurotic. I'll get home and there'll be a message from her-don't tell her you met me here, okay? She'll get p.o.'d.'
'Deal,' said Milo. 'So you don't keep a house key for her.'
'You mean like some people do? That would be nice, wouldn't it. But no, I'd never ask for one. Tanya wouldn't take well to that.'
'Wanting to be independent.'
Kris Lamplear nodded. 'Her having a key to my house would be fine. And I'm married, have kids, I wouldn't mind. But she'd be all sensitive. Even when she was going through her treatments she was that way. Telling everyone she could do things for herself, not to treat her like a cripple.'
'So Paul's a hands-off guy,' I said.
'What do you mean?'
'To get along with Tanya he'd have to respect her independence.'
'I guess,' she said. 'To be honest, I don't know why she stays with him. Maybe 'cause he was there for her when she was down.'
'When she was sick?' I said.
She nodded. 'That's how they met. Tanya was in the hospital for her chemo and he was volunteering there. He ended up spending a lot of time with her. When she couldn't hold food down, he'd be there, feeding her ice chips.'
Describing an altruistic act, but she sounded disapproving. I said, 'Nice guy.'
'I guess-I used to wonder why he was doing all that. To be honest, he doesn't seem like the volunteering type-but what's the difference, she makes her own decisions.'
'You don't like him,' I said.
'If Tanya likes him… No, to be honest I think he's a pompous jerk. I think Tanya may be seeing it, too. Finally.' Her smile was reluctant, mischievous. 'Maybe it's wishful thinking, but she doesn't defend him as much when I tell her he's a pompous jerk.'
I smiled back. 'Which hospital did they meet at?'
'Valley Comprehensive over in Reseda. A dump as far as I'm concerned, but that's where her HMO said she had to go. Why all these questions about Paul?'
Milo said, 'He and your sister are important witnesses. In a homicide case, we need to be extra thorough. Does Paul still volunteer at the hospital?'
'Nope. Soon as Tanya was discharged and they were dating, he quit. That's what made me wonder.'
'About what?'
'About if it was just a technique to hit on women. She's recuperating, and all of a sudden they're dating. Couple of months later, both of them move out of their apartments and they rent this place.'
'How long ago was that?'
'Over a year,' she said. 'I shouldn't put him down if she likes him. He treats her well enough. Does the cooking, the cleaning-all the cleaning, now that's a good deal. Doesn't leave clothes on the floor-he's real neat, a neat freak, I never saw Tanya live so organized.
