“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m Saint Andrea. The state and county pay me handsomely for each resident but every penny is plowed back, I make no profit. Don’t need to, Bill set me up.” Fleeting smile. “Grandly.”
“Are all your places Level One?”
“The one in San Diego—that was my first, it used to be an old age home—is larger so we have a few Level Twos. But I stay away from anything below that. The point is to offer maximal quality of life in a relaxed manner. You visited Skaggs. Did it seem anything other than comfy and nurturing?”
Milo said, “It seemed nice, ma’am.”
“When Bill ran it, it housed addicts and was painted a horrid pea green.”
She rolled the edge of a cashmere sleeve, looked down at a diamond-studded Lady Rolex. “Got to get over to Disney Hall. Tedious meeting, but one commits.”
Milo said, “Is there anything else we should know about Benny?”
Head shake. No movement of hair. “On the drive down I tried to pick my brain but came up with nothing. What seems likely to me is this was a robbery—a mugging that went wrong or just one of those crazy random things.”
“Did Benny carry money around?”
“When they leave the facility, we give them ten singles and a limited-use cellphone. Two numbers programmed: 911 or the facility. But maybe someone wanted the phone, didn’t know it was useless. Kids kill each other over shoes, why not a phone?”
I said, “We were told Benny had a job at an art gallery.”
“Marcella arranged that,” said Andrea Bauer. “And for the first week she or a student volunteer walked him to and fro. He learned quickly, had an excellent sense of focus.”
Milo said, “Meaning?”
“He could divine a route, set a goal, and reach it, Lieutenant. That’s what Dr. Delaware and I meant about mental age. In some ways, Benny was like a fully operational adult. If we felt he was in danger, we’d never have allowed it.”
Her thin face shimmered as a tremor ran from chin to eyebrow. She twisted the massive ring. “Will it be necessary to publicize Benny’s living arrangement? I’d love to avoid media coverage. For my residents’ sake.”
Milo said, “Far as we’re concerned the less press the better.”
“I concur.” She stood. “Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”
Milo said, “Thanks for taking the time.”
Andrea Bauer’s smile was cool and knowing. “To be perfectly frank, I wanted to meet you face-to-face to make sure Benny was getting optimal attention. There are people I know, Lieutenant. And now I’m reassured that I won’t need to contact them.”
CHAPTER
10
The trip down the stairs was the Andrea Bauer–led race in reverse. Once outside, she shot Milo something vaguely smile-like, crossed Butler Avenue, and jogged into the staff lot.
Milo said, “Sheknowspeople. Nothing like a threat to brighten my day.”
I said, “Her main reason for coming here was self-protection.”
“Alvarez disappears Friday, it’s already Tuesday and I’m supposed to shield her from bad P.R.? The brass has stifled to the max because the mayor’s official line is The Westside Is Safe but a story breaks tomorrow in theTimes.”
“Could work in your favor,” I said.
“Tips? With all the loonies, a double-edged sword but let’s see. Meanwhile the kids are still canvassing, I extended it two miles in both directions.”
Andrea Bauer’s Panamera exited the lot and sped off.
He said, “It could work in my favor—lemons to lemonade, huh? You ever sink into a sump of bitter, soul-leeching pessimism?”
Not since I made my way from Missouri to L.A. at sixteen and could stop hiding from a drunken, raging father.
