“He knew him from working as a youth worker that’s a laugh a youth leader who doesn’t like kids he kept trying to convince me with his stupid story finally I threatened to stop sleeping with him told him what you’re asking me to do is suborn perjury you idiot the facts are clear the best we can hope for is extenuating circumstances rough childhood abuse neglect all that if you can find me some abuse some real abuse I’ll go to the damned judge with that but otherwise stay out of it— can you take off these cuffs?”
Milo said, “Going to behave?”
“Haven’t I?”
“You haven’t had much choice, Sydney.”
“Even without cuffs what’s my choice you’re three times my size in your arms I’m a little girl.”
Hair flip.
Milo said, “One screwup and they go back on.”
“Fine I get it you’re the boss the man you call the shots.”
He made another trip to the backseat. Sydney Weider said, “Ahh it’s like Joni Mitchell said you don’t know what you got till it’s gone so why all these questions about Daney he finally do something real stupid?”
Milo walked around the car, got in back, and sat next to her. “As opposed to small-time stupid?”
“Exactly he was always small-time stupid.”
“How exactly did you meet him?”
“Another case,” she said. “Another little psychopath Daney doing his youth work bullshit he calls offers to help any way he can I figured why not maybe he could put a letter in the kid’s file for sentencing.”
“Same thing he did for Troy,” I said.
“That’s the way it is at the P.D. ninety-five percent of what we did was process guilty people and angle for the best deal— ”
“Remember the name of the other little psychopath?”
“Some Latin junkie he shot some other junkies downtown I got it pled down to manslaughter Nestor something . . . Almodovar that’s it Nestor Almodovar.”
Milo didn’t correct her. “Daney wrote a letter for Nestor.”
“Your basic character reference Nestor was a good kid rough childhood extenuating circumstances blah blah blah.”
“And Daney just happened to be working on another of your cases?”
“No no no,” said Weider, “Daney called me asked me to defend Troy at first I didn’t want to do it because believe me I was putting in the hours who needed the hassle but he kept working on me telling me I was the smartest D.P.D. in the office which happened to be true then I figured why not it could be interesting.”
“How so?” I said.
“Interesting— ” Weider repeated. Then she stared at me, went silent, twisted her mouth nonstop, as if compensating for the lack of sound.
Milo said, “Interesting as in high-profile. As in getting your name in the paper.”
Weider turned toward him. “Why shouldn’t I get some of the good ones you put in the hours why not get a little coverage?”
“And a movie deal,” said Milo.
Weider did the open-shut thing with her mouth again. More panting, more lip acrobatics. She snapped her head away from Milo and stared out the window. “That was after the case resolved nothing illegal about that it happens all the time.”
“Was the movie your idea or Daney’s?”
“His,” she said, too quickly. “He used to say look at Marty such a total loser but he’s driving a Mercedes and lunching at the studio commissary even though with all that opportunity he still couldn’t produce anything better than grade C made-for-TV crap.”
“Daney figured he could do bet— ”
“He figured if he had Marty’s opportunities he’d own a studio.”
“Delusions of grandeur,” said Milo.
“Doesn’t stop anyone else in Hollywood,” said Weider. “I could tell you stories besides I knew why he was talking himself up like that.”
“Why?”
Smug smile. “To get himself hard that’s what he’d do when he had problems he’d talk himself up and put Marty down that’s what it’s all about for men out-dicking the other guy.”
“Still,” I said, “you took the movie idea seriously.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you and Daney take meetings?”
“Everyone takes meetings you stop taking meetings the industry shrivels up like Daney’s you-know-what when he got nervous.”
“Everyone takes meetings but so did you.”
“Yeah I went I took it as seriously as anything else why not what was there to lose do you guys have anything to drink I’m really thirsty.”
“Sorry, no,” said Milo.
“Damn I’m parched that’s why I hate . . .” Her head dropped. Staring at her legs.
“What do you hate?”
“Pills dope poison I refuse to take anything to hell with stupid doctors the best thing for stress is activity work off the toxins speaking of which I’m starting to feel really confined could we walk a little take a little stroll— ”
Milo said, “Who set up the meetings?”
“I did Daney tagged along thinking he was smooth— ”
“Not Marty?”
“Marty gave us some names big deal I already knew them from my father he had a Rolodex to die for don’t listen to anything Marty tells you he’s nuts— ”
“Do you have a copy of the treatment?” I said.
“No why would I?”
“Ever register it with the Writer’s Guild?”
“No why would I?”
“Isn’t that basic procedure?”
“If you care,” she said. “I lost interest after a couple of meetings you could tell from the reaction it was going nowhere fast that’s the way it is in the industry you’re insta-hot or insta-not stupid mistake my one mistake.”
“What was that?”
“Letting Daney write it he put in the same old crap he’d wanted me to use with Troy.”
“Blaming Barnett Malley,” I said.
“Blaming Barnett Malley but kicking it up to an absurd level now Malley was some kind of serial killer obsessed with power and control and body parts.”
“Sounds a bit like Daney himself,” I said.
“Hey,” she said, merrily. “You must be some kind of shrink.”
CHAPTER 39
Milo said, “I’ll take you home, Sydney.”
“I’m still thirsty could we stop somewhere?”
“If I pass a place, I’ll get you a Coke.”
“How about Joya Juice there’s one near my house.”
As we left the park, she turned silent and fidgety.
I said, “What was your impression of Cherish Daney?”
“Drew said she was a real religious type wanted kids a whole bunch of them a brood was the term he used but she couldn’t have any she was sterile it was an issue.”
“Not having kids?”
“Adoption she finally accepted she couldn’t have her own decided she wanted to adopt was really obsessed with adopting even a kid from China Bulgaria Bolivia one of those places he didn’t want it didn’t want the commitment I said what about foster kids that way she gets to play mama then they leave and you’re off the hook and you get paid.”
“Drew like the idea of fostering?”
“He loved it said brilliant Syd you’re a genius that’s what he called me Syd extremely irritating big burr in the saddle but he kept doing it a real loser when we get to Joya I’d like something with pineapple in it okay?”
* * *
She directed him to the juice bar, just north of Sunset, in Palisades Village. He left her cuffed and went inside.
Women who looked like Weider were all around. She sank down and lay flat on the rear seat. I asked her about Barnett Malley but she claimed to know nothing about him.
“No impressions?”
“Why would I he was the other side?”
“Daney’s theories never got you curious?”
“That was bullshit.”
“Wha
t about Malley riding the rodeo?”
“What are you talking about?”
* * *
Milo returned with a giant cup and a straw. She sat up and said, “Take off the cuffs I need to hold it.” He leaned into the car and held the straw to her mouth. She said “Oh c’mon,” but drank greedily, cheeks deflating. When she stopped for a breath, a speck of froth remained on her lower lip. Milo wiped it off.
She looked up at him with fear. “Please let me hold it.”
“No more problems?”
“I promise really.”
“Gonna avoid issues with the neighbors?”
She smiled. “What do you care about that you’re a big-issue guy it’s Daney you’re after obviously he’s done something serious but I don’t even care what.”
“No curiosity?”
“I don’t live in the past the past is like a dead body just keeps rotting and stinking may I have another sip please and can you please take off the damned cuffs?”
“You and Drew don’t talk anymore?”
Hoarse laugh. “Haven’t talked to that loser in seven years what do you think I’m going to call him tell him you were here that’ll be the day if he ever tried to get near me I’d cut off his you-know-what.”
“Bet you would,” said Milo. He freed her hands and handed her the cup. She sipped, remained docile and silent during the ride back to her house.
When we got there, Milo helped her out of the car. She stood looking at her front door as if she’d never seen it before. Milo took her by the elbow and walked her up the drive. Halfway there, he hung back. She stopped, flipped hair, flashed teeth, said something that made him smile. Stood on her tiptoes and pecked his cheek.
He watched as she walked to her door, stood there as she crossed the threshold. Returned shaking his head.
I said, “What was the joke?”
“The— Oh, that. She said ‘You’re sending me off like a little birdie out of the nest chirp chirp chirp.’ ” He jammed the key in the ignition. “It caught me off guard. For a second, she seemed kinda cute.” He frowned. “That kiss. I need to wash my face.”
* * *
A block later, he said, “She’s completely nuts but everything she told us fits. What do you think of Daney’s sperm-obsession?”
“All part of his me-obsession. What interests me is that right from the beginning Daney wanted to focus blame on Malley. Why would that be unless he knew Malley before Kristal’s murder and had some reason to resent him? I brought up the rodeo to Weider and she looked at me as if I was crazy. So Daney lied about hearing it from her. He knew Barnett eight years ago or did research.”
“Maybe the swinger’s scene, like you suggested.”
“Or a tamer possibility,” I said. “Now that we know we’ve got two couples with infertility problems.”
“A clinic,” he said. “They met at a damned fertility clinic?”
“Weider said Cherish had ‘finally’ given up on having her own children. That implies she had tried to conceive for a while. That had to include medical treatment.”
“Chatting in the waiting room, the old misery loves company bit.”
“Until Drew and Lara took the friendship a step further,” I said. “The two spouses who just happened to be fertile. It’s possible neither of them knew that and Lara’s pregnancy caught them by surprise. Drew had to figure she’d terminate because of the repercussions with Barnett. But she refused. Having a baby meant more to her than her marriage.”
“All of a sudden the Malleys are having a baby and the Daneys aren’t.”
“Leaving Cherish with a whole lot of frustration and anguish. Three guesses who she’d vent to.”
“She gets on Drew’s case, pushes for more fertility treatment.”
“Which would be expensive and a monumental hassle for something Drew didn’t want in the first place. Either he agreed and it didn’t work, or he refused. In either case, Cherish switched her goal to adoption. Became obsessed with it.”
“Idiot thinks he’s the cleverest guy in the world and all of a sudden his life’s getting knotted up because of a problem he helped create. Talk about insult added to injury.”
“So he decided to eliminate the source of the insult,” I said. “Turned Kristal into an object lesson for Cherish. ‘See the joy babies bring, hon?’ At the same time, he was able to play out his God fantasy and free himself of any future demands from Lara. And as long as he was cleaning house, why not get a movie deal out of it?”
He hunched and scowled and gripped the wheel, as relaxed as a student driver. Salt air blew through the car’s open windows. Charming neighborhood. How long before Sydney Weider imploded?
Milo said, “Cleaning house permanently. Kristal, then Troy because he killed Kristal, then Nestor because he killed Troy. And Lara either because she wanted to get serious with him or she had figured out he had something to do with Kristal’s death.”
“Jane Hannabee, too, because Daney couldn’t be certain Troy hadn’t said something to his mother.”
“And now Rand . . . think Drew did any of them himself or were they contract deals?”
“Whoever did Lara did Rand. My money’s on Daney for those. Hannabee could’ve gone either way.”
“Six bodies,” he said. “And there’s something I neglected to mention. I checked for any Mirandas on Daney’s foster list. Nothing close.”
“Why would Daney take in a ward and not bill the state?”
“Why, indeed.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Now how the hell am I going to prove any of it with no evidentiary connections?”
I had no answer.
“Yeah,” he grumbled. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
* * *
He dropped me home at one-forty p.m. Allison hadn’t called my cell and there were no messages on my machine.
In five minutes, she’d be between patients. I watched the clock, had a cold cup of coffee, phoned her office when the big hand touched the nine.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m in the middle of something, promise to call as soon as I can.”
“Emergency?”
“Something like that.”
“We’re okay?”
Silence. “Sure.”
* * *
It was seven-thirty when I heard from her.
“Emergency resolved?”
“This morning Beth Scoggins went into a changing room at work and locked herself in. It took awhile before anyone noticed. When they found her she was sitting on the floor, curled up, sucking her thumb. She was unresponsive, had wet her pants. The manager dialed 911 and the ambulance took her to the U. They gave her a physical and a tox scan, then some psych residents tried out their interview skills on her. Finally, she let someone know I was her therapist and an attending psychiatrist called me. It was him I was talking to when you phoned. I canceled my afternoon patients and went over there, just got back to the office.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Still regressed but she’s starting to talk. About things she never talked about before.”
“More about Daney or— ”
“I can’t get into it with you, Alex.”
“Sure,” I said. “Allison, if I had anything to— ”
“She’s obviously been sitting on a mountain of issues— a volcano. I was probably too laid-back, should’ve worked harder at opening her up.”
Same thing, nearly word for word, that Cherish Daney had said about Rand.
This was different. Allison was trained. Cherish had been running with scissors.
Out of her element.
Or maybe not.
My head flooded with what-ifs.
I said, “I’m sure you handled it optimally.” That came out hollow.
“Whatever. Listen, I’ve got to phone all those cancellations, rearrange my schedule, extend my hours, then go back to the hospital. It’s going to be awhile before we can . . . socialize. Don’t even suggest to Milo that he�
��ll ever have access to this girl.”
“It’s not an issue.”
“I know what’s at stake, Alex, but we’re on opposite sides on this one. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.”
Rage Page 33
