I watched them load the body into the coroner's van, then drove down to the little strip mall at the bottom of Lake Hollywood, where I phoned Lucy.
She said, 'I moved the couch without you.' First thing out of her mouth.
'The woman we were looking for was found murdered. Her father wanted me to be there while the crime scene people did
48
L.A. REQUIEM 49
their jobs. That's where I've been. She was thirty-two years old, and going to school so that she could work with children. Somebody shot her in the head while she was jogging at Lake Hollywood.' Lucy didn't say anything, and neither did I until I realized I had dumped it out on her. Then I said, 'Sorry.'
'Would you like to be with us tonight?'
'Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that very much. Would you guys come for dinner?'
'Tell me what to bring.'
'I'll stop. Shopping is good for the soul.'
At the Lucky Market, I bought shrimp, celery, green onions, and bell peppers. I also bought one bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, two limes, and a case of Falstaffbeer. I drank a can of the Falstaff while I was waiting in line, and got disapproving looks from the other shoppers. I pretended not to notice. They probably hadn't spent the day with a young woman with a hole in her head.
The cashier said, 'Are we having a nice day, sir?'
'Couldn't be better.' I tried not to blow beer in her face.
Twenty minutes later I pulled into the carport of the little A-frame house I have perched on the side of a mountain just oif Woodrow Wilson Drive in Laurel Canyon. A fine layer of ash had blown into the carport, showing a single set of cat prints going from the side of the house to the cat hatch built into my door. People in Minnesota see things like this with snow.
The cat was waiting by his water bowl. It was empty. I put the groceries on the counter, filled the cat's bowl, then sat on the floor and listened to him drink. He's large and black, the black shot through with gray that grows from the lacework of scars on his head and shoulders. When he first came to me, he would watch me when he drank, but now he ignored me, and when I touched him, he purred. We had become a family.
When the groceries were away, I made a drink, drank most of it, then went up to my loft and took a shower. I showered twice, letting the hot run until the water was cold, but the smell of the crime scene stayed with me, and even the rush of water wasn't as loud as the buzz of the bottle flies. I pulled on
50 ROBERT CRAIS
a pair of loose cotton pants and went downstairs, barefoot and shirtless.
Lucy was in the kitchen, looking over the vegetables I had left in the sink.
I said, 'Hey.'
'Hey, yourself.' She eyed my empty glass without expression. 'What are we drinking?'
'Sapphire and tonic.'
'Pour. What are we making?'
'I was hoping you'd teach me how to make shrimp etouffee.'
She smiled then, softly and to herself. 'That would be nice.'
'Where's Ben?'
'Outside on the deck. We rented a tape for him to watch while you and I cook.'
'Back in five.'
'You take your time.'
Her smile pushed the bottle flies farther away.
Ben was on the deck that juts from the back of my house, hanging over the rail to look for the blacktail deer that browse in the wild grass between the olive trees below me. Here in the middle of fourteen million people we've got deer and coyote and quail and red-tailed hawks. Once, I even saw a bobcat on my deck.
I went out, leaned over the rail beside him, and looked down the slope. I saw only shadows.
'Mom said the woman you were trying to find was murdered.'
'That's right.'
'I'm sorry.'
His face was concerned and sorrowful. Nine years old.
'Me, too, buddy.' Then I smiled at him, because nine-year-olds shouldn't have such sorrow. 'Hey, when are you heading off to tennis camp?' Lucy and Ben were serious tennis players.
Ben leaned farther over the rail. 'Couple of days.'
'You don't look happy about it.'
'They make you ride horses. It's gonna smell like poop.'
L.A. REQUIEM 51
Life is tough when the world smells like poop.
Inside, I got him set up with the VCR, then went back into the kitchen with Lucy. 'He says tennis camp is going to smell like poop.'
'Yes,' she said. 'It will. But it gives him the chance to meet three boys who go to his new school.'
'Is there anything you haven't thought of ?'
'No. I'm a mom.'
I nodded.
'Also, it gives us two weeks alone.'
'Moms know everything.'
It took about an hour to make the etouffee. We peeled the shrimp, then wilted the vegetables in canola oil, and added tomatoes and garlic. I found peace in the small motor activity, and in telling Lucy about Frank and Joe and Karen Garcia. To cook is to heal.
Lucy said, 'Here's the important part. Pay close attention.'
'Okay.'
She pulled my face down, brushed her lips against mine, then let them linger.
'Feel better?'
I held up my hand. She laced her fingers through mine, and I kissed them.
'Better.'
We were waiting for rice to cook when Joe Pike let himself in. I hadn't expected him, but he'll drop by like that. Lucy put down her drink, and gave him a warm hug. 'I understand you knew her, Joe. I'm sorry.'
Joe seemed gigantic next to her, like some huge golem masked in shadow even in my bright kitchen.
Ben yelled, 'Hey, Joe! I've got
'Not tonight, little man.' He looked at me. 'Montoya worked out a deal with Bishop. We can report to Robbery- Homicide at Parker Center tomorrow morning. They'll assign a contact officer, and we'll be briefed.'
'All right.'
52
ROBERT CRAIS
'They'll give us copies of all reports, transcripts, and witness statements.'
He was giving me the information, but I wondered why he had come. He could have phoned it over.
I said, 'What?'
'Can I talk to you about this?'
'Sure.'
