The boy stopped. Turned. “Why should it bother me?”
“The fact that a murder happened where you’d just thrown a party?”
Todd Leventhal looked as if he’d been spoken to in Albanian. “I don’t know who ithappenedto.”
Milo loped toward him and handed him a card. Leventhal held it to his skinny flank.
Amadpour took the time to read her card. Her lips moved.Homicide.
She said, “I’m so sorry for whoever it was.”
The two of them entered the house.
Milo said, “The Todd-ster’s a pretty cold dude, no?”
“Not the most charming lad.”
“Didn’t pick up any tells. You?”
“Nope.”
“Can’t think of any motive he’d have other than he’s cold.”
I said, “Despite his business skills, he probably isn’t smart enough to coordinate the level of the production we’re looking at. And why would he call attention to himself?”
“Production. That’s really stuck with you.”
“Hard to think of it as anything else.”
“This one, hard to think of anything, period.”
—
We drove back to the station. He said, “Story breaks tomorrow, meanwhile it’s time for you-know-what.”
“I don’t know what.”
“No progress? Take a meeting. I called it for nine a.m. tomorrow, me and the kids. Any chance you can make it?”
I checked my phone. “I was going to do something more amusing but sure.”
“What?”
“Stick hot pokers in my eyes.”
He laughed for a long time. Good to hear.
CHAPTER
12
Wednesday morning, news of the killings broke. The story was pushed to the rear by political viciousness, not much by way of detail, not strictly accurate. (“A multiple shooting in Beverly Hills during the early-morning hours…”)
The sketchiness meant the department had continued to suppress details but nowadays details don’t matter, it’s all about emotional contagion. I knew the internet would be ping-ponging the story, leading to freelance guesswork and tips ranging from psychotic to encouraging. Milo’s name was listed as primary investigator but his office number wasn’t. Someone calling with information would have to make an effort.
At ten to nine I arrived at the same room where Andrea Bauer’s interview had taken place. Reed, Binchy, and Bogomil walked in together four minutes later. All three in casual plainclothes, what could be taken as an internet start-up business group.
Milo had been in the room long enough to fill a whiteboard with the death shots of four victims, the forensic details available, and the time line Basia had given.
