Robert Crais - L.A. Requiem

“It's going to bring up Woz.”

“Yeah, it is. We've got to show Wozniak's notebook to tie Sobek to DeVille, and to Wozniak. Once the story breaks, they're going to dig into what happened between you in that room. I just wanted to warn you. After we're finished with Bishop, I'll call Charlie, then go see Paulette and Evelyn so they aren't caught flat.”

“You won't have to. I will.”

I didn't know what to say, but I smiled.

Dolan blew her horn.

Pike said, “It's been a long time. I guess it's time we spoke.”

“Okay, but stay safe until this guy takes the weight for Dersh. You're still wanted, and we don't know what we'll get from him.”

When I was back in her car, Dolan swerved through the gas station, cut in front of the bus, and blasted toward the Los Angeles River.

“Dolan, have you ever killed anybody in this thing?”

“Cinch your belt tighter if you're scared. You'll be fine.”

I glanced at her and she was smiling. I guess I was smiling, too.

When we reached Parker Center, Dolan didn't bother going into the parking lot; she put it in the red zone out front. We trotted in, Dolan badging us past the desk guard. I looked at everyone we passed, wondering if Sobek would be standing there when the elevator doors opened, but he wasn't.

We pushed into Robbery-Homicide, Watts and Williams raising their eyebrows when they saw us. Dolan steamed straight into Bishop's office, surprising him on the phone.

Dolan said, “We've got the shooter.”

He covered the phone, annoyed. “Can't you see I'm on the phone?”

She put the photograph of Laurence Sobek on his desk. “His real name is Laurence Sobek. Here's another picture when he was booked under his true name as a juvenile. He's our shooter, Greg. We got him.”

Bishop told whoever was on the phone that he'd get back in five and hung up. He leaned closer to the pictures. Sobek had gained muscle and changed his appearance, but when the pictures were side by side you could tell they were the same guy.

“This is Woody something.”

I said, “You know him as Curtis Wood. He's a civilian employee here. He pushes the mail cart around.”

Krantz and Watts appeared in the door, Williams standing on his toes to see past them.

Krantz said, “Is there a problem, Captain?”

Dolan laughed. “Oh, please, Krantz. Like you could do something.”

“They say he's our shooter, Harvey.” Bishop squinted up from the pictures. “Where'd you get this booking picture?”

I said, “Sobek's juvenile record. We got the recent picture from Sobek's mother.”

I showed them the pages we'd copied from Abel Wozniak's notebook, pointing out the passages about Sobek and DeVille, and their relationship, then the copy of Sobek's juvenile record showing Wozniak as one of his arresting officers.

Even as I said it, Krantz made a sour face as if he'd bitten into a rotten carrot. “All this proves is we've got someone working here under a false name. For all you know, he changed it legally because of the problems he had as a child.”

“No, Krantz, we've got more than that.”

Dolan said, “You find a connection yet between the six vics, Harvey?”

Krantz stared at her, suspicious. You could tell he wanted to say they weren't connected, but he knew she wouldn't have asked if she weren't about to drop a bomb. Instead, he glanced at me. “What's your connection in all of this?”

“If Sobek did the six vics, then he probably killed Dersh, too.”

Krantz scowled at Bishop. “We're being scammed. This is just some bullshit Cole cooked up to save Pike.”

Bishop was looking dubious, but Stan Watts grew thoughtful. “How are they connected?”

Dolan said, “Leonard DeVille was the pedophile in the motel when Abel Wozniak was killed. Wozniak and Pike had gone in there on a tip, possibly from Sobek, looking for a little girl named Ramona Escobar.”

Watts nodded. “I remember that.”

“Cole worked backward from Dersh, asking who'd have a motive and why would they put it on Pike.”

Krantz said, “This is bullshit. Pike killed that man.”

Bishop raised his hand, thinking about it.

Watts looked at me. “How'd you make the jump to DeVille?”

“I wasn't thinking the connection was through DeVille. I was thinking it had to be through Wozniak, but it turned out to be the other.”

Dolan went on. “We tried to pull DeVille's case file out of stores, but it's missing. Sobek could've slipped in there and lifted it. I ordered this copy up from the DA's section. This is the witness list from that case file. All six vics are on this list.”

Bishop stared at the witness list without expression for almost thirty seconds. No one else in the room moved, and then Bishop quietly said, “Fucking-A. Goddamned fucking-A. All six victims are right there.”

As Krantz read it, Watts and Williams looked over his shoulder, Williams making a whistling sound.

Bishop said, “Okay, this is looking good. This is major, but what have you got that locks Sobek to the killings?”

“So far just what you see here. The relationships. You'll need to bring Sobek in and sweat him. You've got more than enough for warrants to search his home and automobile.”

Williams was still with the list, shaking his head. “This fuckin' guy I see every day. We were just talkin' about the new Bruce Willis movie.”

Krantz jutted his jaw. He hated giving anything to Dolan or me, but he could read Bishop, and he knew Bishop wanted it. “It's good, Captain. Let's find Sobek or Wood or whatever his name is and get him in here. I can get a phone order for the search, and get that done while we're talking to him.”

Bishop picked up his phone. No one said anything while he spoke, but Stan Watts caught Dolan's eye and winked. She smiled when he did. After a couple of minutes, Bishop wrote something, then put down the phone. “Wood didn't come in today. He didn't come in yesterday or the day before, either.”

Krantz peered at Dolan. “I hope you didn't do anything to make him bolt.”

“We didn't go near him, Harvey, and no one could've tipped him. We didn't see his mother until twenty minutes ago, and she doesn't know how to contact him.”

Bishop said, “Now, Harve, let's not make accusations. I think Sam's done a good job here.”

Krantz smiled, smooth and friendly, and squarely in Bishop's butt.

“I wasn't accusing you, Samantha. This is good work. This really is.” He turned to Bishop. “But we've got to take this a step at a time now. If this stands up, and I believe it will, Samantha, then this man is a civilian employee of the Los Angeles Police Department. He was murdering people while he worked here, and he was using our information sources to do it. If we're not careful, we could have another public relations nightmare on our hands. We need to match his prints. We've got to field some physical evidence, maybe correlate the daytime homicides with the days this guy had off or missed work, that kind of thing. Then hope for something physical when we raid his home.”

He looked at Dolan, then the others, like he was trying to drive home a point. In command and on top of things.

“If he's not here, we have to find him, and that might take time. I want to move fast, but I don't want to lose this guy because we didn't get all the signatures we should've, and I don't want him tipped because word leaked out.” Krantz looked at Dolan when he said that, and she turned red.

Bishop laced his fingers, nodding. “Okay. How do you want to play it, Harvey?”

“Let's keep it small until we know what we're dealing with. Just us, and maybe two radio cars, but let's not make a big show with SWAT. If something goes wrong, the press will be all over us. Until he's in custody, I don't want him to know we're on him. If we miss the guy, the press will have it all over the air and he could slip through our fingers.”