Sean blushed. “Yeah, we went through that.”
Buxby said, “Who’s ‘we’?”
“I used to be in a band.”
“That so? Which one?”
“You never heard of us—Savage Seashore—anyway, that’s the deal with most indie companies. Pay nothing or close to it and hope for the best. When there are royalties, the honest ones pay out. If the company loses money, they sometimes try to claw it back from the artists.”
“Sounds lovely,” said Buxby, fooling with the knot of his tie. “Anyway, that seems to have been the situation between Mr. Boykins and Mr. Parmenter. But. Parmenter’s alleged music never got released. When I spoke to Boykins he claimed it was because there were quality issues. Not that I could tell the difference.”
Milo smiled. “You actually listened to it.”
“Hey, suffering for the job. I was hoping a lyric would tip me off to something but it was just about having rough sex with women, why those woke types don’t get on the rappers is beyond me.”
I said, “Sexual aggression. There’s a possible link to O’Brien.”
Hurried note-taking.
Buxby said, “Someone avenging women who’ve been abused?” He scratched his scalp. “I was concentrating on Boykins, the whole business angle, and there was nothing like that on Parmenter’s history. But who knows?”
Frowning at the possibility of missing something.
Petra said, “We haven’t found any sex-crime arrests for O’Brien or Parmenter but we all know what it’s like with sexual assaults.”
Alicia said, “Women afraid to report it.”
Buxby looked at me. “You’re raising an interesting point, Doctor.” As if the zoo animal had performed an exquisite trick.
Milo said, “Okay, we’ll dig around more on both of ’em. Coupla days ago I took a calculated risk and gave O’Brien’s name to Marissa’s friends. They had no idea who he was but my bet is it’ll be circulating around the sosh platforms and maybe pull in some decent tips. Moe’s monitoring.”
“Nothing so far?” said Raul.
Reed said, “So far, we’re basically getting hearts and flowers and teddy bear messages about Marissa.”
Milo said, “Another possible link between O’Brien and Parmenter just occurred to me. Both were entertainment wannabes so a business angle can’t be ruled out. Buck, how serious of a suspect was Boykins?”
“He was my only real suspect but I can’t say I was sure of anything,” said Buxby. “There was definitely conflict the night of the murder. Parmenter made a scene at the showcase and had to be escorted out. Not exiled permanently, they told him to cool out in the alley and they’d give him a second chance. That’s what he was doing when he got shot. That and smoking weed.”
“Was he by himself?” said Alicia.
“Himself and a big joint. Guess that was his tranquilizer of choice. Not sure how soon after he stepped out it happened. But it was around forty minutes before someone found him.”
“Who was that?”
“Bartender, came out for his own smoke break. Hired for the night, like the waitress. Like everyone.”
I said, “Where was the showcase held?”
Buxby said, “Big abandoned house on Franklin east of La Brea. One of those old frame Victorians, you still got a few of them on the north side of the street. Place was scheduled for a big remodel to turn it into a B and B but no ground had been broken and the owners were renting it out.”
“Not that far from O’Brien’s place.”
Milo looked at me. “A shooter who lives nearby?”
“Lots of criminals do like to keep it local.”
Buxby said, “I was looking at Compton where Boykins lived.”
