'Which one, Mrs. Kimmel?'
'The third one.'
She pointed at Joe Pike.
'You're sure, Mrs. Kimmel? Take a careful look.'
'That's him right there. I know what I saw.'
Charlie whispered, 'Shit.'
Krantz glanced at Charlie now, but Charlie was watching Mrs. Kimmel.
Krantz said, 'Okay, but I'm going to ask you again. You're
218 ROBERT CRAIS
saying you saw that man, number three, walk down the alley beside your house and go into Eugene Dersh's backyard?'
'Damned right. You can't miss a face like that. You can't miss those arms.'
'And when the officers took your statement, that is the man you described?'
'Hell, yes. I saw him real good. Look at those damned tattoos.'
'All right, Mrs. Kimmel. Detective Watts is going to take you up to my office now. Thank you.'
Krantz didn't look at her when he said it; he was staring at Joe. He did not look at me or Charlie or Williams or anyone else in the room. He did not watch Mrs. Kimmel leave. He kept his eyes on Pike, and picked up the phone.
'Cuff the suspect and bring him in, please.'
Suspect.
The big cop handcuffed Joe, then brought him into the observation room.
Krantz watched Pike being cuffed, watched as he was brought in. When Pike was finally with us, Krantz took off Joe's glasses, folded them, and dropped them into his own pocket. For Krantz, no one else was in that room except him and Joe. No one else was alive, or mattered, or even meant a damn. What was about to happen meant everything. Was the only thing.
He said, 'Joe Pike, you're under arrest for the murder of Eugene Dersh.'
23
Krantz handled the booking himself, taking Joe's fingerprints and snapping his booking photo and typing the forms. Hollywood Homicide raised a stink, trying to keep jurisdiction of Dersh's murder since it fell in their area, but Krantz sucked it into the Robbery-Homicide black hole. Related to the Dersh investigation, he said. Overlapping cases, he said. He wanted Pike.
I watched for a time, sitting with Stan Watts at an empty desk, wishing I could talk to Pike. One minute you're asleep in bed, the next you're watching your friend being booked for murder. You put your feelings away. You make yourself think. Amanda Kimmel had picked Joe out of a lineup, but what did that mean? It meant that she had seen someone who looked more like Joe than the other men in the lineup. I would learn more when I spoke with Joe. I would learn more when I heard the prosecutor's case. When I learned more, I could do something.
I kept telling myself that because I needed to either believe it or scream.
I said, 'This is bullshit, Watts. You know that.'
'Is it?'
'Pike wouldn't kill this guy. Pike didn't think Dersh was good for those killings.'
Watts just stared at me, as blank as a wall. He'd sat with a thousand people who had said they didn 't do it when they had.
'What's next, Stan? The serial killer's dead, so you guys are going to declare victory and head for the donuts?'
Watts's expression never changed. 'I realize you're upset 219
220 ROBERT CRAIS
because of your friend, but don't mistake me for Krantz. I'll slap your fucking teeth down your throat.'
Finally, Watts took Charlie and me to an interview room where Joe was waiting. His jeans and sweatshirt had been replaced by blue LAPD JAIL coveralls. He sat with his fingers laced on the table, his eyes as calm as a mountain lake. It was odd to see him without his sunglasses. I could count on both hands the number of times I'd seen his eyes. Their blue is astonishing. He squinted, not used to the light.
I sighed. 'All the people in the world who need killing, and you've got to pick Dersh.'
Pike looked at me. 'Was that humor?'
Inappropriate is my middle name.
Charlie said, 'Before we get started, you want something to eat?'
'No.'
'Okay, here's what's going to happen. The ADA handling your case is a guy named Robby Branford. You know him?'
Pike and I both shook our heads.
'He's a square guy. A pit bull, but square. He'll be here soon, and we'll see what he's going to show the judge. The arraignment will be this afternoon over in Municipal Court. They'll keep you locked down here, then bring you over to the Criminal Court Building just before. Once we're there, it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. Branford will present the evidence, and the judge will decide if there's reasonable cause to believe you're the guy popped Dersh. Now, if the judge binds you over, it doesn't mean there's proof of your guilt, just that he believes there's enough reason to go to trial. If that's the way it breaks, we'll argue for bail. Okay?'
Pike nodded.
'Did you kill Dersh?'
'No.'
When he said it, I let out my breath. Pike must've heard, because he looked at me. The edge of his mouth flickered.
I said, 'Okay, Joe.'
Charlie didn't seem impressed, or moved. He'd heard it a million times, too.
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just picked you out of the lineup. She says she saw you going into Dersh's yard this morning just before he was killed.'
'Wasn't me.'
'You go over there last night?'
'No.'
'Where were you?'
'Running.'
'You were running in the middle of the goddamned night?'
I said, 'He does that.'
Charlie frowned at me. 'Did I ask you?' He opened a yellow legal pad to take notes. 'Let's back up. Give me your whole evening, say from about seven on.'
'I went by the store at seven. Stayed until a quarter to eight. Then went home and made dinner. I was home by eight. Alone.'
Charlie wrote down the names of Joe's employees, and their home phone numbers. 'Okay. You went home and made dinner. What'd you do after dinner?'
'I went to bed at eleven-ten. I woke a little after two, and went for a run.'
Charlie was scribbling. 'Not so fast. What'd you do between eight and eleven-ten?'
'Nothing.'
'What do you mean, nothing? You watch TV? You rent a movie?'
