Serpentine

Chapter 16

We hovered around Petra’s phone.

Ellie Barker’s cyber-engagement was minimal. No photos, nothing about the search for her mother’s killer. Maybe leaving the world of e-trade made the computer a reminder of work that she wanted to escape. Or she just liked her privacy.

Brannon Twohy, on the other hand, had no concept of privacy.

Scores of photos of him. Scuba diving, skiing, paragliding, zip-lining, usually bare-chested.

His main thing, though, was trumpeting his running triumphs down to the second. Every race for the past two years memorialized, complete with dates, places, stats, and photographs.

The most recent data dump had been posted at six p.m. today, reporting on his nine-mile speed goal, which he intended to expand regularly as a pathway to making the top twenty in next year’s L.A. Marathon.

Included was a map of tonight’s run, complete with a red line tracing the route from the house he shared with Ellie to a destination 0.6 miles past Atwater Village.

“the magic 4.5 each way, let’s go for warpspeed!”

Milo said, “Jesus, he might as well have put a target on his back.”

I said, “He didn’t feel threatened. Tonight was a first attempt.”

Petra said, “Use a gun, all it takes is one. What a mess. So what, we’re back on Twohy being the target not as a surrogate for Ellie?”

Milo said, “Who the hell knows?”

She nodded. “I’m thrashed and I still need to revisit the scene. You sticking around?”

“Just to say goodbye.”

“To your client,” she said. “And my interested party.”

When we got back to the room, a surgeon in scrubs was leaving.

R. Chopra, M.D.’s shoulders were stooped. Dark crescents tugged his eyes downward.

Hard to gauge anything from his expression.

Petra introduced herself and asked Twohy’s status.

He said, “No major organ damage, the big risk at this point is infection.”

“He’ll survive.”

“Probably.”

Milo said, “Lucky man.”

Chopra said, “If you don’t include getting shot. The bullet nicked his dorsal ribs, bounced around, and exited here.” He fingered a spot well to the right of his own navel. “Missed the diaphragm by a millimeter, tore up a bunch of fascia and muscle. Very lean guy, if he was fat, he could’ve had a bit of liposection.”

Eyeing Milo, then yawning.

Milo said, “A little flab coulda cushioned him, huh? So much for my gym membership.”

Chopra’s mouth opened and closed. “Gotta go, Officers.”

Petra said, “Any guesses about the bullet, Doctor?”

“Not a pathologist,” said Chopra. “You didn’t find it?”

“Not yet. When we see bouncing around, it’s usually small caliber.”

“If you know, why ask me.” He hurried off.

Milo patted his own midriff. “Guess the charm offensive didn’t work.”

Petra said, “Including mine.” She opened the door to the waiting room.

Ellie Barker’s posture hadn’t changed. Raul was in the same spot, working his phone. I caught brief images of his children before he clicked off and looked at Petra. “Good news from the surgeon.”

“We just spoke to him.”

No reaction from Ellie.

Milo approached her and stood in front of her until she raised her eyes. Tear tracks striped her face.

He said, “Terrible thing but it coulda been a lot worse.”

Reluctant nod. Near-whisper afterthought: “Thank God.”

Milo turned to Raul, who stood and gave him the seat. The couch shifted like a lagoon accommodating an ocean liner. Ellie played with her hands.

He said, “So no idea who’d want to hurt Brannon.”

“I can’t imagine anyone would, Lieutenant.”

Petra said, “Did he ever have problems with other runners?”

Ellie looked up again. “Why would he?”

“When was his most recent race?”

“I’d have to say... a month ago? Nothing important, just a 10K for an animal shelter.”

“Where?”

“Palm Springs. It was super-hot, a lot of people dropped out.”

I said, “Not Brannon.”

“He never quits, he’s got a great constitution.” Her voice caught. “Did.”

Petra said, “I’m sure he’ll heal up and be right back on track. So nothing happened at the 10K.”

“It was a good race,” said Ellie. “Brannon came in second.”

“No problems related to that.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Detective.”

“With intense competition, sometimes people get a little out of hand.”

“No, no, no, there was nothing remotely like that.” Ellie’s hands stilled. “Why would you think this is related to running?”

“We’re a long ways from any sort of theory,” said Petra. “The thing is, Brannon put his routes on his Facebook and Instagram pages. Including tonight’s practice run.”

“He does that to keep himself disciplined. Once he schedules, he’s obligated to keep his— Oh. I see what you’re getting at. Someone stalked him? Honestly, I can’t see that. Brannon has no enemies. Unless some street criminal from Hollywood reads his posts — like what you told me the first time, Lieutenant. There’s a lot of crime nearby.”

Milo said, “Brannon wasn’t robbed.”

“Maybe someone tried but lost his nerve? I don’t know, the whole thing’s—” She breathed in deeply. “Okay. I might as well say this. I can’t help feeling guilty.”

“About what?”

“Could it be related to me? What you’re helping me with, Lieutenant.”

“How so?”

“I move here, you start investigating, and Brannon gets shot? What if someone doesn’t want the truth to come out? But then I thought, it was so long ago, who’d even know what you were doing? So I’m probably being paranoid.”

Milo said, “Have you talked about the investigation to anyone we don’t know about?”

“No one. Just you and Dr. Bauer and the other woman I met in San Francisco — Valerie.”

“Know her last name?”

“Sorry, no.”

“What about Brannon? Did he tell his friends?”

“He doesn’t really have friends, his life is work and running and he’s not working down here, so it’s all running.”

“How much detail did you go into with Dr. Bauer and this Valerie person?”

“You think—”

“Not at all,” said Milo. “What Detective Connor said is true. We have no theories, but we do need to ask questions to be thorough. So if you can recall your conversations with each of them, we’d appreciate it.”

“All right. Let me think back... Valerie was sitting next to me. We introduced ourselves to be polite, the way you do when you’re seated next to someone you don’t know. We made some small talk. She’s a writer, I told her I admired that, asked her what she wrote. She said children’s books. I said how interesting. She said, I guess I do it because I’m trying to get back in touch with my own childhood. I asked her what she meant. She told me she’d lost her mom when she was young. That’s what got me telling her my story. Dr. Bauer must’ve been listening because she joined the conversation. Basically took charge.”

Petra said, “Took charge how?”

“Talking past Valerie to me. Telling me not to accept failure, it was all about perseverance. And contacts. Which she had.”

I said, “So you and Valerie switched seats.”

“Yes. I really can’t see either of them wanting to do Brannon — or me — any harm. Dr. Bauer was a bit pushy but she followed through and Val seemed to empathize. I came home from the event feeling more buoyed up than I’ve been in... more hopeful than ever.”

She threw up her hands. Cried some more. Again, Raul was ready.

Petra said, “We’ll do our best to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, you might want to examine your home security. I work Hollywood and there are some tough areas not far from you.”

Ellie’s eyes rounded. “You think they could try again?”

“There’s no reason to think that,” said Petra. “But it pays to be careful. In any neighborhood. Does the house have an alarm system?”

“Yes.”

“Switch it on even when you’re home. How about security cameras?”

“No. You’re kind of scaring me, Detective.”

“Don’t mean to,” said Petra. “But I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you all this.”

Milo said, “If she didn’t, I would.”

“We’re not talking extreme measures, just normal caution,” said Petra. “The bad guys have learned to use social media. We advise people to never announce a vacation, it’s like sending the villains an e-vite.”

“Makes sense,” said Ellie Barker. Her chest heaved. “About the only thing that does, tonight.”