Killer

CHAPTER 44

Milo and Nguyen agreed that Ree needed to know about Winky and Boris. That I was the one to tell her.

The day after she gave her statement, I returned to the suite at the small hotel in West L.A. that had been set up as her recuperation space. A detective named Ray Roykin sat out in the hall, playing with his iPad. No need to check my I.D., I’d been here when the refuge was set up and Roykin had received his orders from Milo.

Rambla slept in the crib set up in the living room. Ree lay on a neatly made bed reading People magazine.

I let her chitchat for a while and when I figured the timing wouldn’t get any better I told her.

Over the course of an hour, she went from shock to craving details to racking sobs to survivor guilt. Rambla woke up after twenty minutes and Ree was able to fight back her grief and tend to her child. When Rambla was back asleep Ree said she also needed to rest. I told her I’d be back later in the evening, sooner if she needed me.

She said, “For sure I will need you. I put her down at seven, she’s like clockwork. So anytime after that.”

“She’s settled back to a schedule.”

“For the most part. I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Them leaving her with me, I mean.”

I wondered how long that would’ve lasted before the Nebes decided Ree had failed the motherhood test.

Maybe Ree was thinking the same thing, because when she walked me to the door, her hands were shaking.

I held them.

She said, “This is going to sound materialistic but I’m going to sue. Not just them, the whole Sheriff’s Department. And the county for running the courts like that, and anyone else we can think of.”

“You’ve hired a civil attorney.”

She blushed. “Myron called. He’s ready to take ’em all on. Can I count on you to be there for me? Just to tell them I’m a good mother and that Rambla’s a good girl and to describe what they did to me?”

“Of course,” I said. “We also need to make sure you and Rambla are doing as well as can be—”

“Therapy,” she said. “You bet. That’ll be part of the settlement.” Smile. “Maybe I’ll have so much money you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

I smiled back. “I can live with that.”

She leaned forward, planted a hot, brief kiss on my cheek. “Sorry if that was inappropriate but I feel I need to … touch you. Not in a sexual way. To connect. To thank you, I mean right from the beginning you could see the truth.”

“Glad I could help.”

Her mouth turned down. “Poor Winky. Thank God Boris is okay — I tried to call him but he didn’t answer his phone. Guess I’d be the last person he’d want to talk to.”

“Not your fault, Ree.”

“I keep telling myself that.”

“It’s true.”

“I know, I know. But I can’t help — guess it’s like you said, it’s going to take time. And we’ll have plenty of time if Myron gets what he says he can get. Not that I’ll let it change me. Getting rich isn’t the point. Living kindly and honestly is. Winky knew that. He was such a good friend. So gentle. And now I’ll never see him again.”

No mention of the other murder victim.

She sagged against the doorway.

I said, “Ree, seeing as we are going to be dealing with all of this, it would help if, at some point, you could tell me everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“You just said Winky had nothing to do with any of it. I took that to mean—”

“He’s not — wasn’t Rambla’s daddy? No he wasn’t. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but Winky couldn’t have kids. So now you’re wondering if Boris was. The answer is no, again. But that begs the big question, right?”

“It does, Ree.”

Her cheeks puffed. She reached for her braid, touched air. Frowned. “I didn’t tell not because I was afraid or ashamed, Dr. Delaware. I did it to be kind. Because he doesn’t know and if he found out, it would change things. For him and for other people.”

“His family.”

Nod.

“He’s married.”

Slower nod. “A good man who”—she chuckled—“strayed. That’s how he put it. After it was over. I thought nothing of it but he felt guilty, said he’d never done anything like that before.”

“You believed him.”

“I did,” she said. “I still do. It was one of those crazy things. The bar at Moonshadows. He was there because he’d had a fight with his wife. I was there because another guy had dumped me and I was feeling low about myself and we just started talking and he was such a total gentleman and a sweetie. Older, the kind of manners old guys have.”

She shrugged. “We decided to take a drive. Up Rambla Pacifico. In his car because it was much nicer than mine. What you’d call a luxury car.” Impish smile. “But don’t ask. We drove and talked, then we came to a spot with a gorgeous view of the ocean and we parked and talked some more.”

She looked to the side. “I can’t even tell you how it happened, Dr. Delaware. Both of us were surprised. He felt worse than me. Said he’d strayed. I ended up comforting him. Next month, I had no period. But I said no way. Second month, I took the test and there it was, a little pink dot. So how do I know it was him? Because that stretch of time was a famine for me. He was the only one. Plus she looks like him. Like his other kids. He showed me pictures. At the bar. They’re grown. Successful. He’s got a great situation. Loves his wife, that night they had a fight. Why should I ruin all that?”

“You haven’t talked to him since?”

“Not once,” she said. “I did do one of those stalker things. Driving by his house, I knew where he lived because he showed it to me, a real beautiful place not far from where we parked. He showed me because he was feeling sad, saying he put so much into it and now it seemed his wife was tired of it, needed a change, he hoped that didn’t mean she was sick of him. But that time, driving by his house, I saw them. Him and his wife, she’s a beautiful woman and they were walking together, arm in arm. So that’s it. He strayed and I ended up with a treasure. I love him in a certain kind of way for giving me that treasure and I’ll never do anything to hurt him. In fact, I’m proud of myself. For being there for him when he was sad. For comforting him when he said he’d strayed. I feel I helped him, was there at just the right time.”

She smiled. “I guess you’d know something about that.”