When I reached him, he said, “This is keeping your distance?”
I said, “Distance is relative. Where are the others?”
“The others,” he said, “i.e. the people whobelonghere, are stationed at the other end. Except for Alicia who’s still following the Highlander. Which seems to be going around in circles. Long as you’re here, any wisdom on that?”
I said, “Could be she wants to go to the scene and is building up her courage.”
“Or she’s just nuts.”
“If you want to get technical.”
He began to smile. Killed it. “Seriously, Alex, you really don’t need to be here.”
“If she’s mentally disturbed, I could help.”
“Not from up close and personal. No way, not gonna happen.”
“I have no desire for up close and personal.”
He sighed. “Why’d you come? Really.”
I said, “First time I’ve been downtown in a while. I took being so close as an omen.”
Before he could respond, his phone played Mozart digitalized to squirts and bleeps. Turned to low volume and muffled by a suit pocket but still borderline criminal.
He answered, stiffened. “Got it.”
I said, “She’s here.”
“Just turned in.” Pointing up the alley. “The dumpster’s right in the middle with half a block on each side. Hector and Sean have eyes on her. We’ll wait to see what she does. If she gets out of the car, we approach from both sides. If she does a drive-by, we’ll hustle and follow and do a traffic stop on those expired tags.”
He sauntered across the alley entry, said something to Moe, who nodded.
The two of them shifted closer to the mouth of the alley and lookedin.
I stood behind them, keeping my distance. Milo looked back to check, frowned and continued.
His phone rang again. “Okay, ready.” To Moe: “She just turned in, is cruising slowly toward the dumpster.”
Moments later, the Highlander appeared facing us, horizontal grille slats forming a strange, almost goofy smile. It stopped directly next to the dumpster. Inches away on the driver’s side, just like in the body-dump footage.
Milo said, “For all we know she’s gonna toss someone else in there—okay, she’s out.”
He and Moe began running.
I waited a few seconds before following. Able to outpace and overtake both of them easily but hanging back.
As I got closer, details clarified.
Trim, tall blond woman in all-black, carrying an oversized beigehandbag. Black running shoes with red soles. She could’ve been shopping in Brentwood.
Milo and Moe were fifty feet away when Villalobos and Sean appeared, both vested. Black rectangles with glass eyes attached to the vests. Bodycams.
The woman was surprised and Sean used that to run past her so he faced her from the opposite side.
He and Villalobos, boxing herin.
She didn’t move or otherwise react, complied when they told her to put her hands up. As she was turning toward Sean to be cuffed, her right hand swooped into her bag, brought something out, and made a quick, darting, almost delicate swipe at Villalobos’s arm.
