by Philip Cox
‘Did the other one reply yet?’
‘Haven’t checked yet. Let’s have a look. He logged on, and waited for the Inbox to come up. ‘Sweet Jesus, she’s replied,’ he said, reading from the screen. ‘She’d love to meet me. Is free today, and she’s even given a cell number.’
Domingo snorted. ‘Yeah, her work number. Call it.’
‘I’ll text, I think.’
‘Whatever,’ said Domingo as Leroy typed and sent the message.
‘Just a matter of waiting until she replies,’ he said, tossing the phone down on the desk and leaning back in the chair.
‘Sure,’ she said, staring at him for a moment. ‘Look, Connor’ll be in soon, so I’d better get back to our own case.’
Leroy nodded. ‘In any case, Liza, our paths will cross again soon, as they say. You can bet your ass your Griffith Park guy is connected to mine.’
‘Probably. I think that’s going to be our first line of enquiry: you know, check for any similarities. When’s Quinn back from honeymoon, by the way?’
Leroy looked over at a chart on the wall. ‘Not for another few days yet.’
‘Well, I’ll see you around,’ she said, walking back to her own desk.
‘Oh shit!’ exclaimed Leroy.
‘What is it?’ she asked, looking up from her PC screen.
‘All that talk about Connor and Quinn coming back to work, I’d forgotten Perez is due back today.’
She looked around. ‘No sign of him around. Would have thought he’d be in early; first day in a new job.’
Leroy shrugged. ‘Probably out playing golf with Patterson. I’d like to be out of here before he gets in.’
‘Why?’
‘Because he’s a prick.’
‘Fair enough.’
Just then, a text message came through on Leroy’s phone. He snatched it off the desk. ‘It’s her!’ he said. Domingo sat up.
‘What does she say?’ she asked.
He frowned as he read the message. ‘Not much. “Can you make The Groves Overlook at 11:30?”’
‘Groves Overlook? I’ve heard of that. Somewhere along Mulholland Drive, I think. Do you know where it is?’
‘Rings a bell with me.’ He touched his phone for the Maps app, then entered the name. ‘Yes, I thought so.’ He looked up at her. ‘It’s one of those scenic view places along Mulholland.’
‘A bit deserted.’
‘Ideal if you’re a hooker meeting a john.’
Domingo checked her watch. ‘It’s early. When are you going to leave? I’ll come with you.’
He stood up, putting on his jacket. ‘I’m going to leave now. Partly to avoid Perez when he gets here, partly to make sure I’m there before she arrives. You don’t need to come.’
‘I’m coming as back up, Sam. I’ll call Connor on the way. He can start work on Griffith Park while we’re out.’
They both left the station house and walked swiftly to Leroy’s Taurus. Leroy started up and they pulled into the rush hour traffic on Iowa. As Leroy turned into Butler and headed towards Mulholland, Domingo rang Detective Connor, and asked him to review the details of the Griffith Park body and compare them with those of the victims in Hollywood and Century City. After she ended the call, she said, ‘We just missed him. He arrived a minute or two after we left.’
‘We were in early,’ replied Leroy.
‘Yeah, and he said Patterson and Perez just got in too.’
‘Damn. Was hoping to catch them,’ Leroy quipped.
‘I’m sure we will get the chance.’
‘Yeah. I’m hoping to make some progress on this thread before we do,’ said Leroy. ‘Last time I spoke to Patterson, he told me the CODs had to be natural causes, weren’t connected, and I would make better use of my time following up older unsolveds.’
‘That’s bullshit, Sam. They’re obviously connected.’
‘I know that, you know that, Bill Farmer knows that. But Patterson thinks otherwise. And if Patterson thinks otherwise, you just know Perez will think otherwise too.’
‘Well, let’s hope this one – what’s her name? Alexandra?’
‘Alexandra,’ Leroy confirmed.
‘Alexandra. Let’s hope she gives us more to go on than the one last night.’
‘Yeah. Let’s hope so.’
She swung round in the passenger seat and looked at Leroy. ‘Talking about last night,’ she said. ‘How was your date?’
Leroy grinned. ‘I was wondering how long it would take you to ask.’
‘Well? Tell me about it, then. Who is she?’
‘Her name’s Julia. Julia Moore. And it wasn’t really a date. I met her the other night.’
‘Met her? How did you get time to meet anyone?’
‘I had just gotten home, late. I could hear some screaming - it was a very still night - so I ran in the direction of the noise, and found her fighting off a pair of muggers. So I cuffed them, got a local car to pick them up, and walked her home.’
‘She didn’t live far, then?’
‘In Venice, also. An apartment near the canals.’
‘That’s sweet. Near neighbours.’
‘Anyway, I took her home, made sure she was okay. No injuries, just a bit shaken up. Next morning, she called to invite me for dinner just to say thank you.’
‘And how was dinner, then?’
‘Dinner was very nice, thank you.’
‘And breakfast?’
Just as Leroy opened his mouth, Domingo’s phone rang. ‘It’s Connor,’ she said as she glanced at the screen. As she took the call, Leroy could infer why her partner had called, and she confirmed it. ‘He just called to tell me Patterson and the Lieutenant Perez just arrived,’ she said. ‘Wanted to know why we were pooling scarce police resources into a pointless case. Perez wants to see you the second you get back.’
‘Just to see me?’
She sat back in the chair. ‘You’re the senior officer, Detective. I’m just following orders.’
‘We’ll soon be on Mulholland,’ Leroy said, as they joined the exit ramp from the I-405. ‘Then the location isn’t far.’
Sure enough, five minutes later, just after the road took a sharp bend, they came across the Groves Outlook. On their left was a small row of buildings. Not houses, but some light industrial buildings. One seemed to be closed: the gates were shut, and the small parking lot was empty. Next to it appeared to be selling RVs, but again, apart from a couple of battered vehicles and three equally maintained cars in the parking lot, there was no activity. To the right was a small parking lot, not paved, more of a dirt turnout. It was empty. Leroy pulled in.
It was 10:50. As they sat and waited, now and again, a car would pass by on Mulholland.
Leroy wound down his window. ‘It’s quiet here,’ he muttered. ‘Pretty deserted.’
‘Wrong time of year for visitors. This is actually the Mulholland Scenic Parkway,’ she said. ‘Gets really busy in the summer. Did you know that, Sam?’
‘No, I didn’t know that.’
‘I don’t know – you New York City boys. You are from New York, aren’t you?’
He nodded. ‘Queens.’
‘Thought so. Why did you move out here, Sam?’
He paused, then said, ‘Long story.’
‘We’ve almost half and hour to wait.’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘I can do complicated.’
He glanced at her. ‘I came here for the skiing.’
‘Skiing? Sam, LA’s in the middle of a desert.’
‘I was misinformed.’ He smirked. He had the feeling he was misquoting a movie somewhere. ‘Let’s take a look round,’ he said as he climbed out of the Taurus. She followed, and they walked from the parking lot towards the overlook. They were soon walking along a dirt track, climbing a slight hill, through a grove of eucalyptus trees, from where the location got its name.
‘Man,’ said Leroy as they reached the summit. ‘That’s some view.’ They now had a commanding v
iew of the San Fernando valley: immediately below them was a large private house with swimming pool; further in the distance they could see the traffic moving along the twisting and winding road that was Sepulveda Boulevard, and to the west Leroy could just make out the Encino Reservoir.
‘Impressed?’ asked Domingo, as she stood beside him. ‘Bet you’ve never done the tourist thing here, have you?’
He shook his head.
‘Well, you ought to.’ She looked around. ‘Look, even though Mulholland is only a hundred yards away, and is quite a busy thoroughfare, we could be in the middle of nowhere here. Lots of places to take a girl, or a guy.’
‘Or a hooker. Or a john,’ Leroy said, turning to walk back to the car. ‘Come on, she’ll be here soon.’ They walked back through the eucalyptus groves. ‘Of course, she might not have come alone,’ he said.
‘Another reason for you to need back-up.’
‘Point taken.’
‘Eleven twenty,’ said Leroy as they arrived back at the car. They climbed back in and began to wait.
‘Eleven forty,’ said Domingo, a little later. ‘Where is she, I wonder?’
‘I’m going to wait over there,’ said Leroy, pointing at an outbuilding on the edge of the lot. You stay in the car. I’ll be in plain sight.’ He wandered over to the building, which turned out to be a long since closed restroom. He looked back at Domingo, who was now sitting low in the driver’s seat. Over the next few minutes, five cars went past; Leroy looked up and down the street. Shit, he thought, this is going to be abortive. Patterson will love this. Then, just as he was about to turn back, another vehicle came around the sharp bend. Leroy could see it was slowing down; then it began to indicate left. He watched as it turned into the lot. It was an old car: a Ford, but he was unable to make out the model. The colour caught his eye: it seemed to be still painted in grey undercoat. He could just make out the figure driving.
The Ford parked some twenty feet away from where he had parked the Taurus. A figure climbed out. She was tall, maybe slightly over six feet, with a sturdy figure, and long thin legs, accentuated by the micro dress she was wearing. She also wore a tiny pink cardigan. Her hair was dark, and long. She walked towards him, taking careful; steps in her high heeled shoes. Two things flashed through his mind: one was relief that she had come alone, even though he had back up in the form of Domingo. Secondly, how incongruous her attire was for this location.
As she approached him, she looked around. When it was apparent Leroy was on his own, she smiled. ‘You must be Sam,’ she said. ‘I’m Alexandra.’
TWENTY-SEVEN
She held out her hand to shake his.
‘Hi, Alexandra,’ he smiled back. ‘Yes, I’m Sam.’ He looked around, pretending to be nervous. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but this is my first time. What…what happens next? Do we do it here?’
She gave him a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry, honey. Everyone has to have a first time. It’s down to you really: where you want to go; what you want to do.’
‘Okay…’ he said, hesitantly. ‘How much are we talking? Money-wise, I mean.’
‘Like I say, honey, that depends on you. Your choice. We can drive somewhere. We can get a room not far from here. Or we can use your automobile.’ She nodded over to the Taurus. ‘Or if you like nature, there’s plenty of spots we could use in the groves.’
‘Okay,’ Leroy said, looking around, pretending to consider all this.
‘As far as the money is concerned,’ she went on. ‘If you only want oral, that’s a hundred. If you want to whole tamale, it’s three hundred. If we go get a room, that’s another hundred on top. So, what’s it to be, honey?’
Leroy reached into his pocket and fished out his badge and card. ‘Not what you had in mind, honey.’
She took a step back. ‘You fuck! You can’t do this; it’s entrapment. You called me.’
‘Possibly. But we’re not here to book you.’
‘We?’
‘My partner’s over there in the car.’ He waved for Domingo to join them. ‘I just need some information.’
‘Yeah, what?’ she growled.
‘Do you know this man?’ he asked, showing her a picture of Guy Robbins. ‘He’s dead, as you can see.’
‘No. Never seen him before.’
In spite of her denial, Leroy noticed a flicker of recognition in her face. ‘Are you sure, Alexandra? He’s left a wife and two kids. Why not help us find who made her a widow?’
She shuffled around a few times. ‘Well, yeah, I might have seen him.’
‘Was he a regular, or was it a one-off?’ Domingo asked.
Alexandra shook her head. ‘I – I can’t remember. A one-off, I think.’
‘Where did you meet him?’ asked Leroy. ‘Here?’
She paused a moment, then replied, ‘Yeah, that’s right. Here.’
‘And what did he get?’
She paused again, running her hand through her hair. ‘I don’t remember.’
Leroy said nothing.
‘I told you. I don’t remember.’
Leroy said nothing.
‘Okay,’ she finally said. ‘I just gave him oral. The cheap son of a bitch wouldn’t pay any more.’
‘So, you met him here, he paid you a hundred, got himself a blow job, and then you both left. Is that right?’
‘U-huh,’ she mumbled. ‘That’s it.’
‘Separately? You left separately. Separate cars?’
‘Of course. Why, is that important?’
Leroy said nothing.
Finally, Alexandra impatiently asked, ‘Is that it? Can I go now? Or are you going to book me after all?’
‘One more question,’ Leroy asked. ‘How did he get hold of you? Through an ad?’
She shuffled again, a look of resentment on her face. ‘Same way you did.’
‘The arrange a date dot com website?’ Domingo asked.
‘Yeah, that’s the one.’ She replied to Domingo but kept her gaze on Leroy. ‘So can I go now?’
‘Okay,’ Leroy replied, putting Guy Robbins’ picture back in his pocket. ‘But make sure I don’t see you again.’
With a snort, she swung round on her high heels, and stomped back to her car. As she turned the car round on the dirt, a cloud of dust rose in the air. Leroy and Domingo took a few steps back to avoid the cloud.
‘Well?’ Domingo asked, as they watched her get back onto Mulholland and head back the way she came. ‘Do you believe her?’
‘Not really,’ Leroy replied. ‘Come on, let’s see where she’s headed.’
TWENTY-EIGHT
‘What part of her story don’t you believe?’ Domingo asked, as Leroy took the Taurus east under the San Diego Freeway.
‘Most of it, really,’ Leroy replied.
‘Okay,’ she said, peering ahead at the traffic on Mulholland. She could make out the grey Ford five vehicles in front.
‘First of all,’ Leroy continued, ‘she lied right at the beginning about knowing Robbins. Then…well, let’s just say I’m sceptical. I think she’s hiding something. I’ll take book that she already knew he was dead.’
‘You think she killed him?’
‘No, not really. But his death might be something to do with whatever they did, or wherever they did it. Look at the way she was dressed and what she was charging. No way would she just do the business in the middle of a eucalyptus grove. She’s too upmarket for that.’
It was hardly a high-speed police chase. Whilst not particularly busy, being an undivided highway the traffic moved at the speed of the slowest vehicle, and the school bus ten or so ahead was going at thirty; the amount of traffic heading in the opposite direction prevented any overtaking. In any case, Alexandra appeared to have no idea Leroy and Domingo were following her.
They continued their almost leisurely pursuit along the winding and meandering highway, past the intersections with Beverly Glen Boulevard and Benedict Canyon Drive.
‘You were telling me about your date,’ said
Domingo as they waited at the stop lights at the Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Fortunately, Alexandra had also been stopped at the light.
‘No, you were asking,’ replied Leroy, as they began to move again.
‘You planning on seeing her again?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Only maybe?’
‘Only maybe.’ He paused. ‘Only maybe Saturday night. She’s coming to mine.’
‘Sweet. Plenty of places in Venice to go for breakfast.’
‘Domingo, you need to get out more.’
‘Well, at least you’ve admitted something. ‘You’re going to see her again, right?’ ‘So it was a date.’
Leroy said nothing; just shook his head in resignation.
After a particularly sharp bend, the traffic slowed momentarily. ‘Can you see what’s happening?’ Leroy asked.
Domingo leaned to the right and looked ahead. ‘I think she’s made a right. Into a side street.’ Leroy slowed down to around fifteen and indicated. He slowly turned the Taurus right and came off Mulholland onto a dirt road which went up a slight hill. The road was in fact a dead end. Three gated residences either side up the hill; at the summit, the road widened, and a larger gated building at the end of the road. As they drove up to where the road widened, they could see the gates to all seven residences were closed. Leroy pulled up at the end of the road and looked around.
‘She must have gone in one of these places,’ he said. ‘There’s nowhere else for her to go. It’s a dead end.’
‘Yeah, but which one? All the gates are shut.’
Leroy looked around too. ‘We need to check these places out. But we can’t just blunder in. Any ideas?’
TWENTY-NINE
The idea that they eventually came up with was that a police helicopter pursuing a suspect from a store robbery had observed the suspect leave his vehicle on Mulholland, and scurry through the substantial gardens of the properties in this street. The helicopter had lost the suspect now; he had probably gotten another vehicle, but they would still like to check the grounds.
All the seven properties in the street had gated entrances, each with intercoms by the side of the gate. They were given access to the first house using this ploy and were allowed by a housekeeper, a tiny Spanish lady, to look round the exterior of the house and the gardens. The same went for the third property, except on this occasion they were greeted by the owner’s wife, a woman in her sixties, who clearly by the way she was dressed and made up, had a fantasy that she was thirty years younger. While Leroy and Domingo checked round the back of the house where the three Porsches were garaged, she joined them to ask how long they would be as she had a lunch appointment on Sunset. In neither of these places did they locate the fugitive, or in real terms, the grey Ford.
