“Any idea how long the boat was out there before it was spotted?”
“Pathologist estimated TOD around an hour prior.”
“Morning boat ride with Mom,” he said. “The kid was out there all that time.”
“Scary, no?” said Flores. “Maybe God was looking out for him. They tried to question him but he didn’t talk much and mostly he just cried for his mommy. They also did all sorts of wind analysis to figure out drift but it didn’t help ’cause there’s no stable air pattern here. It fluctuates between calm and sudden gusts but also sometimes there’s a steady breeze. Like today. There’s no county or state data, period. It’s like its own little microclimate. They searched the southern shore and went back into the trees. No cigarette butts, no bottles or cans, no shoe prints—it’s mostly pine needles. That’s why distance was impossible to calculate.”
I said, “Drive up in the dark, leave your vehicle where it’s not going to be conspicuous, walk right in and wait.”
“Well planned,” said Milo. “Any idea who’d want her dead that badly?”
“Sure,” said Shari Flores. “Her baby daddy, there was a custody battle headed for court. But he had a golden alibi. In New York, at a board meeting with a whole bunch of other people.”
“Corporate type?”
“Executive at a clothing company based in Japan. That’s how they met, Whitney was an accountant assigned to do their internal audits.”
Milo pulled out his pad. “Name?”
“Jay Christopher Sterling.”
I said, “The relationship went really bad?”
“According to Whitney’s mother it did,” said Shari Flores. “They had a brief affair, she got pregnant, they broke up soon after the baby. Sterling’s much older than her, in his fifties, has kids in college.”
“Married?”
“Divorced. According to Whitney’s mother, there was no love lost and Sterling didn’t want to pay as much child support as Whitney asked for. But the big fight was when he moved to New York and wanted to take Jarrod with him.”
I said, “He wouldn’t have much of a case unless he could prove her unfit. Did he try that?”
“Not that I know about,” said Flores. “Never actually spoke to the mother, what I’m telling you comes from her interview in the murder book. Which I brought you a copy of, it’s in my car.”
Milo said, “Deeply appreciated. Where’s Jarrod now?”
“With his father. Talk about a motive paying off, huh?”
“Your guys had a strong feeling about Sterling.”
“He’s the only person of interest they developed. I called one of them before I came up here and he verified it. He didn’t mind my talking to you, sees the case as an unsolvable loser.”
Milo laced his fingers and rocked back a bit. “Obviously, Sterling didn’t pull the trigger but a guy like that, plenty of money, easy enough to hire someone.”
“You wouldn’t even need money,” she said. “Miguel told me in Westmont you can find someone to do it for like twenty. Or some dope.”
“True,” he said, “but money gets you a smarter shooter. I’m assuming your guys checked out Sterling’s banking records.”
“They had no grounds for a warrant but Sterling let them, he was like, ‘Sure, look.’ No transfers of cash that looked weird.”
“Mr. Cooperative. So maybe he controlled what he showed them.”
“Could be,” said Shari Flores. Her toe nudged the dirt. “I suppose he could be innocent but no one else ever came up.”
We returned to our vehicles, where she retrieved a large box file and handed it over.
“Unbound,” she said. “Didn’t have time.”
Milo said, “Shari, everything you’ve done is amazing.” He winked. “West L.A. has its issues but it’s a light-year from Westmont. Just saying.”
