John Lescroart - Guilt

He was hoping the phone calls would be enough, but Batiste wasn't buying that either, and didn't think Arenson would. 'So is this just your day to be difficult, Frank, or what?'

The pencil was tap-tapping again. 'What do they prove, Abe, the calls?'

'Dooher said they were talking about a personal injury case. Trang's notes say it was the settlement.' Even as he said it, Glitsky knew the objection, and it was valid.

'So it's "he said this, but he said that.'"

'But Dooher's secretary, Janey, agrees with Trang.'

'She didn't overhear the last two calls.'

'Why would Trang have written fictitious notes to himself on the calls? That just doesn't make any sense.'

Batiste held up the pencil. 'Abe, even if they talked about the settlement, even if Dooher is lying about it, we got nothing. Maybe Dooher was sleeping with Trang's girlfriend.'

'Or his mother,' Glitsky said. 'Maybe his girlfriend and his mother.'

Batiste liked it. 'Now we're on to something.'

Glitsky's lips were pressed tightly together in frustration, and the scar stood out in relief. 'I need a warrant. I've got to look through the guy's laundry.'

Batiste didn't think so. 'Arenson won't do it, not with what you've got so far. You're going to need more. What about the bayonet?'

'He never brought it home from Viet-' Stopping short.

Batiste broke a smile. 'Says he.'

'Lord, I'm stupid! The wife!'

If she invited him in, he would not need a warrant.

He kept a white shirt and regimental tie in the drawer of his desk for the occasional forgotten court date. He changed in the men's room and traded his flight jacket until tomorrow for Frank Batiste's gray sports coat – a little short in the sleeves, but the chest fit. It would do.

He was on the semi-enclosed front porch, his badge out, introducing himself to Sheila Dooher. There had been sun and a cool breeze at the Hall, but out here, a mile from the ocean, the fog clung and a savage wind dug itself into his bones. He didn't mind, though. At this moment, it was to his advantage.

'… the Victor Trang case. You're familiar with that?'

'Yes. It was really such a tragedy. Mark was very upset about it.'

'Yes, he was. I'd been planning on coming by a little later, when your husband was home, but I was in the neighborhood, and thought I could save some time. I wanted to ask you a few questions, too.'

'Me?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

'What about? I didn't even know Victor Trang.'

Glitsky shrugged. 'But you know where your husband was on the night of the murder.'

'Yes. Well, I don't know. You don't think…?'

'I don't think anything at the moment, Mrs Dooher. But the fact is that your husband was one of the last people we know who talked to Victor Trang. So, far-fetched as it might seem to you, he's a suspect. And you could eliminate that possibility right now. Was he here that night, Monday a week ago?'

He noticed that she was gripping the door handle, her face set, eyes shifting. 'I think I should call Mark,' she said.

'You could do that, but you understand that anything you say to me now, before talking with him, will have a lot more weight. You could verify his alibi right now and that would be the end of any suspicion.' He added conspiratorially, 'Really, ma'am. It would be a good thing.'

She wrestled with it a moment, then dredged it up. 'Monday night he went to the driving range, I think. I could check.'

'That's what your husband said.' Glitsky broke his smile. 'See, that wasn't so bad.'

Behind him, the wind gusted, and Sheila Dooher seemed to notice it for the first time. 'I'm sorry, Sergeant. Would you like to come in out of this weather?'

'I wouldn't mind, now that you mention it.'

She fixed him a cup of tea. They were sitting on either side of a marble bar in a sky-lit kitchen that was about the size of Glitsky's duplex. Through the French doors, he had a partial view of an expanse of manicured lawn, a patch of early daffodils, stubbly bare roots and trunks marking an ancient rose garden.

He took a slow sip of the tea, swallowed, then plunged in. 'Mrs Dooher, your husband was very upset by Victor Trang's death. He asked me if there was anything he could do to help with our investigation.'

Her expression, pleasant concern, teased at the edges of his conscience. But, more importantly, it meant that Dooher hadn't told her that he was under suspicion.

'That's Mark,' she said, waiting for Glitsky to continue.

'I really didn't think much about it until we discovered that Trang had been stabbed with a bayonet.'

'Oh God, how horrible!'

He nodded. 'Yes, ma'am, it was bad. But the point is, we weren't able to go much farther than that. The weapon hasn't been found – undoubtedly the murderer's thrown it away. Anyway, I mentioned all this to your husband – he wanted to be kept in the loop – telling me that if we could just identify exactly what kind of bayonet it was, from the size of the blade and so on…' he assayed a smile, speaking more quickly now, hoping to keep her riding on the flow of verbiage '… the forensics guys can tell these things, that we might be able to determine where it had been bought, or what war it might have been used in, that kind of thing. And from there maybe get a lead as to where the murderer might have got it.'

He hoped.

She was paying attention, still with him.

'I was hoping to compare it with the one your husband brought back from Vietnam. Trang being Vietnamese, it might narrow it down to someone in that community. It's a long shot, but might be worth checking.'

She was nodding. 'I'm not sure I completely understand, but it sounds like it might be a good idea.' She stood up. 'I think it's out in the garage, up pretty high. You might have to help me get it. Do you mind?'

By dusk, Farrell still hadn't reached Sam.

It worried him enough that he decided to drive by her house, find out what was going on.

Yesterday, the day of the quake, okay, lots of lives had been disrupted, his own more than many others. While he was trying to get his own mess cleaned up, he'd tried to call Sam a few times, but had no luck.

He'd been sure he'd get her today.

But he'd started calling as soon as he woke up, had placed maybe two dozen calls, and nothing. Her machine hadn't even picked up, neither had the phone at the clinic, no one had heard from her. Her brother Larry had an unlisted number.

Farrell eventually even thought to call Dooher back after their surprising lunch, to see if by any chance he had Christina Carrera's number, if she might have heard from Sam. But no, Dooher said Christina was in Ojai, visiting her parents.

Why and how did Mark know that?

The first indication that something might really be wrong was the construction equipment all the way up Ashbury Street, stopping traffic trying to get up over Twin Peaks. Farrell was in his 1978 Datsun, painted by his son six years previously in what Lydia called a 'fetching puke yellow'. (Lydia was driving the metallic green 1992 BMW – he really hated her.) Bart wasn't enjoying the wait in the fog and fumes anymore than he was.

Finally, when divine intervention produced a parking space, he pulled in and decided he and Bart would hoof it. It was time Bart met Quayle anyway, he thought. He attached the dog's leash and they got out.

But drawing up close, getting to Sam's block, he was struck by the air of disaster, and hurried his steps. There were more than a few police cars, plus other emergency vehicles. A revolving knot of gawkers milled around in the street, quietly taking in the destruction.

Four brick structures in a row on the west side of the street, with Sam's third on the way uphill, had taken the big hit. All of them had lost their chimneys, a majority of their street-facing windows. Though crews were still there and had obviously been at the cleaning a while, piles of brick rubble and roof slate still littered the area.