“It’s something.” Villalobos shook his hand, then mine. “Nice to meet you, Doctor. And don’t forget: tamales.”
Winking, he got in his car and was off.
I said, “One guy on a whodunit.”
Milo said, “Solid guy, I checked. But yeah, it stinks.”
“The curse of statistics.”
“It keeps getting worse, Alex. Used to be solve-probability wasn’t an official factor on our end, just the D.A.’s. Now everything’s about looking good.Optimally efficaciousis how some pencil pusher they sent from Parker called it.”
“The joy of algorithms.”
“One day they’ll have actuaries in every station, figuring out the daily odds.”
I said, “New career opportunity: law enforcement bookie.”
He cracked up. Turned serious. “A friendly Safe Place staffer is looking better and better. I kinda liked Le Gallee. You feel different?”
I shook my head.
He said, “Still, you never know about people…before we sayonara, anything else come to mind?”
I said, “How broad was the canvass of Martha’s neighborhood?”
“Four blocks in all directions.”
“You might want to expand a bit, see if anyone spotted a vehicle that didn’t belong.”
“He parked and walked.”
“That would fit with Winslow’s barking dog. And with wanting to avoid a tag I.D.”
He chewed his cheek, brushed hair off a pockmarked forehead. “I’ll take care of it myself. Get some fresh air and it’s not like anything else is happening.”
I said, “Did Villalobos mention going public before I got here?”
“He wanted to do it right away but got nixed by his captain. High risk of too many bad tips with no manpower to handle them.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Wish I was.” He opened his driver’s door. “I put off seeing what I could find on Martha’s homicide cases because it felt unlikely. What Hector would call TV stuff. No fresh air on that one, but let’s see.”
He patted my shoulder, said, “Have a nice rest-of-the-day,” got into the car, and started the engine.
I motioned for him to roll down his window.
He complied, black, shaggy eyebrows arcing.
“Just thought of something. Two methods could mean two killers.”
His lips pursed then he gnawed the lower one. Running his hand over his face like washing without water, he said, “I deeply appreciate your fertile mind, kiddo, but my head hurts.”
Chapter
25
In the beginning, I shielded Robin from the work I did with Milo. It created tension and I learned that overprotectiveness can come across patronizing. Worse, insulting.
