long time. Liars falter. They look away. Roulet’s eyes were holding mine like magnets.
“There is also the civil liability to consider,” Dobbs added. “A guilty plea will allow this woman to -”
“I understand all of that,” I said, cutting him off again. “I think we’re all getting ahead of ourselves here. I only wanted to give Louis a general idea of the way this was going to go. We don’t have to make any moves or any hard-and-fast decisions for at least a couple of weeks. We just need to know at the arraignment how we are going to play it.”
“Louis took a year of law at UCLA,” Dobbs said. “I think he has baseline knowledge of the situation.”
Roulet nodded.
“Okay, good,” I said. “Then let’s just get to it. Louis, let’s start with you. Your mother said she expects to see you at dinner. Do you live at home? I mean at her home?”
“I live in the guesthouse. She lives in the main house.”
“Anyone else live on the premises?”
“The maid. In the main house.”
“No siblings, boyfriends, girlfriends?”
“That’s it.”
“And you work at your mother’s firm?”
“More like I run it. She’s not there too much anymore.”
“Where were you Saturday night?”
“Satur- you mean last night, don’t you?”
“No, I mean Saturday night. Start there.”
“Saturday night I didn’t do anything. I stayed home and watched television.”
“By yourself?”
“That’s right.”
“What did you watch?”
“A DVD. An old movie called
“So nobody was with you or saw you. You just watched the movie and then went to bed.”
“Basically.”
“Basically. Okay. That brings us to Sunday morning. What did you do yesterday during the day?”
“I played golf at Riviera, my usual foursome. Started at ten and finished at four. I came home, showered and changed, had dinner at my mother’s house-you want to know what we had?”
“That won’t be necessary. But later on I probably will need the names of the guys you played golf with. What happened after dinner?”
“I told my mother I was going to my place but instead I went out.”
I noticed that Levin had started taking notes on a small notebook he had taken out of a pocket.
“What kind of car do you drive?”
“I have two, an oh-four Range Rover I use for taking clients around in and an oh-one Carrera I use for myself.”
“You used the Porsche last night, then?”
“That’s right.”
“Where’d you go?”
“I went over the hill and down into the Valley.”
He said it as though it was a risky move for a Beverly Hills boy to descend into the working-class neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley.
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“ Ventura Boulevard. I had a drink at Nat’s North and then I went down the street a ways to Morgan’s and I had a drink there, too.”
“Those places are pickup bars, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes. That’s why I went to them.”
He was matter-of-fact about it and I appreciated his honesty.
“So you were looking for someone. A woman. Anyone in particular, someone you knew?”
“No one in particular. I was looking to get laid, pure and simple.”
“What happened at Nat’s North?”
“What happened was that it was a slow night, so I left. I didn’t even finish my drink.”
“You go there often? Do the bartenders know you?”
“Yeah, they know me. A girl named Paula was working last night.”
“Okay, so it wasn’t working for you there and you left. You drove down to Morgan’s. Why Morgan’s?”
“It’s just another place I go.”
“They know you there?”
“They should. I’m a good tipper. Last night Denise and Janice were behind the bar. They know me.”
I turned to Levin.
“Raul, what is the victim’s name?”
Levin opened his file to pull out a police report but answered before having to look it up.
“ Regina Campo. Friends call her Reggie. Twenty-six years old. She told police she’s an actress working as a telephone solicitor.”
“And hoping to retire soon,” Dobbs said.
I ignored him.
“Louis, did you know Reggie Campo before last night?” I asked.
Roulet shrugged.
“Sort of. I’d seen her around the bar scene. But I had never been with her before. I’d never even spoken to her.”
“Had you ever tried?”
“No, I never could really get to her. She always seemed to be with someone or more than one person. I don’t like to have to penetrate the crowd, you know? My style is to look for the singles.”
“What was different last night?”
“Last night she came to me, that was what was different.”
“Tell us about it.”
“Nothing to tell. I was at the bar at Morgan’s, minding my own business, having a look at the possibilities, and she was at the other end and she was with some guy. So she wasn’t even on my radar because she looked like she was already taken, you know?”
“Uh-huh, so what happened?”
“Well, after a while the guy she was with gets up to go take a leak or go outside for a smoke, and as soon as he’s gone she gets up and slides on down the bar to me and asks if I’m interested. I said I was but what about the guy she’s already with? She says don’t worry about him, he’ll be out the door by ten and then she’s free the rest of the night. She wrote her address down for me and said to come by after ten. I told her I’d be there.”
“What did she write the address down on?”
“A napkin, but the answer to your next question is no, I don’t still have it. I memorized the address and threw out the napkin. I work in real estate. I can remember addresses.”
“About what time was this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, she said come by at ten. Did you look at your watch at any point to see how long you would have to wait until then?”
“I think it was between eight and nine. As soon as the guy came back in they left.”
“When did you leave the bar?”
“I stayed for a few minutes and then I left. I made one more stop before I went to her place.”
“Where was that?”
“Well, she lived in an apartment in Tarzana so I went up to the Lamplighter. It was on the way.”
“Why?”
“Well, you know, I wanted to see what the possibilities were. You know, see if there was something better out there, something I didn’t have to wait around for or…”
