It took six minutes for the jail deputy to return to the phone.
“Yeah, he’s still here.”
“Please have him call me when he gets out. It’s important.”
He asked me for my name and number. Again. Said, “Okay,” but his tone saiddon’t count on it.
An hour later, I tried again. A different deputy said, “Let mecheck—Sturgis? He’s gone.”
I finally reached him in his car.
He said, “Vasquez wasted my time. All of a sudden he remembers Peatythreatened him overtly1. ‘I’ll mess you up, dude.’”
“Sounds more like something Vasquez would say.”
“Shuldiner’s gonna push a chronic2 bullying3 defense5. Anyway, I’m finishedwith it, finally able to focus on Nora and Meserve. Still no sign they took anycommercial flight but Angeline Wasserman’s I.D. of the Range Rover can probablyget me some subpoenas6 for private charter lists. I’m off to file paper. How youfeeling?”
“Is the woman the coroner referred to you named Marcia Peaty?”
“Yeah, why?”
“She’s the Dowds’ cousin, as well.” I told him what I learned from AlbertBeamish.
“The old man actually had something to say. So much for my instincts.”
I said, “The Dowd sibs hire their cousin as a minimum-wage janitor7 and givehim a former laundry room to live in. Tells you something about theircharacter. The fact that none of them thinks to mention it says more. Have achance to look into the brothers’ private holdings?”
“Not yet, guess I’d better do it. Marcia Peaty never told me she was theircousin as well as Peaty’s.”
“When are you meeting her?”
“An hour. She’s staying at the Roosevelt on Hollywood. I set it up for Musso and Frank,figured I’d at least get a good meal out of it.”
“Family secrets and sand dabs8,” I said.
“I was thinking chicken potpie.”
“Sand dabs for me,” I said.
“You’re actually hungry?”
“Starving.”
I parked in the gigantic lot behind Musso and Frank. All that land,developers had to be drooling and I imagined the roar of jackhammers. Therestaurant was nearly a century old, impervious10 to progress and regress. Sofar, so good.
Milo had staked out a corner booth in thesoutheast corner of Musso’s larger room. Twenty-foot ceilings painted a grimbeige you don’t see anymore, green print hunting scenes on the walls, oakpaneling nearly black with age, strong drinks at the bar.
An encyclopedic menu touts11 what’s now called comfort food but used to bejust food. Some items take time and the management warns you not to beimpatient. Musso might be the last place in L.A. where you can order a slab12 of spumonifor dessert.
Cheerful green-jacketed busboys circled the cavernous space and filled waterglasses for the half dozen parties enjoying a late lunch. Red-jacketed waiterswho made Albert Beamish seem amiable13 waited for a chance to enforce theno-substitution rule.
A few booths featured couples looking happily adulterous. A table in themiddle of the room hosted five white-haired men wearing cashmere sweaters andwindbreakers. Familiar but unidentifiable faces; it took a while to figure outwhy.
A quintet of character actors—men who’d populated my childhood TV showswithout ever getting star billing. All of them looked to be pushing a robusteighty. Lots of elbow-bending and laughter. Maybe the bottom of the funnelwasn’t necessary for grace.
Milo was working on a beer. “Computer linesare finally back up. I just had Sean run the property search and guess what:Nothing for Brad, but Billy owns ten acres in Latigo Canyon15.A short drive above where Michaela and Meserve pretended to be victims.”
“Oh, my,” I said. “Just land, no house?”
“That’s how it’s registered.”
“Maybe there are no-code shacks16 on the property,” I said.
“Believe me, I’m gonna find out.” He looked at his Timex.
“Brad’s the dominant17 one but he doesn’t own any land of his own?”
“Not even the house in Santa Monica Canyon.That’s Billy’s. So’s the duplex in Beverly Hills.”
“Three parcels each for Billy and Nora,” I said. “Nothing for Brad.”
“Could be one of those tax things, Alex. He takes a salary for managing allthe shared buildings, has some IRS reason not to own.”
“On the contrary, property tax is deductible. So are depreciation18 andexpenses on rentals19.”
“Spoken like a true land baron20.”
I’d made serious money buying and selling properties during a couple ofbooms. Had opted21 out of the game because I didn’t like being a landlord, putthe profits in bonds and clipped coupons22. Not too smart if net worth was yourgoal. I used to think my goal was serenity23. Now, I had no idea.
I said, “Maybe Cousin Marcia can clue us in.”
He tilted24 his head toward the back of the room. “Yup, being a veterandetective, I’d say that’s her.”
The woman who stood to the right of the bar was six feet tall, forty or so,with curly dishwater hair and a piercing stare. She wore a black crewneck andslacks, carried a cream leather handbag.
Milo said, “She’s checking the premiseslike a cop,” and waved.
She waved back and approached. The purse was printed with a world-map design.A gold crucifix pendant was her only jewelry25. Up close, her hair was wiry,combed in a way that obscured half her right eye. The iris26 and its mate werebright and searching and gray.
Narrow face, sharp nose, outdoor skin. No resemblance I could see to ReynoldPeaty. Or to the Dowds.
“Lieutenant? Marcia Peaty.”
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Milointroduced me, minus my title.
I pictured Al Beamish scowling27.
Marcia Peaty shook our hands and sat. “I remember this place as having greatmartinis.”
“You from L.A.originally?”
“Raised in Downey.My father was a chiropractor, had an office there and right here in Hollywood, on Edgemont. Agood report card used to earn me lunch with him. We always came here, and whenno one was looking, he let me try his martinis. I thought they tasted likeswimming pool acid but never let on. Wanting to be mature, you know?” Shesmiled. “Now I like them all by myself.”
A waiter came over and she ordered the cocktail28 on the rocks, with olivesand an onion. “My version of salad.”
The waiter said, “Another beer?”
Milo said, “No, thanks.”
“You?”
The memory of Beamish’s single malt leased space in my palate. “Coke.”
The waiter frowned and left.
Milo said, “What can I do for you, Ms.Peaty?”
“I’m trying to find out what happened to Reyn.”
“How’d you hear about it?”
“I’m a colleague—used to be.”
“Las Vegas PD?”
“Twelve years,” she said. “Mostly Vice29 and Auto30 and then I did some jailduty. I’m working private security now, big company, we handle some of thecasinos.”
“No shortage of work in Sin City,” said Milo.
“You guys aren’t exactly sitting around.”
The drinks arrived.
Marcia Peaty tried her martini. “Better than I remembered.”
The waiter asked if we were ready to order.
Chicken potpie, sand dabs, sand dabs.
“Another memory,” said Marcia Peaty. “Can’t get them in Vegas.”
Milo said, “Can’t get ’em too often in L.A.,either. Mostly it’s rex sole.”
She looked disappointed. “Cheap substitution?”
“Nope, they’re basically the same—little flatfish with lots of bones. Onelives deeper, no one can tell the difference.”
“You into fishing?”
“I’m into eating.”
“Virtually the same, huh?” said Marcia Peaty. “More like twins thancousins.”
“Cousins can be real different.”
She removed an olive from her drink. Chewed, swallowed. “How I found outabout Reyn was I’d been trying to call him for days and no one answered. It’snot like I call him regularly, but one of our great-aunts died and he inheritedsome money—no big deal, twelve hundred bucks31. When I couldn’t get hold of him, Istarted calling around—hospitals, jails. Finally, I learned what happened fromyour coroner.”
“Calling jails and the crypt,” said Milo.“That’s a specific curiosity.”
Marcia Peaty nodded. “Reyn was high-risk for problems, always had been. Ididn’t have any fantasies of turning him into a solid citizen, but every sooften I’d feel protective. We grew up together in Downey, he was a few years younger, I’m anonly child and he was, too, so kin9 was in short supply. Once upon a time Ithought of him as a little brother.”
I said, “High-risk brother.”
“I’m not going to sugarcoat him but he wasn’t a psychopath, just not smart.One of those people who always make bad decisions, you know? Maybe it wasgenetic. Our fathers were brothers. My dad worked three jobs putting himselfthrough Cleveland Chiropractic, cracked enough backs to go from trailer trashto respectable. Reyn’s dad was an alcoholic32 loser, never held down a steadyjob, in and out of jail for penny-ante stuff. Reyn’s mom wasn’t much better.”She stopped. “Big sad story, it’s nothing you guys haven’t heard before.”
Milo said, “How’d you both end up in Nevada?”
“Reyn ran away from home when he was fifteen—more like walked out and no onecared. I’m not sure what he did for ten years, I know he tried the marines,ended up in the brig, dishonorable discharge. I moved to Vegas because my daddied and my mom liked playing the slots. When you’re an only child, you feelresponsible. My husband’s from a family of five kids, big old Mormon clan,totally different world.”
Milo nodded. “Ten years. Reyn showed upwhen he was twenty-five.”
“At my mother’s condo. Tattooed33 and drunk and he’d put on about sixtypounds. She wouldn’t let him in. He didn’t argue but he kept hanging around onher street. So Mom called Cop Daughter. When I saw him, I was shocked—believeit or not, he used to be a nice-looking guy. I gave him some cash, set him upat a motel, told him to sober up and move to another city. The last part hekept.”
“Reno.”
“Next I heard from him was two years later, needing money for bail34. I can’ttell you where he was in between.”
“Bad decisions,” I said.
“He’s never been violent,” said Marcia Peaty. “Just another one of thoserevolving-door dudes.”
Milo said, “His peeper bust14 could bethought of as scary.”
“Maybe I’m rationalizing but that seemed more like drunk and disorderly.He’d never done anything like that before, hasn’t since—right?”
“People say he stared a lot. Made ’em uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, he tends—tended to space out,” said Marcia Peaty. “Like I said, he wasno Einstein, couldn’t add three-digit sums. I know it sounds like I’m giving amope a free pass but he didn’t deserve to get shot by that banger. Can you fillme in on how it happened?”
Milo gave her the barest details of themurder, leaving out the whispering phone calls and Vasquez’s claim ofharassment.
She said, “One of those stupid things,” and sipped35 a half inch of martini.“Banger going to pay?”
“He’ll get something.”
“Meaning?”
“Defense is gonna paint your cousin as a bully4.”
“Reynold was a booze-soaked loser but he never bullied36 an ant.”
“He have any kind of love life?”
Marcia Peaty’s hazel eyes narrowed. Speed-trap gaze. “What does that have todo with anything?”
“D.A. wants a clear picture of what he was like. I can’t find evidence ofany love life, just a collection of young girl videos.”
Marcia Peaty’s knuckles37 whitened around her glass. “How young?”
“Barely legal.”
“Why does any of that matter?”
“Reynold worked as a janitor at an acting38 school. A couple of femalestudents were murdered.”
Marcia Peaty blanched39. “Uh-uh. No way. I worked Vice long enough to know asex criminal when I see one and Reynold wasn’t—and that ain’t family denial.Trust me on this, you’d best be looking elsewhere.”
“Speaking of family, let’s talk about your other cousins.”
“I mean it,” she said. “Reyn wasn’t wired that way.”
“The other cousins,” said Milo.
“Who?”
“The Dowds. You were at Nora Dowd’s house the other day, told a neighbor youwere her cousin.”
Marcia Peaty slid her glass toward her left hand. Then back to her right.Lifting the pick skewering40 the onion, she twirled, put it back. “That wasn’tstrictly true.”
“There’s lenient41 truth?” said Milo.
“She’s not my cousin. Brad is.”
“He’s her brother.”
Marcia Peaty sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“We’ve got time.”
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overtly
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| ad.公开地 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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subpoenas
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| n.（传唤出庭的）传票( subpoena的名词复数 )v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的第三人称单数 ) | |
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janitor
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| n.看门人，管门人 | |
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dabs
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| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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touts
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| n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报 | |
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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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shacks
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| n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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depreciation
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| n.价值低落，贬值，蔑视，贬低 | |
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rentals
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| n.租费，租金额( rental的名词复数 ) | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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opted
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| v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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coupons
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| n.礼券( coupon的名词复数 )；优惠券；订货单；参赛表 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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iris
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| n.虹膜，彩虹 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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auto
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| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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alcoholic
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| adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者 | |
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tattooed
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| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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skewering
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| v.（用串肉扦或类似物）串起，刺穿( skewer的现在分词 ) | |
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lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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