“No, but I wasn’t looking. The whole thing took maybe ten seconds.” He glanced up briefly and gave us another apologetic look. “I really am sorry. I sort of told myself it wasn’t important. But I guess I just didn’t want to be talking bad about a friend.” Evan shook his head. “Stupid, I know.”
Not so much stupid as typically teenage. Or maybe just typical, period. After all, who does want to think their friend, son, brother is a mass murderer? “Did Logan ever talk about guns?” I asked.
Evan frowned, then shook his head. “Nothing sticks out in my mind. If the subject came up, he sure didn’t say anything that made me go ‘whoa.’”
“Did you ever see him with guns?” I asked. “Either in person or in photos?”
“Logan? Never. That’s why this whole thing with him is so…bizarre.”
“Can you think of anyone besides Otis who might’ve been in on this with Logan?” I asked. “Anyone else Logan was hanging out with who seemed like trouble?”
Evan frowned. “No. And to tell you the truth, I don’t even really believe Otis was in on it. I know I said he was a loser and all. But after I talked to you guys, I got to thinking about it. Otis was kind of annoying, and he was a weird little dude, but he wasn’t that kind of weird.” He went back to picking at the arm of the lounger.
“Did Logan ever talk to you about a girl named Amanda?” I asked.
He looked up at me. “Amanda? Where’d you get that name from?”
“So he didn’t talk to you about her?”
“No.”
“Did he mention any other girls?” Bailey asked.
“What, ever?” Evan looked incredulous. “Yeah. Of course. But not in a ‘love’ way or anything.”
“Did you ever meet Logan’s brother, Luke?” I asked.
“Yeah, once or twice.”
“What was your impression of him?” I asked.
Evan shrugged. “I don’t know. He seemed okay, I guess.”
“When did you last see him?” Bailey asked.
“Not that recently. He and Logan didn’t really hang out. At least not from what I saw.”
“If Logan was looking for a place to hide, where do you think he’d go?” I asked.
“No clue. He’s got cousins in Colorado, I think. But I don’t know where.”
“Was there someplace you two used to hang out when you didn’t want to be in a crowd?” I asked.
“Just his house or mine.”
“Did he ever talk about friends or relatives he was close to? Maybe who lived outside Los Angeles?” I asked. These were all questions for Logan’s parents, and either Bailey and I or a uni would ask them. But given how little Bonnie seemed to know, and how little cooperation we could expect from Brad, I didn’t hold out much hope for those interviews. Evan was my best shot.
Evan shook his head. “Not that he ever told me.”
I’d had the impression he and Logan were closer than what I was hearing. “How long did you say you’ve known Logan?” I asked.
“Since we moved here. About a year ago.”
“You move a lot?” I asked. Evan nodded. “What’s your dad do?”
“Works for an oil company based in Texas.”
We weren’t getting anywhere. And if Evan picked at the thread on that lounger any harder, he’d unravel the whole damn thing. “Okay, thanks, Evan. That’s all we’ve got for now.”
We stood up to go, and Evan jumped to his feet, looking visibly relieved-and a little frightened. Was he just glad to be off the hot seat? Or was it something more? The tattoo was the most incriminating piece of evidence we had so far. But Logan’s warning to Evan that morning was a pretty damning piece of the puzzle too. Was he afraid Logan might remember that and come after him? It was hard to believe Logan would risk coming back to shut him up. But then again, as Bailey said, who knew what these psychos would do?
“Evan, I want you to know that whatever you tell us is going to stay under wraps until we have the suspects in custody.”
Evan nodded, but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Okay, thanks.”
“Are you worried about…anything?” I asked.
“N-no.” Evan swallowed and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Because if you are-”
“I’m not. Really. It’s just…this is pretty strange. That’s all.”
I didn’t believe him. But I also didn’t think he was in any real danger. And if I kept pressing him, I’d only make him think he had good reason to be scared. We told him we’d be in touch and to contact us if he thought of anything else about Logan or the day of the shooting, then headed for Bailey’s car.
“I’m probably being paranoid, but can we try to get some extra patrol on his house?” I said as I belted up. “Just in case.”
“Yeah.” Bailey pulled out her cell phone. “I can’t believe Logan would come back for him, but the kid did look nervous. And while I’m at it, I’ll see if we’ve heard back from the bank about Logan’s cash flow.”
“What about setting up a visit with the brother…Luke?”
“I’ll check on that too.”
While Bailey made the calls, I revisited the possibility that Logan might come after Evan. Logan had to know that we’d figure out he wasn’t one of the dead bodies in the library and land on him at some point. Evan’s information was good stuff, but it was hardly a smoking gun. On the other hand, I was being rational, thinking like a lawyer. Logan was smart, but rational…not so much. And if there was a second shooter, who knew how unbalanced and paranoid he was? Evan didn’t know yet that Otis was dead. But he’d find out soon enough. And when he did, he’d realize he didn’t even know who to look out for. Now that I thought about it, Evan had more reason to be nervous than even he knew.
Bailey ended her call. “Valley Division’s putting extra patrols on Evan’s house starting tonight.”
“Good. And the bank?”
“Logan wiped out his checking account a month and a half ago. Apparently it’d been dwindling steadily for the past year, but he still had about five hundred dollars in it until his last withdrawal.”
“Did it sound like he had enough to pay for the arsenal they had?”
“No. I’m getting copies of the statements so we’ll be able to see exactly what the cash flow was, but from what I heard, I’d say the other kid had to have kicked in his share too.” Bailey wore a grim look.
“So they’ve been building up their cache for, what? A year?”
“Give or take.”
I told her my theory about why Evan seemed to be so nervous.
“Hell, yeah, that makes sense,” she said. “Me, I think the kid could just be feeling guilty about not warning anyone and snitching on a friend. But you’re right. Evan might have good reason to be worried. And remember, he was in that gym too. It didn’t look to me like those shooters were being all that picky about who they fired on. It was just dumb luck he didn’t get killed. So much for his great friendship with Logan.”
I nodded and checked my cell, saw I had a message. I hit play and listened. “That was Sonny Barney. They can meet with us now.”
29
We were already in the neighborhood, so it took just five minutes to get there-which meant I had no time to think about what I was going to say.
Sonny and Tom Barney sat together on the couch, their hands intertwined. The fear in their faces was a painful sight. Even worse was the small flicker of hope that still burned beneath it. I looked from one to the other, then forced out the words. “Otis’s body has just been identified as one of the two boys found in the library. I’m so sorry.”
Sonny jerked away from her husband and began to scream. “No! No-no-no-no-no!” Then she dissolved into tears. Tom wrapped his arms around her, buried his face in her hair, and began to sob.
I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. I willed them back and tried to swallow the lump in my throat so I could offer words of comfort, but the words wouldn’t come.