Bannerman's Law (66 page)

“
She
'
ll get through
it,'' said
Barbara.
“
She's very
tough
.” But Barbara had her doubts. Carla had never been known for her stability, but she was certainly vibrant, sharp, like the edge of her knife. Now, on the TV screen, she looked dead inside.

“
She reminds
meof
me
,”
said Nellie,
“
when the
pain became more than I could bear
.”

Barbara understood. After Tom died. After the drugs
and the liquor stopped helping. Still, it was hard to imag
ine Carla being that fragile after half a lifetime of sudden
death. Perhaps, she thought, none of it had ever hit so
close to home before. Or perhaps there really is such a
thing as one too many. If anything ever happened to
Axel, that might be her own one too many.

“
Nellie, we'd better go
.”

”
I wish we could help her
,”
said Nellie.

”
I think Alan just did. They won't hold her very long.”

“
Holding is what she needs
.”

“
Her friends will take care of her. She'll be fine
.”

“
Could we go to the service? Just to make sure
?”

“
Ah
...
What service
?”

“
For young Lisa. It's tomorrow. The man on the televi
sion just mentioned it
.”

Barbara glanced at her husband. He was glaring back
at her. The glare was unnecessary. She took the old wom
an's hand.

“
Come on, Nellie. Let's go pick out our boat
.”

_5
4

The headquarters of the Campus Killer task force was
located in the Municipal Building in downtown Los
Angeles.

Elena had reached Lesko there. She brushed aside his
threats of what he would do to Ba
n
ne
rm
an and said that
they were coming. She asked what entrance they might
use in order to avoid the press. Lesko asked Huff. Arrange
ments were made.

The large squad room fell silent as Bannerman entered, Huff and Elena with him. Huff had met them inside the
basement garage. Lesko came forward. Elena intercepted
him, a hand against his chest, warning him with her eyes
to be still.

“
Where is Susan
?”
Bannerman asked Huff.

Lesko glared at him.
“
You happy now? You got every
thing you want
?”

Huff gestured.
“
My office. Straight ahead
.”

“
And Ca
rl
a
?”

Huff pointed to a closed door.
'
‘
Interrogation, but she
hasn't opened her mouth. I sent a lawyer in. She won't
talk to him either. There's also your friend from the State
Department. He's waiting for you down the hall. There's
a conference room
.”

“
Thank you
.”

“
Hold it. Right there
.”

A balding man in a suit pushed forward, his hand at
his hip inside his jacket.

“
He gets five minutes
,”
Huff said to Sho
ll
.

“
He gets nothing
,”
Sholl barked,
“
until I say so. And
nobody sees the girl until she's booked
.”

Lesko stepped forward.
“
It's time we had a talk, shit
head
.”

Ba
nn
e
rm
an, ignoring this, walked to the door of Huf
f’s
office. He rubbed his face as if to soften it, then knocked.
Susan did not answer. He opened the door and stepped
inside.

“
Relax
,”
said Lesko quietly.
“
I'm going to do you
a favor
.”

He had put an arm around the shoulder of the special
agent in charge. He led him to a quiet corner.

“
You're not going to book my daughter. You don't
even want to question her
.”

“
Why don't I
?”

“
Here's what you do instead. Today and tomorrow you
talk to the press, you take a few bows. You
'
re already
figuring how to grab credit for this, right
?”

“
Take your hands off me
.”

Lesko squeezed him.
“
The day after that, you put in your papers. Go raise chickens or something
.”

“
What? Who the hell do you
.
.
.”

Lesko dug in his nails.
“
You see, Jack, I know you're
dirty. Now you're going to get all out of joint, tell me
I'm crazy, but in your head you're wondering how I
know, right
?”

Lesko watched his eyes. Scholl was wondering. Proba
bly seeing the empty tire. Thinking back. Trying to piece
it together.

“
Y
ou won't figure it out, Jack. Aside from being dirty,
you're stupid. I mean, that's why they gave you the shit
jobs, right
?”

Scholl's color rose.

“
The good news is I probably can't prove it. The bad
news is I don't have to. It's enough that we know. You
understand what I'm saying? We're not talking due process
here
.”

Lesko watched the color drain.

Susan was at the window, staring out at nothing, a
polystyrene cup in one hand.

Ba
nn
e
r
man could see her reflection in the glass. He
knew that she could see him as well. She didn't turn.

He heard Molly's voice in his mind. Molly was saying, ”
Just go to her, put your arms around her, hold her, don
't
talk except to say that you love her. For God's sake, don't
pat her
.”

What about the coffee cup?

“
Bannerman
.
.
.
”

He placed a hand on her back, rubbing it, not patting. With his other hand he took the cup and set it down. He
embraced her. She did not respond. She kept her arms
between them. Now she pressed, pushing him away. She
picked up her cup.

”
I love you, Susan
,”
he said.

A short exhaling of breath. Almost a laugh.
“
More
than ever
?”
she asked.

“
As much as ever. This makes no difference
.”

“
It does to me
.”

”
I know that
.”

“
It's nice to be a member of the club, though. You
won't have to explain me anymore
.”

Bannerman chewed his lip.
“
Susan
.
.
.
would you
rather talk to your father? Or Elena? They're right
outside
.”

She shook her head. The suggestion seemed to anger
her.

But he was hearing a low-level hysteria. He'd never
had to deal with it before. He thought of suggesting a
policewoman. Or a police psychiatrist. He knew that there must be someone in the building who was trained in coun
seling officers who
'
d been in shootings.

“
Banne
r
man
.
.
.
that's not what she needs
.”

”
I know a place
,”
he said.
“
Lake Arrowhead. We
could rent a cabin. Just the two of us
.”
Oh. Except the
funeral is tomorrow.

“
I'm not going anywhere. I killed someone, damn it
.”

“
Well
,”
h
e
touched her hair.
“
The fact is you didn't.
You punched a hole in him. It was Ca
rl
a who let him
bleed to death
.”

She hugged herself.
“
We both did. Me just as much
.”

“
Okay. Why
?”

”
I don't know
.”

“
Because you hated him? To get even for all his
victims
?’'

She shook her head.

“
What's left is kindness, Susan. Even the police real
ize that
.”

Susan waved a hand. Not a dismissal, exactly. A
change of subject.

“
Paul, I would have shot Carla, too
.”
she said.
“
She
wa
s
going to let him go. She was ready to knife me if I
tried to stop her
.”

Bannerman hadn't heard that part. Carla might have cut
her, he supposed, but not dangerously. And Carla certainly
would not have let him go. She would have taken him
someplace
,
put him at ease, thought it over, and then ended
it. Susan, however, did not need to hear that she shot that kid for nothing.

“
Where did you hit him, by the way
?”

The question surprised her. But she touched herself to show him.

He nodded inwardly. Just below the belt. He knew that Susan tended to pull up and to the right. She had probably
aimed for his thigh.

He understood tha
t
she would need time. The worst
wounds are self-inflicted. Susan, learning to shoot, must
have wondered what it would be like to kill. And whether she could do it. She had probably imagined a number of
scenarios, most involving self-defense. She might even
have imagined tracking down and executing someone who
had harmed a
f
riend. Himself, most likely.

But the opponents she envisioned would have been mean and dangerous, probably lunging for a weapon as
she fired. She would not have envisioned a sick, pathetic
creature such as Su
mn
er Domme
ri
ch.

“
Paul
?”

“
Yes
?”

“
Could you please just shut up
?”

He blinked.

“
Could you please just hold me
?”

“
Colonel Belk
i
n
?”

“
Yes
.”
He knew the voice.

“
The Ma
r
ek house seems to have been abandoned
.”

“
No FBI
?”

“
They withdrew one hour ago. Then a man comes by taxi. He is dressed as a security guard. Ten minutes later
,
the man in uniform leaves and so do five other men. They
are carrying suitcases, boxes, even paintings
.”

Belkin raised an eyebrow. He pinched his nose
thoughtfully.

”
I am putting you on hold
,”
he said.

He asked information for the number of Sur La Mer in
Santa Barbara. He dialed that number. Six rings. Eight.
There was no answer. He punched the
“
hold
”
button.

“
Move in
,”
he said.
“
Secure the house. Search it thor
oughly. I will send two more men with tools
.”

“
What are you looking for, Colonel
?”

“
Anything that reminds you of home, Lieutenant
.”

Lesko reached for the knob of Huf
f’s
office door. Elena
slapped his hand. She told him to knock.

Banne
r
man answered. He saw Lesko, the anger gone,
replaced by a look of discomfort.

“
You two must talk
,”
Elena said. ”I will stay with
Susan
.”
She took Ba
nn
erman by the arm and eased him
into the squad room. She stepped past and closed the door behind her.

“
Two things
,”
Lesko said, avoiding his eyes.
“
First,
I don't blame you for putting Susan in that position. I had
a hunch about that pizza kid. I even knew what he looked
like. I didn't follow up
.”

Ba
nn
e
r
ma
n
squinted.
“
How could you
.
.
.”

“
He was at the hospital. I'll tell you later. The thing
is I tried to make a deal with Clew to get Susan off
the hook
.”

“
What did you give him
?”

“
I'd have given him you, maybe
Belkin's
place in Cul
ver City, myself for the guy in the parking lot, and a
dirty fed
.”

“
But you didn't
.”

He shrugged.
“
Susan wouldn't go along. She won't let
Ca
rl
a take a fall by herself.
Anyway, I
could see Clew
didn't give a shit
.”

“
Did he tell you what he wants
?”

“
He wants us by the balls, Bannerman. And that's what
he's got
.”

“
Detective Huff
?”

“
Yeah, speaking
.”

“
This is Molly Farrell
.”

“
Are you coming in, Miss Farrell? There's a warrant
o
ut
.”

“
I'm twenty minutes away. But I need to speak to
Paul Bannerman
.”

“
You'll still come in? No matter what
?”

“
No matter what
.”

“
Hold on a second
.”