“Why?”
“The one thing they agree on is any emotional analysis would be irrelevant. Which would be the end of it if I was willing to sign off but they got the wrong judge.”
A beat. “Now I’m going to tell you something off the record, Alex: I have credible information about the real reason they’re trying to prevent an eval. Once they cash out, neither of them has the slightest intention of ever doing any parenting of this poor boy. They don’t want anything on the record that will get in the way of ditching him. Let alone paying his bills.”
“Ditching him how?”
“Best guess some sort of fraud claim about the adoption. The big bad Russians and all that. Meanwhile, the poor kid goes to foster care and all the wonderfulness that entails.”
“Unbelievable,” I said. “Credible information as in one of the lawyers doesn’t like it.”
“Off the record? Neither of them likes it. As I told you the first time, these are decent people, have kids of their own and do not want to be parties to abusive abandonment. One has adopted kids, that’s really given her a reality check.”
“Sounds like the worst abuse could be leaving Derek with either Ruffalo.”
“Of course,” she said. “He clearly needs to get away from them but not the way they want to do it, basically throwing him away. Not if I can help it. I’m going to do my darndest to see that there’s a generous, long-term care plan in place. As in trust fund, these idiots can afford it. It’s nuts, right? Usually people drive us crazy because they see the kids as property and stake claims. These bastards can’t wait to get rid of their child.”
“Good for you, Julie.”
“I may not be able to pull it off but I’m going to try, starting with tabling any requests to bifurcate money and custody. The big risk is the evil ones try to get a different judge and the lawyers end up wussing out. But so far, I’m not getting that feeling from them. So you’re still in?”
“Of course. What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing right now but be available when the time comes for the evaluation. Your input will be vital. Not just for the emotional stuff, also actuarially. I want this boy’s living expenses comprehensively taken care of and one of the biggest-ticket items will be education. You’ll give him an IQ test and if he scores average, we’ll go for funding through a bachelor’s degree. If you tell me he’s smart — and from what I hear from the attorneys, both of whom have talked to his prep school, he’s super-smart — we’ll make sure he can go to med school, get a Ph.D., whatever.”
“How about a postdoc?”
She laughed. “Sure, why not? Notice I didn’t say law school, Alex, because cases like this remind me the law truly is an ass.”
Milo called at two p.m.
“Just had another charming chat with Dougie. What an asshole, he’s still bitching about the jewelry. I informed him he’d get it when he got it and if he had a complaint, file it with Nguyen. Whose name I spelled for him. Then I phoned John and he said, ‘What a dick, like I’d take his call.’ The only other thing to report is Moe did find another neighbor who saw a little dark car that night. Nervous woman, lives midway between Gio’s and Meagin’s. She was walking her pooch and it zoomed by, going south.”
I said, “Away from Gio’s. What time?”
“Within the range of the shootings.”
“The bad guy leaving.”
“If it’s anything, it’s that, Alex. Unfortunately, she had nothing on make, model, or tags. Car was moving too fast, that’s why she noticed it in the first place. The kids are still out there doorbelling, maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Bel Air folk have security cameras.”
“They do, indeed,” he said. “Conspicuously displayed with impressively hostile signs. It’s amazing how many of them are self-deleting or focused on walls and gates but not the road. Or total fakes. The tough thing is a southern getaway would lead straight down on Hilgard, past the U. campus. Zero cameras the whole way and then who knows where he goes. And if he turns east or west, he’s zipping past miles of residential with most of the properties set back or behind hedges, so forget surveillance. Where are the dingy commercial stretches when you need them?”
“Maybe there are some in San Pietro. Not at the church but near it.”
“Good thinking, but been there, done that. Cifuentes said the church is in an agricultural area, any interest would be poachers not monitoring traffic. So surveillance would be internal, on the grounds of the ranches. In terms of the town’s streets, he has no idea how many cameras there are and no way he can spend the time to find out. Can’t say I blame him. He’s a good guy but clearly would love to punt to me. Anything on your end?”
I said, “The gray painting—”
“Oh yeah, that also came up with the obnoxious Mr. March — God, I wish I could pin this one on him. I asked him why he’d dumped all her stuff and why that one in particular deserved a razor. He explodes, gives me mega-attitude about going through his trash without a warrant. I cut him off and educate him about trash and he says it was still intrusive. I repeat the question, he says I don’t have to explain myself to you. I say any reason you shouldn’t? That threw him, he starts sputtering. Then he says if you must know I dumped that shit because it was shit. Not only did she lack talent she had no taste and the proof is that one. The ugliest one of all but her favorite, she showed it off to me like she was especially proud of it. He also said he’d told her he liked it. Back when he didn’t hate her guts.”
“Flaunting his hatred.”
“He’s either the most arrogant murderer I’ve ever come into contact with or he’s not worried because he’s innocent. Anyway, that was my lesson in lack of art appreciation.”
“I found out what the spiky thing is.”
“Oh yeah, what?”
“A flower called the ghost orchid.” I filled him in. “It’s localized to Florida so maybe that’s where she’s from but I couldn’t find any sign of it.”
I expected him to bypass psychology and go straight to geography.
He said, “Ghost orchid, huh? Maybe she saw herself as some sort of phantom?”
I have sold you short, my friend.
I said, “That would be my guess.”
“Running from something,” he said. “Then it caught up with her.”
Chapter 32
No contact the next day until he phoned at six p.m.
I said, “Busy day?”
“Not with detecting, helped Claudio make arrangements for Gio’s body. Talk about contrast with Doug, the guy couldn’t be nicer. Asked if I’d learned anything and totally broke down when I told him I was leaning toward wrong place, wrong time. Between some coroner’s paperwork getting lost, the hassles of air-shipping a body overseas, he was having trouble negotiating.”
“Prominent family, no help from the Italian consulate?”
“You’d think, right? Buncha stiffs over there, they told him they needed official consent from the crypt and when he tried to get that, the crypt said foreign arrangements were complicated, he should get an international lawyer. So I paid them a visit and showed them a bullshit consent form I drafted in my office, filled out a notebook’s worth of nonsense, and stayed there until they rubber-stamped it. No openings on Alitalia for three days, but he’s booked on the fourth and so is the coffin.”
“Beyond the call of duty.”
“Like I said, he’s a nice guy. Clearly the one the family turns to when things get complicated.”
“He have anything else to say about his brother?”