Eric said, ‘We did bring sweeping equipment.’ He responded to Scott’s look of surprise. ‘That’s why they pay me the big bucks. Now, tell us what you know, Jayne.’
‘Look, I don’t really know anything,’ Jayne said, feeling frustrated with Steelie for no good reason. ‘There’s a wire coming out of a box inside the soil of a plant pot—’
Steelie interrupted. ‘That was left on Jayne’s porch anonymously.’
Jayne countered, ‘But my situation, as you’re calling it, is probably nothing compared to Steelie’s.’ She enjoyed watching Eric turn on Steelie.
‘You didn’t mention anything.’ Eric sounded almost accusatory.
Jayne continued. ‘She didn’t say she was pulled over on a fake tail light stop by a cop who maybe wasn’t a cop and tried to drag her out of the car?’
He looked concerned. ‘Give me that again.’
Jayne gestured at Steelie, who described the events from the Atwater Village Shopping Center the night before.
Scott had the first question. ‘You drove off while his arm was in the car and he didn’t follow you?’
‘Yeah. Stupid, right?’
He smirked. ‘More like gutsy. You report it?’
Steelie shook her head. ‘I just called an old friend at Parker Center. He said I had grounds for a complaint, which I can file even if I don’t know whether he was an officer or just pretending to be one. I guess the Ombudsman – or whoever – will work that part out. But let me ask you, do you think a cop would act that way?’
‘Well,’ Scott replied, ‘some aspects don’t sound right. The fact that he was riding solo, him not letting you get a good look at his badge, grabbing the lock on your door. And, of course, not following you. Most cops would track you down, if only to save themselves from being a laughing stock back at the House.’
Eric said, ‘If he was a cop, you’ll be getting a summons in the mail any day. If he wasn’t . . . you maybe got a lucky break in getting away from a real piece of work. And you should watch your back.’
Steelie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You live in your own house, right?’
She nodded.
‘Alone?’
Steelie jutted her chin upwards slightly. ‘At the moment.’
‘Got a dog?’ Eric asked.
‘No.’
‘Got a gun?’
‘Hell, no!’
‘Well, ma’am,’ Eric had assumed a southern drawl. ‘What do you have?’
‘Don’t listen to him,’ said Scott. ‘You don’t have to get a gun. Just stay alert. And maybe curb your late-night ice cream runs.’
Eric added: ‘And you should call us – either of us – if something like that happens again. I’m in Hollywood and Scott’s in Downtown. Only a few minutes from either of you.’ He saw Steelie’s expression. ‘Guess you didn’t know we lived so close, huh?’
She recovered, ‘No, I just didn’t realize government agents had homes. What do you guys do there, anyway? I’d find that interesting from an anthropological perspective.’
Looking at Jayne, Scott said, ‘It wouldn’t be more interesting than finding suspicious boxes hidden on your porch. Where’re you parked? We’ll follow you over.’
Jayne tried not to leave the Suburban behind at any traffic lights on the way to her apartment, so she was driving slower than usual. It made the drive hypnotic as the narrow road wound gently uphill from Sunset.
Steelie said, ‘The reservoir looks calm tonight.’
Jayne looked across the water, catching glimpses between trees. ‘In a dark way.’
‘Maybe I should get a dog.’
‘Maybe I should, too.’
They lapsed into silence. Jayne pulled in front of her duplex and waved her arm out the window for Scott to park in the driveway. Then she drove further along Silver Lake Boulevard until she found a parking space. They walked back.
Eric was holding a case. ‘Lead the way.’
Jayne went up the stairs first. What she saw as she rounded the corner of the landing surprised her so much that she came to a dead halt. Scott collided into her back and put a hand on her waist. Behind him, Eric exclaimed but was able to stop in time and put out a warning hand to Steelie, who called up to Jayne.
‘What is it?’
Jayne looked past the others to Steelie, her eyes wide, the porch light casting a hazy glow across her face. She spoke through clenched teeth.
‘They’re not here.’
The landing was clean. No pots, no soil, no wire.
THIRTEEN
Scott could feel Jayne start to tremble and knew she wouldn’t be aware that she was trying to back down the stairs even though he was right behind her. As nice as it was to have her moving against him, he would enjoy it more if she intended to do it. He could only see the back of her head, but with his hand firmly on her waist he knew he was reading her right. She was experiencing a fear made more intense because it was brought on by the absence of something.
He slid a hand over hers and moved it to the railing, forcing her fingers to curl around it by using pressure from his own. Then he twisted around to Eric and gestured upwards with his head. Eric nodded and squeezed past them to reach the landing.
Scott then looked at Steelie and saw that her usual wry-tough expression was gone, replaced with something taut and far away, like she was speed-thinking through a million topics. He knew he had to get her to lock down on something. ‘Steelie.’ He watched her focus on him. ‘Keep an eye on her, OK?’
When she spoke, her voice had its usual clip. ‘No intention of doing otherwise.’ She came up the stairs as he let go of Jayne’s hand. Then he stepped on to the landing.
Eric was crouched in front of the door with a flashlight. He ran a gloved finger across the wood siding on the wall just above the floor of the landing and then stopped. Holding his finger in place, he passed the flashlight to Scott who kept it steady on his partner’s hand while Eric selected a tiny metal tool with a curved end from the open toolkit beside him. He dug at the wall gently and a plug of material softer than wood but well camouflaged against the siding came away on the tool and left a small hole.
He glanced up at Scott, who returned the flashlight and turned to Jayne, who was still gripping the handrail. She was looking at the doorway, brows knitted and chewing her bottom lip. Scott wanted to make her stop and kissing her would have been his preferred method.
‘When were you last here?’
Steelie spoke when Jayne didn’t respond. ‘Yesterday. She stayed at my place last night.’
‘Can we open your door?’ He was still directing the questions to Jayne.
She was watching Eric thread a wire into the hole he’d exposed. She nodded.
‘Just need your keys,’ said Scott.
She spoke without taking her eyes off of Eric. ‘Don’t know where they are.’
‘I think they’re in your hand.’
She looked at him then and he saw confusion and fatigue in her eyes. Steelie was the one who took the keys from her and passed them over. Scott unlocked the front door. He opened it but didn’t go in. Instead, he waited for Eric to continue threading his wire through the hole on the outside. When Eric depressed a switch at the other end of the wire, light glowed weakly from under the metal bar over the threshold. After a bit more threading, the wire and its bright headlamp came out through a hole where one of the screws on the threshold plate should have been, but wasn’t.
Eric spoke softly to Scott. ‘No doubt there was something here. Probably audio, though it’s the right size for a fiberscope video package. Whoever set it up has done a nice clean-up job.’
He began pulling out the wire. ‘I don’t think we’ll find anything in here but let’s sweep the place.’