“Sorry, Doc, no. Just a pedestrian in a hoodie, no idea if he was carrying anything.”
Petra said, “On the one hand, there’s consistency to the sightings. On the other, there’s no shortage of guys in hoodies in Hollywood after dark. We also went over O’Brien’s apartment for the second timeand found a big stash of GHB under his bed that we missed. So doping and exploiting women was a thing for him. Which is backed up by Milo’s interview of his former roommate.”
Milo summed up the talk with Martin Kehoe.
Moe said, “Other victims, other potential avengers.”
Petra said, “Unfortunately. They’ve got to be out there but we haven’t found them and despite Marissa’s death being on social media, there’s been no tide of me-too.”
Alicia frowned. “Same old story, too ashamed to come forward.”
Petra nodded. “No doubt. But even if victims do surface, someone who paid to have O’Brien murdered isn’t going to be one of them.”
Milo had listened to all that without a glance at me.
By the way, Alex knows of another victim.
Friendship.
He returned his attention to the boards. “Which brings us back to the one decent suspect we do have. A gentleman who knew both Parmenter and O’Brien.”
He tapped Gerald Boykins’s photo. Did the same to an image that had been added next to it. Kiki Boykins in a smiling party shot taken from her Instagram.
“His wife?” said Moe.
“Yup, calls herself Kiki.”
“Why’re you considering her now, L.T.?”
Milo tapped a third shot. Keisha Boykins, smiling prettily. This time, he looked at me.
I said, “You all know that Parmenter laid down a vulgar rap focused on Keisha. We’ve since learned she’s an only child with some sort of chronic illness that keeps her out of school. That could kick up the parental protectiveness level so we need to look at both parents. Operating individually or in concert. And given the fact that O’Brien worked for Gerald Boykins, we can’t eliminate the possibility that he wasn’t just fired, he was taken care of permanently because ofsomething to do with Keisha. Real or imagined. The wrong comment, the wrong look.”
Petra said, “The serpent can’t control its nature plus Mommy and Daddy are already primed after Parmenter, so they’re looking for problems.”
“Exactly,” I said. “And ready to use the same shooter because he’d done a clean job on Parmenter.”
Buck Buxby said, “You finally find a good plumber, keep calling him.”
Moe said, “On the other hand, like we said, O’Brien could be the result of another pissed-off family.”
No tell, from Milo.
Moe said, “Wide, wide world of suspects.”
Milo said, “If the Boykinses are behind one or two hits, there’s someone we need to look at as the shooter. Private guard who was there the day Alex and I visited them. Guy named Walt Swanson, used to work at Pacific Division.”
He looked at Buxby.
The old D said, “Sorry, never get that close to the beach.”
Moe said, “Why’s he on the radar?”
Milo said, “He really isn’t. But turns out he no longer works for the Boykinses or the private security firm they got him from. It’s possible Gerald got pissed off because Swanson opened the gate for us easily so he canned him. On the other hand.”
Alicia said, “Guy did two freelances for the Boykinses then you show up asking questions and it’s time to make himself scarce. Anything scary in his background?”
“Nope, spotless record when he was on the job. Alex did me a favor this morning and took a look at his place of residence. Simi Valley, low-key, but he does have a sick wife so theoretically that could exert financial pressure.”
