“Why didn’t you see him as the guy?” I said.
“He seemed devastated by Flora’s death, really crushed. His friends said he’d been in a great mood at the game and later. Everyone we talked to said he and Flora got along fine. All that still wouldn’t have swayed me, but with the poly? No way. Not him.”
“Did he know anything about Flora’s therapy?”
“Nope. Like Flora’s mother, he hadn’t been aware she’d been going.”
“Biweekly appointments,” I said. “Easy enough to conceal.”
“And Flora was definitely concealing. She accounted for the appointments by telling Brian Van Dyne she was going to the gym. Which was logical. She’d joined the Sports Depot on Sepulveda. Step aerobics and whatnot. Al and I interviewed the people who worked there, wondering if she’d hooked up with some gym rat- maybe a muscle-bound bad boy to counterbalance wholesome Brian. But no, she kept to herself, just went there to sweat.”
“Keeping her therapy secret,” I said.
“That doesn’t really surprise me, Doctor. When one of our colleagues here gets a recommendation to see a shrink, they either ignore it, or, if they go, they keep it tightly buttoned.”
“The stigma.”
“It’s still there. Flora was serious about Brian Van Dyne. I can understand her not wanting him- or her boss at the school- to know she was having problems.”
“How long was she dating him?”
“Half a year.”
“Not exactly open communication,” I said, “but you could be right. It does make me wonder, though, if the reason she went into treatment was more stigmatizing than work stress.”
“Some deep, dark kink in her character? Who knows? Maybe Dr. Koppel will give it up.”
Milo said, “If our case is related to yours, you coulda nailed it, Lorraine. Some lunatic seeing Koppel spotted Flora- and our boy Gavin- in the waiting room and smelled Victim.”
“Male and female vics?” said Ogden. “What about the girl who died with yours?”
“No ID yet.”
Ogden frowned. “Not a head patient?”
“Dr. Koppel denied knowing the girl,” I said.
“For what that’s worth,” said Ogden.
Milo said, “You picked up a liar-vibe?”
“Nothing that strong, but it sounds like she was evasive with both of us, and the coincidence is giving off a definite scent. Let me know after you talk to her. Anything else?”
Milo said, “Lorraine, I was figuring to reinterview some of your principals, if that’s okay with you. The mom, the boyfriend, the people Flora worked with.”
“Talk to whoever you want, the main thing is closing Flora. You know Al McKinley.”
“Good man,” said Milo.
“Smart man,” she said. “Real bulldog.” She took a deep breath. “He and I really worked this one. Combed sex-offender records, did some cross-referencing with felons who work construction. It’s scary how many bad guys are doing roofing or day labor. But it all came to nothing. I was so frustrated I found myself hoping some other DB with the same signature would show up, maybe this time there’d be some forensics to work with. Nice, huh? Wanting someone else to die. The neoprene… he uses her knife but comes prepared with plastic. We’re talking a predator. And those guys don’t just stop. Right, Doctor?”
I nodded.
Milo said, “Maybe this one didn’t.”
CHAPTER 10
Canfield School occupied a block of Airdrome Avenue, three blocks south of Pico and east of Doheny. Through the chain-link fence, kids played against a backdrop of mural. Peace, love, harmony. Little kids, their faces shone with possibility.
The neighborhood was Baja Beverly Hills, a five-minute ride from Mary Lou Koppel’s office on Olympic. If Flora Newsome had driven to therapy from her apartment in Palms, the trip would have stretched longer, but not much. Twenty minutes in bad traffic.
The vice principal was a black woman named Lavinia Robson with an Ed.D. and a pleasant demeanor.
She checked our credentials, asked the right questions, got on her intercom and summoned Brian Van Dyne.
“Coffee?” she said.
“No, thanks.”
“Flora was a sweetie, we were all saddened. Is there new evidence?”
“Sorry, no, Dr. Robson. Sometimes it helps to take a fresh look.”
“That’s true in education, as well- ah, here’s Brian.
Flora Newsome’s former boyfriend was a tall, narrow-shouldered man in his midthirties with thinning blond hair and a wispy mustache the color of gruel. His complexion implied an aversion to sunshine. He wore a green shirt, khakis, a brown wool necktie, and rubber-soled walking shoes. Thick-lensed eyeglasses gave his eyes a stunned glaze. Add to that his genuine shock at our presence, and he looked like a man who’d landed on a foreign planet.
“Flora?” he said. “After all this time?” His voice was whispery, anemic.
Lavinia Robson’s phone rang. “Brian, Pat’s out for the day, why don’t you take these gentlemen to her office?”
The absent Patricia Rohatyn was the school’s special ed counselor. Her office was cramped, linoleum-floored, filled with books and games. The air-conditioning vent rattled. The room smelled of rubber eraser.
Two child-sized chairs faced a cluttered desk. Brian Van Dyne said, “You guys sit,” and went to fetch a third. He came back, settled opposite us in a large chair. No attempt to dominate; he slumped, trying to sink to our level.
“Your being here today is so strange,” he said. “I just got engaged yesterday.”
“Congratulations,” said Milo.
“For a long time after Flora, I didn’t feel like dating. Finally, I agreed to let my sister set me up on a blind date.” His smile was wistful. “Karen- my fiancée- doesn’t know the details of what happened to Flora. Just that she died.”
“No need for her to know.”
“Exactly,” said Van Dyne. “I still have trouble with it. Remembering. I was the one who found her… what brings you here? Do you finally have a suspect?”
Milo crossed his legs, taking pains not to kick over a stack of box games. “We’re reviewing the case, sir. Is there anything that’s occurred to you since the first detectives questioned you?”
“Reviewing,” said Van Dyne, deflated. “No, nothing.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Why has the case been reopened?”
“It never closed, sir.”
“Oh,” said Van Dyne. “Sure, of course.” His knees bumped together.
The small chair was cramping my back, and I stretched. It had to be agony for Milo, but he appeared fine.
He said, “One thing that came up in our review was that Ms. Newsome was seeing a psychotherapist. Detective Ogden told me that was a surprise to you.”
“It was a total surprise. Flora never told me. Which was strange because I’d been in therapy and told her.” Van Dyne fooled with his glasses. “I thought we had an open relationship.”
“You were in therapy, too,” said Milo.
Van Dyne smiled. “Nothing crazy, Lieutenant. I was married for three years, got divorced six months before I met Flora. My wife left me for some guy, and I was having a rough time. To be honest, I was pretty depressed. I saw a psychologist, and he counseled me and referred me to a psychiatrist for some short-term antidepressants. After three months, I felt a lot better and stopped the pills. Another two months of therapy, and I was ready to be on my own. That’s what enabled me to be open to a relationship with Flora. So I’d be the last person to look down on therapy. I guess Flora felt differently.”