CHAPTER 28
When we were two blocks north of Gordito’s, Tasha said, “Drop me here, sir.”
Milo returned her purse and we watched her sway along Highland. Another he-she loitering near a phone booth waved. Tasha gave a barely visible nod and kept going.
“Wannaboo,” I said, driving away. “Must’ve missed that one.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” said Milo. “She made it up. How much of her story do you believe?”
“If she wanted to lie, she didn’t need to get into any of it.”
“ Tweed,” he said. “Just being a helpful guy.”
“If Korvutz was being righteous with me, he met Bright twice and Bright freelanced a double murder without being asked to. This is a prince who loves snipping off loose human ends.”
“Tony’s weak. Gotta start thinking about how to break him open. How do I get him to the office?”
“Ella collected service people’s business cards. Tell him you’ve linked her murder to a gang of home- improvement scammers who prey on the elderly, have some mug shots for him to look at. At some point you could even show him Bright’s DMV shot, let the name slip, see how he reacts.”
“Creative… okay, let’s aim for a planning session at nine – make it nine thirty. Once we finalize the script, I phone Tony, ask him to drop by the station. Guy never leaves before three p.m, we’re ready by noon, we’ll have him.”
By nine fifteen the next morning I was drinking strong coffee in Milo ’s office as he shuffled a new pile of message slips.
The parole office hadn’t been able to locate Bradley Maisonette and was “activating an investigation.”
Wilson Good was still nowhere to be found and St. Xavier High was “extremely concerned.” Good’s assistant coach, a man named Pat Crohan, had tried to contact Andrea Good through her work number at a graphic design firm. Mrs. Good had abruptly resigned four days ago.
Milo said, “Hubby and wifey on a major rabbit.”
“They have a dog,” I said. “If they’re gone for the long haul, they took it with them. If they’re just in temporary seclusion, weighing options, they may have boarded it. Want me to try to find out?”
“Sure… damn case, sixteen years – two from Gordon Beverly, just checking in… chief’s office wants a meet in three days on all pending matters.”
He pulled out a panatela. “Let’s talk about Tony.”
The phone rang. “What? I’m busy
He shot out of his seat, strode to the door, flung it open. “Stay right there.”
Five minutes later, he was still gone. I used the time to look up canine-boarding facilities in the Hollywood area, found eight. Pretending to be a veterinarian named “Dr. Dichter,” I began working my way through the list, inquiring about the health of my patient, “Indy Good,” the acrobatic dachshund.
A pleasant woman at my fourth try, Critterland Pet Hotel said, “Oh, he’s fine. Is Andy concerned about something?”
“She called my office to verify his shots.” Whatever that meant.
“Oh. Well, Indy’s feisty as ever and not playing well with others. Did Andy say when she planned to pick him up?”
“Not to me. She left it open-ended?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Doctor, he’ll be fine. Any idea how her husband’s doing?”
“Something wrong with him?”
“That’s why she boarded Indy. To take care of Mr. Good, some sort of bad flu. And you know how Indy gets.”
“Feisty,” I said.
“Needing all the attention.”
“I assumed they were on vacation. Come to think of it, Andy didn’t sound relaxed. Anyway, Indy’s all caught up.”
“Great. Andy’s so nice. Never met her husband but he’s lucky to have her.”
Just as I hung up, an officer rapped the open door.
“Lieutenant’s in Five, says you should join him.”
I walked to the interview room. Milo had shoved the table out of the way and sat opposite two women.
“Ladies, this is Dr. Delaware, our psychological consultant. Doctor, Ms. Appel and Ms. Bruno.”
One brunette, one blonde. Nervous smiles from both.
Each was in her forties and wore a cashmere crewneck, tailored jeans, large-carat ring, tennis bracelet, stud earrings. All the jewelry set with clean white diamonds.
The brunette plucked at her plum-colored sweater. She had a clear oval face, a toned body, blue eyes, dark hair cut in a boyish cap.
Her fair-haired companion was rounder, a bit younger, with painted eyebrows and sharp, brown eyes. Pumpkin cashmere, frosted locks. She held out her hand first. “Barb Bruno.”
“Susan Appel,” said the brunette, a few decibels softer.
“We’re sisters.”
Milo said, “Susan and Barb own the property where Kat Shonsky was-”
“Disaster,” said Barb Bruno. “We got the call on the cruise ship. We’re still traumatized.”
Susan Appel said, “We were planning on building an Olympic pool for our families. To think…”
“Not that we’d ever change our minds, we can’t let something hideous like this stop us from living. For us it’s always been about family, our parents raised us that way. Do either of you remember the Circle F Ranch Market in Brentwood? That was our dad, Reuben Fleisher.”
I’d never heard of the place. “Ah.”
Susan Appel reached behind one ear, twisted a wisp of short dark hair. A look from her younger sister caused her hand to drop and I imagined a child’s voice remonstrating.
Barb Bruno said, “We’re still not sure we did the right thing by coming in. You called Susan and she called me and we both agreed it was most probably nothing. Then we thought about it
Milo said, “We really appreciate it. Now, if you could tell us-”
“Which isn’t to say our husbands are happy with us, they aren’t,” said Susan Appel, twisting her hair again and avoiding her sister’s eyes.
Barb Bruno said, “They’re both attorneys, head their own firms.”
“Corporate litigation,” said Susan Appel. “Both Hal and Mike will be the first to tell you they have no experience in criminal law, but they want to make sure we’re protected.”
Barb said, “Alpha dogs.” Out of a suede weave bag came a folded sheet of legal-sized paper.
Milo read, put it down. “You want guaranteed confidentiality.”
Barb said, “Doesn’t seem too much to ask, seeing as how we’ve come forth voluntarily.”
Susan said, “We’re not even sure we know anything useful. Frankly we hope we don’t. But just in case.”
“We could be in danger,” said Barb. “If we
“Knowing the perp,” said Sue. “Then ratting him out.”
Milo said, “Ladies, this kind of citizen involvement is so important. But even if I signed this, it would be worthless because I don’t have the authority to grant-”
“So who does?” said Barb.
“I really don’t know, ma’am. It’s never come up.”
“Oh, c’mon. I see it all the time.
Milo said, “Sometimes on federal cases, there are grants of confiden-”
