The Wedding Guest

Chapter 18

I drove to Pico, hooked a right, and drove west.

Milo said, “Ol’ Gar tightened up when you mentioned Poland.”

“He did, indeed. Where’d he go to college?”

He checked his notes. “Berkeley.”

“Eight years ago, he would’ve been twenty-one, twenty-two and still enrolled. Maybe they had a Warsaw exchange program.”

He googled. “They have one now — the history department... contours of existence... otherness... Europeanness... Jesus, when did they stop using English? I’ll try to find out if the same deal was going on eight years ago.”

He made a call. “Voicemail, but they’re always switching on and off, some sort of safety thing.”

“Who?”

“Little birdies.” Closing his eyes, he sat back.

A mile later: “How far east, Muslim places? She’s cute but no genius. And I got the feeling ol’ Gar knows it. Think it’ll last?”

“Who knows?”

He laughed. “Another classic evasion from the master. What about her bipolar comment? She was a different person, just now.”

I said, “Everyone tosses out diagnoses with no clue, blame talk shows. What I saw at the wedding was a young woman traumatized by having her dream day blown to bits. The stress level drops, she relaxes.”

“Baby’s really a sweetheart?” he said. “Guess it fits what Tomashev said, her standing up for him in school... okay, another try at the avians. I’ll switch to speaker but don’t let on you’re here.”

A sleepy-sounding male voice that I recognized said, “Yeah.” His unnamed source at Homeland Security. For years he and Milo had been trading info, each of them claiming outstanding debt.

“Sturgis.”

“I can read.”

“I need a—”

“Obviously. What?”

Milo read off Garrett Burdette’s name and birth date.

“What’s he suspected of?”

“Nothing unless he was in Poland eight years ago.”

“Something’s going on there? We haven’t heard that.”

“Nothing political. A murder.”

“You think he did it in Poland eight years ago.”

“He might’ve gotten ideas from a psycho named Skiwski who did it eight years ago.”

“Don’t spell that, I’ve already got a migraine.”

“Taking a sick day?”

“Poland,” said Sleepy. “Brace yourself: This is going to be heading in another direction. Soon.”

“What do you need?”

“Don’t talk about need, your account is far from paid up.”

“So you say. What?”

“M-13 psychos, we’ll be needing addresses. Your brain-dead state legislature says you can’t cooperate with us on illegals.”

“You want me to apologize?” said Milo.

“A little genuflection wouldn’t hurt. I’ll let you know when I find out about Poland but get ready to cough up.”

“I learn something, it’s yours. Long as you’re being saintly, run the same check for a Dennis Rapfogel. Here’s his DOB.”

“Twofer?” said Sleepy.

“We talking only one M-13er?”

Click.

Moments after we arrived at his office, an email came in from Dr. Basia Lopatinski. Her personal account, not the crypt.

She hadn’t found any California coverage of the Skiwski case but asked us to check out the attachment.

Fuzzy photocopy of a Polish newspaper article. Incomprehensible Slavic prose, small photo in the center of the story. Lopatinski had drawn an arrow in red marker and written, This is him.

The arrow tip ended at the shaved head of a gaunt, hollow-cheeked, stubble-faced man, sitting cross-legged on cobblestones, hunched over a cheap round-hole guitar. The spidery fingers of his left hand pretended to form chords. The right dangled uselessly. At that point, six strings on the instrument.

An open cardboard case sat in front of Ignacy Skiwski. A group of young people sat and stood around him. Males, females, jeans and long hair.

Students or pretending to be.

None of them were Garrett Burdette.

Milo said, “A bargain-basement Manson?”

“The power of song.”

“You recognize any of them?”

“No.”

“Me, neither. On that cheerful note, it is time for you to be normal. Have a nice rest of the day.”

Nothing from him on Saturday. A full week had passed since the wedding murder.

A lot of noise has been made about a crucial, near-mystical forty-eight-hour period for closing homicides. Miss that deadline and the chances of a solve plummet.

The truth is, there’s nothing magical about two days. Most murders lack mystery because they’re committed by stupid, impulsive people who make no attempt to conceal: domestics, bar fights, walk-ups and drive-bys in front of crowds of witnesses.

Toss in stupid impulsive bragging leading to anonymous tips and the detective’s job is to observe, make notes, obtain warrants, arrest and interview obvious perpetrators, all the while trying not to do anything that screws up the evidence chain.

But when a murder is preceded by thought and misdirection, actual detection is called for. Those are the ones that baffle, stretch past forty-eight and beyond, and often freeze up.

They’re the killings Milo loves, though he’d never admit it. Complaining all the way, he usually manages to slog through and attain clarity.

That and my basic makeup generally lead me to be optimistic. But this one, an entire week with possibilities widening rather than narrowing, a victim still defying identification...

By ten a.m., continued radio silence and Sunday was shaping up the same way as Saturday.

Robin and I are both designed for work so stepping away from obligation takes a conscious effort and a conversation.

Sunday, eleven a.m., she initiated both and I agreed and we set out for a drive up the coast highway, the glorious Pacific to the west, the fire-ravaged foothills of Santa Barbara County to the east.

The Thomas blaze of a few months ago, followed by mudslides churned by a worst-time rain, had been hellish for thousands of people, lives, livestock, the material accumulation of lifetimes demolished in vicious flashes. Months later, Nature had decided to reverse her curse, kissing the gently rising slopes and drawing forth greening and blooming. Still, it felt like a party hat at a funeral.

We drove half an hour beyond the Santa Barbara city limits and pulled over in Solvang, craving Danish pancakes at a touristy place that was always bustling. Hipster snobbery aside, there really is no difference between tourists and travelers and sometimes foot traffic is the ultimate vote.

The wait for a table was extended by holding out for a spot on the patio where Blanche was welcome. She’d enjoyed the drive from the cushy, leather perspective of the Seville’s backseat, serene and observant as ever.

While we feasted, she contented herself with a chlorophyll-laced treat that supposedly helps with dog breath. Plus the occasional “accidentally” fallen shred of hotcake.

The restaurant was situated in a too-cute shopping center that could’ve been designed by Hans Christian Andersen stoned on aquavit. Plenty of cellular interruption but Robin and I didn’t contribute; we’d agreed to switch off for the day.

I’d pretended to embrace the idea but wasn’t fooling Robin. As we got back in the car for a return trip, she grinned and said, “Go ahead.”

“With what?”

“Hey, Blanchie, he thinks he’s being subtle.”

Both of the females in my life grinned. I switched on my phone.

Nothing from Milo.

Good. Bad.

On the return trip we hit the inevitable jams on the 101 when underpowered cars confront the rising grade and start wheezing. Just past Ventura — the origin of the fire — Robin fell asleep and Blanche followed soon after.

I tuned the radio to KJazz. A blues show was on, some high-powered Chicago stuff that felt too upbeat this close to a disaster zone. But then on came Houston Boines’s “Crying in the Courthouse.” Boines had lived to ninety-nine but his wail sounded authentic.

This song, about losing everything, fit just fine.

When we got home, I looked at my phone.

Still nothing.

Crying in the police station.

He called at ten forty p.m.

“Been normal?” he said.

“Better.” I told him about the pancakes.

He growled. “Sadist. For two nights I’ve been eating crap while watching Denny Rapfogel’s house. Nothing happened the first night but on the second his car was gone so I tried Sliva Cardell’s place. No Denny, but another guy showed up, black Bentley convertible. Ran his plates, hotshot mortgage broker. He cruised through the gate just like Denny had, got the same welcome from La Sliva, this time in a filmy nightgown. Maybe even more groin calisthenics than with Denny. So much for true love making her a suspect. Wanna lay odds I keep watching her and other guys don’t show up?”

“Think she’s a pro?”

“Selling another type of real estate? Could be. Anyway, thought you’d want to know. Now I’m heading out for pancakes.”