Milo said, “It’s probably too ancient of a history to be relevant.”
He tapped a foot, looked around and frowned. “Martha and I didn’t hang out much but she treated me well.”
Alicia nodded but I wasn’t sure she gotit.
I did.
The unspoken words:As opposedto.
Remembering the bad old days when gay cops didn’t “exist” in LAPD.
Given that state of affairs, Milo had never advertised his sexuality but neither had he hidden it. Police departments have supersonic grapevines and he’d suffered through a whole lot of whispered innuendo and not-so-covert comments, homosexual porn stuffed into his locker, the occasional spit-gob of vile graffiti, and social isolation that intensified when a partner dropped him, egged on by a wife’s religious views.
Either that destroys you or you push through it. Milo’s solution had been to cast aside comradeship and learn to go it alone as he overachieved his way to a solve rate better than anyone else’s. Finally accomplishing an uneasy stability that carried him into changing times.
Alicia said, “Did you work cases together?”
“Nope. She had her own load and was only there for a year or so before moving on.”
“Anything you can tell me about her family?” Her tone had changed. Bye-bye deference to a superior, hello investigative probing.
Milo said, “Widowed, husband had also been on the job. Wilshire patrol, I think. By the time I met her, he was gone. Heart attack or stroke, something along those lines.”
“Any kids?”
“Not that she ever mentioned.”
Alicia smiled. “This is different, no? Interviewing you.”
Milo smiled back. “Live long enough, everything happens.” He turned to me: “Same question as before: Why cut off the arms?”
I said, “If you’re looking for something psychologically profound I don’t have it.”
“Yet,” he said.
Alicia said, “Second the motion on yet.”
I said, “Appreciate the optimism.”
Milo said, “Caught it from you.”
Alicia said, “Doc, could disabling the arms be a symbolic way of weakening her?”
“Sure.”
“But maybe not?”
I shrugged.
She laughed. “Okay, I’ll hold off bugging you until we know more.” She turned to Milo. “Want to start with the neighbor who called in the welfare check or Meade and Santos?”
“Let’s start with Meade and Santos. Gonna be a shorter conversation, then they can join the canvass.”
Alicia looked over at the idling uniforms and grimaced. “I know, it hasn’t started. Sorry, got caught up back there.”
“Understandable. Which ones are Meade and Santos?”
“They’re inside their car, the first one, closest to mine. Last time I checked just sitting there looking stunned.”
