'I showered.'
'You didn't shower for three goddamned hours. You read a book? Maybe call a friend, someone call you? Did your laundry?'
'No.'
'You had to be doing something besides the goddamned shower. Think about it.'
Pike thought.
'I was being.'
Charlie wrote on the pad. I could see his mouth move. BEING.
'Okay. So you ate, took your shower, then sat around
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'being' until you went to bed. Then you woke up a little after two and went for a run. Give us the route.'
Joe described the route he followed, and now I was writing, too. I was going to retrace his route during the day, then again at the same time he'd run it, looking for anyone who might've seen him.
Pike said, 'I stopped at the bluffs on Ocean Avenue between Wilshire and San Vicente, where you can see the water. I talked to a girl there. Her name was Trudy.'
Pike described her.
Charlie said, 'No last name?'
'I didn't ask. She was meeting someone named Matt. A black minivan arrived. New Dodge, no license or dealer tag that I could see. Custom teardrop windows in the back. She got in and they left. Whoever was inside would've seen me.'
I said, 'When was that?'
'Got to the bluffs about two-fifty. Started running again just at three.'
Charlie raised his eyebrows. 'You're sure about the time?'
'Yes.'
I said, 'That's only fifteen minutes or so before the old lady heard the shot. No way you could get from the ocean to Dersh's in fifteen minutes. Not even at three in the morning.'
Charlie nodded, thinking about it and liking it. 'Okay. That's something. We've got the girl, maybe. And all this running could give us plenty of potential witnesses.' He glanced at me. 'You're gonna get started on that?'
'Yes.'
Someone rapped at the door, and Charlie yelled for them to come in.
Williams stuck his head in. 'DA's here.'
'Be right out.'
When Williams closed the door, Joe said, 'What about bail?'
'You've got your business. You've got a home. All of that is to the good when I'm trying to convince a judge you won't run. But when you're talking murder, it depends on the strength of their evidence. Branford will make a big deal about this old
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lady, but he knows—and so does the judge—that eyewitness testimony is the least dependable evidence you can admit. If all he has is the old lady, we're in good shape. You just sit tight, and don't worry, okay?'
Pike put the calm blue eyes on me, and I wished I knew what was behind them. He seemed peaceful, as if far worse things had happened to him, and nothing that could happen here would be as bad. Not even here. Not even charged with murder.
He said, 'Don't forget Karen.'
'I won't, but right now you have to come first. Edward Deege is dead. He was found murdered.'
Pike cocked his head. 'How?'
'Dolan says it looks like a street beef, but Hollywood has the case. They're investigating.'
Pike nodded.
'I'll see about finding Trudy.'
'I know.'
'Don't worry about it.'
'I'm not.'
I took my sunglasses from my shirt pocket and held them out.
Pike's eyes flicked to the glasses.
'Krantz would just take them.'
Charlie Bauman said, 'Come on, for chrissake. We don't have all day.'
I put the sunglasses back in my pocket and followed Charlie out.
Robert Branford was a tall man with large hands and bristling eyebrows. He met us in the hall, then walked us into a conference room where Krantz was sitting at the head of a long table. A TV and VCR were in the corner, and a short stack of files and legal pads were on the table. The TV was on, showing a blank blue screen. I wondered what they'd been watching.
Even before we were all the way in the room, Charlie said, 'Hey, Robby, you meet your eyewitness yet?'
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'Mrs. Kimmel? Not yet. Gonna see her after the arraignment.'
'Better see her before.'
'Why is that, Charlie? She got three heads?'
Charlie made a drinking motion. 'Booze hound. Jesus, Krantz, I'm surprised you could stand being so close to her at the lineup. Damn near knocked me out when she walked past.'
Branford had gone to his own briefcase and was taking papers from different manila folders. He raised his eyebrows toward Krantz.
To his credit, Krantz nodded. 'She's a drinker.'
Charlie took a seat at the table without bothering to open his briefcase. 'Did Krantz tell you about the Ml? If you're going to her place, you'd better wave a white flag before you get out of your car.'
Krantz said, 'I told him, Bauman. What does that have to do with anything?'
Charlie spread his hands, Mr. Innocent. 'Just want to make sure Robby knows what he's getting into. A seventy- eight-year-old lush gives a visual on a guy she's trying to plug with an Ml Garand rifle. That's going to look real good when you get to court.'
Branford laughed. 'Sure, Bauman. You're thinking about my best interests.' Branford took a slim stack of papers from his briefcase and handed them to Charlie. 'Here's Mrs. Kimmel's statement, plus the reports written by the officers responding to her call. We don't have anything in from the CI or the criminalist yet, but I'll copy you as soon as we get anything.'
Charlie flipped through the pages absently. 'Thanks, Robby. Hope you got more to offer the court than Mrs. Kimmel.'
Branford smiled tightly. 'We do, but let's start with her. We've got an eyewit who puts your man at the scene, and picked him out of a line. Second, the swabs came back positive, confirming that Pike recently fired a weapon.'
I said, 'Pike owns a gun shop. He shoots every day of his life.'
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Krantz leaned back. 'Yeah. And today he took one shot too many.'
Charlie ignored him. 'SID match the slug and Pike's gun? '
'SID has the weapons at the shed now, running them.'
