the Forgotten Man (2005) (30 page)

I dialed her cell again, but her message still answered. I called Pardy.

Chapter 45

Starkey S tarkey walked from Musso back to her office, feeling sullen and antsy. The morning sun beat hard through the broken sky, making her sweat on the short walk back to Hollywood Station. Her collar itched, and so did her scars. She wanted to peel off her blazer, but the blazer hid her pistol, so she slogged on. Starkey wished it was still raining. She wanted to walk in the rain with limp dangling hair and smoke soggy cigarettes and show everyone she was perfectly purely pathetic.

She loved Cole more than ever.

She realized - the two of them sitting in Musso's with Starkey trying to keep her feelings in check like some kind of crash-test dummy - that Cole kept himself buried; he hid behind flashy shirts and funny banter not unlike how his friend Pike hid behind dark glasses and a stone face. But hidden is hidden; for a moment just now in Musso's, Cole had let Starkey see the hidden and hurting part of himself, and now she loved him even more deeply. For letting her see. For trusting her.

Goddamn it sucked being her.

Starkey stripped off the jacket as soon as she reached her desk. She forced Cole out of her head by organizing the reports on her desk. She had just closed a teenaged prostitution case. All that was left was correcting her report. She had just gotten her head into it when Metcalf strolled by with a fresh cup of coffee.

"How's it going, Starkey? Did Cole come across for the little favor you did?"

When she glanced up, Metcalf leered, and pushed out his cheek with his tongue. He laughed as he went to his desk.

Starkey stared at the report, but now the feelings for Cole filled her again, and - just like that - she made up her mind.

Starkey decided to lay it on the line. She would tell Cole exactly how she felt about him; no more biting her tongue, no more hoping the goofy doof would wake up to realize Starkey was the real deal and Lady Puffinstuff Southern Belle was yesterday's news. Some guys, you had to put it straight up their noses, and Cole - clearly - was one of them. If he freaked, then he freaked; if he chose Lady Macbeth, then -

Starkey pushed away that thought.

She ate two antacids, slugged down some water, then ate two more.

She squared the report again, then eyeballed Metcalf, muttering into his phone at his desk. He was either taking notes or talking to one of his girlfriends. His coffee was still steaming in its cup. He needed one of those cups with a slogan on the side: World's Biggest Asshole.

Starkey got up, slipped on her blazer, then walked over to Metcalf on her way out.

"Hey, Ronnie."

Metcalf looked up.

Starkey pushed her tongue into her cheek like she was giving a blow job, then tipped his steaming coffee into his lap. Metcalf shrieked as he stumbled out of his chair. He was still hopping and cursing when Starkey left.

She headed for Cole's house.

Chapter 46

" I t's Diaz. Diaz killed George Reinnike."Pardy said, "I'm listening."

"Her family was murdered when she was four years old. Father, mother, and brother - she was the only survivor. Did you know that?"

Pardy made a soft whistle in the phone.

"No. I had no idea. I figured her for the shooting, but I had no idea. Jesus."

"The original murder book is here in her house. The Reinnikes disappeared eight days after the murders. They are not named in the investigation, but the silver heart she wears belonged to her mother. It was reported missing at the time of the crime. That's all in the book. The investigators believed the killer had taken it as a trophy. Now she's wearing it. I think Reinnike brought it to prove who he was."

"She could say she had a copy made."

"She can say anything she wants. I'm telling you she's good for it, and you know it, too - that's why you didn't care about Golden."

Pardy hesitated, like he still had trouble admitting what we both knew.

"I had her for it, I just didn't know why. I have the gun."

"The murder weapon?"

"One of my street people found it behind Union Station. A Browning .380. Your boy Chen just matched it to the bullet in Reinnike. It's not clean, but I can put the gun with her."

"Your own private Walk-in Wednesday."

"I couldn't have made the connection without that, Cole. This gun was used in a murder last year up at the top of Angels Flight. Wits saw the gun at the scene, but somehow that weapon wasn't recovered. Diaz worked that case, Cole. That gives her access."

"Thin."

"You're goddamned right it's thin, so I need the i's dotted. I have two wits who saw Reinnike with a dark-haired woman the night he was killed. I gotta have time to put that together. This business about her family gives me enough to go to O'Loughlin. Here I am, my first lead, and I'm making a case where it looks like the shooter is a senior detective in my own station. I need this thing stitched before I bring it forward."

"What are you going to do?"

"Leave everything like you found it and get out. I can put together a search warrant, and go to O'Loughlin. He's going to shit, but he'll do the right thing."

I thought about Chen calling Pardy and Beckett.

"Did she get the ID information about Payne Keller?"

Pardy hesitated, so I knew that she had. She could have gotten Keller's address from O'Loughlin, or she might have called Chen herself.

"Pardy, she's on her way up there. If she has Reinnike's address, she's going for his son."

"Just settle down, for chrissake. We don't even know David Reinnike is still alive, let alone whether he was with his old man. We need to get together our evidence, then bring her in nice and easy. This woman is an LAPD homicide detective."

"If she finds him, she'll kill him. That will make it even worse."

"And if she finds out we're onto her she'll take off or lawyer up, or maybe do something even more stupid. I've already spoken with the sheriff up there. Reinnike lived alone. As far as the sheriff knew, he didn't have any family, so there's probably nobody to find."

"Then where is she, Pardy?"

"Let's take it easy. Let me talk to O'Loughlin, and then we'll head up to take a look - I don't want this to get out about Diaz until we have her in custody."

"Take all the time you want, Pardy - I'm going."

I hung up, and went out to my car.

Chapter 47

Frederick C ole had a pretty nice place; it was small, with a tiny bedroom and bath on the ground floor and a loft bedroom and bath up above. The high pointy ceiling made it feel more like a cabin or a tree house than a real house. Frederick fantasized moving in after he killed Cole. He knew it was only a fantasy, but he liked the idea.

Frederick quickly checked the rooms, then returned to Cole's kitchen. He searched through the drawers, and selected a chopping knife with a heavy blade. He thought he might try to stab Cole instead of shooting him - less noise. Then he could go to work with the vise-grip pliers.

Frederick peeked out the curtained kitchen door into the empty carport, then went into the living room. He was getting used to being in the house, and feeling more relaxed. He saw the papers spread over Cole's table. The top page was a newspaper article about the disappearance of George and David Reinnike.

Coldness swept over Frederick, and the house swelled around him, growing huge and cavernous.

He pushed through the other papers, finding more newspaper accounts and what appeared to be official-looking police documents. A bill from the Home Away Suites was part of Cole's file. Then he saw Payne's name and address scrawled in the margin of one of the documents.

Frederick's eyes burned, and he trembled.

Cole had everything.

The voices whispered as Frederick searched the papers and documents for his own name. Cole had Payne's name and address, but not Frederick's. Cole was probably up at Payne's right now. Frederick wouldn't find him here at his house; he would find him at Payne's. Frederick saw Cole's path in an intuitive flash: Cole would search Payne's house, then go to the station. Elroy would tell Cole about Frederick, and Cole would go to his home. Frederick saw it unfolding with a pure bright clarity, and knew what to do. He would find Cole in Canyon Camino, and that's where he would kill him.

Frederick decided to go. He decided to let himself out through the kitchen door. He had left the table and was crossing the kitchen when a car pulled into the carport.

Cole!

Frederick 's face split into a wide jagged grin, and he ran to the door, but when he peeked past the edge of the curtain he saw it was a woman.

Chapter 48

Starkey S tarkey frowned when she saw that Cole's car was gone. Just her goddamned luck, having to put off the big scene after she worked up her nut. She turned into his empty carport and shut off her car.

"Damnit."

Starkey lit a cigarette. She fumed as she smoked, then decided to call him. She fished her cell phone from her purse, but when she tried to speed-dial his number, her phone couldn't lock on to a signal.

Starkey said, "SonofaBITCH!"

She thought it might be her battery, so she plugged the phone into the power cord trailing from the cigarette lighter. She still couldn't get a signal.

Starkey thought, well, shit, she'd use Cole's phone. She got out of her car, and went to the spare key she once saw him use. He kept it on the side of his house. She retrieved the key, returned to the carport, and let herself into the kitchen.

She crossed to the cordless phone cradled on the counter between the kitchen and dining room, and pressed in the number for Cole's cell. She stood with her back to the living room, impatiently listening to the ring.

Chapter 49

Frederick F rederick watched the woman getting out of her car, and realized she was the police officer who was guarding Cole's house. His pulse sped with horrific images of his capture and torture. He was caught in a panicked indecision between killing her or hiding, and he didn't know which to do. Secret cameras might be letting them watch his every move RIGHT NOW! More police might be surrounding Cole's house RIGHT NOW!

Yet, she wasn't hurrying. Her gun wasn't out. He didn't hear the sound of approaching sirens.

Frederick backed out of the kitchen, ran across the living room, and ducked into the entry closet. He clutched the shotgun across his chest, and gripped the knife tight. He heard her enter the house just as he pulled the door closed.

Chapter 50

Starkey Starkey was about to hang up when Cole answered.

"Hello?"

Mr. Witty. She wanted to make a wisecrack, but didn't.

Cole wasn't smarting off the way he usually did because he was hurting.

"Hey, it's me, Starkey. I'm standing in your house."

She was about to launch into it when Cole cut her off.

"Starkey, it's Diaz. Diaz killed him."

He went off into this blur of a story about the Reinnikes and Diaz, and Pardy building the case, and Diaz probably being on her way to Canyon Camino to find and kill David Reinnike. When Cole said he was going to stop her, Starkey flashed on her dream.

... his inevitable death.

"Cole, don't. Wait for Pardy."

She felt it so deep a taste like cold nickels coated her tongue - the medicinal taste of his death.

He said, "It'll be fine."

It was the last thing he said, and then the signal was gone.

"Cole?"

Dead air.

"Goddamnit, Cole."

Starkey punched the redial on his phone, but this time his voice mail picked up right away. No signal.

"SHIT!"

Carol Starkey had been dead, and then risen; she had been drunk, then sober; she had been a cop for thirteen years and had seen every imaginable human depravity; she did not believe in God; she did not believe in premonitions, telepathy, channeling, ESP, clairvoyance, remote viewing, fortune-telling, astrology, or the afterlife. She believed that Cole would be killed.

"SHIT!! SHITSHITSHIT!"

She punched in the number and waited out the ring. His personal number. The one he gave her.

"Yes."

"Pike. Pike, it's me."

Starkey told him where to meet her, and told him why.

Chapter 51

Frederick F rederick heard the door slam when she left. He listened to her engine roar, and the rubber shriek as she shredded away. Then he opened the door.

There in Cole's closet, he made peace with his own death, which was preordained and certain. They were too many against him, Cole and all these others. They were tightening their net, they would find him, and they would kill him. It was the punishment Payne had predicted. It had finally come to pass, and in a swell of emotion that filled his eyes with tears, Frederick realized now the truth of why Payne had gone to Los Angeles without telling him - Payne had gone to protect him. Payne had sacrificed himself in the final demonstration of his love.