Heck told her.
She said, “Bye, Loo,” and left.
Heck said, “Cute. Is she gay or something?”
Chapter
37
We walked Heck to the elevator, Milo studying his own phone.
More lack of interest made Heck antsy and when the door opened, he rushed inside. When it closed, we returned to Milo’s office.
I said, “Villalobos spotted a car?”
He said, “How the hell—”
“Right after you got the text, you asked Heck what Tiana drove.”
“Ah. Sure, it was obvious, how silly of me.”
He shook his head. Sat down and rocked his desk chair, setting off a chorus of angry mice. “Yeah, that was from Alicia. One of the dumpsters Lynne Gutierrez’s body coulda landed in showed—here, a picture’s worth a zillion syllables.”
He pulled up the phone photo and handed it tome.
Dark alley, aerial view of the rectangle created by the top of an open dumpster. Low-quality, nighttime shot blurring contours and graying colors.
The alley was narrow, the type of afterthought created decades ago when L.A. was adjusting to motor vehicles. The camera was aimed, as so many seem to be, downward from what looked like a story and a half.
Nothing for several seconds, then a dark SUV pulled up and cameto a stop to the right of the dumpster. Two parallel rectangles, the vehicle parked inches from the bin, preventing any movement on the driver’s side. The passenger side out of camera view.
Any movement toward the dumpster would be limited to front or rear. Rear would’ve offered a clear view. But no such luck, as a dark-clad figure, medium-sized and hooded, materialized close to the front bumper, obscuring much of the activity. The figure bent out of view momentarily then reappeared upright, holding something large and oblong in both arms.
Another bend, not as deep. The type you take when you’re hefting and mustering strength.
Then: a single smooth movement heaving upward. The oblong teetered on the edge of the bin for an instant before rolling over andin.
The figure headed toward the driver’s side, stepping completely out of view. Seconds later, the SUV was gone.
The time stamp fit the parameters of Lynne Gutierrez’s abduction and murder. The size of the discarded package could easily be a body.
He said, “Exactly as Hector predicted.”
I watched the sequence again, returned the phone to Milo. “Any idea what the vehicle is?”
Milo said, “From that angle, I don’t even think a motorhead could tell but I’ll ask. What it ain’t is an Aston Martin, yeah, yeah, she lost everything. But I didn’t spot anything feminine. I know Heck said she was strong but he could be snowing us to keep us away from some guy he hired. Or even him.”
I said, “To my eye, the person’s too small to be Heck. How tall is Tiana?”
“Guess we’ll have to find out.” But he made no move toward his keyboard.
I said, “You’re not impressed with his theory.”
“ ’Bout as much as I am by flat-earth morons. C’mon, Alex, what do guilty criminals always do?”
“Deny and distract.”
“Guy’s no genius but he could be thinking he’s clever getting meto chase down someone else. So before I go running off on a tangent, I’m gonna earn a Ph.D. in Mike’s Phone.Andhis financials. Which I’ve already put in subpoenas for. Which, you’ll notice, Ididn’ttell him. Crafty, no?”
