Alicia said, “Are we going to start watching him?”
“Don’t see that as high priority unless we get something else on him. First thing is to learn if he was fired or quit, but Pacific Security isn’t being helpful.”
Buck Buxby cleared his throat.
Milo said, “What is it, Buck?”
“I might have an in, there. Nothing high-level but a—someone—a person I used to know, worked there, maybe still does. Which office did you call?”
“Their main one, North Hollywood.”
“Oh,” said Buxby. “She—the person—is in the Orange County office, Buena Park. That’s how I met her, there was this gang case, Mexican Mafia shooting up the competition across both counties, one of them actually had a job at a warehouse and Pacific had security footage there so I—” Another flush. “Sorry. TMI, like the kids say. Anyway, I could call, see if she can find out.”
Milo said, “That would be great.”
“Want me to do it right now?”
“Why don’t you wait until we’ve gotten through everything.” Another look at the Timex and Binchy’s empty seat. “Try Sean, Moses.”
Reed made the call, shook his head. “Voicemail.”
“Weird,” said Alicia. “He’s so into punctual.”
Milo frowned. “Okay, onward. Buck, thanks for looking into Swanson. If you learn he was fired due to a complaint by the Boykinses, he’s probably not involved. If he suddenly quit, it gets more interesting. What’s the surveillance situation at his home, Alex?”
I said, “Not ideal. Quiet street in Simi.”
Buxby said, “Used to live there. Nice if you want to hang a flag, which I do, but yeah,tooquiet, couldn’t sleep.”
Milo smiled, turned serious. “Okay, that’s about it. Any questions about anything?”
I turned to Moe. “Milo said you’d found a couple of .308 shootings.”
“I did but nothing thrilling, Doc. Both in Ohio, and a long timeago. Also, more like hunting accidents than planned-out homicides. They were filed as undetermined by the coroner but the police report says likely accidental.”
“Were they neck shots?”
“Nope,” he said. “That would’ve gotten my attention. One was to the back, pierced the spine, the other was in the brain stem.”
“Same rifle for both?”
“That would’ve also been nice, so I tried to find out but couldn’t. We’re talking small-town and no one who’s still around at local law enforcement remembers anything about either case. I tried their coroner, who turns out to be a mortician who bought the business two years ago from another mortician who’d died. No record of the bullets being preserved.”
Buck Buxby muttered, “Welcome to Mayberry.”
I said, “Where were the shootings?”
Everyone looked at me.Why’s he so interested.
Then they smiled knowingly.That’s Doc, being meticulous.
Moe pulled out his pad and flipped. “One was in a place called Shelter Lake, Ohio, the other in a tinier hamlet called Vantage.”
“Morticians,” said Alicia.
“Yup, the few times they need a pathologist they bring one in.”
I said, “How far apart are the locales?”
