Button and Futardo returned from their group. Pike thought they were coming to get him for the homicide dicks, but Button had news, and the news made him smile.
"Alberto Gomer is no longer missing in action. Homeless dude found him an hour ago in a parked car up at the north end of the canal. His throat was cut ear to ear. That makes your boy Smith two for two."
Futardo gestured toward the homicide detectives.
"They'd like to speak with you now. You ready to talk?"
23
Elvis Cole When Pike phoned Cole that morning to tell him about Button's call, Cole heard the strain in his friend's voice. Pike was a man who showed nothing, projecting a zen-like detachment that Cole sometimes found amusing, but also admired. Cole often wondered what such calm cost his friend, and whether Pike had no other choice but to pay it.
Cole was off the couch and out of the house sixteen minutes after Pike hung up. Who needs deodorant when you're the World's Greatest Detective? Who needs to brush your teeth when you're fighting to absolve your friend's guilt?
The morning traffic down from the canyon and westbound through Hollywood sucked. Bumper-to-bumper with garbage trucks, buses, and citizens headed for work, all of them funneled through streets torn up by poorly planned construction and maintenance projects.
Cole was still two miles from the freeway when his phone rang. He thought it would be Pike, but didn't recognize the number.
"Elvis Cole."
"This is Steve Brown in London, returning your call."
Brown spoke firmly, as if he was used to being in meetings and getting things done. Cole did a quick calculation. Eight hours ahead made it five P.M. in London.
"Thanks for getting back, Mr. Brown. I'm trying to locate Wilson Smith and Dru Rayne. I was hoping you might know how to reach them."
"Why would I know that?"
Cole thought that was an odd response, considering the people were living in the man's house.
"I understand they're house-sitting for you."
"Uh-huh. And you understand this how?"
Now Brown sounded suspicious, which maybe went with getting a cold call from a total stranger six thousand miles away.
"Your neighbor. Lily Palmer. She told me about the house-sitting, and suggested I call."
"Uh-huh. Okay. What's this about?"
Cole had expected Brown to have questions, and had decided to limit his answers.
"Wilson's shop was damaged. I've been trying to find him so I can tell him what happened, but it looks like they've gone away for a few days. I was hoping you would know how to reach them."
"Uh-huh."
Brown fell silent.
"Mr. Brown?"
"Let me ask you a question. These people are living in my house, Dru and this guy?"
Brown sounded angry, and Cole didn't like where the conversation was going.
"Are they there without your knowledge?"
"I told Dru she could use the place. That's it. I don't know any Wilson Smith. I never heard of him, and I'm fucking pissed off if she's shacking with some guy in my house."
"He's her uncle."
"I don't give a shit if he's her twin brother, though I have my doubts. This wasn't the deal. I didn't want anyone else in the house, and she was cool with it. That's why I let her use the place."
Cole felt a soft chill, and liked the conversation even less. Cole had believed Smith arranged for the house, and invited Dru to stay with him when she came to L.A. to help with his business. Now that was upended.
"Dru works for him. Mr. Smith has a restaurant up by the boardwalk."
"Maybe so, but she wasn't working for anybody when I gave her the keys. She was living off alimony. She never said anything about an uncle, and she sure as hell didn't tell me he was going to move in."
Cole wet his lips, and hated the question he had to ask.
"Why did you let her move in?"
"I was fucking her, why do you think? She wanted out of the dump she was living in, and I was coming back here, so it was a good deal for both of us. Saved me the hassle of vetting a house sitter."
Cole felt hollow.
"All right. Listen, thanks for getting back to me."
"Hold on. How long is she going to be away?"
"I don't know."
"I called her when I got your message, but she hasn't called back."
"We haven't been able to reach either one of them."
"What are we talking about? A few days? A couple of weeks? Has she abandoned the place?"
"I don't know."
"Goddamnit, as of right now, you are telling me my house is empty? Is that correct? She's gone, and no one is taking care of my house?"
"No, sir. Not now."
"Son of a BITCH. That fucking whore."
Brown hung up cursing, and the line went dead.
Cole drove on with a confusion that left him feeling blindsided, and realized he had missed an obvious question. He opened the incoming call list and called Brown back.
"Me again. Sorry. Have you spoken with Dru since you've been away?"
"Hell, yes. I call her every couple of weeks, make sure everything's okay, check on the house."
"She never mentioned Mr. Smith?"
"This is the first I've heard of him, and I don't like it. If this guy's been living there all this time and she hasn't told me, she's been lying to me, and I don't like liars. If you find her, you tell her she better call me, and I mean yesterday. I want that sonofabitch out of my house."
Cole finished the call feeling even worse than before. The picture he now had of Dru Rayne was very different from the woman Joe described. This left him with even more questions, but Cole forced himself to focus on the fact she was missing. He had to mine Wilson Smith's neighbors before the police sealed the mine.
Cole reached the canals a few minutes later and once more walked in. Mendoza and his partner had passed these same houses going to and coming from the Smith house, which was when Jared saw them, and now Cole wanted to see if anyone else had seen them, but he targeted the houses with security cameras first.
Almost out of habit, he checked Jared's window as he moved down the alley, but Jared was missing. Amazing.
The day before, Cole noted three homes with cameras. No one answered at the first house, so he slipped a business card under the door with a note asking them to call. A middle-aged woman answered at the second home, and asked if he was with the police she spoke to the day before. This told Cole that Button and his partner had made the rounds after speaking with Jared. Cole told her he was, and dropped Button's name to fortify the lie. Cole asked if Button checked her surveillance recordings, but Button had not asked, and it would not have mattered if he had-her cameras displayed real-time images but were not hooked to a recorder. The first house had potential, but the second house was a bust.
Cole had better luck at the third house. A housekeeper told him she didn't know much about the security system, but believed the cameras made a recording. She explained her employer was at work, but thought he would be happy to speak with Cole as he was very interested when she told him the police questioned her yesterday. Cole left another card, then reconsidered his plan.
Knowing that Button made the rounds after speaking with Jared, Cole decided there was no point in covering the same ground again. The available witness list was currently limited to Jared.
Cole returned to Smith's house, and found Jared back in his window, straggly black hair, shirtless, wires dripping from his ears. Jared was watching him.
Cole made a little wave. Jared waved back. Cole motioned for Jared to come down, and Jared turned from the window.
Cole was waiting outside his house when the door opened and Jared came out.
"Hey, dude, whassup? You with the police or the big dude?"