David said, “Anyway, back to the salient issue: She never once had a visitor that we saw and now some guy was looking up at her place.”
I said, “From across the street.”
“He took off the moment he saw me watching him.”
“What did he look like?”
“White, maybe five eleven. What I did find unusual was how he was dressed. It was a warm day but he was wearing a coat. No one wears coats in L.A., I brought one from Philly, it’s still in a garment bag.”
“What kind of coat?”
“Kind of bulky. Or maybe he was bulky and filled it out.”
Sondra said, “Given the benefit of hindsight, maybe he chose a bulky garment in order to conceal a gun. Was she shot?”
Milo said, “She was stabbed.”
She gripped her husband’s arm. “God, even if we had been there, it could’ve gone on right under our noses and we might not have heard it. That’s repellent.”
I said, “What else can you remember about this person, David?”
“That’s it.”
“What was his age?”
“I really can’t say.”
“When he left how did he move?”
He thought. “He didn’t limp if that’s what you’re getting at… didn’t move like an old guy, so probably not too old. I wasn’t close enough to get details. I was more concerned about what he was doing there. In fact, I wasn’t really worried, more like curious. It’s when he got out of there that I started to wonder.”
Milo said, “Think he was younger than fifty?”
“Hmm… probably.”
“Younger than forty?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
“If you had to guess.”
“Twenties or thirties,” he said. “And I don’t even know why I’m saying that.”
“Fair enough.” Milo turned to Sondra.
She said, “Three weeks ago-I know that because I was rotating at a clinic in Palmdale, too far to commute so mostly I slept out there but that night I got off early and David was on call and I wanted to clean up the apartment. So that would make it a week or two after Davey saw him. It was also at night, nine-ish, I’d gotten home at eight, eaten, showered, was doing some puttering, it relaxes me. Part of that was emptying the trash baskets into a big garbage bag and taking them out to the alley.”
She bit her lip. “In retrospect, it’s terrifying.”
I said, “Someone was in the alley.”
She nodded. “Not near our garbage, near the garbage next door. I must’ve spooked him because as soon as I got to our garbage, I heard footsteps. Then I saw him running. That freaked me out. Not only had he been there and I was unaware, but the fact that he ran away. Why would you run if you weren’t up to no good? He ran fast, west up the alley. Some of the properties have security lights and as he passed under them I could see his form diminishing. Could see his coat billowing. That’s why I know-I think-it’s the same person Davey saw. It was a warm night, why wear a coat? I can’t give you his age, saw him from the distance and from the back. But from the way he moved-more like a bear than a deer-I got the feeling he was kind of husky, the bulk just wasn’t the coat. Do you think Vita’s murder had to do with her specifically?”
Milo said, “As opposed to?”
“A random psychopath.”
David said, “Obviously we’d rather it be something specific and not some sexual predator targeting all women.”
Sondra said, “That night, when I went down to the garbage, it really was warm. I had on a tank top and shorts. And I’m not sure I drew all the drapes on our windows.”
Her eyes teared up.
Milo said, “We have no evidence he was after anyone at the building other than Vita.”
“Okay,” she said. Her tone belied any confidence.
David said, “No matter, we’re out of there.”
I said, “Sonny, when you saw this person running away, what did you do?”
“I hurried back inside.”
“The only rational response,” said David.
Her eyes shot to the left.
I said, “Did you look around at all before you hurried back?”
David said, “Why would she?”
Sondra said, “Actually…”
David stared at her.
“Just for a second, Davey. I was frightened but I was also curious, what would someone be doing there? I wanted to see if he left something. Some kind of evidence. So I’d have something to report to the police if he came back.”
“Wow,” said David. “Wow-ow.”
“It’s okay, hon, he was long gone, there was absolutely no danger. I only looked around a bit and then I went right back inside.”
I said, “What’d you see?”
“Not much. There was a box on the ground so I assumed he’d been rooting around in the trash. I wondered if he was just a homeless guy scrounging for something to eat. That could explain the coat. When I rotated through Psych they told us schizophrenics sometimes dressed way too heavy.”
“What kind of box?”
“A pizza box, empty. I know that because I picked it up and put it in the trash and from the weight you could tell it was empty.”
David said, “Ugh, time for Purell.”
She shot him a sharp look. “Like I didn’t?”
“I’m kidding.”
Milo said, “Any markings on the pizza box?”
“I didn’t notice. Why? Does pizza have something to do with Vita?”
Milo said, “Nope.”
“So maybe,” said Sondra, “he was just a mentally disturbed homeless guy Dumpster-diving, no big deal.”
“Anything else?”
Twin head shakes.
“Okay, thanks, here’s my card and when you need that escort, give a ring.”
Both Feldmans stood. He was an easy six four, she was four inches shorter. One day they might breed and create a brainy power forward.
As we headed for the door, I said, “Philly as in Penn?”
Sondra said, “Undergrad and med school for me, med school for Davey, he did undergrad at Princeton.”
David allowed himself a smile. “We come across as Ivy League twits?”
“You come across as serious thinkers.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I think.”
“Thinking,” said his wife, “can be a big pain.”
CHAPTER
