In Dark Places

Chapter Twenty-nine

The offices of the OCB, Operations-Central Bureau, were located in the Central Facilities Building on Sixth Street in downtown LA, a spot conveniently close to Parker Center, LAPD headquarters, where Hammond intended to work someday.

He let his adjutant follow him into his office and shut the door. His uniform hung in the closet, clean and unwrinkled, where Lewinsky had placed it after removing it from Hammond's locker. He took down the hanger.

"Give me the overview," he said, unbuttoning his shirt.

"Gray escaped from custody at Cameron's office in Rampart. He stole her car and fled the scene."

"Armed?"

"He took the dead deputy's service piece."

"Deputy shouldn't have been carrying when the prisoner was offloaded from the felony bus anyway."

"Van," Lewinsky said. "It was a van. And no, he shouldn't have been carrying, but according to his partner, he was."

"Why wasn't Gray in leg irons, handcuffs?"

"Apparently Cameron had insisted on minimal restraints."

"Stupid bitch. He should've offed her. Don't quote me on that."

"No, sir." Lewinsky looked away as Hammond pulled off his pants.

"Any witnesses report which direction Gray was headed in?"

"No, but we caught one break. Because of that carjack attempt yesterday, Cameron's Saab is visibly damaged. It'll be easy to spot."

"Gray will ditch the Saab as soon as possible, if he hasn't already. We got ASTRO flying?"

"Choppers are up."

"Area cars?"

"Alerts have gone out to all patrol units, and of course we've dispatched BOLOs to the sheriff's office and all municipal PDs."

"CHP too? Orange County? Riverside?"

Lewinsky turned as Hammond buttoned up his uniform shirt. "The whole Southland."

Hammond paused in his sartorial duties and stood thinking for a moment.

"We need to put in place a general tactical alert."

He resumed dressing.

"A tac alert?" Lewinsky was bewildered. A general tactical alert was ordinarily reserved for situations in which there was imminent danger of civil unrest.

"You heard what I said. All LAPD divisions on alert. Switch to twelve-and-twelves. We'll have to go through the chief, obviously, but he'll be amenable."

"You expect this guy to start a riot?"

"I expect the department not to get caught with its pants down." He glanced at his bare legs. "So to speak. We need to be prepared for every eventuality. More important, we need to look prepared."

"Yes, sir."

"It's called covering your ass, Carl," Hammond said as he pulled on his blue trousers.

"Yes, sir."

"Now where do we expect the son of a bitch to go?"

"I've been on the horn to the RHD dicks who bagged him. They say he might go back to Culver City, his old neighborhood."

"Culver PD get a lookout?"

"Extra squads on the street. Plainclothes guys undercover outside Gray's former residence."

"Former residence." Hammond fastened his tie. Like all police neckties it was the snap-on kind, chosen because in a struggle it could not be used to choke the officer. "What is it, a fucking flophouse?"

"Low-rent apartment building. Courtyard with a pool, circa 1950."

"He won't go back there. He's no genius, but he's not shooting to be the punch line of one of those world's-stupidest-criminal jokes. How about Cameron's office building?"

"Sir?"

"It's within the realm of possibility that the Saab theft was misdirection. Gray may never have left the damn building."

"The car is gone."

"The car could be driven by an accomplice."

"Serial killers usually work alone."

"Except for the twenty-five percent who work in pairs. I want that building thoroughly cleared. Office to office, floor by floor, a clean sweep. Bastard could be hiding in there, figuring it's the last place we'd look."

"Yes, sir."

"You think that's crazy?" Hammond shrugged on his jacket. "It may be. But let me ask you this. Why did Gray leave Cameron alive? He's a stone killer, but he leaves her breathing. Why?"

Lewinsky flexed his brow, a sign of deep thought. "Because she's in on it?" he ventured. "Like, his secret lover or something?"

"Jesus, no. What do you think this is, a movie of the week? Maybe he left her alive because he wanted her to report that he'd taken her car. He wanted us chasing that Saab."

"You think so?"

Hammond sighed, strapping on his equipment belt. "Of course not. The guy is a mope. He can't think that far ahead."

Lewinsky was thoroughly confused. "Then amp; why search Cameron's building?"

"Once again, it's called covering our asses, Carl. Come on, this isn't graduate school. It's the goddamned basics." Hammond holstered his Beretta and secured his side-handle baton. "Who's at the crime scene, anyway?"

"Two or three Rampart units. Watch commander just got there. Oh, and Wolper."

"Wolper?" Hammond glanced up. "Why? It's not even his area."

"I'm not clear on that, sir."

"Hell. I've never liked that son of a bitch. You know he started off as a probationer in South-Central? I was his training officer."

"I know, sir."

"He was all right on the street, but he was always making trouble with admin. Late with his paperwork, sloppy with his logs. Didn't seem to grasp the importance of the managerial side."

"Or the political side," Lewinsky ventured.

"That, too. The man has a tin ear for politics. He's too damn sure of himselfthat's the problem. He doesn't think he can learn from anyone else."

"Including his TO?"

"I may have taught him a few things."

"I'm sure you did, sir." Lewinsky cleared his throat. "Forgive me for asking an obvious question."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Carl."

"Yes, well, I was just wondering amp; We've got Rampart searching the office building even though we know Gray's not there. And Culver watching his old digs even though we know he won't go there. And everybody's looking for the Saab, even though he's probably ditched it."

"Right."

"So we're covered. I get it. But the thing is, how do we actually, you know, find him?"

"We wait for him to fuck up." Hammond inspected himself in the mirror. "He will. He's a loser. Losers lose. It's all they know how to do."

"Yes, sir," Lewinsky said, not sounding entirely convinced.

Hammond was about to give him a lecture on the virtues of positive thinking when the door opened and Banner, the traffic cop turned publicist, walked in. "New development," he said. "It looks like Gray's got Cameron's daughter. Snatched her out of their condo in Brentwood."

Hammond blew out a long, slow breath.

"They're sure it's him?" Lewinsky asked.

Banner shrugged. "Who else could it be? He got the address off Cameron's DL."

"Shit," Lewinsky said.

Hammond found this observation less than astute, but he didn't pause to comment on it. "I want the condo crime scene routed straight to RHD. We don't need West LA dicks fucking around over there." He looked at Banner. "Gray takes them into the desert, right?"

"That's the MO."

"We need Sheriff's to set up roadblocks on desert roads. Need choppers in the air over the Mojave. If he snatched her this fast, he may not have had time to switch cars, so they need to look for the Saab."

"Guess we don't need the search of the office building after all," Lewinsky said.

"Wrong. Gray could still be using an accomplice. He wasn't actually seen grabbing the girl, was he?"

"No wits so far," Banner said.

"Then we make no assumptions. We cover every angle. I'll make the calls while we're on the road. Let's go."

"Where?"

"Cameron's office. The initial crime scene." He glanced at Banner. "Media on top of this yet?"

"We're still in denial mode."

"That's fineofficially. Unofficially, I wouldn't be unhappy if Channel Four shows up at the Rampart site."

"Another exclusive for Susy Chen?"

"Why not? She always gives us good press."

Lewinsky objected. "I think Rampart's been keeping the location secret. Cameron's still there. They don't want her facing a media circus when she leaves."

"Fuck her. She can handle a few cameras in her face. Crying mother in distressthat's good footage. Am I right, Phil?"

Banner nodded uneasily. "Sure thing, Chief."

"Call Chen. If she goes there, the rest of the news vultures will follow. I want coverage."

"Chief," Lewinsky said, "I hope you're balling that woman. Otherwise she's getting a lot of help for free."

"I'm a married man," Hammond snapped, noting distantly that he'd neglected to say happily married. "Just call her. We need cameras."

"We'll get 'em," Banner promised.

"Good. Let's move." Hammond straightened his collar. "Nothing's worse than being all dressed up with nowhere to go."