I let her go and waited.
Malley appeared after nine minutes. His hat was in his hand, his walk was loose and easy, and he smoked a long, thin cigar.
I followed him onto the 134 West. A mile or so later, he switched to the 5 North; when he got on Cal 14 twenty miles later, I lowered my speed and put a couple of eighteen-wheelers between us. He was pushing eighty-five and the next twenty-three miles were consumed like fast food. When he got off at the Crown Valley exit, I kept going, took the next exit, got back on the freeway, and headed back toward L.A.
Like Milo had said: This was his turf, nowhere to hide.
I was home by one p.m. My cell calls to Milo ’s house had been answered by his machine. He wasn’t at his desk.
Allison would be working for another couple of hours. The plan was we’d get together at five, maybe see a movie. I fed the fish, tried to relax, got on the phone again.
Milo said, “Hey.”
“Malley does leave his house,” I said. “All he needs is a bit of motivation.”
I told him what I’d seen.
He said, “This changes everything.”
CHAPTER 27
At two p.m. Milo strode through the front door that I’d left open. Grabbing an orange juice carton, he said, “I need fresh air.” We went down to the pond.
“I was trying to be well-adjusted,” he said. “As in sniff the petunias. Rick was off so we went walking in Franklin Canyon, then grabbed some brunch at Urth Café. All the beautiful folks, and me for contrast.” He touched his gut. “Whole grain waffles- kind of takes the fun out of overeating.”
He tipped the juice carton to his lips.
I said, “Sorry to spoil your leisure.”
“What leisure? Rick got called to stitch up a kid who fell out of a tree and the whole time I was thinking about the case and faking mellow.” He tossed food pellets at the water, muttered, “Come to Uncle Milo.” The koi swarmed and splashed. “Nice to be appreciated.”
He gulped until the juice was gone, kneeled and picked a few leaves out of the mondo grass that rims the pond rocks. Ground them to dust between his fingers before sitting down. “Malley and Cherish doing the nasty. Good old reliable human frailty.”
“It fits what Allison said about the Daneys not communicating well. With Cherish’s skepticism about the black truck. She was downplaying Barnett as a suspect.”
“Diverting attention from her boyfriend,” he said. “How do you think the two of them got together?”
“Had to be something related to Kristal.”
“They were on opposite sides of the aisle.”
“Love is strange,” I said.
“What, they passed each other in the hallway and clicked? From everything we’ve heard, Malley despised anyone on the defense team.”
“Apparently anyone but Cherish.”
He scratched his nose. “Think it’s been going on for eight years?”
“It’s not brand new,” I said. “They were comfortable with each other.”
“Good old Cherish, woman of the cloth. Meanwhile the cowboy’s cherishing her in some sleazy motel.”
“It was actually a pretty nice place,” I said. “AAA certification, swimming pool- ”
“Yeah, yeah, and water beds that bounce to the rhythm of misbegotten passion. What is it with these religious types, Alex?”
“There’re plenty of decent religious folk doing good works. Some people are attracted to religion because they’re struggling with forbidden impulses.”
“And others see it as a way to make a buck. How much does the county pay to take care of foster kids?”
“It used to be five, six hundred a month per ward.”
“Not a way to get rich,” he said.
“Five hundred times eight kids is four thousand a month,” I said. “Which wouldn’t be chump change to a divinity school dropout. Especially if it was supplemented by other income.”
“Daney’s other jobs. What’d he call them- nonprofits. He runs around to churches while wifey does some motel-schooling.”
“Plus, they might be getting supplementary fees. I’m not versed in the welfare regs, but there could be a homeschooling allowance. Or extra money to take care of kids with A.D.D.”
“So they could be raking in decent dough.” He rolled his jaw. “Okay, Cherish and Malley are a love connection. What does that say about the murders, if anything?”
“The only thing I can think of is that Troy had three visits before he was killed. One from his mother, two from the Daneys. Theoretically, Cherish could’ve made contact with Nestor Almedeira.”
He put down the bag of fish food. Loosened a shirt button, slipped his hand under the fabric, rubbed his chest.
“You okay?” I said.
He turned toward me. “Reverend Blondie acting as Malley’s emissary to arrange the hit? She poses as a thirteen-year-old’s spiritual support and sets him up to be cut like a hog? Jesus, that would make her a four-plus monster.”
“It’s a hypothetical. It’s just as logical to assume Barnett knew Nestor from the drug trade.”
“And Cherish is just a plain old adulteress.” Another chest rub.
I said, “Itch?”
“Self-administered cardiac massage. If Cherish and Malley didn’t hook up during the six months it took for the boys to be sentenced, when would they have the opportunity?”
“They used to live pretty close to each other.”
“What, a chance meeting at Kmart? One look at Cherish and Barnett goes from enraged dad to lover boy?”
I shrugged.
“Okay, let’s put that aside and think about the next body: Lara. That could still be what we theorized- Malley blamed her for Kristal, their marriage was falling apart. But toss in a new girlfriend and you beef up the motivation. Wonder if there was any life insurance out on Lara.”
“If there was Malley didn’t use it to finance the good life.”
He jotted in his pad. Picked up the bag and tossed more pellets to the fish.
I said, “The new girlfriend wouldn’t have to be Cherish.”
“Barnett’s a ladies’ man?”
“He looked pretty jaunty exiting the motel and you felt there was chemistry between him and Bunny MacIntyre. Cherish, on the other hand, seemed pretty tense.”
“The cowboy’s a player,” he said. “Sure, why not. MacIntyre’s crack about not keeping tabs on his comings and goings was gratuitous bullshit. You saw the layout there. He drives his truck through the trees and she’s not gonna notice? Next d.b.: Hannabee. Though I’m still not convinced she’s part of it. Cherish making it with Barnett spin that in any new way?”
“The Daneys were providing support to Jane during the trial. Cherish might have known where Jane slept at night.”
“The fixer, again. Okay, for argument’s sake, Cherish is a charter member of the Very Bad Girls Club. What does that say about the case the city’s actually paying me to work on?”
“It points to another setup,” I said. “If Cherish is dirty, Drew was telling the truth about Rand hearing noises under the window, seeing the black truck. Barnett Malley went after Rand because Rand knew something about Kristal’s murder that threatened him. Something Rand told Cherish because he trusted her.”
“She goes and rats him out to her boyfriend. What would Rand know, eight years later, that threatened Barnett?”
“The obvious answer is Barnett had something to do with his daughter’s death.”
“The boys beat and choked Kristal, no one debates it. Why would Barnett have had anything to do with that?”
“Don’t know.” The two of us sat staring at the fish that I’d put in the pond because I thought it would help me relax. Once in a while, it does.
Milo said, “Even if there is something to that, why eight years later. What are we talking about? One of those recovered memories?”