Hangman (22 page)

M
ARGE PLUNKED A
latte in front of Oliver. “Maybe this will help. You look tired.”

“I am tired. By the time we were done being Peeping Toms, it was past three.”

“And I told you that you didn’t have to come. Let’s drop it. And you’re welcome for the coffee.”

Oliver groused out a thank-you.

Marge rolled her eyes. “Mandy Kowalski still isn’t answering her cell. I also called the hospital and spoke to Hilly McKennick—the head nurse. Mandy was supposed to come back today, but she didn’t show up for rounds.”

“That’s not good.” Another sip of coffee. “Since it is now daylight, I will be happy to go over to Mandy’s condo and see what’s going on.”

“We can do that now.”

“What’s going on with Aaron Otis and Greg Reyburn?”

“Greg hasn’t called me back, but I did speak to Aaron. He’s coming in at ten. It’s only eight. We have enough time to go back and forth.”

“Did you tell Aaron about Crystal?”

“Broke the news to him twenty minutes ago. He’s acting totally freaked.”

“He probably is. So why wait until ten to bring him in?”

“He’s at work and wanted to get a few things squared away. I figured it’s best to let him set the time frame, use him as an ally instead of a suspect, even though he is one. I have uniformed officers on him and at Greg’s apartment in case either of them decides to run. It’s all under control.” She slung her purse over her arm. “Ready?”

Oliver finished his latte in one gulp. “Man, you were a busy bee this morning. How do you function on so little sleep?”

“I never went to sleep. I knew it would be hell waking up after three hours, so I decided to make myself useful. I found out where Crystal’s mother lived. You’d think it wouldn’t be difficult to find a woman named Pandora Hurst, but it took me the better part of an hour. I called Mom at six in the morning—eight her time. She’s coming in from Missouri.”

“Not a good way for you to start the morning.”

“It was a very bad way to start the morning, but it had to be done. Also, I made a six-pack from Chuck Tinsley’s DMV photo for Yvette Jackson. All that jazz took up another hour.”

“Surely you haven’t called Yvette Jackson yet.”

Marge checked her watch. “I’ll do it when we’re on the road to Mandy’s condo. Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you exhausted?”

“At the moment, I’m jacked up on coffee and Red Bull. If I were to kick at this moment, I’m sure my heart would go on beating hours after my demise—like a pithed frog. Even so, I’m willing to admit that my spatial perception might be a tad off.” She handed him the keys. “So would you mind?”

Oliver took them. “Thanks for dealing with everything. I owe you. How about dinner tonight?”

“How about one day without your complaining?”

Oliver shook a finger at her. “Let’s not push it.”

ONE NAME STOOD
out: Paresh Singh Rajput. He had been a visiting cardiovascular surgeon for two years in the right time frame—when Gabe was about twelve. The name—which means “son of a king”—was a warrior name and the royal family to which it belonged had ruled a number of princely states between the ninth and eleventh centuries. There were around five million Rajputs in India, mostly in the central region of Uttar Pradesh but also in the northern regions.

From the Google information Decker had pulled up, it was hard to ascertain if Rajput’s father was a maharaja because most of the articles centered on Dr. Rajput’s professional achievements—which were many. He had renowned skills as a surgeon, but he had also devoted a significant part of his time to working in poor communities. He was also active in Doctors Without Borders.

The biographical information told Decker he was in his early fifties with two adult sons, both of them doctors as well. Further information revealed that Rajput’s wife, Deepal, had died three years ago—around the time he took a visiting position in the States. He was currently single.

Decker managed to pull up several pictures of Rajput. The snapshots showed a well-built man with chocolate skin, a thin nose, full lips, thick eyebrows, black eyes, and a head full of salt-and-pepper hair. He wore beautifully tailored Western suits, as well as traditional Indian garb. In those photographs, his fingers sparkled with stones big enough for Decker to notice. It seemed that a man who dressed that well and devoted that much time to the underprivileged didn’t have to worry about money.

The information led to some interesting possibilities if Terry was alive. It wasn’t hard to imagine Terry, after being trapped for years in a relationship with a psychopathic and abusive man, finding a savior in a wealthy older widower who routinely used his money, knowledge, and power to help out the downtrodden.

And it wasn’t hard to picture Dr. Paresh Singh Rajput coming to the rescue: a wealthy older
lonely
widower liberating a brilliant and
gorgeous damsel in distress. Terry was more than just stunning. She had this wounded beauty that melted any male heart on impact, her exquisiteness made all the more intoxicating because she never flaunted her most marketable asset.

Together they would go back to India and Terry could start a new life.

If this were the case, it would be the end of the trail for Decker. Maybe Donatti would pursue it, but Decker wasn’t about to tackle a country of a billion people to look for a woman who wanted to get lost.

In either scenario, with Terry dead or alive, Gabe was still out a mother. Poor kid. Not even fifteen and on his own. His parents gave him the brains, the looks, and the talent, but their own shortcomings failed to deliver to the teen any sense of security. They both had abandoned him into the care of strangers.

It was enough to make you want to wring someone’s neck.

“SHE’S NOT ANSWERING
her cell and her car’s not here,” Marge told Decker over the phone. “Do we break the lock or not?”

“And you’re sure she was supposed to show up for work today?” Decker said.

“According to the head nurse, yes. She’s concerned.”

“Have you tried calling her parents?”

“I’ve left a message with her mother. She hasn’t called me back.”

“When was the last time you called the mother?”

“Ten minutes ago.”

“What about a father?”

“Don’t know if he’s in the picture. I don’t have a number for him.”

“Friends?”

“Other than Adrianna, I’m in the dark. Hilly didn’t have any help with that one.”

Decker thought a moment. “I don’t know what she has to do with Crystal Larabee, but she was one of the last people to see Adrianna alive. Break the lock.”

“What do you want us to do once inside?”

“Look around. See if her walls talk.”

“That’s going to take some time. Aaron Otis is supposed to come into the station in a half hour. Do you want to interview him?”

“Sure. What happened the last time you talked to him?”

Marge gave him a recap of the conversation as best she remembered. “We know he had a fling with Adrianna. He knows Crystal, but I don’t know how well. I do know that Greg Reyburn is friends with Crystal. I phoned him and left a message, but he hasn’t returned my call.”

“If you have his number, I’ll call him again.”

Marge read out the digits. “Last I heard from Tim Brothers, the officer on watch detail, Reyburn’s car is still in the parking lot of his apartment house. I could tell the officer to go knock on Reyburn’s front door.”

“That might be a good idea. How you handle it from there is up to you.”

“Will do.” She paused. “The whole thing is odd, Pete. Adrianna kept loaning Garth money for him to take mini-vacations without her. Then she’d sulk and screw other guys including Aaron Otis. Maybe Greg Reyburn as well.”

“Did anyone ask Reyburn if he had a relationship with Adrianna?”

She gave the cell to Oliver. “The Loo wants to know if Greg Reyburn admitted to screwing Adrianna.”

Scott took the phone. “Reyburn claims he never fucked Adrianna.”

“What about Crystal Larabee?” Decker asked.

“There were booty calls. Mostly they were friends.”

“So let me get this straight. Garth and Aaron screwed Adrianna, Greg screwed Crystal, but not Adrianna. Did Garth ever screw Crystal?”

“Don’t know.”

“Did Aaron ever screw Crystal?”

“Don’t know.”

“And how does Mandy Kowalski fit into all of this?”

“Mandy worked with Garth,” Oliver said. “She complained he came on to her.”

Decker said, “I’m writing all of this down. Trying to get some kind of flowchart.” He waited a beat. “Also, Kathy Blanc told me that she thought that Mandy was the one who set Adrianna up with Garth. So there’s another connection. We’ve got more arrows than I thought. Okay. I’ll take Aaron, see what he has to say.”

“It would be very convenient for him to admit that he screwed Crystal.”

“Yes, indeed. Not that it’s against the law to have had sex with two girls who wind up dead, but after looking over this flowchart, I can tell you that it doesn’t look too good on paper.”

THE WORLD MIGHT
be an artist’s canvas, but Aaron Otis used his own body as one. The guy was inked from the neck down, leaving his face a monotone mask. Tan skin, tan hair, light brown eyes, and lots of wrinkles indicating a life outdoors. His hair was wild and curly. He looked like a multicolored lion.

“This is totally freaky.” He was gripping a coffee cup with trembling hands. “Like a crazy coincidence.”

“A coincidence?” Decker repeated.

“Or like maybe not.”

“Both of the girls were friends of yours?”

“Acquaintances, sure.”

Decker had many acquaintances. He only had sex with his wife. “I’m trying to find Greg Reyburn. He isn’t answering his door and his cell goes straight to voice mail. Would you know where he is?”

Aaron rubbed his face. “We were partying last night. I left the bar at one.”

“Where?” Decker took out his notebook.

“Wild Card…it’s on Cahuenga just past Ventura.”

“Okay. You left the place at one. What about Greg?”

“I don’t know. He was talking up a girl. Maybe he hooked up with her.”

“But his car is in his apartment parking-lot space.”

“I drove last night. When I left, I asked Greg about a ride home; he told me he was cool. So he could be at someone else’s house sleeping it off. It isn’t that late.”

It was ten after ten. Decker had been up for four hours. “Let’s go back a little bit. Why don’t you start at the beginning of your trip.”

“You mean my trip with Greg and Garth?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“That’s way back.”

“It’s less than a week ago.”

Aaron was hesitant but eventually got out his story, basically a recap of what he told Marge. As they were preparing for their camping trip, Adrianna called him. Aaron delivered the message to Garth—that she was breaking up with him. Garth panicked, and went back to L.A. to talk to her. Garth left for the Reno airport in a taxi while Aaron and Greg went on their trip. But it was too cold in the mountains for them to stay.

“There was snow on the ground. We brought fleece and stuff, but it was way colder than we were prepared for. So we turned around the next day and came back.”

“How far did you travel by car?”

“Musta been like, I don’t know…two hundred miles. It took all day to get there. The roads are really windy.”

“They have gas stations along the way?”

“Yeah, but not a lot. You gotta be careful of your gas tank.”

“Did you stop for gas?”

“Sure.”

“Where?”

“Several places. I told the lady detective that I put all my purchases on my credit card.” Aaron paused. “I was far away when Adrianna died. My credit cards prove it.”

“It certainly does prove that your credit cards were far away. Anyone see you at your pit stops?”

“Yeah, sure. We went into a convenience store. We got some snacks. I remember the store clerk. She had blond hair and brown
eyes and had a nose pierce. She was cute. I think her name was Ellie or something like that.”

Decker knew that most convenience stores had video monitoring. If he could pull Otis’s credit card records, he could contact the store and probably get the video verification if the clerk hadn’t erased the tape.

Aaron said, “We also stopped there on the way back. Same clerk, by the way.”

“Can I pull your credit card receipts to get the name of the convenience store?”

“Sure. Whatever you need to prove that I wasn’t anywhere near L.A.”

“Okay. If everything checks out, you probably weren’t involved directly in Adrianna’s murder. So let’s move on to Crystal.”

“I’m not friendly with Crystal…I mean I’m not unfriendly with her, but she’s much better friends with Greg than me.”

Decker looked up from his notebook and made eye contact with the lad. “I’m going to ask you this and I want an honest answer. If I find out you were lying to me, I’ll be much less forgiving of your statements. Do you understand?”

Aaron put down the coffee cup. “I’m not lying to you.”

“I haven’t asked you the question yet.” Decker’s eyes bored into his. “Have you ever had sex with Crystal Larabee?”

Aaron’s eyes shifted focus. “Yeah, like a long time ago…like two months.”

Decker had to stifle a smile. “Not so long ago to me. How long did the affair last?”

“It wasn’t an affair. She came over to Greg’s house and I was there. Greg had to go to work and…one thing led to another.”

“How long did your affair last?” Decker repeated.

“We did it like maybe six times. It was real casual. Crystal got around.”

“And the last time you were intimate with her was about two months ago?”

“Maybe even three.”

“Why’d you stop having sex with her?”

“We didn’t stop officially…the opportunity just didn’t come up. It’s not like I made booty calls to her. Once in a while, we’d find ourselves together and it would happen.” He rubbed his face. “Honestly, I haven’t seen Crystal in at least a couple of weeks.”

“Okay,” Decker said. “Tell me what you did yesterday. Recount your day.”