“My pleasure, Robert. So why’d you strangle Lester Jordan?”
“I didn’t,
“Peterson Whitbread.”
“To me he was always Blaise.”
“What does his mother call him?”
Fisk smiled. “Mostly, ‘the little shit.’”
Raul Biro said, “Papa beats him and Mama doesn’t care.”
“He’s been giving her stress since day one,” said Fisk. “That’s how I met him, she wanted me to babysit him.”
Petra said, “Mary paid you to watch over Blaise?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Hundred here, hundred there.”
“Cash?”
“Yes.”
“How’d you and Mary meet?”
Fisk rolled his shoulders. “I was working out five times a week at The Steel Mill, Santa Monica and La Cienega. Guys there were always talking about how much money they were making doing adult-genre films. Directors like guys with cut bodies.”
Stroking his own forearm.
“Adult genre,” said Petra.
Fisk nodded. “I was between teaching jobs, some guy at the gym says they’re auditioning out in the Valley, I figured why not? Mary was there.”
“Mary was auditioning also?”
“No, running the audition. With some other guys.”
Petra checked her notes. “Was the company Righteous and Raw Productions?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of teaching jobs were you in between?”
“Yoga, aerobics, tae kwon do, kendo, Javanese spear, judo, you name it. My ultimate goal is to be a fight coordinator.”
Milo said, “Idiot’s still talking in the present tense.”
Petra said, “A fight coordinator like for the movies?”
“Fights don’t just happen,” said Fisk. “You’ve got to set them up.”
“Choreography.”
“Kind of.”
“So,” said Petra, “you auditioned for Mary. Get the job?”
Color seeped up Fisk’s neck, made its way to flat, static cheeks. “I changed my mind.”
“Adult genre wasn’t for you.”
“Not really.”
Petra said, “But you hooked up with Mary.”
Fisk said, “It started off as a training thing. I got her into advanced stretching, light weights, balance and posture. Cardio she already did on her treadmill. She’s in great shape for forty-seven.”
Mary Whitbread’s stats put her at fifty-three.
Petra said, “She is a very attractive woman, Robert. So the two of you developed a sexual relationship.”
“Not really,” said Fisk.
“Robert, we found you guys in bed.”
“There was sex but it wasn’t
“What was it?”
“Intimacy. Being friendly.”
“But that did include a sexual relationship.”
“Depends on what you mean by relationship.”
Milo muttered, “This guy should run for president.”
Raul Biro said, “We’re defining it as you fucked her.”
Long pause. “That happened. Occasionally.”
Biro leaned in. “Is there some reason you’re ashamed of that, dude?”
“No, she’s…no, I’m okay with it.”
“What?” pressed Biro.
Fisk didn’t answer.
“Something go wrong in that department?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” said Fisk. “She’s older, that’s all.”
“Hey,” said Petra, “age is arbitrary.”
“That’s what she said.”
“You and Mary became intimate and you came to see her tonight.”
“We didn’t see each other in a while, she said she was making a vegan dinner, tempeh and tofu. I got her into vegan, sometimes we went to Real Food Daily.”
Milo said, “Ah, the pitfalls of tragic love.”
Petra said, “Mary had you hang with Blaise so…”
“He wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
“It wasn’t dope Mary was worried about, was it, Robert? She was concerned about some really bad stuff. She knew about other crimes Blaise had committed.”
Silence.
“Robert, we got you the juice and the PowerBar and we even bought some extra bottles, which are right outside if you get thirsty again. But you’ve got to hold up your end. Let’s not forget: Those were your prints on Lester Jordan’s windowsill. If Blaise tells another story, that makes it your word against his and we’ve got to follow the evidence. But if we knew Blaise had a history of violence, that would change things.”
“Let me ask you,” said Fisk. “Again, theoretically.”
“Sure.”
“Knowing about something isn’t a crime, right?”
“Not if you had nothing to do with the crime.”
“That fingerprint, Detective Connor, it could happen any kind of way. Maybe I walked by there another time and touched it. Maybe Blaise got one of my prints and stuck it there. Or someone made a mistake, that happens, right?”
Petra smiled. “Anything’s possible, Robert. But even flawed evidence is better than none.”
Fisk said, “I can tell you more important stuff than what happened to Lester. But all I
“What kind of important stuff?”
“Mary knew, too. You’re right, that’s why she hired me.”
Milo said, “Intimacy goes the way of all bullshit.”
Petra said, “Anything you can say to help us-and yourself-would be appreciated, Robert.”
Fisk sucked in his breath. Stared at the empty wax cup he’d drained five times. “I’m thirsty again.”
Petra sat back, crossed her legs.
“Detective Connor, all I know is what Mary told me. She said Blaise killed some guys over dope, they tried to cheat him because he was young, fifteen, sixteen. They figured he’d be too scared to fight back, so he shot them.”
“Names?”
“She said one was Lester’s friend and Lester didn’t like that, woulda slapped Blaise around but he got scared Blaise would shoot him, too.”
“Bunch of anonymous dope guys,” said Raul.
“Don’t know any names. She said he also killed some
