Джонатан Келлерман - Serpentine

Petra said, “Including mine.” She opened the door to the waiting room.

—

Ellie Barker’s posture hadn’t changed. Raul was in the same spot, working his phone. I caught brief images of his children before he clicked off and looked at Petra. “Good news from the surgeon.”

“We just spoke to him.”

No reaction from Ellie.

Milo approached her and stood in front of her until she raised her eyes. Tear tracks striped her face.

He said, “Terrible thing but it coulda been a lot worse.”

Reluctant nod. Near-whisper afterthought: “Thank God.”

Milo turned to Raul, who stood and gave him the seat. The couch shifted like a lagoon accommodating an ocean liner. Ellie played with her hands.

He said, “So no idea who’d want to hurt Brannon.”

“I can’t imagine anyone would, Lieutenant.”

Petra said, “Did he ever have problems with other runners?”

Ellie looked up again. “Why would he?”

“When was his most recent race?”

“I’d have to say…a month ago? Nothing important, just a 10K for an animal shelter.”

“Where?”

“Palm Springs. It was super-hot, a lot of people dropped out.”

I said, “Not Brannon.”

“He never quits, he’s got a great constitution.” Her voice caught. “Did.”

Petra said, “I’m sure he’ll heal up and be right back on track. So nothing happened at the 10K.”

“It was a good race,” said Ellie. “Brannon came in second.”

“No problems related to that.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Detective.”

“With intense competition, sometimes people get a little out of hand.”

“No, no, no, there was nothing remotely like that.” Ellie’s hands stilled. “Why would you think this is related to running?”

“We’re a long ways from any sort of theory,” said Petra. “The thing is, Brannon put his routes on his Facebook and Instagram pages. Including tonight’s practice run.”

“He does that to keep himself disciplined. Once he schedules, he’s obligated to keep his— Oh. I see what you’re getting at. Someone stalked him? Honestly, I can’t see that. Brannon has no enemies. Unless some street criminal from Hollywood reads his posts—like what you told me the first time, Lieutenant. There’s a lot of crime nearby.”

Milo said, “Brannon wasn’t robbed.”

“Maybe someone tried but lost his nerve? I don’t know, the whole thing’s—” She breathed in deeply. “Okay. I might as well say this. I can’t help feeling guilty.”

“About what?”

“Could it be related to me ? What you’re helping me with, Lieutenant.”

“How so?”

“I move here, you start investigating, and Brannon gets shot? What if someone doesn’t want the truth to come out? But then I thought, it was so long ago, who’d even know what you were doing? So I’m probably being paranoid.”

Milo said, “Have you talked about the investigation to anyone we don’t know about?”

“No one. Just you and Dr. Bauer and the other woman I met in San Francisco—Valerie.”

“Know her last name?”

“Sorry, no.”

“What about Brannon? Did he tell his friends?”

“He doesn’t really have friends, his life is work and running and he’s not working down here, so it’s all running.”

“How much detail did you go into with Dr. Bauer and this Valerie person?”

“You think—”

“Not at all,” said Milo. “What Detective Connor said is true. We have no theories, but we do need to ask questions to be thorough. So if you can recall your conversations with each of them, we’d appreciate it.”

“All right. Let me think back…Valerie was sitting next to me. We introduced ourselves to be polite, the way you do when you’re seated next to someone you don’t know. We made some small talk. She’s a writer, I told her I admired that, asked her what she wrote. She said children’s books. I said how interesting. She said, I guess I do it because I’m trying to get back in touch with my own childhood. I asked her what she meant. She told me she’d lost her mom when she was young. That’s what got me telling her my story. Dr. Bauer must’ve been listening because she joined the conversation. Basically took charge.”

Petra said, “Took charge how?”

“Talking past Valerie to me. Telling me not to accept failure, it was all about perseverance. And contacts. Which she had.”

I said, “So you and Valerie switched seats.”

“Yes. I really can’t see either of them wanting to do Brannon—or me—any harm. Dr. Bauer was a bit pushy but she followed through and Val seemed to empathize. I came home from the event feeling more buoyed up than I’ve been in…more hopeful than ever. ”

She threw up her hands. Cried some more. Again, Raul was ready.

Petra said, “We’ll do our best to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, you might want to examine your home security. I work Hollywood and there are some tough areas not far from you.”

Ellie’s eyes rounded. “You think they could try again?”

“There’s no reason to think that,” said Petra. “But it pays to be careful. In any neighborhood. Does the house have an alarm system?”

“Yes.”

“Switch it on even when you’re home. How about security cameras?”

“No. You’re kind of scaring me, Detective.”

“Don’t mean to,” said Petra. “But I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you all this.”

Milo said, “If she didn’t, I would.”

“We’re not talking extreme measures, just normal caution,” said Petra. “The bad guys have learned to use social media. We advise people to never announce a vacation, it’s like sending the villains an e-vite.”

“Makes sense,” said Ellie Barker. Her chest heaved. “About the only thing that does, tonight.”

CHAPTER 17

Raul stayed in the room and the three of us left and reconvened in another quiet spot near the elevators.

Milo said, “I just keep thinking about Twohy laying out his route. What a genius.”

Petra said, “I’ll see if he’s a genius with a past.”

“You’ve got the crime scene to deal with, I don’t mind.”

“Sure, thanks.”

He turned to me. “What do you think of Ellie and the whole guilt thing?”

“Does she know more than she’s letting on? I didn’t pick anything up. What does make me wonder is if Bauer hadn’t butted in, her contact with Val would have ended as a casual conversation.”

Petra said, “Val realizes Ellie could be talking about her dad? Feels like throwing up in her mouth but figures it’ll go nowhere. Then Bauer takes over and it gets bad. ”

Milo said, “If so, she coulda been ready for us, what we saw was well rehearsed. Next step call one or both of her big brothers. Raking up the past could pose the same risk for them. Or she handles it herself.”

I said, “After you sent Dorothy’s photo to Bill, he could’ve said he had no idea. Instead he said he didn’t know her but he did recognize her as a harem member.”

“Strategy,” said Petra. “Guy’s a lawyer, used to scheming. We see that in suspects who are smart or think they are, right? Be semi-cooperative and you come across innocent. And sometimes it works. Besides, there’s no evidence. What would Dorothy’s presence in the house thirty-plus years ago prove? So it pays to play along, maybe learn details of the investigation.”

I said, “But then why shoot Twohy?”

Both of them frowned.

Milo said, “Maybe that wasn’t Bill’s decision.”

Petra said, “Kiddie-Book arranged a hit on her own?”

“Or she talked to Dr. Tony, her other brother, and he was more action-oriented. I’ve tried the guy three times and he still hasn’t called me back. It’s too late in Illinois but I’ll give it another go tomorrow.”