Marcia Muller - Burn Out

“Yes, she knows,” Lark lied. “And she’s willing to testify to that effect. On the other hand, McCone is willing to forgive you on the trespass on her ranch and assault charges. You tell us what you were looking for in Amy’s cabin, it all goes away.”

“… A letter from Miri Perez. Something Bud Smith gave Hayley. What this meeting the night she was killed was all about-the one she was gonna profit from. I tore the trailer apart, but it wasn’t there. So I figured she’d given it to Amy.”

“You have to beat up and cut Amy to search for it?” I asked.

Sheppard started. He’d forgotten I was there. “I didn’t know the little skank was in the cabin. She woke up and tried to hit me with a lamp. Real fighter, that one.”

“Don’t browbeat the man, McCone,” Lark said, glaring at me. She turned back to Sheppard. “Tell us about your history with Hayley.”

“What about the rest of my deal?”

“This information is to cement the deal with Mono.”

“Okay, okay. I met Hayley in Vegas. She was hooking.”

“And you were…?”

“Working in a casino.”

“Which one?”

“Same one she was.”

“The name?”

“I forget.”

I said, “He was probably dealing-but not cards. Or pimping. Were you her pimp, Sheppard?”

“Leave him be, McCone,” Lark said.

“He wasn’t doing anything legitimate in Vegas, that’s for sure.”

Again Lark glared at me. “Not relevant.” She turned her attention back to Sheppard. “Okay, you knew Hayley in Vegas. When?”

“When she was first there, I don’t remember how many years ago. Then I did a stretch for possession. I was railroaded.”

I said, “That’s what they all claim.”

“And after you got out?” Lark asked him.

“I decided to go to Vernon. I had connections-”

“Drug connections,” I said.

Lark gave an exasperated sigh. “You see Hayley in Vegas beforehand?”

“Yeah. I stayed with her a few days till my parole officer gave me permission to leave the state. She said she had family here and might visit me sometime. And she did-late September, I think. She needed a place to stay. She’d come up HIV-positive, was already feeling sick.”

So that was why she’d taken out the insurance policy with Amy as beneficiary. The county’s pathology reports hadn’t showed any evidence of her illness because they hadn’t been looking for it. Which meant the life-insurance policy benefiting Amy would pay off.

“And?” Lark asked.

“I let her stay. Next thing I know, she’s talking about cashing in on something, living out the rest of her life in luxury.”

“Something that was in the note Miri left for her with Bud Smith.”

“I guess.”

“Did Hayley own a gun?”

“Hayley? Jesus, no. What would she need a gun for?”

“Violent johns?” I said.

“McCone, I’m warning you!”

“Sorry.”

“Okay, Boz, do you own a gun?”

Silence.

“Part of your deal.”

“… Okay, I’ve got a thirty-two I bought off of a guy in Reno.”

“Where was this gun the night Hayley was killed?”

“… In the trailer.”

“So Hayley had access to a weapon of the caliber that killed her.”

“Yeah, she did.”

All three of us were silent. Then I said, “Don’t you want to discuss the deal you’ve got here in Inyo?”

He shot me a look of pure rage. “Who the hell’re you, coming in here and trying to take over from her ?” He motioned at Lark.

“Somebody who thinks you’re pond scum. All right if I tell him about his deal down here, Lark?”

“Sure, be my guest.”

“There isn’t any.”

“But she said-”

“She said that she talked with the authorities and DA in Mono and down here. She said ‘I can offer you a deal.’ Not we-I.”

“You stone bitches!” He started to rise from his chair, but the guard, who had been standing by the door the whole time, stepped in quickly to restrain him.

Lark and I exchanged glances. Then she extracted the tape from the machine on the table, and we left Sheppard in the hands of the Inyo County authorities.

“Amazing!” Lark said. “I thought we were headed straight for Tufa Tower, but that’s June Lake down there. I didn’t even notice when you turned.”

“Because you had your eyes closed again. You didn’t notice that it was a steep bank, either.”

“No kidding.”

“Want to close your eyes one more time?”

“Uh, why?”

“It’d be interesting to know if you could tell when we were upside down.”

“No way!”

“Just one little spin.”

“Spin! Jesus, like a tailspin-?”

“Then I guess you’ll have to keep your eyes open and enjoy the scenery.”

Back at the ranch house, I found a message from Mick: “Call me ASAP. I’m at the rehab place and Nurse Ratched has confiscated my laptop. Says I can only speak to you for three minutes.”

I dialed, and a woman’s voice answered. I almost asked her if she was Nurse Ratched, then realized it was Charlotte Keim.

Well, well…

She passed me along to Mick.

“Charlotte’s forwarding you the information on Hanover that I accessed- she’s allowed my laptop-but I thought you’d want to hear this.”

“How’re you feeling?”

“Okay. But listen, they really mean it about the three minutes. What I found out is that Trevor Hanover owns property in Mono County. A lot of it-one thousand acres.” He gave me the parcel number, adding that a map was on the way via e-mail.

I booted up my laptop in preparation for Keim’s incoming file, while asking Mick more questions about his health. The nurse wrested the phone from him as the e-mail arrived.

The map showing the location of Hanover’s property didn’t really surprise me. I guess at some level I’d suspected it all along: Hanover was the owner of Rattlesnake Ranch.

A wealthy man from the East Coast, who flew to his private airstrip in his own jet. A man who had been a New York City bartender who happened to get lucky because of his ingratiating manners and impressive knowledge of finance. A man whose financial empire and private life were now crumbling.

A man who, under his real name, held a degree from a prominent Eastern business school. Who had ceased to exist shortly after attaining that degree because he couldn’t risk the future possibility of being named a rapist, if for some reason his brother decided to tell the truth.

A man who used to be called Davey Smith.

Time to proceed slowly and cautiously. Build a case that no high-priced defense attorney could tear apart.

I couldn’t confide what I knew to Lark. In spite of her elation at our handling of Boz Sheppard, the woman seemed on the ragged edge. In fact, she’d called earlier from her home to tell me her superior officer had told her to take a day off. Her voice had been slurred, and I’d heard ice tinkling in the background. I didn’t want her alcohol-impaired judgment to get in my way.

Ramon was at the stable when I went out there, cleaning King’s stall. I asked if Amy was still at his house. Yes, she was. I said I was going over there, I needed to talk with her.

Before I left, I slipped King the carrots I’d brought for him.

Amy was clad in a bathrobe that enveloped her petite frame; I assumed it was Sara’s. She sat on the living-room couch, listlessly watching a game show while her aunt bustled around in the kitchen. I turned the TV set off and sat down next to her.

“How’re you doing?”

She shrugged.

“I hear everything went well with Kristen Lark.”

“Yeah, I like her.”

“I understand Hayley gave you a letter for safekeeping.”