I slowly eased my car door open and gingerly stepped outside, immediately feeling like I was invading foreign territory. I heard Dana do the same, then quickly scuttle around to my side of the car, sticking close as I dialed Becca’s number again. Again we waited, listening to it ring on my end. I closed my eyes, willing my hearing to strain to its most super sonic. I heard a baby crying somewhere inside the building. A muted TV show. And a faint ringing sound.
My eyes shot open. “I hear it!”
Dana must have heard it too, as I felt her perk up beside me. “Dial again,” she prompted. “I think it was coming from that way.” She pointed toward the middle of the alleyway where the building split in the center at the courtyard.
I did, hitting redial as we power walked toward the courtyard. This time the ringing on the other end grew louder as we approached. I turned into the courtyard, Dana a short step behind me. Bushes flanked either side of the tiny space, a cement block serving as a patio area. In the far right corner sat what might have been a koi pond in the building’s finer years, but was now a concrete hole in the ground, covered by brush and debris.
The guy in the lawn chair watched us walk in.
“What you want?” he barked, smoke billowing from his mouth.
“Um, we’re looking for our friend,” I told him as the ringing went to voicemail on the other end. “Becca Diamond. Do you know her?”
The man stared at me. “What do I look like, the damned yellow pages?”
I bit my lip. “Right. Thanks. We’ll just keep looking,” I said, hitting redial again. I strained to hear which of the apartments the ringing on the other end might be coming from.
Only I realized, as I listened to it trill, that it didn’t seem to be coming from the apartments above us. It seemed to be coming from somewhere below us.
“Maddie,” Dana said, grabbing onto my arm. I looked up to see her staring at the koi pond.
Uh oh.
I took a step toward the abandoned pond. And heard the ringing grow louder. I slowly peered over the edge. It wasn’t deep, only a couple of feet, though it was fully covered in palm fronds and trash.
And it was clearly ringing.
I bit my lip. I did an eenie meenie mine mo between curiosity and common sense. Ultimately, curiosity won out, and I gingerly reached down and shifted the palm fronds away from the edge of the pond.
What happened next was kind of a blur of “ohmigods”, “holycraps”, and high-pitched dog-whistle range screams. Some from Dana, but I’m pretty sure most were from me. Because staring back at us from the bottom of the abandoned koi pond were the lifeless blue eyes of Becca Diamond.
Chapter Sixteen
My hands were shaking as I dialed 911 and told the dispatcher what we’d just seen. Her calming tones did nothing to actually calm me down as she told me a squad car was on its way. Ten minutes later, it arrived, and the uniformed officer followed my shaking directions to the koi pond. Then he radioed in to dispatch for more squad cars. Twenty minutes later the entire block was filled with flashing red and blue lights, and the old man with the cigar and the kids had conspicuously disappeared inside.
Two officers split Dana and me up, an older redheaded guy taking Dana to one end of the courtyard to get her story and a younger guy with thick glasses taking me to the side closest to the alleyway.
“I understand you and your friend found the body?” he asked, pulling a notebook from his pocket.
I nodded, looking past him to where another squad car and the coroner’s truck were pulling into the alleyway.
“Did you touch the body at all?”
I shook my head, nausea rolling through my stomach at the thought. “No way.”
“But you could tell she was deceased?” he asked.
“Her eyes were open,” I said. “And not moving.”
He nodded. “Okay, what time exactly was this?”
I bit my lip. “I’m not sure. Maybe half an hour ago?” I said, watching as another car pulled into the alley behind us. A big, black SUV.
Uh oh.
“Um, do we really have to do this now?” I asked the officer. I watch the SUV park, a familiar figure emerging from the driver’s side.
“Yes, ma’am. Now is a good time.”
Maybe for him.
“Uh, okay, but you see I really have to…” I wracked my brain for an excuse to get away – any excuse! – as I watched Ramirez move away from his SUV to talk to another uniformed officer, no doubt being filled in on the fact that two ditzy blondes had found the body.
One of whom was conspicuously pregnant.
“…pee!” I yelled. I crossed my legs. “It’s the pregnancy thing. The baby is sitting right on my bladder. Uncooperative little tyke. So, um, I have to go. Seriously. Now,” I added with conviction as Ramirez’s gaze swung my way. I ducked behind a tall bush, hoping The Bump didn’t protrude too much.
“Oh, uh, well, I guess we could go to the station…” the officer said, his cheek turning pink as he stammered. Bad guys with guns he could handle. A pregnant woman with a small bladder, not so much.
Lucky for me.
“Yes, the station would be great. Wonderful. Perfect,” I said. “I’m sure you have lovely bathrooms at the station. Shall we go now?” I turned and near-ran to the closest squad car as Ramirez entered the courtyard, his gaze sweeping over the scene, taking it all in. I could see his eyes were sharp, going into cop mode, making sure no little detail escaped him.
Even if she sorely wanted to.
“What’s the hold-up?” I asked, slipping into the backseat of the car.
Officer Flustered took his sweet time closing his notebook, radioing in to someone that he was bringing in the witness for further questioning, mumbling a bunch of numbers and letters into the walkie attached to his belt. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he got into the car and started the engine.
Not a moment too soon.
As he put the car into gear, I saw Ramirez’s eyes lock in on Dana, gesturing wildly with her hands as the red-haired guy took her statement down as fast as he could scribble. Ramirez’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowed, and I thought I saw that little vein on the side of his neck start to pulse.
“Go! Drive!” I shouted, ducking down below the window panel.
Thankfully Officer Flustered did, pulling away from the curb just as a string of curses in Spanish emanated from my husband’s mouth, following me down the street.
Once at the station I did, in fact, have to pee again so I hightailed it to the ladies room. Once relieved, I then sat with the uniformed officer and gave him a full statement. By the time he finally released me, I’d gone over our discovery at the koi pond about a hundred times and knew very detail of the moment like the back of my hand. The only thing I didn’t know was what our murderer was doing murdered in North Hollywood.
As soon as I left the station, I called Dana for a ride back home. Unfortunately there was no answer. She was probably still fending off the wrath of Ramirez. I totally owed her one. I made a mental note to take her out to the spa when this was all over. As a backup, I dialed Marco who, luckily, picked up on the third ring, did the appropriate amount of “ohmigod”s and “are you alright”s, then came to pick me up in his bright yellow Miata.
As reluctant as I was to face Ramirez, I knew from experience that the place he was least likely to be found after a dead body surfaced was home. So I took a chance and had Marco drop me off at my place with a promise that in the morning I’d fill him in on all the gory details of our finding.
I made myself a huge grilled cheese (Okay, I made two, but one was for the baby.), took the longest, hottest shower on record (which still didn’t 100% get the feeling of dead person cooties off of me), and flopped into bed, willing myself to fall asleep before my husband got home.