Last Man's Head (16 page)

THIRTY-FOUR

Sam Leroy lay
back, his head resting on a soft pillow. He noticed that an image of a teddy bear was embroidered on the edge of the pillow case. He looked around the bedroom; all of the furnishings: two small chairs, a dressing table and a closet, even the pictures hung on the wall, spelt feminine. So did the smell of the room, of the bedclothes, of Julia herself. He leaned over and picked up the watch he had left on the small bedside table forty minutes ago and squinted to pick out the time in the moonlight coming through the drapes. 12:20AM.

He looked up at Julia as she returned from the bathroom. They had left a light on in the lounge, and her naked body was silhouetted in the doorway.
‘I thought you had gone to sleep,’ she said quietly, as she returned to the bed.

He shook his head. ‘No. Just lying here.’

Rather than walking round the bed to get to her side, she climbed over him, stopping and lying on top of him. ‘You’re not going to go home, are you?’ she asked, running her hand through his hair.

‘Hadn’t planned to,’ he replied. ‘I’ll bet you make a nice breakfast.’ He smiled briefly, the smile leaving his face as the mention of breakfast reminded him of Domingo.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.

‘Just a flashback
from yesterday. I’m okay.’ He ran his hand down her hair, he shoulders and arm.

She kissed him tenderly on his lips. ‘Anything I can do?’ she asked.

‘Not really, other than what you’re doing now.’

‘Pleased to be of service,’ she said, as she began to brush her lips against his chin, then down his neck and his chest, pausing to run her tongue over his nipples. Then down his chest, sweeping her mouth through the vertical line of hair on his stomach.
Soon he was ready for her once more. Her gaze remained fixed on his as she sat up, reached over to the drawer her side of the bed. Momentarily, she was manoeuvring herself onto him, slowly sliding down until her butt cheeks were resting on his legs. For a moment she remained still, then began to move up and down slowly, leaning forward to rest her hands on his shoulders. He raised his head slightly to kiss her.

She sat back up again and rocked and rocked back and forth. Leroy lay back and looked up at the ceiling. Then he suddenly gasped, putting one hand to his temple.

Julia stopped. ‘What is it?’

‘I just had a thought.’

‘And…?’

‘It’s nothing. Sorry. Carry on. God, that sounded so dumb.’

‘You said it, Detective,’ Julia said, and resumed rocking, this time also pushing down with her hands on his stomach.

*****

Once again, Leroy lay back on Julia’s scented pillow, looking up at the ceiling. Totally spent, she collapsed beside him. She wriggled down and lay on her side, one leg across his, and one arm across his chest. She kissed him on the shoulder. ‘What was up earlier?’

He looked down at her face. ‘It was nothing. Sorry.’

‘Okay.’

‘A thought just flashed through my head. About work. Sorry, bad timing.’

She lifted her head up and rested her chin on his shoulder. ‘Maybe you have a point about the timing, but it’s not wrong to think during sex.’

‘Yeah, but…’

‘If I wanted to have sex with someone who doesn’t think, I’d have gone to the stores and bought a cucumber.’

He looked down at her and laughed.

‘A slicing one, of course,’ she added.

‘Of course,’ he repeated.

She lifted herself up so she was resting on his chest. ‘That’s the first time you’ve laughed tonight.’

‘Is it?’ he replied, sounding surprised.

‘It’s okay to laugh, even when something bad’s happened.’

Leroy nodded, thinking. Then asked her, ‘Do you have a laptop here?’

‘Why, yes. Do you need to use it?
Now
?’

He sat up slightly, gently easing her off his chest. ‘If I can, if that’s okay with you.’

She climbed out of bed, and went into the living room, returning momentarily with a black case. She sat back down on the bed, and pulled a laptop out of the bag. Leroy, in the meantime, had switched on a bedside light, and sat up in bed. She switched on the laptop, logged on, and passed it to him.

‘Do you do this often?’ she asked.

He gave her a puzzled look.

‘I mean get flashes of inspiration during sex, with an urgent need to go online?’

He laughed. ‘Sorry, Julia, but the answer’s yes. To the second part, that is. Not a problem normally, living alone. I had this thought, and if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get back to sleep. It won’t take long.’

‘Don’t worry. Happens to me sometimes. Normally concerning unruly kids. Want a drink? Tea or something?’

‘No, I’ll be okay, thanks.’

‘I’m going to have one.’

‘Well, if you’re boiling the kettle, yes, I’ll have one.’ He feverishly typed into the laptop.

‘Cream? Sugar?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Your tea. Cream or sugar? Same as your coffee?’

‘Oh, milk, please.’

Julia left him to it, as he started to search Google. When she returned ten minutes later, she found him sitting up in bed, his head resting against the wall, with a satisfied look on his face. ‘Finished?’ she asked, handing him his cup. She walked round to the other side of the bed and joined him.

‘Yes. Much appreciated.’ He sipped the tea. ‘As is this.’

‘No problem.’ She sipped hers. ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’

‘I think so. Assuming I know what I’m looking for.’

‘Sam, in English, please.’

He sat back again, his gaze fixed across the room, where the wall met the ceiling. ‘You remember Donald Rumsfeld?’

‘The former Secretary of State for Defence?’ She looked puzzled.

‘Yeah. He was famous for weird quotes he used to come out with.’

‘A bit like Bush?’

‘That sort of thing, yeah. But the one which sticks in my mind is one which goes something like, “There are known knowns. There are known unknowns. But there are also unknown unknowns.” Something like that.’

Julia said slowly, ‘I
think
I know where you’re coming from.’

‘What I mean is, in my line of work, we have to dig around and around in the course of an investigation, but we don’t really know what we’re looking for. But when we find it, we know we’ve found it.’ He looked across at her and saw she was smirking. ‘I’m not making much sense, am I?’

She laughed. ‘I think you’re just verbalising it badly. I know what you mean.’

‘How would you verbalise it then? You’re the school teacher.’

‘Sam, believe it or not, the life and sayings of Donald Rumsfeld isn’t in the curriculum of the average fourth grader.’ She finished her tea, and continued, ‘So what does all this have to do with what you were looking for?’ She checked the time. ‘At one in the morning?’

‘At this time, the feeling is that Domingo and Connor were killed because of one of their cases.’

‘The feeling? That’s a bit vague, isn’t it?’

‘Bad verbalising again. Basically, as far as my department’s concerned, the prime suspect would be someone who they had put away. Or someone connected with a felon they had dealt with.’

‘I get it. You mean like a relative who’s doing time after they arrested them?’

‘Yes, although, it could be that only one of them was the intended victim, the other taken out because they were there at the time.’

‘I see. Take out one cop, you might as well take out two?’

‘Yeah. Also, we must be talking some major crime. After all, you wouldn’t risk killing a cop in revenge for booking you for jaywalking. Not normally anyway.’

‘So, have you just been checking their old cases?’

‘No, can’t on here.’ He paused. ‘Look, Julia – what I’m telling you is totally confidential, yes?’

‘Of course it is, Sam. You can trust me.’ She kissed him on his left breastbone.

‘If that theory’s correct, it might not be one of their old cases
.’

‘One they’re working on at the time, you mean?’

‘Connor had been away, so Liza was partnering me as my own partner’s been on vacation.’

‘What were you investigating with her?’

‘Have you read, or seen on TV, about a number of men found at various spots in the city, cause of death unknown?’

She thought a moment. ‘Yes, I think I have. A couple of weekends ago, wasn’t it?’

‘End of last week. They all died in the same night. All filled with a drug cocktail. We were investigating that.  The case is closed now, as it’s felt - in some quarters - that the deaths were accidental, and we have more urgent cases to follow. Anyway, before we were taken off the investigation, Domingo and I found that one of the victims had met with a hooker he found on an online dating site.’

‘Hence the drug cocktail?’

‘Maybe. We managed to get hold of one of the hookers and met with her. She gave us a load of bullshit, naturally, but we followed her back to a big house off Mulholland Drive.’

‘And?’

‘We were met by a creepy little guy who denied all knowledge of her. Said his employer was out of town.’

‘Who did he work for?’

‘I’ll come to that. We knew he was bullshitting us too when I saw her car hidden out back.’

‘What did he say?’

‘He doesn’t know we found it yet.’

‘More known unknowns?’

‘Kind of. Sometimes it’s best to dig around a bit before making a challenge. Now, this creepy guy: I couldn’t place where, but his face kind of seemed familiar.’

‘Go on.’

‘Back at the office, one of the last things Liza did was email me that she had found out who actually does own the house.  Earlier - while we were, you know, I could make a connection between the house and what happened to them. A thin one, but nevertheless a connection. So I tried Google.’

‘Show me.’

‘Take a look.’ He passed the laptop to her, still switched on and at the appropriate page.

She started to read, then looked up at him. ‘The owner of the house?’

‘The very same.’

She carried on reading until she finished the article. The
n looked up at him again.

‘Sam, what are you going to do?’

THIRTY-FIVE

The atmosphere at
the station house the next morning was tense. Since Leroy had gone home the previous night, another shift had arrived and departed and more of Domingo and Connor’s workmates had heard the news. Where there was normally the hum of numerous conversations taking place, this morning there was silence. Officers were going about their business quietly; those that were on the phone were speaking quietly. As he walked to his desk, Leroy noticed others were red eyed; a couple of female officers were walking around clutching a Kleenex. Already, there were two large bunches of flowers lying on Domingo’s desk. He noticed Lieutenant Perez standing by a vending machine, talking on a cell phone. The lieutenant was wearing the same clothes he had on the previous day, and had a deep five o’clock shadow. He looked as if he had not made it home last night.

Leroy sat down at his desk and fired up the computer. The
n stared at the Home screen, pondering what to do next. Should he return to the Grand Central Market case, or stay with the John Does?  Normally at this time case files would be given out: he was sure Perez would be doing so soon, as there would have been a dozen incidents reported last night; but as he was still without a partner, he was hoping he would be able to remain under the lieutenant’s radar.

He was wrong.

‘Morning, Sam,’ came Perez’s voice from across his screen. Leroy looked up at the dishevelled lieutenant.

‘Morning, Lieutenant. Man, you look like shit.’

‘Thanks. Feel like shit. I’ve been here all night. First, Connor’s widow, and then….’

‘I can imagine. The guys from the MCD here yet?’

‘Not yet. They’ll be over later this morning.’

‘I’m glad to see they’re treating the case as urgent, then.’

‘Give me a break, Sam.’

Leroy sat back, arms folded. He nodded.

‘How did you get on at the Market yesterday?’ Perez continued.

‘The vic was taken to the LA Medical Center. He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll be okay. He was still sleeping yesterday afternoon, so I’ll go see him later. See what he has to say; see if he knew his attacker.’

‘CCTV?’

‘Yeah, there was some. Not much, though: the attack took place in the men’s john
.’

‘
In
the john? So we have CCTV of people going in and out?’

‘That’s about it.  I was checking it out when the news came through
about Domingo.’

Perez nodded, a serious look on his face. ‘Any use?’

Leroy pulled  a face. ‘A guy wearing a hood, and another. Want to see?’

Perez gave a
I’m really too tired to, but I guess I’d better
look. ‘Sure,’ he said, stepping round to stand next to Leroy. Leroy returned to the email the market manager had sent, and opened the file. He fast forwarded to the time in question. Perez leaned closer. ‘His face is completely hidden,’ he said of the hooded figure. ‘Ah, that’s better,’ he said when the second man came running out.

Leroy froze the footage.

‘Can you enlarge?’ asked Perez. ‘Enhance?’

Leroy manoeuvred the mouse to crop, then enlarge, but lost a lot of definition.

‘Damn,’ Perez muttered. ‘I was hoping for better.’

‘It might help,’ said Leroy.

‘May do. However,’ Perez dropped a manila folder down on the desk, ‘as the victim’s still alive, it’s not a homicide, and moves further down the line. This one, though, is higher up the food chain.’

Leroy picked up the folder and began to leaf through it as Perez continued. ‘It’s another stabbing, although this one was fatal. Took place in your neck of the woods, Sam.’

Leroy ran his eyes down the front sheet. The location was Palisades Beach Road. ‘I see,’ he replied.

‘The victim was a young woman in her twenties,’ the lieutenant went on. ‘She and a friend - another girl
- were walking along the edge of the park and saw a group of transients on the grass. A few of them were begging for money, holding up some signs with obscenities written on them.’

‘Like what?’ asked Leroy, still scanning the paperwork.

‘It’s all there.’

Leroy found a photograph containing the signs. They were crudely made of thick cardboard and had been hand painted. ‘Go on,’ he said.

‘A couple of these guys approached the girls asking for money and they refused.’

‘So they followed them?’

‘Began to, but one of the girls - the one who died - turned round and began taking pictures of them with her cellphone.’

‘Jesus.’

‘So they attacked her. Stabbed her three or four times. As luck would have it, a patrol car was at the end of….Montana Avenue, I think it was, and noticed the disturbance. She was taken to the Nethercutt ER, but died a few hours later.’

‘And the other one?’

‘She was taken there also, but only sustained injuries to her arms.’

‘She’s still there, then?’

‘Good. I’ll go talk to her. Any witnesses?’

‘Better than that. The attackers have already been booked on suspicion of murder. The patrol car brought them in.’

Leroy looked up at the lieutenant. ‘It seems pretty cut and dried, then.’

‘I just need you to tie up any loose ends. Make sure there were only two attackers, that kind of thing. I’ll arrange for a patrol car to meet you at the scene, just in case you need any back up.’

‘Okay,’ said Leroy. ‘Listen, Lieutenant, I need to talk to you about the John Does Domingo and I were -’

‘No, Sam. Those cases are closed. Accidental death. You know that.’

‘Just listen, will you? For a start, they’re not John Does: we have names, for two of them at least.’

‘Makes no difference.  For all of them, at a senior level, and that includes the DA, the verdict is death by misadventure. Case
- or cases, to be precise, closed.
Terminado
.’

‘Okay, okay, but just let me ask you this. One of them had been using an online dating agency -’

‘So?’

‘To get hookers, I mean.’

‘Jesus, Sam. Is that all you got?’

‘Domingo and I managed to track down two of the hookers he had seen.’

‘And what did
they
tell you?’

‘Not much, I admit. But we followed one of them back to a house off
Mulholland Drive.’

‘Cat house?’

‘Don’t think so. No signs of that, at any rate. We were met by this really weird guy who denied all knowledge of the hooker, even though I saw her car parked out back. But this is the clincher: he said his employer was away on business.’ He pressed the mouse key a few times to get to the email Domingo had sent him. ‘Now look at this,’ he said, pointing to the screen. ‘This must change things. Now tell me the cases are closed!’