Blindman’s Bluff

THIRTY-THREE

THE LOS ANGELES Unified School District was a dinosaur: a brain in its head as well as in its tail.

The head part was the wealthier districts-Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Westwood, Encino, and Pacific Palisades-while the caudal portion administered to the less-endowed schools in East L.A., South L.

A., and the poorer sections of the San Fernando Valley. Pacoima definitely qualified as a tail.

“The dropout rate is probably higher than the graduation rate,” the guidance counselor told them.

Her name was Carmen Montenegro, a woman in her midthirties with mocha skin, almond-shaped brown eyes, and a wide mouth with her lips painted deep red. She wore a red shirt under a black suit with no stockings. “We do the best we can with what we have, which isn’t much.”

Marge and Oliver followed Carmen as she trotted down a hallway lined with lockers, her heels clacking on yellowed, institutional floor tiling. School had let out a half hour ago, but students were still milling around, heavy backpacks dragging on their sloping shoulders. The teens were dressed in baggy jeans or sweats for the boys, and jeans, sweats, or short skirts for the girls.

Carmen took a sharp right into the admissions office, pushing past a saloon door that almost caught Marge in the stomach. Her office was tiny and looked out over the school’s parking lot. A computer was surrounded by stacks of papers on her desktop with more piles spilling on the floors.

Overflowing bookshelves lined two of the walls.

“Sorry about the mess.” The administrator began hunting through yearbooks. She pulled one out.

“This is from two years ago. He would have been a freshman, right?”

“Right,” Oliver answered.

“Esteban Cruz…Esteban Cruz…Esteban…Here he is.” She showed the picture to Marge. “Looks like the picture you showed me.”

Marge said, “He hasn’t aged much.”

“Yeah, he looks kinda small. You want a copy of the picture?”

“Yes, that would help.”

“Hold on.” She whisked past them and came back a few moments later with ten copies. “Here you go…Anything else?”

Marge said, “Would you mind if I looked through the book to see if he was involved in any activities?”

“No problem.” Carmen handed her the book. “Sit at my desk. Makes it easier to sift through the pages.” The administrator’s eyes skipped over Oliver’s face. She gave him the briefest of smiles.

“Probably, he wasn’t involved in much. The ones who drop out are just marking time.”

Oliver’s eyes went to her hands. No wedding ring. “Do you have any recollection of him?”

She looked at the picture again. “We have so many kids going in and out of the system. I don’t remember him as being a troublemaker.”

“He told us he likes to read a lot,” Marge said. “Do you have a record of his grades and his teachers?”

“I can get both for you, but I need my computer.”

Marge stood up, yearbook in hand. She showed it to Oliver, and the two of them studied the pages as Carmen looked up the former student. “Esteban Cruz…here we go. He was passing…C’s, a few B’s even. He did get an A in English. His teacher was Jake Tibbets. Want me to see if he’s still around?”

“That would be great,” Oliver said.

Again Carmen gave him a quick smile. “Don’t go away. I’ll be back.”

After she rushed out of the office, Marge said, “She’s a bundle of energy.”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“She was definitely giving you the eye.” When Oliver returned a Cheshire cat grin, she nudged him in the ribs. “Since when have you ever been discreet?”

“I’m trying to be less obvious. So do me a favor. Ask for a card with the phone number-in case we need to talk to her again.”

“If I ask for the card, she’ll think you’re not interested.”

“So you think I should ask for the card?”

“Yes…shhhh…I hear her.”

Carmen returned with a smile. “He’s in the teachers’ lounge and he’ll be happy to talk to you about Esteban.”

“Thanks,” Marge said. “Ms. Montenegro, I am also curious about two other men: Alejandro Brand, who would be around nineteen, and José Pinon or maybe Joe Pine. He’d be in his early twenties.

Would you know if they attended high school here?”

“I can look that up for you…” She pushed some buttons and tapped the monitor. “Wow! Brand did attend here, and he was a troublemaker: a banger with the Bodega 12th Street homies. Multiple suspensions until he was expelled four years ago. He also had Mr. Tibbets as an English teacher. No success story there. What was the other name?”

“José Pinon,” Marge told her.

“Uh…Pinon, Pinon…I have Maria Pinon who was in Brand’s grade. Probably a sister, so…” Click, click, click. “Uh, he lasted through ninth grade…actually he repeated ninth grade, and then he flunked out.”

“Was he a troublemaker?”

“Uh…not really.” She looked up from the monitor. “Just your average dropout.”

“A gangbanger?” Marge asked.

“They all are.” She stood up. “Let’s go to the lounge…which is sort of misnamed. It’s a room with used furniture and a coffeepot. I think someone brought in doughnuts today. They’re probably stale by now, but if you need a sugar fix, they’ll do the trick.”

IN HIS SIXTIES or even older, Jake Tibbets was tall and as limp as a noodle. He had salt-and-pepper hair, deep crow’s-feet at the corners of his eyes, and a nice-sized wattle under his neck. His eyes were algae colored and twinkled with mischief. He wore a yellow paisley shirt, black slacks, and orthopedic shoes. He was sitting on a futon, drinking something hot, the veins in his hands blue and thick. Carmen made quick introductions.

Tibbets’s voice was moderate in pitch and youthful sounding. “Have a seat. Want some tea?”

The detectives passed. It was around ninety degrees outside and the school’s air-conditioning was tepid at best.

“So you want to know about Esteban Cruz.” Tibbets sipped his beverage. “What’s the boy done now?”

“We don’t know that he’s done anything,” Marge told him. She pulled up a mismatched chair, leaving Carmen and Oliver a love seat. “We’re just gathering information. Do you remember him?”

“Sure. Not because my memory is so great. I’m at that stage where I have to write everything down. Except Shakespeare. I know Shakespeare by heart. That’s mostly what I teach. Believe it or not, when you frame Willy in modern turns, it strikes a resonant chord with the kids. Murder and jealousy and greed and naked ambition.” His voice had risen to an orator’s pitch. “Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever written, with gang warfare to boot. What could be more modern?”

The three of them nodded.

Tibbets said, “Yes, I remember Esteban Cruz. Smart kid. I gave him an A. An A at Pacoima High isn’t the same as an A at Boston Latin, but it did mean that he took the quizzes and tests and handed in his homework on time.”

“So he did well on the material.”

“Decent. Plus, we give a lot of credit to anyone who shows up.”

“Then why do you remember him as being smart?” Marge asked.

“Everything is relative,” Carmen broke in.

“That’s the truth,” Tibbets said. “We’re just trying to keep the kids enrolled. Try to convince them that if they stay another year or two and do a minimum job, they can walk away with a diploma that’ll give them more options. Or for the real bright ones, there’s community college. I thought that might be an option for Esteban, but he left about a year ago. I did try to contact him…left my number with his mother.”

“Did he call back?” Oliver asked.

“Nope. My Spanish isn’t perfect, but I can make myself understood. So I’m left to think that he never got the message or he wasn’t interested in what I had to say.”

“He got an A in your class,” Oliver said. “That must have stood out.”

“It did. That’s why I remember him.”

“That A must have provided him with some encouragement,” Marge said.

“If it did, he never said anything to me about it. He didn’t talk much.” Another sip of tea. “Whenever I talked to him, he was polite. He just wasn’t much on conversation. Some kids…you give them an ear to listen, they’ll spill their guts. Esteban wasn’t a talker. Like he’d given up a long time ago. Story of this community, my friends.”

“He has gang tattoos,” Oliver said.

“The area is swarming with Bodega 12th Street gang members.” He turned to Carmen for verification and she nodded. “The boys get the tattoos even if they aren’t hard-core gangbangers.”

“They pay allegiance money to the heads of the local gang to be able to wear the markings,” Carmen said. “It gives them protection…not against other gangs but against other Bodega 12th Street bangers. If the smaller kids sport the proper tattoos and have paid their fees, the bigger ones won’t bother them as much.”

Tibbets said, “Of course, once you’ve got a gun, height doesn’t matter too much.”

Carmen said, “In this area alone we have three different Bodega Twelve gangs, each one with its own turf. That means three heads who report to some other guy who reports to some other guy. I don’t know who the leader of the leaders is. It changes all the time because the leaders get shot and killed so often.”

“So do the runners,” Tibbets said. “But the whole thing runs efficiently because it’s very easy to find drugs. Every other corner is a drop and pickup spot.”

Marge asked, “Do you remember any of Esteban’s friends?”

“No…” A shake of the head. “But he’s a Cruz. That’s a big family.”

“Isn’t Cruz a common Hispanic name?” Oliver said.

“Yes, it is,” Carmen answered, “but around here, they all seem to be related.”

“Interesting,” Marge said. “We’re curious about Alejandro Brand. His grandmother was named Cruz. Would the two boys be related?”

“Alejandro Brand.” Tibbets smiled. “Is he incarcerated yet? He should be.”

“He is currently behind bars,” Marge told him.

“What for? Drugs? Assault? Murder? All of the above?”

“Sounds like you’ve had experience with Brand.”

“I have and it’s all been negative. If you suspect the kid of something, he’s probably done it.”

Oliver smiled. “Would you know if Cruz and Brand were related?”

“Not by temperament, but if Brand is a Cruz, he and Esteban share some common ancestry.”

“Do you ever remember the two of them talking or hanging out together?” Marge asked.

“I think Alejandro was gone when Esteban got here.” The teacher frowned. “Esteban was a queer duck. Couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Couldn’t tell what he was feeling. His eyes were flat. A body without a soul.”

“That would be a zombie,” Oliver said.

“I wouldn’t call Esteban a zombie,” Tibbets said. “But if he had emotions, if he had hopes or dreams or aspirations, he was very skilled at not letting them show.”

THE PALM OF his right hand kept hitting his forehead. The way Decker felt, there was no gray matter inside to harm. He couldn’t use the cell phone inside the hospital, and it would be another two hours before Brubeck would come to relieve him. He got up and went to the nurses’ station, manned by Shari Pettigrew according to her ID tag. Decker gave the sixtyish woman his most boyish smile. “I need to call one of my detectives.”

“You can’t use your cell phone inside the hospital.”

“I know that. That’s why I’m talking to you. I can’t leave the ICU right now. Could I possibly borrow one of your lines? It should only take a few moments.”

Shari punched a line. “Number?”

Decker gave her the digits, and she handed him the receiver. “Willy, I need you down here right away. I’ve got to make some calls and I can’t do it and watch the ICU at the same time… Thanks.

Bye.” He handed the phone back. “Thank you very much.”

“Why are you watching the ICU?”

Again, Decker graced her with a smile. “Eavesdropping, were you?”

“You’re an inch away. Why are you watching the ICU? Is it because someone tried to kill the sheriff?”

“How’d you find that out?”

She rolled her eyes. “I can see you’ve never lived in a small town.”

“Gainesville, Florida.”

“That’s New York City compared with Ponceville. We’re all concerned about one of our own.” She looked down. “I sure hope he makes it.”

“Were you close to the deputy sheriff?”

“Not really, but we drank at the same place…the Watering Hole. Not too many bars around here so you run into the same people. Rondo kept pretty much to himself, but he seemed like he was one of the good guys.” She laughed. “Good guys…bad guys, what the hey. Mostly it’s just people being people.”

OVER THE LINE, Marge said, “Stop battering yourself. We just made the Cruz connection a couple of hours ago.”

“Martin Cruces was right in front of our faces.”

“It makes sense now, but only because we found Rondo Martin near death and have pushed him down the suspect list.” Marge said, “Martin Cruces was looked into and cleared right away.”

“What was his alibi?”

“Oliver’s paging through the file. Talk to Brubeck and Messing. They’re the ones who checked him off. We did run him through NCIC. He doesn’t have a record. He’s in his midtwenties-older than Brand and Esteban, not exactly prime age for a gang. He still may have nothing to do with it.”

“Is he Bodega Twelve?” Decker asked.

“I don’t know.”

“See if Neptune Brady has a set of fingerprints for him. Usually they do something like that before guards are hired.”

“If he didn’t do it for Joe Pine, he probably didn’t do it for Cruces, but I’ll check it out anyway. Hold on. Scott’s reaching for the phone.”

“Okay,” Oliver said. “This is the story. Messing and Brubeck cleared him. The night of the murders, he was at his local bar-Ernie’s El Matador. He routinely comes in about two to three times a week, usually after dinner. The bartender, Julio Davis, confirmed that Cruces came in around nine, drank beer, and shot the breeze with the regulars.”

“How late did he stay?”

“Until closing: two in the morning. That pretty much put him out of the time frame. Messing also says that Cruces gave a cheek swab and was cooperative.”

“Means nothing.”

“I know, but you know how it is. You concentrate on the obvious.” Oliver said, “I just checked with the lab. No matches yet, but not all of the biological material has come back. We’ll go back to the bar and interview Davis again.”

“Good. Also, bring Cruces in again. Tell him it’s a routine reinterview.”

“Got it.”

Decker said, “What did you learn about Esteban Cruz?”

“He wasn’t much of a talker, but he wasn’t a troublemaker. We did find out that most of the Cruzes in that area are related, so maybe Brand and Esteban are kin. I don’t know where that puts Martin Cruces. Maybe the Cruz family is different from the Cruces family. I’ve called up the guidance counselor at Pacoima High to find out if Cruces went there.”

“And?”

“She’s checking into it. If he did attend, it was about seven years earlier than Alejandro Brand. I also had her check a little deeper into Joe Pine who was José Pinon. She said she could pull all the written records, but it’ll take a little time. We’ve arranged to meet later tonight, and she’ll give me whatever she has on him.”

“That could be taken care of with a phone call. Why are you meeting her in person?” The line fell silent. “How old is she?”

“I dunno…” Oliver smiled. “Maybe around thirty-five.”

“Uh-huh. Are you meeting her for dinner?”

“I haven’t had time to eat, Loo. And with Marge and me going back to Ernie’s El Matador to interview the bartender, I’m going to be famished.” Oliver was grinning. “If we were to have dinner, it would be a business meeting.”

“And that would mean you’re putting it on the department tab?”

“You know how it is with sources. You get a good one, Rabbi, you treat her right.”