“No, but you don’t want to go swimming in that state.”
I said, “His dentist appointment was the prior week?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“I’m pretty sure the Versed would be out of his system. The half-life’s short.”
“Right,” Kinney said. “Our assumption is he pocketed it for later.”
“Olivia works at that office,” Regina said. “Does she have access to the medicine closet?”
“You’re thinking she got it for him?”
“Add it to the list of things a nice girl doesn’t want to share with the cops. They give it to him at his appointment, he likes it, asks her to grab a few on her way out. Like a bowl of mints.”
“Dunno,” Kinney said. “But I also don’t know how you’d figure that out, unless they’re keeping track of every single pill.”
“What about this friend of his?” I said. “Trevor Vogel.”
As with Rick Valois, I’d spoken the magic words.
The detective sagged. “Okay. Look. Your pal at the Coroner’s Bureau speaks very highly of you, Clay. And you,” he said to Regina, “seem like a good egg.”
“Fake news,” she said.
Kinney laughed. “Point is, I’m not one of those guys gets into pissing contests. I got three daughters, okay? I have no dignity left. You can help me do my job? More power. I’m not gonna run you off a good lead for the fun of it.”
“Got it,” I said.
“Yeah. So, please. Take my word for it: Trevor Vogel is a dead end.”
“Word taken. Do you mind explaining?”
“It would make my day.”
He opened a binder. “Whatever Vogel does or does not know about Adam’s death, he wasn’t there when it happened. That’s a fact. I know, because he spent the whole of last summer in Vegas. Not at the Venetian. Clark County Detention Center.”
Kinney flipped the binder around to reveal a mugshot.
“Punched a blackjack dealer in the throat. High outta his mind. Ninety days.”
Vogel had the squarest head I’d ever seen on a human being — like a LEGO figurine, minus the little plastic halo. Choppy brown hair stabbed out in all directions; his chin tilted upward defiantly, lips parting in a gap-toothed sneer. He looked like a guy who’d just been arrested for punching a blackjack dealer in the throat. The booking placard displayed a date of 05-18-2026.
Five weeks before Adam went missing.
“Pretty solid alibi,” Regina said.
Kinney smiled. “Best in the business.”
“You told the Valoises,” I said.
“Right away. I informed their attorney in no uncertain terms that Mr. Vogel had been ruled out as the immediate perpetrator. The dad goes to me, ‘You need to find out if Vogel hired a hit man.’ ” Kinney sighed. “What’m I supposed to do with that? Guy’s a worthless POS, not John Gotti.”
“Could he know something, anyway?” I said. “Olivia told us Adam was hanging out with him on the regular, giving him money.”
“Oh, for sure. We talked to Vogel. He was the first person we talked to, in fact, after her, because the dad was so dead set on him being the bad guy. He was still locked up, so me and my partner flew out there. Hand on heart, I wasn’t ticking a box. I really thought, Let’s cover all the bases.”
“And go to Vegas,” Regina said.
Kinney chortled. “Tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it... We buy him a Pepsi, we’re taking our time, asking him about this and that. ‘When’d you last hear from Adam?’ ‘How’s things between you?’ Vogel doesn’t have a care in the world. He’s asking for Funyuns. Now I’m thinking, This guy is either a straight-up psychopath — and sure, he probably is — or he truly has no idea what we’re talking about. There was no processing time on his answers, like he had to remember his story. Finally we come out and tell him: Adam’s dead.” Kinney raised his palms again. “Son of a bitch starts crying.”
“Just like that?” I asked.
“Well, he did the ‘shut up, that’s not funny’ thing first. Then he sees we’re serious and starts bawling his eyes out.”
“You can cry ’cause you feel guilty,” Regina said.
“Yeah, and we played on that. He got offended at the implication. But you know how it is, sometimes you gotta ask the same question five different ways. And, not gonna lie: Their lawyer was on my back about it. We followed up once Vogel came back to Cali. He answers the door in his skivvies, starts complaining he already told us everything he knows, it’s harassment, he’s gonna sue.”
“Where’s he stay at?”
“Baby mama, up in Richmond.”
“Name?”
“Jasmine Worth. I wouldn’t bother, though. My partner went back a few weeks later to try again and she said Vogel took off. Since then he’s gone to ground.”
“Olivia told us about a movie Adam was shooting with him,” Regina said.
“It’s on a hard drive, in the cage. I haven’t watched most of it.”
“Worth a look?”
“Sure, if you have insomnia,” Kinney said. “Two idiots, yakking about nothing, for five hundred hours? I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
“Clay has a strong stomach for monotony,” Regina said.
“Could that be the reason Adam had a camera on him?” I asked.
“To shoot what? B-roll? The guy’s one state over.” The detective’s cordiality was drying up. “Look, you asked for my opinion. I gave it to you. But you do you, boo.”
“No doubt you’ve taken it as far as it can be taken. Last question?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Did you talk to Adam’s sister? We hear there’s bad blood.”
“Oh yeah. Big-time money, co-heir? But she also alibied out. As did her husband. As did everyone in Adam’s circle of friends. All comes down to the same problem.”
“No evidence.”
“Zee-ro. Listen, Clay. I wish I coulda done more for his parents. Not for ‘closure,’ that’s a myth. But I hate to see how it’s eating them up. Now: Can you do one thing for me?”
“Please.”
“Give it to them straight,” Kinney said. “Maybe they’ll listen to you.”
Chapter 7
Regina needed to get back to Santa Cruz; I needed to pick up my kids from camp. Before parting ways, we reconvened in the parking lot.
I said, “So what do we think about Ms. Olivia?”
“She’s tense.”
“ ‘Hiding something’ tense, or ‘my boyfriend died under mysterious circumstances and his parents hate me’ tense?”
“Could be both,” she said.
“Hiding what? A sex tape or she fed him stolen pills?”
“Same answer.”
“Pills are worse,” I said. “Apart from jeopardizing her job, it’d make her partly responsible for what happened to him.”
“And scared shitless of what Rick and Liz would do if they found out. Who wants enemies like that?” Regina said. “Look how they leaned on Kinney.”
“Yeah.”
“What’d you make of him?”
“First impression, the work seemed solid.”
She elbowed me in the arm. “There you go, defending the Blue Brotherhood.”
“Yes, Regina, all cops are the same, we all think the same way, everybody knows that.”
“Your words, not mine. When are you talking to the lawyer?”
“Tomorrow at the country club.”
“Ooh la la. Fancy shmancy. You think they’ll let you in with that car?”
“Through the service entrance,” I said. “Can you reach out to Adam’s sister? She’s not answering my calls.”
Regina nodded. “What else is on the agenda, boss?”
“Wrap my embezzlement case, see what Trevor Vogel has to say. Also — I don’t know if I should even mention this.”
“Too late. Spit it.”