Flipping Out (10 page)

Terry gave me
two thumbs up. 'Just when you thought your day couldn't get any better.'

I flipped the
phone open. 'What's up, Dad?'

Big Jim was
breathing heavily. 'Mike, I'm at Nora's house,' he said. 'You better get here
right away. And bring a shitload of cops.'

'What's going
on?'

'Somebody shot
her. She's dead.'

Terry bolted for
the parking lot, while I ran to the watch commander's office. I was still on
the phone with Big Jim.

'Dad, where are
you now?'

'I'm in Nora's
living room.'

'Get the hell
out of the house.'

'But what if
Julia's here too? I was supposed to pick the two of them up. What if she's
lying somewhere—'

'What if she's
the shooter?' I yelled. 'What if she's lying somewhere with a gun waiting for
some big, fat, stubborn teamster to walk in? Get out!'

Lieutenant Jack
Mullen, the watch commander, picked up his Rover and was ready to key the mic.
His assistant commander, Sergeant Carl Bethge, grabbed a phone and was waiting
for me to give him an address. But first I had to convince Big Jim to leave the
crime scene.

'C'mon, Mike, do
you really think Julia would shoot her own mother?'

'If I were any
closer I'd shoot my own father. Now for once in your life, follow directions,
get the hell out of the house, and wait for the cops.'

'OK, OK. I'm out
of here.'

'And leave the
front door open.'

I snapped the
phone shut and turned to Mullen and Bethge. 'DOA at 110 South June. There could
be a second victim. I need EMS, CSU, and a perimeter. Code 3.'

Bethge was
dialling. 'I heard you tell your witness the shooter may be out there. You want
an airship?'

'Yeah, thanks.
Eyes in the sky might help. Guys, this is big. The dead woman is Charlie
Knoll's mother-in- law, Nora Bannister. And there's a possible second vie,
Charlie's wife. But for all we know, she could be the shooter. Jack, nobody
enters the house till Terry and I get there.'

'Good idea,
Mike,' he said lowering his radio, 'because I was just about to call out the
Evidence Contamination Squad.'

Jack hates it
when people tell him how to do his job, but I didn't have time to cater to his
quirks. Unless the watch commander gives a specific order to wait for the
detectives in charge, some cowboy cop who wants to dazzle all the girls at the
bar will race into a house and corrupt the scene before CSU can get there.

Bethge swivelled
in his chair. 'You know South June is outside our jurisdiction.'

'I don't care if
it's outside the state line,' I said. 'Bannister was a lead in the Drabyak
homicide. Notify

Kilcullen and
Detective Burns. If there's a turf war, it's their problem, not mine.'

'How about
Charlie Knoll?' Bethge said.

'He's probably
waiting at the book party for Nora and Julia. Call him, but give us time to
secure the premises first.'

I ran out the
front door and jumped into the car. Terry shot down Wilcox, then ran the lights
on Santa Monica and Highland. A squad car cleared the way. We made it in five
minutes, just as the EMS bus was pulling up.

Terry and I
jumped out of the car and strapped on vests. I barked orders at the cops who
were already cordoning off the area. Big Jim's Mercedes was parked in front of
the house. There was a cluster of black and whites forty feet away, and Jim was
sitting in the back of one of them.

Terry grabbed
three cops and drew his gun. 'Detective Lomax and I are going in first. You
back us up. One woman's been shot, there may be a second victim, and the
shooter may still be in there.'

I pointed at one
of the paramedics. 'You, stay outside. Don't come in until we call for you.'

The cops all drew
their weapons, and the young paramedic backed up, took the stethoscope from
around his neck, and pointed it at me. 'Don't worry, pal, this thing is out of
bullets.'

Five of us ran
up the white marble steps. Big Jim had left the front door open about eight
inches. Terry and I stood on either side of it. He looked up at the two
towering geometric stucco columns. 'Rather phallic. I think they're art dicko,'
he said. Then he crashed the door open and bellowed, 'Police. Come out with
your hands up.'

There were
bloody footprints on the floor. I signalled for one cop to go left, and pointed
the other two toward the stairs. Terry and I turned right and followed the
footprints toward the living room.

And there was
Nora, face down on the beige rug, wearing pink sweatpants and a white T-shirt
soaked with the blood that had poured out of the back of her skull. I didn't
need the paramedic to verify my father's statement. Nora Bannister was very
dead.

Terry gestured
for the two of us to split up. He went right. I went left.

Thirty seconds
later, he yelled from down the hall, 'Clear.'

The living room
had an arch that led to the dining room. I walked through it and did a
three-sixty, gun extended. 'Clear,' I yelled, heading toward the next room.

The cop who had gone
to the left called out from Nora's office. 'Clear.'

One of the cops
checked in from upstairs. 'Clear.'

And then, from
the kitchen, I heard Terry. 'Shit. Get the medic in here.'

'For Julia?' I
yelled.

'No, goddammit.
I cut myself on a chunk of broken glass. The medic is for me. Julia's gonna
need the coroner.'

Terry was
standing in the kitchen, gun in his right hand, blood oozing out of his left.
Julia was lying face up on the floor, a tiny red hole in the centre of her
forehead. He holstered his gun, flipped open his cell phone, and speed- dialled
a number.

I didn't have to
ask who he was calling. Three of Marilyn's partners had been murdered.

'Shit,' he said,
hanging up. 'My wife is the only person in LA who turns off her cell. Call
Diana. The two of them are together.'

The book launch
party was at the flip house. Diana had read an advance copy of Nora's book and
was excited to finally get to see the house in real life. I remembered the last
thing she said to me this morning: 'I'm looking forward to a night of murder
and mayhem.'

Be careful what
you wish for. I dialled her number.

She picked up on
the fourth ring. 'Hi. Where are you?'

'Diana, are you
all right?'

'I'm fine. I'm
drinking champagne, and I finally heard from my long-lost boyfriend. I love
this house. Would you buy it for me?'

'Are you with
Marilyn?'

'Yes, but I'd
rather be with you.' The champagne was working.

I gave Terry a
quick thumbs up, and he exhaled loud and hard.

'Listen
carefully,' I said. 'I need you to be calm, and I need you to do exactly what I
say.'

Diana is a nurse
in a paediatric oncology ward. She knows the sound of an emergency, and she
knows how to respond. The giddiness was gone in an instant. 'What's the
matter?'

'I have bad
news. Someone shot Nora and Julia. They're dead.'

'Oh my God.'

'Don't say
anything else. I don't want people at the party to know what's going on. I need
to get you, Marilyn, and Marisol out of there now.'

'Are they after
us too?'

'No. It's just a
precaution. Is Tony Dominguez there?'

'Yes. I saw him
a few minutes ago.'

'Give the phone
to Marilyn. Then find Tony for me.'

I handed the
phone to Terry, who repeated the bad news to Marilyn.

He spoke calmly
in that soothing, reassuring, practically hypnotic voice of his. I'm sure he
used it all four times he proposed marriage and a thousand times in between. He
was using it now to keep Marilyn calm.

'You'll be fine.
Tony is gonna bring you here. No, I don't think the girls are in any danger,
but just to be on the safe side, why don't you call Sarah and Emily and tell
them to go to a friend's house till they hear from me. Honey, I don't think you
have to call Rebecca in St Louis, but whatever makes you feel better. I know,
baby. It's gonna be OK. Put Tony on. I promise. I love you too.'

As soon as she
handed the phone to Tony, Terry's voice went from comforting husband to cop in
charge.

'Nora and Julia are
dead. Shot. Same as Jo Drabyak. Three partners in this house-flipping business
have been murdered, and I don't want my wife and yours to be numbers four and
five. Get the two of them and Diana out of the building.'

There was a
short pause while Tony did the talking, then Terry jumped back in. 'What I
would do,' he said, 'is pull the plug on the party and lock up the house. Just
tell everyone that Nora took sick, and shut it down without going public with
the truth. Good. We're on the same page. Mike and I are at Nora's house. We'll
send a couple of units to back you up. You're welcome, bro. See you soon.'

He hung up.
There was a roll of paper towels on the counter. He pointed to it. I tore some
off and began to wrap it around his bloody left hand, while he called for
Tony's backup. When he finished, he gave me my cell back.

'Sorry,' he
said. 'I got blood all over your phone.'

'What happened?'
I said.

'I'm no Sherlock
Holmes,' he said, looking down at Julia, 'but I'm gonna go out on a limb and
guess that someone put a bullet through her head.'

'What happened
to
you
, asshole?'

'Oh, that. I
sliced my hand on this Pellegrino bottle.'

There was a
shattered green bottle on the floor. It must have been full when it broke,
because the pool of red around Julia was a lot more liquid than could possibly
have come from the single dot in the middle of her skull.

'It looks like
Julia tried to fend off her killer with a litre of imported sparkling water,'
Terry said. 'Never the best choice against a gun. All she managed to do was get
the floor sopping wet, so the first cop on the scene would slip on it, cut open
his hand and wet his pants.'

'There's a medic
out there,' I said.

'What I really
need is a dry cleaner. These are my good pants.'

One of the cops
walked in. 'Nothing upstairs, Detectives,' he said. 'And no sign of forced
entry.'

'Keep everyone
out till CSU gets here.' I said.

'No problem,' he
said. 'Detective Lomax, I know you're busy in here, but you know that big guy
out there - the one who found the bodies?'

'What about
him?'

'He's a major
pain in the ass. Says he wants to talk to you. I told him to wait till you're
good and ready.'

'What'd he say
to that?' I asked. The cop laughed. 'He says he's your father.' I laughed along
with him. 'He's full of shit,' I said. 'Tell him to wait.'

Terry and I took
stock of the kitchen. There was a phone cradle on the counter, but no handset.
I pressed the locator button and heard it beep back from another room.

'Well, even if Julia
heard Nora get shot, that solves the mystery of why she didn't dial 911,' Terry
said.

He knelt down at
the edge of the puddle of blood and Pellegrino. Julia was dressed for the
evening. Black skirt, a silky blue blouse, heels. The hair near her left temple
had been cut, and some of the little clippings were floating in the bloody
soup.

'She's having a
really bad hair day,' he said.

We walked back
through the living room and took another look at Nora. Her hair too had been
chopped.