I positioned myself below it and made the very do-able, bottom-of-the-net leap to reach its sill. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself into the room. On the floor was a pair of binoculars a third of the size Badger used for a similar purpose earlier that night. The presence of the binoculars led me to wonder if more than just Tala was involved in the ransom. My mind leapt to Jeanette but I dispelled that notion, for now, anyway.
With the filing cabinet and desks and papers piled on top, it appeared to be an office to a still-operating business. I remained at the foot of the window and strained my ears for any sounds coming from the other rooms. It was as quiet as the street outside. The only sound in my ears was from my own heartbeat thumping away. I made my way to the door, careful not to trip on anything and call attention to my presence.
The hallway was empty. The only light came from the room to my left. I stood for what felt like twenty minutes but was just a single minute. I took out my cell and texted to Hector and Badger.
“I’M INSIDE”
The reply was immediate. From whom, I wasn’t sure, but the phone buzzed in my hand and broke the silence in the hallway.
I thought I heard a click. I waited, my eyes fixed on the door a few feet from me, but nothing came out. I detected movement inside, or rather, the faintest shift in the half-light as something, or someone, passed in front of the light’s source. I concentrated on my breathing but nothing could suppress the sounds emanating from my chest. It felt like anyone outside on the street could hear my panicked attempts at air.
The barrel of a gun slowly emerged from behind the door jam, then the pudgy hand that held onto it. Tala fully stepped out of the room. She seemed focused in the opposite direction at the stairwell that led below. It hadn’t occurred to her that someone might be behind her.
I could have done several things — rush her while my position was still unknown, turn back into the darkened room and leap to safety onto the loading dock roof below — but I did nothing. These were options somewhere in the recesses of my mind but they never fully emerged.
As if sensing something behind her, she slowly turned and faced me. She looked around with a slightly perplexed look. I watched her go through the thought process as she put the pieces together — someone found me, it isn’t the police, he is alone. The gun raised ever so slightly, the grip firmed up on the butt.
There was a whirr of black behind her as a figure moved forward with mechanical, almost robotic efficiency. A face was illuminated in the light from the room — Hector’s impassive stare — and then disappeared as he slid in behind her. There was a glint of silver metal, then an arm came over the one holding the gun, and I heard something that I thought sounded like a woman’s laugh, but wasn’t. I watched how effortlessly the arm with the gun came down. The hallway flashed bright, followed by a roar as the gun discharged a bullet into the floorboards. I covered one of my ears, trying desperately to get at the dull tone drilling inside my head.
It looked like Tala wanted to sit down, to rest a spell after a long day of work at the hospital. Hector obliged by hooking one arm under her shoulder and gently lowering her down. She sat there on her folded up legs in an awkward pose on the floor. One arm propped her upright but strained under the weight and didn’t look like it would hold much longer. As the ringing in my ears subsided, I heard it.
The sounds coming out of her were a quiet plea that I knew would go unanswered. They were so feminine and fragile. And I fought the urge to rush to her side and if nothing else, just hold her in my arms. Instead, I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to watch it. But the sound didn’t go away.
I’d never heard anything like that in my life and I wished to all’s end that I never would again.
NO KIDS
Badger showed up a short time later and surveyed the scene. When he saw the body lying in the hallway, he calmly approached and felt for a pulse on Tala’s neck even though by the way she lay there it was clear she was dead. He used the backs of his fingers, felt nothing, then rose and checked his watch. It felt to me like the moves of someone whose next move was to flee and pretend he was never there — no fingerprints on the skin, no evidence at all to place him at the scene. I expected him to request that Hector and I leave him out of the entire story we told the police. And I didn’t blame him in the least. He had more experience than I did in what lay ahead for us and he was wise to not want to experience it.
“It’s ten-forty,” he announced. “We call 911 first but we call our lawyers immediately afterwards. Let’s make sure we have the numbers handy because this thing will go down faster than you ever thought possible.”
Badger wasn’t running, and I felt sorry for doubting him. He called 911 and told them the minimum amount of facts. It appeared like the operator was trying to pump him for more information but he hung up on them. He then dialed his lawyer and filled him in. I took Badger’s lead and called the only lawyer I knew, my ex-wife Claire. As a commercial real estate attorney she knew nothing about criminal law, but she was all I had. I also held this growing need to be near someone I knew and Claire was the closest person I had in all of Los Angeles.
I got her voicemail.
“Claire, it’s me. I think I am about to be arrested. I am in Chinatown so not sure where I will be held. Can you help?” Before I hung up, I felt the need to add, “Sorry to bother you with this. I’m in trouble.”
Hector didn’t call anyone. Badger and I pleaded with him, but he ignored our requests. I thought of calling Valenti directly but worried that would only complicate matters. Hector could have easily placed the call to the old man himself but he chose not to. I didn’t know his reasons but I respected them.
Badger was right. The “mess” was on us faster than I thought possible. The siren wails grew louder with each passing second and soon were joined by heavy footsteps on the stairwell. Radio squawks joined the cacophony of sounds coming at us. Per Badger’s suggestion, we sat together on the floor with our backs against the wall and our hands clasped over the tops of our heads. At least Badger and I did the last part. Hector joined us on the floor but his arms remained by his sides, his palms face-up in a resigned pose. As the cool-white glare of heavy flashlights danced in the hallways, I caught a brief glimpse of Hector’s face. He looked drained and lost and his cheeks glistened where he had tried to wipe the tears away.
***
I never felt exhaustion like I experienced in the period that followed. I remember snippets of what eventually became a two-day ordeal, but they seem like scenes haphazardly cut together from several different movies.
There was an interrogation room that was as cold as a walk-in refrigerator. I recall pulling my arms in through my sleeves and wrapping them across my chest in an attempt to retain what little heat emanated from my core. I would have done anything for a shred of blanket so I could curl up in the corner of the linoleum floor and go to sleep.
I remember an odd combination of odors — pancakes and radiator steam — so strikingly familiar that a rush of memories from my third grade classroom came back with such clarity that it felt like I was sitting in that second row again under the paper mobiles dangling from the ceiling.