“So you were,” he said. “Can’t imagine a guy bleeding from the shoulder with a tattoo on his forehead will be hard to find, but don’t count on it.”
“I won’t,” I said. “You get anything yet on the shooting at the apartment?”
He frowned and folded his arms across his chest. “Nothing. Parents came in, didn’t seem to know much. We’re still checking with some of the others at the complex and trying to follow up with some supposed friends. There were a couple of drive-bys in the same area last two days.” He shrugged. “Could have been just bad timing on her part to step out of her place when she did.”
The image of Rachel collapsing to the ground flashed in my head. Too many other things pointed to it not being random.
“I got one other thing for you,” he said. “We got in touch with Peter Pluto’s aunt. She’s coming in at noon to do some paperwork. Liz thought you might want to talk to her.”
I shifted gingerly on the sofa, my back stiff. “And Liz couldn’t tell me that herself?”
Wellton laughed and glanced over his shoulder toward the beach. “Don’t worry. She won’t be there. You won’t have to use your indifferent bullshit act you like to put on when she’s around.”
It irritated me that Wellton could decipher what was going on between Liz and me. I had a hard time believing that she would share our relationship with him, but he was her partner and partners talked.
“So why’s she got you running her errands?” I asked.
“Probably for the same reason you just shit your pants when you thought you were gonna have to face her this afternoon,” he said. “You’re both too chicken to deal with each other.”
I felt the blood rush to my face.
“Hey, man,” he said. “She’s doing you a favor, alright? It was me, I’d say fuck it and leave you out of it because you bring trouble like a skunk brings stink.” He frowned. “But she said to tell you, so I’m telling you. Come down or don’t come down. I could give a shit.”
I wondered if he was right about Liz’s reason for avoiding me. I thought some of the awkwardness had disappeared between us when I saw her at the station, but he was right, at least on my account-I still hadn’t worked up the courage to tell her exactly how I felt about her.
I pushed myself up. “Alright. I’ll be there.”
“Fantabulous,” he said. “Can’t fuckin’ wait.”
“This is really on your way to work?”
He nodded. “I live in Pacific Beach, off of Lamont.”
“Really?”
“Despite whatever cultural myth you subscribe to, black guys like the beach, too,” he said. “I just tell everyone I tan real good.”
I laughed. “Sure. Well, seriously. Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it.”
He looked at me warily. “Yeah. You’re welcome.”
“And thanks for not bringing the other six dwarves or Snow White with you,” I said. “Woulda been weird.”
He shook his head, showed me his middle finger, and left.
Twenty-two
The glass man showed up at nine on the dot to hang my new patio door. I showered while he worked, letting the hot water take some of the sting out of my banged-up body. An hour later the door was in and the evidence of my poor aim with a gun was gone.
I grabbed a breakfast burrito at Roberto’s and, with time to kill before meeting the Pluto aunt at noon, I headed back up to Linc’s apartment to see if anything or anyone showed up.
I parked just down the block and sat there with my breakfast. Some cars came and went. Dana headed out with a backpack full of books and climbed into a Nissan Xterra by herself, apparently on her way to class. Rolovich came out for a smoke.
Other than that nothing much happened, so at eleven-thirty I headed downtown to meet Peter and Linc’s aunt. I’d known it was a long shot that Linc would just happen to walk by while I was sitting there, but there you go-I’m a dreamer.
The morning fog was still hanging around, covering I-5 like a tunnel, and the traffic was thick going south. We moved along slowly, but my normal impatience didn’t rear its head. Something about defending myself in my own home had relaxed me, made me more confident. I held my own against Lonnie and Mo and came out on the better end.
I found a parking spot two blocks up from SDPD headquarters five minutes before noon, dropped change in the meter, and headed over to the big building.
Wellton was standing in the downstairs lobby. A woman was with him.
“Hey,” I said as I approached.
“Hey,” Wellton said. He gestured at the woman next to him. “This is Marie Pluto. Ms. Pluto, this is Noah Braddock.”
Marie Pluto stood about five-seven and looked to be in her late forties. Dark hair fell to her shoulders, her face bearing the strain of someone who has just lost a relative. Sad gray eyes surrounded by fine wrinkles and a small mouth smiled politely at me.
She offered her hand. “Hello.”
“Hello,” I said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
She looked away for a moment. “Thank you.”
“Mr. Braddock is the investigator I was telling you about,” Wellton said. “Your nephew hired him before his death.”
“To find Linc?” she asked, her focus back on me now.
“Yes.”
“Have you found him?”
“Unfortunately, no. But I was hoping I could ask you a few questions about him.”
“Certainly. I’ll help however I can.”
“Ms. Pluto, thank you again for coming by to take care of the paperwork. My condolences,” Wellton said. He shook her hand. “I’ll let you two speak.”
“Thank you, Detective,” she said, taking a deep breath.
He turned his attention to me. “Stop by when you’re done, alright?”
I knew he would want any info I got from Marie. He set up the meeting, so it was only fair.
“Sure,” I said.
We watched Wellton walk down the hallway and disappear around a corner.
“Do you mind if we walk outside?” she asked. “I could use the air.”
I nodded and we walked out through the crowded front lobby and into the cool midday air, sitting down on the steps facing Broadway.
“When did Peter hire you?” she asked, folding her hands in her lap.
“Last week,” I said, realizing it felt more like a month.
“I assume you know what happened to Peter?”
I thought about seeing him in his house and lying next to him in the canyon. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
She took a deep breath and stared at the street. “Peter was a good kid. I mean, he wasn’t a kid, but that’s how I thought of him.”
“You were his aunt?”
She nodded. “His father was my brother. And he wasn’t much of a father.” She paused. “Peter figured it out early on, but I don’t think Linc ever did.”
I didn’t say anything.
“You know that their mother died?” she said.
“Peter told me she had cancer and died two years ago. He mentioned a small trust fund that Linc was living off of.”
Marie nodded. “Her family had a little bit of money and her parents left it to the boys. Nothing to make them rich, but enough for them to be alright.” She leaned forward and rested her forearms on her knees. “Their grandparents just wanted to make sure that their father didn’t get his hands on it.”
A group of Japanese tourists stopped across the street and pointed their cameras at the police building. I couldn’t imagine who told them that it was something to photograph. They smiled at one another and moved on.
“Was your brother still in contact with the boys?” I asked.
“Peter shut him out and he stopped trying,” she said, looking at me. “But he was still talking with Linc when he was killed.”
“Killed?”
“Stabbed in a fight,” she said, her voice void of emotion.
“I’m sorry.”
She smiled. “Don’t be. He probably deserved it.”
The Pluto family just kept getting stranger.
We watched the afternoon traffic move by on Broadway for a few moments, the din of the taxis and cars filling the awkward silence. The fog was finally dissipating and the smell of wet concrete drifted in the air.