"And you really think one of them may have shot Allan?"
"No, it's not likely. But at least it's somewhere to look. Maybe one of the names will intersect with another part of the investigation."
"And meanwhile you're hip deep in a murder and all's right with the world."
Glitsky didn't answer, but he knew Treya was right. He put an arm around her, drew her in next to him. "I don't love feeling like I'm dancing on Allan's grave, but looking for his killer is how I ought to be spending my time. Not going to meetings." A thought struck him and he stopped. "How about this? I've been trying to figure out how to get the ATF to help us out here. They've got to have access to mailing lists from the net, people who have ordered silencers or the handbooks to make them. They won't be inclined to share, but once I get the names from Ewing's list, I've got something to trade, right?"
"This is what you need to be doing, Abe. Working cases. Really. You know that?"
He walked a few more steps, then stopped, turned and kissed her. "You think?" he said.
20
Laura Wright's parents wouldn't see Hardy. They didn't buy his opening gambit that he and they were working toward the same goal- to find Laura's killer. They did not even want to talk to anybody who had anything to do with defending the murderer of their daughter. Lanny Ropke's parents were wary, too, but ultimately allowed the interview. June wanted Mark to be home for any discussion Hardy might have with their son, so they scheduled it for 6:30.
Hardy rang the doorbell exactly at the stroke.
Now the four of them sat around a Pottery Barn wrought-iron table in a screened patio off the kitchen door of the Ropkes' Victorian. Irving Street, out here on Twenty-sixth Avenue, supported the occasional large home on a big lot, and the Ropkes' was one of them. A tall and well-trimmed laurel hedge hemmed the backyard on all sides, and long shadows fell across the deep lawn in the back. They'd also had room to erect a playground set by the back hedge- swing, slide, sandbox- and half a basketball court. To Hardy's left, there was another redwood porch off what he assumed was a bedroom, and on it was a large, covered hot tub. Hardy had been introduced to the rest of the family- two cute and well-mannered young adolescent girls named Kim and Susan- but they'd disappeared by the time Mark suggested the patio for the interview. June poured heavily lemoned iced tea from a beaded pitcher.
They were a handsome family, with a strong resemblance along gender lines. June's button nose and athletic figure were reflected in her two daughters, and Mark and Lanny- both lanky and big-boned, with prominent Adam's apples, milky blue eyes and ruddy cheeks- might have been brothers. Hardy had a copy of Lanny's transcipt and he got it out of his briefcase and came right to the point.
"The situation is this. Lanny, when you talked to the police, you told them about Andrew bringing his father's gun to school, and then talking about maybe using it on Laura and Mr. Mooney. I'm not going to try to get you to say anything that's not true, but I do want to ask you a few questions that might clarify some things for the defense. I'm assuming you're okay with helping us out if we're trying to help Andrew."
"Sure. He was my best friend. I mean he still is."
June said, "He wants to go visit him in jail, but after they arrested Andrew, the police said it might not be good to let the two of them talk, since he was going to be a prosecution witness."
"I wouldn't change what I said, Mom. I'm not going to lie."
"No. Of course you're not, Lanny. No one's suggesting that," June said.
"We thought it seemed like a reasonable suggestion," Mark added. "That's all."
Hardy smiled tolerantly at the parents. He was starting to see why they both wanted to be here while he talked to Lanny. "Well, my opinion," he said, "is it really wouldn't do any harm to either of them, but that's of course your decision." He shifted to the boy. "So, Lanny, what we're facing immediately, this next Tuesday, is a hearing to see if Andrew gets tried as an adult or not. And I'd like to call you as a witness to talk about the kind of guy Andrew is."
"I'd do that."
"Good. Let's talk about the gun. When you first saw it, what was your reaction?"
Lanny considered for a moment. "I don't know what you mean, exactly. It freaked me out. I mean, a gun at school is not a good idea."
June spoke up. "We don't understand why he didn't tell… well, at least somebody about it right away."
"I didn't want to get Andrew in trouble." His eyes implored Hardy to ignore his mother. "We've gone through this a hundred times. I didn't think he was going to use it."
"Why not?"
"It's just not who he is. When I talked to the police, they just wanted to hear about how Andrew had the gun and talked about using it. Which he did, I'm not denying that. But that was like way back in December, definitely before Christmas, while they were still broken up. By the time of the killings, it wasn't an issue at all anymore."
"But he still had the gun?"
Lanny shot a quick look at both of his parents, came back to Hardy. "I mean, you've got to know Andrew. He's a little… dramatic sometimes. He liked to play with, I don't know…," he searched for the right word, "… ideas? After he'd gotten away with it for a while, he got to thinking it was cool, I guess, that everybody thought he was this nerdy good student and he carried a gun around. He didn't have to use it. It just made him feel like he was putting something over on everybody. I think, if you want to know the truth, Mooney might have had something to do with that."
Mark cleared his throat. "Now, wait a minute, Lanny. I thought we agreed that it wasn't Mr. Mooney's fault that somebody shot him."
June concurred. "He didn't bring it on himself."
Lanny let out a breath of frustration, talked to Hardy. "But Andrew's idea of keeping the gun for when they rehearsed, Mooney thought that was neat. He wanted it out there. I think, otherwise, Andrew would have put it back. He was starting to be afraid he'd get caught."
Hardy sat back. "So there was no blowup in the last day or two?"
"No. Not that I knew."
"And Laura and Andrew were solid. Together."
"More than ever, I think." He flashed to his parents. "I guess everybody knows she was pregnant by now."
"Andrew says he didn't know it while she was alive."
"That's true," Lanny said. "He would have told me."
Mark came forward, his eyes alight with a possibility. "Hey, what about this? Maybe Laura told him she was pregnant that night and Andrew thought it was Mooney's…"
Lanny turned on him, raised his voice. "He wouldn't have thought it was Mooney's, Dad. She wasn't sleeping around. She was with Andrew and he knew it."
"Maybe it was Mr. Mooney's baby, though," June said. "Maybe they did have a relationship, Mr. Mooney and Laura, back when Andrew was first worried about it…"
Hardy put a stop to the argument. "Even if they did," he said, "the baby was Andrew's. They took his DNA when they booked him. He was the father."
"And Mooney didn't do it with Laura, Mom, for God's sake. He just didn't!"
"How do you know that?" June asked. "I don't see how you can be so sure."
"If I may," Hardy interjected. "Mrs. Ropke, do you have some reason to think he did?"
Silence descended. June Ropke's eyes had gone wide with surprise, and an embarrassed giggle escaped. "Well, no, of course not. I mean…" Her eyes went to her husband, then Lanny, finally to Hardy. "Except, well, the rumors, you know. That he'd slept with students before."
Hardy brought a hand up to his mouth. Andrew's short story had introduced this basic topic, but this was the first corroboration of it he'd heard in the real world. Earlier in the day, he'd talked to the principal at Sutro, and Mr. Wagner had scoffed at the idea. Mr. Mooney was a charismatic and relatively young teacher, and girls undoubtedly got crushes on him, but he had never to Wagner's knowledge had a breath of scandal surface. From Hardy's perspective, though, if rumors about Mooney were even circulating, then regardless of their substance this would add credibility to the prosecution's theory of Andrew's motive.