“How so?”
“Dealing with people takes practice.”
“She got rusty.”
“That plus ambition could’ve clouded her judgment. And her going it alone, without her friends, meant there was no one to look for danger signs. And there was plenty to worry about. This wasn’t an impulsive thing on O’Brien’s part. Her clothes and purse were at his place but her phone wasn’t. Maybe he confiscated it early on and wanted to cut off any escape route. Or he tossed it after she passed out to avoid being connected with her. Either way, she was way in over her head.”
“Evil,” he said. “Even without her phone, I can get her call history. Problem is, with O’Brien dead, none of it really matters. I’ll write him up as the likely suspect but it’ll just be notes in a file.”
“O’Brien, on the other hand, remains a whodunit and Petra wants you involved.”
“She was being nice,” he said. “No way the boss is gonna allow me to get involved with a Hollywood case.”
—
At the station door, I said, “One question. Why’d you give the girls O’Brien’s name?”
“I figured maybe they’d go all social with it and it’d bring in a tip about the last party and that might clarify both cases. That’s what I texted Petra about. She said sure, go for it.”
He rubbed his face. “Okay, thanks as always, sorry it hasn’t been profound. Go and enjoy hearth and home while I search for a cop in Stockton I can make sad.”
Quick pat on the back. He’s turned dismissing me into an art form.
I smiled and walked away.
—
Robin had waited up for me and ordered take-out sushi.
Slow, quiet dinner on the front terrace, Blanche stretched on the floor to my right, waiting patiently for bits of culinary goodwill.
The air smelled of pine and jasmine. The same stars that had pocked the sky near the station were larger and brighter, freed from the harassment of city lights.
“Pretty night,” I said.
“I was going to suggest we eat by the fishpond but given the menu it seemed in poor taste.”
I laughed and kissed her.
She said, “Wasabi snog. So what have you been doing all day?”
I told her.
She said, “Poor girl, that is incredibly sad and disgusting. I get Milo’s frustration about no final justice. Though when you get down to it, I guess justice is an abstraction.”
I said, “Abstractions keep us civilized.”
She looked at me. “You say much with few words. Yet another reason.”
“For what?”
“Some serious horseradish romance.” She demonstrated.
I said, “That wasn’t in the least bit abstract.”
Chapter
10
