Reilly 09 - Presumption of Death (32 page)

“About?”

“Ruth Frost’s murder.”

“I’ve already consulted with my boss on that. She may have been murdered, but I don’t know why or by who, so I can’t link it to the arson case. So I’m not dismissing, you’re wasting your breath.”

“But why else would someone kill this poor woman? She had no money to steal. Come on, Jaime, you think someone did it to lash out at cat lovers?”

“We’ll find out. This is my only free time today, Nina, what else do you have?”

“Is there any progress on finding Robert Johnson?”

“Coyote? I haven’t heard a thing. State highway patrol has his license number, though, so we ought to grab him soon.”

“Before he takes these children as he threatened to do on the phone?”

“You mean the schizophrenic kid’s statement? Let me tell you, Nina, I’m using the word
statement
loosely. He didn’t feel like talking when my investigator went out to the juvenile facility to interview him.”

“You should warn the parents and grandparents on Siesta Court, Jaime. I don’t like having this information-”

“What evidence do you have that this alleged threat has anything to do with them?”

“The conchos in his tent link him to the fire.”

“They’re similar to the ones on the dead man’s belt, yeah.”

“He had an infusion of cash. That fits Nate’s story.”

“But doesn’t link him to the fires.”

“He worked on Ruth Frost’s car!”

“So we’re back to that. It isn’t a credible threat yet, Nina. I’m not going to throw those people into a panic.”

Five more minutes with Jaime convinced her that Wish was facing a real live preliminary hearing in ten days and she’d better get ready for it. She called a temporary secretarial service and arranged to interview someone the next day at Paul’s office. There would be motions, all kinds of paperwork.

Let the cramming begin. She had always been a crammer in school.

All right, let hell break loose, she could prepare for that with ten days’ lead time!

“Hi, Nate.” The boy looked at her slackly. He had been watching afternoon soap operas on TV. An orderly at the facility hung around close by, curious.

“Hi.” A string of saliva ran from the corner of his mouth and he looked pale and wan. She thought, Maybe he was better off undermedicated.

“How are you doing?”

He watched the TV. Diamonique bracelets were on sale on QVC. “It’s okay. But they never gave me any ice cream.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll see if I can help with that. Nate, you remember, when we came and got you”-he was nodding-“you told us why you had been chained to the tree?”

“Chained to the tree. I was.”

“Could you tell me again about the phone call you overheard?”

“Wee-zull. The phone call I overheard. The phone made a song and he answered. His face got funny and he looked around for me, but I was outside listening inside. He said, Don’t try to stiff me. It’s that simple. Or else I’ll take the children.”

“Did he say anything else about the children? Which children, Nate?”

“No.”

“Do you remember calling me at the court?”

“You weren’t there. She wrote it down.”

“Right. And you mentioned fire in your phone call. And you said something about ‘the big one.’ Remember?”

Nina waited, biting her nail. Nate hadn’t turned his head from the TV. He sounded remarkably coherent compared with the last time she had talked to him. Nina had represented mental patients before and believed that antipsychotic medications, with their side effects, were often overused in the interests of the institutions, not the patients. But today Nate sounded almost normal: dulled out, drooling, but almost coherent. The medicine was helping him, she had to admit.

“Take the children. Take the children. Take the children. Take the-” Again, Nina felt the clutch of fear.

“Thanks, Nate. Thanks very much. A friend of mine will be coming to see you soon. Dr. Cervenka. You’ll like him. He looks like Santa Claus.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know where your brother might have gone?”

“He must be dead.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Or he’d come get me out of here.”

“You-you want him to come get you?”

“He always took care of me. I don’t like it here.”

Nina walked swiftly down the concrete-floored hall to the front and was let out. At the counter, she asked the attendant where she could find the nearest ice-cream place. She dropped off a half-gallon of Neapolitan for Nate before she headed for Carmel Valley down 68.

Another hot, perfect summer day. Mount Toro loomed on her left.

The cell phone rang, and Paul came on. “I’m still waiting to talk to Crockett. What are you doing?”

She told him, then said, “I’m going to Britta Cowan’s travel agency and see if I can catch her.”

“What for?”

She heard that tone again, the one that told her he didn’t like her coming up with ideas on her own. She bridled.

“Don’t be overbearing, Paul,” she said.

He seemed surprised. “All I asked was-”

“Debbie said that Britta had an affair with Danny last year. Maybe she met Coyote at some point.”

After a short silence, Paul said, “That’s a good thought.”

“I have them sometimes. I asked Nate if he knew where Coyote might be and he said the strangest thing-that he wished he would come and get him out. After the maltreatment he suffered, I was surprised.”

“I called the condo to pick up voice mail. Sandy wants an update. You or me?”

“I’ll call. I’ll call Joseph too.”

“Great. What time will you be home?”

Home, Nina thought. “Late afternoon.”

“What’s for supper?”

“Whatever’s around.”

“I’ll stop at the store,” Paul said, hurt-sounding.

Carmel Valley Travel was located in a small strip mall on the main road just before the Village. Siesta Court was right down the hill. A school bus stopped just in front of Nina and disgorged its freight of children bowed like porters under their heavy backpacks. She saw George’s granddaughter Callie grab her little sister’s hand as they crossed the street, and it gave her a tight feeling in her chest. She didn’t agree with Jaime. The parents should be warned about a possible threat to the children.

Inside the travel agency, frigid air-conditioning, the usual racks of cruise folders, maps on the walls, Britta Cowan and another woman on the phones. She saw Nina but gave no sign. Nina went back and sat down in the chair next to her.

Britta was saying, “The Bangkok leg has aisle seats but no window except over the wing. You want that? Okay. And vegetarian meal, right? Okay. I’ll see what I can do. What?” Nina looked over the desk. All she saw was travel brochures, tickets, notes, and schedules. No plant, no photos, nothing personal. How odd, she thought. On the wall she saw a poster for Icelandic Airlines.

Britta hung up. “So where are we going today?” she said in her mocking voice.

“I wonder if we could talk for a few minutes.”

“As you can see, I’m trying to make a living.”

“It’s important.”

“To you, maybe.” But curiosity got the better of her, and she said, “Irene, I’ll be out back.”

She led Nina outside to a small, sunny, flowery courtyard. They sat down on some ironwork patio chairs. Britta pulled out a pack of cigarettes, stuck one in her mouth, and lit it with her Zippo. She wore tight white pants and a polo shirt. Her arms were toned and tan and the gold bracelets she wore showed them off.

“Nice poster. By your desk. Are you originally from Iceland?”

“Yes. Home of hot springs and Bjork.”

“You don’t have an accent.”

“I speak four languages without an accent. I was a flight attendant for Icelandic when I met David. He was drunk and I was poor. A perfect match, I thought.”

“How long have you been married?”

“Eight years.” She inhaled the smoke with pleasure. Sun filtered through the trees and made a halo of her hair. “And here I am.”

Nina was having trouble finding an opening. She decided to try to match Britta’s bluntness.

“A happy marriage?” she said.

“Sure.” Britta smiled slightly, enjoying Nina’s discomfiture.

“But you had an affair with Danny Cervantes last year.”

“Yes. And Sam Puglia too. But Sam was only good for a few nights. He ran home to Mama.”

“And Danny?”

“A kid.”

“Was he in love with you?”

“No. In fact, I think he despised me. But we got along in bed. Are we having fun yet?”

“How did your husband take these affairs?”

“David doesn’t care.”

“Then why do you stay married to him?”

“Faithfulness is overrated. We have things in common. Next question.”

“All right. Danny. How did you leave it with him?”

“I told him to get lost. He was borrowing money from me. The thrill was gone.”

“Did Danny talk to you recently about making some big money?”

For the first time Britta’s eyes clouded. She smoked some more, then said, “Maybe. Maybe I don’t want to be a witness in court about any of this, though.”

“I can understand that.” I’ll take that as a yes, Nina thought to herself, and furthermore, I’ll subpoena you if you know anything. She went on, “Did you ever meet Robert Johnson?”

“Coyote? Yes.”

“Where?”

“At a bar.”

“Alma’s?”

“Very good!”

Nina chose her next words carefully. “What did you think of him?”

“A jerk.”

“How so?”

“The type who gets belligerent and shoots his mouth off when he gets drunk. The type who dies in a bar fight.”

“What were he and Danny talking about?”

“The score.”

“The score?”

“That’s what they called it.”

“They were going to make some money?”

“Danny hired Coyote for some job. A big job.”

“What else, Britta?”

“I don’t want to say.”

Nina apologized to Paul, Jaime, and all authority figures in her mind, then said, “You know, Britta, Coyote has disappeared. He may have killed the Cat Lady. And he has made some threats.”

“Against who?”

“Some children. We don’t know yet whose children.”

“I’ll be sure to take mine out of town.” But her mouth trembled. “So he’s the man you were talking about at Debbie’s house.”

“If you know anything about Coyote that might help, you shouldn’t keep it a secret, no matter how much you don’t want to go to court.”

“You think he’d come after me?”

Nina shrugged. “What do you know?” she said.

Britta stubbed out her cigarette under her sandal. “You told me something,” she said, “so I’ll tell you something. Your client’s guilty.”

Nina closed her eyes and took that in. “Why do you say that?”

“Because Danny was in on the fires. With Coyote. They had this Tahoe connection, Washoe Indians or something. And your client, he’s another Washoe, right? He went up the mountain, right?”

“How do you know?”

“Alma’s. We’re sitting at the bar and they’re talking, and Coyote says something about laying in enough kerosene. And Danny says shut your mouth, and shoves him right off the bar stool. Coyote lies there for a while and then he gets up and shoves Danny back. Danny gives him this look and Coyote sits back down like a good boy. That’s it.”

“Was anyone else there who could have heard that statement?”

“I was drinking too. The room was turning into a carousel. But let me think. Yes. A cute guy with a gray beard. Paint all over his clothes. I think he knew both of them.”

The paranoid artist spent a lot of time at Alma’s. What had Cowboy Two said? Something about him doing drugs.

“I met him,” Nina said.

“He didn’t talk much, he just listened. And stared at me. I managed to slip him my phone number. He called and a couple of days later I went to his place.”

“I don’t need to know that-” Nina started, but Britta held up her hand.

“Danny and Coyote were just leaving when I got there, and I didn’t want Danny to see me, so I left and came back later. Donnelly-Donnelly was a dud. Wait. I won’t make your ears burn. But he told me that the two guys had been drinking with him, then he got a little scared of them. They were asking for a loan and he said no.”

“Thank you, Britta.” Stay calm, Nina told herself, and began analyzing this information, deciding how it impacted Wish’s case.

“Maybe it’s my ass on the line now. Or my kids. I think I better go home and deal with this.”

“Just one more question. At any time-did Coyote or Danny ever use my client’s name? Wish or Willis?”

Britta said, “I never heard of your client. He came out of the blue. Maybe Danny hired him later on.”

“Okay,” Nina said.

“But if you subpoena me, I’m gonna hurt you.”

“I see that you might.”

“Good.” She smoked calmly. She was quite beautiful, shiny with her polished nails and lip gloss on her plump mouth.

“Britta? I still don’t understand. About your marriage. About you.”

“And I’m not going to enlighten you. I’ll tell you just one thing. David and I will be together until the end of time.”

“Just a suggestion,” Nina said. “You might want to double-check your husband’s bank accounts to see if he’s the one who paid Coyote. Just to be sure. About that end-of-time thing.” She left Britta on the sunny patio, looking thoughtful.

“Hello, Sandy,” Nina said into the cell phone. “So you have a cell phone too now.”

“I got right in there with the twenty-first century. It does come in handy. Have you got Willis out of jail yet?”

“Not yet.” Nina updated Sandy, then said, “I’m afraid it’s going to go into a prelim.”

“Well, you’re pretty good at those. You’re gonna put up a defense, aren’t you?”

The preliminary hearing in California had only two purposes-to determine if there was probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed, and that the defendant was the person who had committed the crime. If so, the defendant would be bound over for trial.

At this early stage, the defense usually assumed probable cause would be found to exist, and let the D.A. present its minimal evidence for that purpose. Though the defense might cross-examine, in general the defense did not put on its own witnesses.