instead of following up a lead.'
'You're a pip, Krantz.'
L.A. REQUIEM 67
'Yeah. Get him down there, Dolan. I'll be along in a minute.'
Dolan led me to a small conference room where Watts and Williams were waiting, along with a tall thin detective named Bruly and a Hispanic detective named Salerno. Bruly whispered something to Salerno when we walked in, and Salerno smiled. Dolan took a seat without introducing me, or saying anything to the others. Maybe she didn't like them, either.
Williams said, 'This is Elvis Cole. He represents the family. He gets to keep an eye on us in case we fuck up.'
'I've already told'm about you, Williams.' I thought I might win them over with clever repartee.
Salerno grinned. 'You catch a lot of grief with that name?'
'What, Cole?'
Salerno laughed. You see about the repartee?
Krantz steamed in with a mug of coffee and a clipboard. 'You people want to keep wasting time, or you want to knock off the bullshit?'
Salerno stopped smiling.
Krantz had some of the coffee as he read over the clipboard, then said, 'Here's what we have: Karen Garcia was murdered at approximately ten A.M. Saturday morning by an unknown assailant or assailants at the Lake Hollywood Reservoir. We have recovered and impounded her car, which was located in a parking lot on Barham Boulevard. We believe the perpetrator fired one shot from a small-bore pistol at close range. Her body was discovered by two hikers the following day. We have their initial interviews in hand. We are also questioning other people known to have been at the lake on Saturday, or who live nearby, as well as people associated with the victim. Detectives from Rampart, Hollywood, West L.A., and Wilshire divisions are assisting in this effort. We have no suspects at this time.' Krantz sounded like Jack Webb.
'Is that it?'
Krantz flexed his jaw, pissed. 'The investigation's only twenty hours old. How much do you want?'
'I wasn't criticizing.'
68
ROBERT CRAIS
I took out two sheets that I had typed, and slid them across the table. Krantz didn't touch them.
'This is everything that Frank Garcia told me about his daughter's activities on that Saturday, as well as everything I learned when I was trying to find her. I thought it might help. Pike and I spoke to some kids at a Jungle Juice stand who knew Karen's pattern. Their names are here, too.'
'We've already talked to them, Cole. We're mobilized. Tell that to the vic's father.' Like he couldn't be any more annoyed.
'We found a homeless man named Edward Deege below the lake. Deege claims he saw a female runner approached by a red or brown SUV He's flaky, but you might want to question him.'
Krantz glanced irritably at his watch, like we were wasting more time than he'd allowed. Three minutes. 'Pike told us about this stuff last night, Cole. We're on it. Now, is there anything else?'
'Yeah. I need to attend the autopsy.'
Krantz and Watts traded raised eyebrows, then Krantz smiled at me. 'You're kidding me, right? Does her father want pictures?'
'It's like me going up to the lake. He just wants someone there.'
'My God.'
Watts had never stopped looking at Krantz. He cleared his throat. 'County's got a backlog down there. They got bodies stacked up, waiting two, three weeks. We're trying to get a rush, but I don't know.'
Krantz and Watts stared at each other some more, and then Krantz shrugged. 'I don't know when the autopsy's going to happen. I don't know if you can be there. I have to find out.'
'Okay. I want to see copies of any witness statements and the criminalist's report.'
'The criminalist's report isn't in yet. He's still working the scene. So far there aren't any witness statements except for the two guys who found the body.'
'If you have transcripts, I'd like to have copies.'
Krantz crossed his arms, and tipped back in the chair. 'You
L.A. REQUIEM 69
want to read the stuff, you can read it, but you're not making copies and you're not taking anything out of this building.'
'I'm supposed to be copied. If you've got a problem with that, we're going to have to call the A-chief, and ask him.'
Krantz sighed. 'Then we'll have to ask him. I hear you want the reports, Cole, but we don't have any reports to show you yet. As for getting copies, I'm going to have to talk that over with Bishop. If he says fine, then okay.'
I could live with that. 'Who's keeping the book, you or Watts?'
Watts said, 'Me. Why?'
'I'd like to see it.'
'Noway.'
'What's the big deal? It'll save everybody time.' The murder book was a chronological record of all the facts of the investigation. It would include notes from participating officers, witness lists, forensic evidence, everything. It would also be the easiest way for me to stay up to date with their casework.
Watts said, 'Forget it. We get to trial, we'll have to explain to a defense attorney why a civilian was screwing around with our notes. We can't find something, he'll argue that you screwed with our evidence and we're so incompetent that we didn't know any better.'
'C'mon, Watts. I'm not going to take it home. You can even turn the pages, if you want. It'll be easier on everybody.'
Krantz checked his watch again and pushed up out of the chair.
'No book. We got a couple hundred people to interview, so this briefing is officially over. Here are the rules, Cole. As long as you're in this building, you're with Dolan. Anything you want, ask her. Any questions, ask her. If you gotta take a leak, she waits outside the door. You do anything without her, it violates the agreement we have with Montoya and you're history. You got it?'
'I still want to read the transcripts.'
Krantz waved at Dolan. 'Dolan will take care of that.'
70
ROBERT CRAIS
Dolan glanced at Watts. 'I'm supposed to talk to the two uniforms who rolled out when her body was found.'
Krantz said, 'Salerno can talk to the uniforms. You stay with Cole. You can handle that, can't you?'
'I'd rather work the case, Harvey.' She said his name like it was another word for 'turd.'
I cleared my throat. 'What about the autopsy?'
'I said I'd find out about it, and I will. Jesus Christ, we're trying to catch a killer and I've got to babysit you.'
Krantz walked out without another word. Except for Dolan, his detectives went with him. Dolan stayed in her seat, looking angry and sullen.
