“How do you know?” said Frank Rosales.
“No one entered his house.”
“Really? I assumed some sort of home invasion. Then what? This just doesn’t make sense.”
Milo said, “I’ll give you the few basics we have. Your brother was shot as he walked out to the alley behind his property to take out the garbage. As far as we can tell, the killer didn’t even enter the backyard, just fired once and fled.”
“That sounds,” said Frank Rosales, “like an assassination. I don’t understand.”
He stifled a sob, produced a gulping sound then several coughs. “ ’Scuse me.”
Milo said, “We know this is a terrible, terrible time for you, Doctor, but solving cases depends on information. So anything you—or Mrs. Rosales—can tell us about Manny would be helpful.”
Frank said, “Like what? He never had conflict with anyone.”
I said, “He was a teacher. Sometimes students can be problematic.”
“Not Manny’s students. If he’d taught regular classes, I’d say sure, the public school system’s a joke. But he was in the magnet program, taught math and science to the smart kids. College-bound, motivated. Manny loved it. And they loved him. He’d never brag but I got curious and looked up his online ratings. Basically all five stars, a couple of fours because the subject matter was too hard. But no one complained about Manny.”
Laura said, “He really did love teaching.”
Frank said, “He could’ve earned a doctorate. Or gone to med school, dental school, anything. But after he graduated Cal, he pursued a high school teaching credential and that’s been it for thirty-plus years.”
Milo said, “Got it. Let’s move on to his personal relationships. Other than you.”
Frank and Laura looked at each other. She sighed. He turned to the side.
We waited.
Laura said, “There really were none. Relationships.”
Frank said, “And in answer to your next question, no, he wasn’t gay.”
Laura said, “That’s the assumption, right? A bachelor has to be gay. When our kids got old enough they asked. Is Uncle Manny gay? Because it is a normal question.”
“But he’s not,” said Frank. “He dated girls in high school and college. Then…it stopped. I didn’t understand it but obviously I wouldn’t ask. Because it was none of my business. Then one day, outof the clear blue, he was over for…probably Thanksgiving, this was a few years ago, and he drew me away and said, ‘If you’re curious, Little Bro, I’m not gay.’ Not that it would be a problem for me if he was but I was pretty shocked. That he brought it up. Manny never got personal. Even when we were kids he preferred to talk about ideas, not people.”
I said, “The definition of high intelligence.”
“To a T. Manny was allaboutideas. Formulas, theorems. I was decent in math, he was a total whiz. Like our dad. He was uneducated, never made it past ninth grade but he could memorize columns of numbers…anyway, that’s what Manny told me. About his sexuality.”
“Any idea why he stopped dating?”
“The way he put it,” said Frank Rosales, “he didn’t want to spend energy on it. Maybe he’d been hurt by a girl, I don’t know. There’s eight years between us. When he started Cal, I was in fifth grade.”
Laura said, “Some people just aren’t interested. So what? It takes all types.”
Her husband looked at her then back at us. “Not going to lie, it was a little tough on our parents. They wanted what everyone wants for their kids. Settle down, raise a family. But they never bugged Manny, that wasn’t our family, we’re live and let live.”
“We have five kids,” said Laura. “You learn to respect their individuality.”
Frank didn’t respond. A moment later: “So no, there’d be no one who’d want to assassinate him. Unless it was one of those crazy things.”
Milo said, “What kind of crazy thing?”
“You know,” said Frank. “Some maniac on the street, you look at them the wrong way and voices tell them to get you. There’s homeless all over. Not in Manny’s neighborhood but Culver City? It’s a sty. Do you know how they’re going to deal with those people who camp out on the sidewalk? Spend taxpayer money to widen the sidewalk. You believe that? Lunatics running the asylum.”
“That makes sense,” said Laura. “A lunatic who for some lunatic reason targeted Manny.”
