“It’s starting to shape up like a whole bunch of people knew about the girls.”
Milo said, “When the Starks complained, the department flipped them off, why would anyone else come forward? Jesus.”
Petra looked as if she’d swallowed a grub. “Makes me proud to be a sworn law enforcement specialist…Alex, you really think Patty could’ve overdosed someone premeditatedly? And same question: How’d it go down?”
“Let’s say Bandini and Pete were behind the hot-prowl break-ins and that Bandini tried the same thing with Patty. Brought his kit late one night, picked her lock, started searching for drugs. Patty woke up, confronted him, used her gun to back him down. She didn’t call the police because that wouldn’t solve the problem permanently. Bandini would be out eventually, maybe return to get even. So she defused the situation by making a peace offering Bandini couldn’t refuse.”
Milo said, “I’ll dose you up now, and if you behave yourself there’s more in the future. But don’t come creeping around my place at night…yeah, a hungry crank fiend might go for that. He sits in the kitchen, she fixes a needle, Bandini’s expecting a jolt of speed, but instead she cocktails him.”
“With no extensive downer experience, that much Valium could’ve stopped his heart cold.”
Milo said, “Valium I can see her having, easy to swipe from the hospital. Where would she get meth?”
“The tox screen said amphetamine, unspecified. Any number of prescription stimulants could produce that result. Secondary tests could’ve teased out the specifics but no one saw any need for that.”
“I’m still picturing it,” said Petra. “She doses him, sits there, watches him die?”
“Bandini broke in,” said Milo.
“That’s still cold. And if she had uppers and downers ready, well planned.” The room grew silent.
Milo said, “Patty came right out and told Tanya she killed a guy. We were the ones pretending she meant something symbolic. And hell, if Alex is right about what led up to it-hot-prowl break-ins, missing girls, maybe threats to Tanya-I’m happy calling it justifiable.”
Petra said, “Whatever happened, the lady’s long gone, no sense judging…back to the scene for a sec. Bandini croaks, Patty’s got a DB to deal with, she drags him out to the street, waits awhile, calls it in…guess it fits.”
Milo said, “It sure doesn’t not fit.”
She smiled faintly. “You and your grammar, Mr. English Major.”
“Lieutenant English Major.”
The two of them bantering, so as not to think about Patty.
I said, “Here’s something else that fits: Bandini’s break-in tools were found under his body, which is consistent with someone wanting to make it look like a bad guy O.D.’ing. But there was no mention of a needle on his person in either the coroner’s or the police file. Or anyone looking for a needle.”
Petra scanned both reports. Shook her head. “Fresh needle mark in the guy’s arm and no one checks it out. Oh, man, this is law enforcement at its finest.” To Milo: “You know this Rahab guy?”
“Nope.”
“Maybe Stu does…not that it’s worth churning dust over…another question, Alex: If Patty killed Bandini, I can see her leaving his tools in order to show he was a bad guy, maybe set up a little additional distraction. But why wouldn’t she do the same for the needle?”
“Her prints were on it,” I said. “She might’ve worried they wouldn’t clean off totally, or there’d be some way to trace it back to Cedars and her. Or maybe she simply forgot. She was an amateur in over her head.”
“Protecting her kid…Mama bears do get aggressive,” said Petra.
Her own mother had died birthing her.
Milo said, “Let’s get back to the logic of killing Bandini in the first place. If she was out to protect Tanya, why leave Petey alive?”
“He was young and he wasn’t directly involved in the break-in,” I said. “Having someone else do his dirty work is consistent with everything else we know about him. Maybe Patty got that, figured he wouldn’t hassle her on his own.”
“Plus,” said Petra, “the personal connection to him through his father.”
Milo said, “The old mayhem hierarchy. It’s okay to shoot a coyote but your neighbor’s poodle gets nasty, you have second thoughts.”
“Or one killing took everything out of her,” said Petra.
Milo said, “Watching a guy fade out could dampen your enthusiasm.”
I said, “And prey on your mind forever. Shortly after Bandini’s death, she moved to Culver Boulevard, a big comedown. Right after, Tanya came to me for the second time. She talked about Patty being nervous, cleaning compulsively in the middle of the night.”
“Anxiety,” said Petra.
“Part of the move could’ve been moving away from Pete’s sphere of operations but maybe there was an element of self-punishment, as well. Eventually, she made some kind of peace with it. Then a decade later, Pete reincarnated as Blaise De Paine shows up in her E.R., recognizes her, tells her something that frightens her. I’ve been assuming verbal menacing of Tanya but what if De Paine threatened to expose her for Bandini’s murder?”
“‘I know what you did that summer’?” said Petra. “But De Paine and Patty were the only two people aware of what happened and self-preservation shut both their mouths. So why would De Paine shake that up?”
“He’s gotten away with crimes his entire life, is impulsive and egotistical enough to think he’s invulnerable. Coming face-to-face with Patty triggered his mouth, he couldn’t resist harassing her. It brought back all those memories she’d fought hard to bury. And terrified her. If De Paine chose to incriminate her, her life would fall apart. Everything she’d worked for would be history. Or even worse, it’s possible De Paine decided to take revenge by coming after her and Tanya. Maybe she tried to ward him off with a counterthreat. ‘I know what you did that summer-the missing girls’-and he laughed it off. She realized he was a total sociopath, couldn’t be counted on to be careful.”
“Risky move bringing up the girls,” said Milo. “Be easier just to shoot him.”
“But when De Paine showed up in the E.R., he wasn’t alone. Patty may have eliminated a hungry speed freak but stalking and murdering three apparent bad guys was way out of her league. Maybe she even contemplated ways to do it. But then she got sick. As a nurse, she knew she had very little time left, had to prioritize getting Tanya’s future in order. Once she did that-when her strength had waned to almost nothing-she tried to warn Tanya. Refused her pain meds so she could cling to consciousness. She managed to direct Tanya to me, but I was a stop along the way. It was you she wanted involved.”
“Aw, shucks,” said Milo, grimacing. “Getting terminally ill right after being reminded of your big sin, a religious person could see that as divine retribution. What was Patty’s take on faith?”
“We never discussed it,” I said. “But whatever views she started off with, knowing death is imminent changes everything. She had so much to do in so little time, struggled to sort out what to tell Tanya. Whatever her cognitive state, her worries stayed with her because she was obsessive. Pinpricks in a fading brain.”
He winced at the image.
Petra said, “As she’s trying to figure it out, Tanya brings her those magazines, she leafs through, spots De Paine hobnobbing. That could’ve been seen as Cosmic Fate. She decides to tell Tanya about the terrible thing with an eye to warning her, but is too sick to get it all out?”
“That and she didn’t want Tanya handling it alone.”
“She sows, we reap.”
Milo said, “Let’s talk about Brandy and Roxy. Two girls vanish from a nice neighborhood without being missed?”