Tears dribbled down her cheeks. “I should’ve known. When he packed that duffel, I should’ve asked questions. But he wouldn’t have told me. He never told me anything until afterward.”
Her mouth worked. “When he didn’t call after a week, I won’t lie, I was mad. Then I said maybe his burner phone ran out.”
Milo said, “He used a pay-as-you-go?”
“We both do, cheaper,” said EmJay Braun. “We ain’t exactly Bill Gates.” She wheeled the chair to the side, showed us her profile “Why can’t he be recognized?”
Milo said, “No need to go into details.”
“That bad?” she said. “No, tell me.”
“A shotgun was used.”
She grimaced. “Oh, God... I was hoping maybe another fall. That’s how he got messed up the first time. Hiking. An adventure.”
She looked at her hand, untangled strands of hair, stared at them. “I should be careful, it’s the only thing I’ve got going anymore, the hair.” Dreamy smile. “I used to model. Hair and hands, once in a while even whole-body. When I was like twenty. Nothing fancy, discount catalogs, but I was doing okay. I got something called A.S. Not M.S. You tell people A.S., they think M.S., it’s nothing alike.”
I said, “Ankylosing spondylitis.”
She stared. “How do you know?”
Years ago, I’d consulted to Western Pediatric’s Rheumatology Division, learned about arthritis of the spine.
I said, “I know someone.”
“They doing okay?”
“They are.”
“Well, good for them, I’m hanging in. Mine started when I was twenty-one, a stupid backache. Then it was okay, then it came back.” Soft tap on a tire. “I’m not a cripple, I can walk a little when I absolutely have to, but it hurts bad. That’s how I met Hal. Physical rehab, he was working on his leg strength, I was getting my spine looked at again.”
I said, “His accident.”
“That had happened years before, he had the limp. He’d been okay but then his muscles started to get weak and they said he’d better do something about it, so he went to rehab. I wasn’t that severe, myself, we started dating. When I got worse, he stuck with me, I thought, what a guy.”
Her face crumpled. “When you put aside the craziness, he’s a sweetie.”
She cried some more. When she stopped, I gave her another tissue.
“Those injuries. I guess it really is him, huh?”
Milo said, “DNA would—”
“Sure, fine, what do you need for that?”
“A toothbrush, a hairbrush, anything he’d have regular contact with.”
“He took his comb and his toothbrush with him,” said EmJay Braun. “Stuffed his duffel, threw it in the back of the Jeep, and drove away waving at me and blowing a kiss. I didn’t blow back.” Head shake.
I said, “He left in good spirits.”
“That’s why I didn’t worry. I figured he just needed to go off on his own. This ain’t exactly a mansion and mostly we’re with each other twenty-four seven.”
She smiled. “I won’t lie, I didn’t mind a little alone time. I was planning to do some travel of my own. Maybe over to the outlets in Camarillo, some shopping if it was cheap enough.”
“You have a vehicle?” said Milo.
“Got a van, equipped and all, but broke down, still being worked on, they keep telling me in a few days. Meanwhile, I’m stuck. Like I said, I can walk if I need to, the church brings me the meals, I don’t want more than two a week, I want to stay busy — could you use one of his shirts for the DNA? Even it it’s been washed.”
“That may not work.”
“Hmm,” she said. “I wash everything right away, nothing sits around dirty — how about a bottle? He’s the only one drinks cognac, I hate it. He’s not a big drinker, just a cognac once in a while. There’s the bottle and this little brandy glass, he says it’s shaped that way so you can smell the aroma. I don’t think he washes it, says he likes it with... what do you call it, patina?”
“That could do it,” said Milo.
EmJay wheeled and faced the kitchen. “I’ll get it for you.”
Milo said, “Better I do.” He gloved up, removed and unfolded a paper evidence envelope from an inner jacket pocket.
EmJay Braun said, “It’s on the normal side of the kitchen, where it’s higher. Cabinet closest to the wall.”
He returned with the bag full and sealed.
“Hey,” she said, “isn’t fingerprints faster than DNA?”
If you’ve got hands to work with. Milo said, “This’ll be fine, ma’am. Can you think of anyone who’d want to harm Hal?”
“Just that guy at the McDonald’s but I have no idea who he is and that was years ago.”
I said, “How often did he go on adventures?”
“Two times, maybe, three times a year. Usually it was short, a day or two, he’d say he’d just camped out, being with nature — that was his thing, nature. Like the Chumash Indians, he liked the Chumash Indians, said he wished he had Indian blood but his family was originally from Austria.”
“Where’d he grow up?”
“Stockton, he said his family was gone, he was an only child, there wasn’t much to say about his parents, they didn’t live long, that’s why it was important to make every day count. He liked me to talk about my parents, they were great, I loved them. After they died, I got the house. Without that, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Hal didn’t work.”
“Not since rehab, we’re both on disability.” She laced her hands and stretched her arms. Strained and made as if to stand, got her buttocks an inch off the chair and plopped back down.
“Let me tell you what he was like. Once he went hiking over in Deer Creek and came back with his duffel full of dirty laundry plus a big plastic garbage bag that smelled of pizza. I’m like you camped and ordered pizza? He’s like no, I took it out of the trash. I’m like what for. He pokes the bag and it starts moving and I scream. He reaches in and pulls out a snake! I’m screaming my head off and he’s like honey, sorry for scaring you but no worries, it’s not poisonous. And ain’t it pretty? He said he found it off a trail, all by itself, where it could be stepped on. A baby snake. Once he put it back in the bag, I had to admit it was kind of pretty, bright colors, red, black, yellow, all striped. But it still creeped me out, I’m like get that out of here now. He’s like he already called Animal Control, they were coming over. I’m like I don’t care put it outside. He said, Em, I promise you it’s harmless and I’m worried it’s sick, I don’t want some cat attacking it. He calmed me down, he was always good at that. I let him keep it on condition he put it in two bags and tied off the top. He poked holes so it could breathe and some woman in a uniform came and told him he’d done a good deed, it was this rare kind of rare king snake, not supposed to be where he found it, really a cool discovery, the biologists were all excited to get it, they were going to make sure it was okay and find it a good home. There I was and she’s thanking Hal. Like he’s a hero. He was all about that. Doing good and feeling good about it.”
I said, “What’s the last adventure he went on before this one?”
“Hmm,” she said. “Like three weeks before, he spent a couple of nights in Santa Barbara but I’m not sure it was an adventure. He said he was hanging out there, enjoying the beach, he slept on the beach under a pier. But maybe. He did come home with that look in his eyes. Hot eyes, you know? Like he was planning something.”