Evelyn continued on through the living room to disappear down a hall without answering.
Paulette said, 'It was hard on Evelyn. She's moving back home now. This boyfriend, the one who just left her, took their rent money and now she's lost her apartment. That's the kind of men she finds.'
'Was she close to her father?'
'Yes. Abel was a good father.'
I nodded. I wondered if she knew about Krantz's investigation. I wondered if she knew about Reena and Uribe and the burglaries.
'I really do have to be leaving soon. What is it that you want to know?'
'I want to know what happened that day.'
Paulette stiffened, not much, but I could see it.
'Why do you want to know about that?'
'Because I think someone is trying to frame Joe for Eugene Dersh's murder.'
She shook her head, but the stiffness remained.
'I couldn't even guess, Mr. Cole. My husband didn't talk about his job with me.'
'On the day your husband died, he and Joe were tipped to the whereabouts of this man DeVille by one of your husband's informants. Would you know who?'
Paulette Renfro stood, and now she wasn't looking so much like she wanted to help. Now she was looking uncomfortable and suspicious.
'No, I'm sorry.'
'He didn't talk about that kind of thing with you, or you don't remember?'
'I don't like to talk about that day, Mr. Cole. I don't know anything about it, or about my husband's job, or any of that. He never told me anything.'
'Please take a moment and think, Ms. Renfro. It would help if you could come up with a name.'
'I'm sure I never knew.'
Her daughter came back through the room then, carrying empty boxes and clothes hangers.
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Paulette Renfro said, 'Do you have all your things?'
'I'm going back for the last of it.'
'Do you need money?'
'I'm fine.'
Evelyn Wozniak stalked on through the living room and slammed the door. Again.
Paulette Renfro's jaw knotted. 'Do you have children, Mr. Cole?'
'No, ma'am.'
'You're lucky. I really do have to be going now. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help.'
'Could I call you again if I think of something to ask?'
'I don't think I'll be any more help then than now.'
She walked me to the door, and I went back out into the heat. She didn't come out with me.
Evelyn was waiting by her Beetle. She'd put on little sunglasses, but she was still squinting from the glare. Waiting for me in this insane heat. The boxes and hangers were in her car.
'She wouldn't talk about him, would she? My father.'
'Not very much.'
'She won't talk about that day. She never would, except to defend that guy.'
'Joe?'
Evie glanced toward the windmills, but shrugged without seeing them.
'Can you imagine? The bastard kills her husband, and she keeps that goddamned picture. I used to draw on it. I've broken that goddamned thing so many times I can't count.'
I didn't say anything, and she looked back at me.
'You're his friend, aren't you? You came out here trying to help him.'
'Yes.'
'Do you know that they were investigating my father? The Internal Affairs?'
'Yeah. I know.'
'She tried to keep it from me. And so did Daddy.' Daddy. Like she was still ten years old. 'Men came to the house and questioned her, and I heard. I heard her screaming at my fa-
L.A. REQUIEM 273
ther about it. Can you imagine what that's like when you're a child?'
I thought that I could, but I didn't say anything.
'She just won't talk about it. She'll talk about anything else, but not that, and that's the most important thing that's ever happened to me. It ruined my whole fucking life.'
Standing on the cement drive was like standing on a bright white beach. The heat baked up through my shoes. I wanted to move, but she seemed about to say something that wasn't easy for her to say, and I thought that if I moved it would break her resolve.
'I want to tell you something, you're his friend. That man killed my father. It was like my world ended, I loved my father so much, and there is nothing I would love more than to hurt the goddamned awful man who took him from me.'
Pike.
'But there's something I want more.'
I waited.
'She's got all Daddy's things in storage somewhere. You know, one of those rental places.'
'You know where?'
'I'll have to find out. I don't know if there's anything there that will help, but you're trying to find out what happened back then, right?'
I told her that I was, but that I also wanted other things. I said, 'I'm trying to help Joe Pike. I want you to know that, Evelyn.'
'I don't care about that. I just want to know the truth about my father.'
'What if it's bad?'
'I want to know. I guess I even expect that it is, but I just want to know why he died. I've spent my whole goddamned life wanting to know. Maybe that's why I'm so fucked up.'
I didn't know what to say.
'I don't think it was an accident. I think your friend murdered him.'
Exactly what Krantz had thought.
'If I help you, and you find out, will you tell me?'
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'If you want to know, I'll tell you.'
'You'll tell me the truth? No matter what?'
'If that's what you want.'
She wiped at her nose. 'It's like if I just knew, then I could go on, you know?'
We stood there for a time, and then I held her. We had been in the sun for so long that when my hands touched her back it felt as if I'd gripped a hot coal.
I watched the windmills stretching across the plain of the desert, turning in the never-ending wind.
After a time, Evie Wozniak stepped back. She wiped her nose again. 'This is silly. I don't even know you, and here I am telling you my life's secrets.'
'It works like that sometimes, doesn't it?'
