Arnold's eyes zipped to one side, like a shotgun slide. He stared at a spot on the wall. “I'm not sure what you're asking, Detective.”
Sounded clear to me.
“Reverend, I could be totally off base here, but I've been picking up some serious concern on your part. Maybe because you know something about your brother that no one else does?”
Silence.
“Reverend, I understand about family loyalty, but protecting the innocent is what we're both about.”
Arnold stared at him. “You look young but you've been doing this for a while, haven't you?”
You are my new best friend.
Moe smiled. “You look a lot younger than your brother.”
“The virtues of clean living,” said Arnold. Then he laughed. “My wife says that. I tell her it's more the absence of dirty living.”
His attention shifted to the floor. “Yes, I do need to tell you.” Deep breath. “What you picked up isn't concern about Ray being violent. Not in the strict sense of causing physical harm…”
Moe waited.
“I feel like Judas, Detective.”
“Judas betrayed a savior. Doesn't sound as if your brother fits into that category.”
“The savior,” Arnold corrected. “Are you a religious man, Detective?”
“Depends what day you catch me.”
“Fair enough… I know it's my moral obligation to be truthful. But this is… I guess if I could be sure it was relevant, but I can't.”
“Ray's hurt someone in your family.”
“No!”
Moe shifted closer, spread his shoulders, establishing dominance. “What, then, Reverend?”
Head shake.
“Reverend, there's no morality in delaying. This is a homicide case. Adella Villareal was strangled and dumped. Her baby hasn't been seen since.”
Wohr's hands covered his face. “My God.”
“I think we both know what God thinks about that-”
“Ray never hurt her,” Arnold blurted. His hands dropped. “But he frightened her. My daughter. My younger daughter, Sarah. She's thirteen, caught him watching her through a window.”
“Her bedroom window?”
Nod. “The girls share a room. Eve was out with friends.”
“Sarah caught Ray peeping.”
“Dear Lord, yes.”
“When did this happen, Reverend?”
“Six months ago. Ray was back to his usual-filthy T-shirt, baggy shorts, the rubber sandals. He stank of alcohol.”
“Back to asking for money,” said Moe.
“This time he had a story. He'd turned his life around, was now a ‘great investment.’ I gave him everything in my wallet-a hundred and ten dollars. He asked for more, I said no, he cursed and left.”
“Is that when you gave him your car?”
“My car-oh, the Toyota. No, that was donated to the church last year. I thought my wife could use it so I paid the church full blue-book value. But it wasn't practical. I've got a second job, I install prefab cabinets and sometimes Francine and I need to deliver materials to a site. We purchased an old Suburban and gave the Toyota to Ray.”
“Instead of money.”
“I was short on cash, figured he'd sell it.”
“You never signed over the pink slip.”
“I didn't?”
“No, sir.”
“Oh… did Ray do something with that car-hit someone while drunk?”
“No, Reverend. Back to your daughter. You helped your brother out and he repaid you by snooping on Sarah. Was that before he asked for a handout or later?”
Arnold's jaws clenched. “Sarah didn't tell me until several days later. She'd been looking upset and I finally got it out of her. I thought it was something about school, friends. I never expected to hear that.”
“What did she say happened?”
“She was in her room, getting ready for bed, spotted movement from the window, caught a clear glimpse of Ray's face. Then he disappeared. She was sure it was Ray. That mustache of his is pretty distinctive. Fortunately, she's a modest girl, wears a long nightgown. But just the fact that he was out there… Sarah was more angry than scared.”
“And you doubted it was a onetime thing.”
“We talked about it as a family and my older daughter, Eve, said she'd always gotten a strange feeling from Ray. He never actually did anything but his presence made her feel uneasy. Eve's a bright, perceptive girl.”
“Makes you wonder about a darker side to your brother.”
“Was Adella… was there that kind of assault as well?”
Instead of answering, Moe said, “Is there anything else in Ray's history you want to tell me-sexually speaking? Like when you were growing up?”
“No, no, nothing that I know-will he be charged with snooping on Sarah?”
“Do you want him to be?”
“The reason I didn't report it in the first place was I didn't want to put Sarah through anything traumatic. And she insisted that's what she wanted. We talked about it as a family and came to a decision. Ray was to be barred from the house forever. It seemed the best solution. Now you're telling me Ray may have committed an act of perversion-”
“No, sir, I never said that.”
“But you didn't deny it when I asked you if Adella was assaulted.”
Moe took pity on the guy. “She wasn't, Reverend Wohr. And to be honest, I don't see how Ray can be charged for snooping.”
“Too much time has passed?”
“Even if you'd reported him at the time, I doubt he would've been charged. Being spotted on the other side of a niece's window when she's fully clothed when he wasn't trespassing can be explained away easily. He was out there smoking, just happened to pass by.” Looking straight at Wohr. “If he's never done anything along those lines before.”
“He hasn't,” said Wohr. “Not with my girls.”
“Then no cop would've busted him, sir-not here or in La Puente.”
But the sexual element was definitely worth looking into.
“Thank you,” said Arnold. “For trying to make me feel better.”
“I'm being honest, Reverend. I appreciate you coming all the way out here and doing the same.”
Wohr squirmed. “There is one more thing, Detective. Something Ray said the last time I saw him. Part of that speech about getting his life together. He could see I was skeptical, so he got specific, claimed he was representing people in entertainment.”
“Representing how?”
“I asked him that but he just repeated himself. Representing. Like he was some sort of an agent. Then he brought up Adella, said ‘Remember her? High-class, Arnie. She's what I'm talking about.’ I said, ‘Ray, if you need money, just come out and say so and stop spinning yarns.’”
Arnold shook his head. “I never talked to him like that, something must've come over me. He started using foul language. Jammed his palm right up in my face, said ‘Fill the collection plate, Scrooge.’ That irritated me, I smacked the bills into his hand hard. He made some blasphemous remark, how if the God squad behaved this way, God must be a loser. At that point, I knew he had to leave before I did something I'd regret. I was still smoldering when Sarah told me what happened. It was like lighting a match to my soul. I called my brother, left a message telling him to get help for his perverted impulses, told him I never wanted to see him again. And he's honored that request.”
“Six months ago.”
“Not to the day, Detective. Give or take.”
Representing a dead woman.
“Anything else you want to tell me, Reverend?”
Arnold shook his head. “Where's Ray living?”
“I don't know, sir.” No sense in a confrontation between the brothers at Alicia Eiger's crib.
“You don't have him in custody?”
“No, sir.”
“So he really isn't a suspect.” “Not at this point.”
“Okay,” said Arnold Wohr, sounding more regretful than relieved. “Something else on your mind, Reverend?”