Rage

CHAPTER 12

I met Milo in his office on the second floor of the Westside sub station. It’s a windowless cell, formerly a utility closet, set away from the collaborative buzz of the big detective’s room. There’s barely room for a two-drawer desk, a file cabinet, a pair of folding chairs, and a senile computer. The station’s a no-smoking zone but sometimes Milo puffs panatelas, and the walls have yellowed and the air smells like a dozen old men.

He’s six-three, and when he pays attention to his diet, two-sixty. Hunched at the undersized desk, he’s a cartoon.

It’s a setup unbefitting a lieutenant, but he’s not the typical lieutenant, and he claims it’s fine with him. Maybe he means it, maybe having a second office helps- an Indian restaurant a few blocks away where the owners treat him like royalty.

The leap from Detective III to brass had resulted from leverage he’d never sought: ugly secrets unearthed about the former police chief.

The deal was that he’d get a lieutenant’s salary, avoid the executive obligations that normally went with the job, and be allowed to work cases. As long as he functioned solo and stayed out of everyone’s hair.

That chief was gone and the new one seemed intent on shaking things up. But so far Milo’s situation had escaped scrutiny. If the current regime was as results-oriented as it claimed, maybe his solve rate would afford him some grace.

Or maybe not. A gay cop was no longer the official impossibility it had been when he’d joined the force, but he’d broken ground during colder times and would never fit in.

His door was open and he was reading a preliminary investigation report. His black hair needed a trim, cowlicks reigning, the white sideburns he called his skunk stripes bushing and trailing a half inch below his earlobes.

A spruce-green sport coat hung from the back of his chair and puddled onto the floor. His short-sleeved white shirt looked defeated, his skinny yellow tie could’ve passed for a mustard stain. Gray cords and tan desert boots topped off the ensemble. The unshielded ceiling bulb was vaguely pink and graced his acne-pitted cheeks with a phony sunburn.

He hooked a thumb at the spare chair and I unfolded it and sat. He handed me the prelim and some crime scene photos.

The report was the usual detached affair, recorded on the scene by Detective I S. J. Binchy. Sean was a former bass player in a ska band turned born-again Christian, a compliant kid who Milo sometimes enlisted for grunt work.

Nice kid, decent speller. The only new thing I learned was that a freeway cleanup crew had found the body at four-fourteen a.m.

The first photo was a frontal of the corpse, lying on its back, face up, as the coroner’s photographer click-clicked from above.

Night-bleached face, hard to make out details. A close-up shot showed the gaping mouth and half-closed eyes I’d seen so many times before. Hollowness behind the irises. The right cheek was slightly convex, but it wasn’t the distortion you’d see with a small-caliber bullet dancing around in the head.

A pair of lateral views revealed a dark, star-shaped entry wound, surrounded by a black halo of powder, just in front of the left ear, and a ragged exit, much larger and slightly higher on the right temple, that showcased bone and red-meat muscle and the oatmeal of brain matter.

I said, “Through-and-through shot.”

“Coroner thinks contact shot, or just short of contact, full metal jacket, no larger than a thirty-eight, no supplementary load.”

His voice was remote. Keeping his distance from this victim.

The next photo was a close-up. “What about these cheek abrasions?”

“He was found lying on his face, maybe he got dragged a bit during the dump. No defense wounds or tissue under his nails or any other signs of struggle. No major blood at the scene, so he was shot somewhere else.”

“He’s big,” I said. “So if there was no struggle, he was probably taken by surprise.”

“I’d ask if you recognize him, but we just got word from AFIS. The prints confirm it’s Duchay.”

I reviewed the pictures, tried to look past damage and death. Rand Duchay’s boyhood facial structure had been transformed by puberty into something longer and harder. His hair was darker than I remembered but that could’ve been the lighting. In life, he’d been a slow kid, with slack features. Death hadn’t changed that, but death has a way of blunting everyone around the edges. Would I have recognized him if we’d passed on the street?

I said, “Any fix on when it happened?”

“You know how T.O.D. is, mostly guesswork. Best guess is sometime between nine p.m. and one a.m.”

Nine was well after I’d gotten home from Duchay’s no-show. Maybe he had changed his mind about the meeting. Or had his mind changed.

I said, “Did you just happen to find out, or did you go looking for him?”

Milo stretched his long legs as far as the room allowed. “After you called I decided to do a little research on Duchay, found out he’d been released three days ago. Four years early, good behavior.” Flaring nostrils said what he thought about that.

“I learned who he’d been released to, which took some doing. Called, got no answer, decided a thrill-killer ambling around the Westside didn’t appeal to my sense of order. I left Sean a message to check prowler reports and attempted burglaries for the last three days. Then I took a drive up Westwood and hit some side streets.”

He worked his tongue inside his cheek. “I was thinking I’d finish up at your place, you’d fix me a sandwich, I’d wish you bon voyage. Then Sean calls back, he’s at the coroner, a case came in last night that looked like a whodunit and the crime scene guys missed something but the crypt attendant found it when she undressed the body. Little scrap of paper in the victim’s pocket. Sean was pretty sure he recognized your number, but wanted to confirm.”

“Sean’s got a good memory,” I said.

“Sean’s coming along.”

“You’re working the case with him?”

“He’s working it with me.”

As we left, Sean Binchy stepped out of the detectives’ room and hailed us. He’s red-headed and freckled, in his late twenties, as tall as Milo, many pounds lighter. Sean favors four-button suits, bright blue shirts, somber ties, and Doc Martens. Old tattoos are hidden by long sleeves. Short, neat hair replaces the dreads of his music days.

“Hi, Dr. Delaware,” he said cheerfully. “Looks like you’re involved in this one.”

Milo said, “Sean, Dr. Delaware’s scheduled to fly to New York tomorrow morning. I don’t see any reason that should change.”

“Sure, no prob- uh, Loot, I finally got through to the folks Duchay was staying with and they had no idea he’d gone into the city to meet with Dr. Delaware. He told them he was going looking for a job.”

“Where?”

“Construction site,” said Binchy. “There’s an apartment development going up not far from where they live and Duchay went to speak with the supervisor.”

“On Saturday?”

“Guess the site’s open.”

“Verify that, Sean.”

“You bet.”

“What time did he leave for this alleged meeting?” said Milo.

“Five p.m.”

“Guy takes a short walk at five, doesn’t come home all night, and they’re not concerned?”

“They were concerned,” said Binchy. “At seven p.m., they called Van Nuys Division to report him missing, but since he was an adult and not enough time had passed, it wasn’t filed as an official M.P.”

“A convicted murderer wandering around didn’t bother anyone?”

“I don’t know if they mentioned that to Van Nuys.”

“Find out if they did, Sean.”

“Yes, sir.”

I said, “Who was he living with?”

“Some people who take in troubled kids,” said Binchy.

“Duchay was an adult,” said Milo.

“Then it’s troubled people, Loot. They’re ministers, or something.”

“The Daneys?” I said.

“You know them?”

“They were involved with Rand’s case years ago.”

“Back when he killed that little girl,” said Binchy. No rancor in his voice. Every time I’d seen him, his demeanor had been exactly the same: pleasant, unruffled, uncluttered with self-doubt. Maybe still waters did run deep. Or God on your side was the ultimate soul balm.

“Involved how?” said Milo.

“Spiritual advisers,” I said. “They were seminary students.”

Binchy said, “Everyone could use some of that.”

“Didn’t seem to help Duchay,” said Milo.

“Not in this world.” Binchy smiled briefly.

I said, “Both of them were murdered.”

“Both of who, Doc?”

“Rand and Troy Turner.”

“Didn’t know about Turner,” said Milo. “When did that happen?”

“A month after he was in custody.”

“So we’re talking eight years in between. What happened to him?”

I described Troy’s ambush of a Vato Loco, the gang-vengeance theory, the way he’d been hung in the utility closet. “Don’t know if it was ever solved.”

“A month in and he’s thinking he’s a tough guy,” he said. “No impulse control… yeah, sounds like your basic prison hit. Were he and Duchay in the same facility?”

“No.”

“Lucky for Duchay. If he’d been seen as Turner’s buddy, he would’ve been next.”

“Duchay didn’t get away clean in prison. Coroner said there were old knife scars on his body.”

Milo said, “But he was alive until last night. Big and tough enough to defend himself.”

“Or he learned to avoid trouble,” I said. “He got early release for good behavior.”

“That means he didn’t rape or shank anyone in front of a guard.”

Silence.

Binchy said, “I’ll follow up on what exactly Van Nuys was told, Loot. Enjoy your trip to New York, Doctor.”

After he left, Milo jammed some papers into his attaché case and the two of us descended the stairs to the back of the station. We walked a couple of blocks to where I’d parked the Seville.

He said, “Guys like Turner and Duchay attract bad stuff.”

“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” I said.

“What?”

“Rand makes it through eight years of the C.Y.A., gets out, and three days later he’s dead.”

“Your feeling this, huh?”

“You aren’t?”

“I pick and choose when I bleed.”

I opened the car door.

He said, “What’s really getting to you, Alex?”

“He was a stupid, impressionable kid who lost his parents in infancy, probably suffered brain damage as a baby, got raised by a grandmother who resented him, was ignored by the school system.”

“He also killed a two-year-old. At that point, my sympathies shift.”

“I can understand that,” I said.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t let it eat at you. Go have fun in La Manzana Grande.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

“Why the hell not?”

“What if I’m relevant to the case?”

“You’re not. Good-bye.”

I drove home thinking about Rand Duchay’s last moments. Perhaps a temple shot meant he’d been looking straight ahead, hadn’t seen it coming. Maybe he’d experienced no final fireburst of terror and pain.

I pictured him lying facedown in some cold, dark place, beyond knowing or caring. Eight-year-old TV images flew into my head. Barnett and Lara Malley exiting the courtroom. She, sobbing. He, tight-lipped, smoldering. So rigid with anger he’d come close to striking a cameraman.

Demanding the death penalty.

Now both murderers of his daughter were gone. Would he find comfort in that?

Had he played a role in it?

No, that was trite and illogical. Revenge was a dish best eaten cold, but eight years between deaths was arctic. Milo was right. Damaged boys like Turner and Duchay did attract violence. In a sense, what had happened was the predictable termination of two wasted lives.

Three.

I checked my overnight bag, packed the toothbrush I’d forgotten, and put the house in relative order. Logging onto a weather site, I learned I’d be arriving tomorrow in the midst of a snowstorm.

Low: fifteen, high: twenty-nine. I pictured white skies and sidewalks, the flicker of Manhattan lights in our window as Allison and I holed up in a nice warm suite with butler service.

Why had Rand called me?

The phone rang. Allison said, “Thank God, I caught you. Alex, you won’t believe this.”

Strain in her voice. My first thought was something had happened to her grandmother.

“What’s up?”

“Gram’s friend, the one who was coming from St. Louis, suffered a stroke this morning. We just got the call. Gram’s taking it hard. Alex, I’m so sorry, but I can’t leave her.”

“Of course not.”

“She’ll be fine, I know she will, she always is- is your ticket refundable? I’ve already called the hotel and canceled. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, sounding calm. No act, I was relieved that I wouldn’t be going. What did that say about me?

“… despite the situation, I’m going to try to get out of the two-week extension, Alex. One week, tops, then I’ll call my cousin Wesley and ask him to do a shift. He’s a chem prof at Barnard on sabbatical in Boston, so his hours are flexible. It’s only fair, right?”

“Right.”

She paused for a breath. “You’re not too upset?”

“I’d love to see you but things happen.”

“They do… it’s freezing, anyway.”

“Fifteen to twenty-nine in New York.”

“You looked it up,” she said. “You were all prepared to go. Boo hoo.”

“Boo hoo hoo,” I said.

“The suite had a fireplace. Dammit.”

“When you come back we’ll light mine.”

“In seventy-degree weather?”

“I’ll buy some ice and sprinkle it around.”

She laughed. “That’s some picture… I’ll get back as soon as I can. One week, tops… uh oh, there’s Gram calling me again, what now? She wants more tea… sorry, Alex, talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

“Are you all right?”

“Sure. Why?”

“You sound a little distracted.”

“Just disappointed,” I lied. “Everything will work out.”

“Nothing like optimism,” she said. “With all you see, how do you manage that?”

Allison had been widowed in her twenties. Her basic disposition was a good deal sunnier than mine. But I was a better faker.

“It’s a good way to live,” I said.

“Oh, yeah.”