Jonathan Kellerman - Compulsion

“Who’s anyone?”

“Me and my wife and our kids, my brother Len and his wife and their kids. My brother’s a dentist, lives in Palos Verdes. None of the kids are close to Tony. Which, frankly, was okay.”

“Bad influence?”

Hochswelder cracked his knuckles. “I don’t want you to think I’ve got some kind of vendetta against Tony. It’s just… he called me this morning to tell me about his mother. That’s how I found out. First time I’ve heard from him in years. He said he had no energy to call anyone else, I should do it. Shunting responsibility. He also hinted that he wanted me to take care of the funeral. Financially and otherwise.”

“What was his demeanor when he called?”

“Not crying or weeping. More like… off.”

“Off, how?”

“Off in space.”

“Does Tony have a drug history?”

“He did as a kid,” said Hochswelder. “According to my kids. I also think – the family thinks – he might be gay, so there’s all sorts of issues here.”

“Why does the family think that?”

“He never dated any girls we ever heard about, never got married. And sometimes he – he’s not a sissy but he can get – I don’t know how to say it – all of a sudden he’ll do something pansyish, you know? A mannerism? We used to talk about it. How one second Tony would do one of those things – throw his hair, bat his eyelashes. And then bam he’d be just like a normal person.”

“When’s the last time you saw him?”

“That would have to be Thanksgiving four years ago. My brother had a family get-together and Tony showed up with Ella. He looked like he didn’t wash his clothes regularly. Put on quite a bit of weight. Maybe he ate before because he didn’t eat much at Len’s table. He got up before dessert, went to the bathroom, came back announcing he’d called a cab, was going to wait outside. Ella was so embarrassed. We all pretended it never happened, just went on normally with the meal.”

“Any reason he left early?”

“That’s the thing, there was no conflict or anything. Boom, he just gets up and announces. Like he was mad at something, but for the life of me nothing happened to make him mad.”

“Tony have a temper?” said Milo.

Hochswelder scratched a temple. “Not really, I couldn’t say that, no. Just the opposite, he’s always been kind of quiet. No one understands him.”

“Being effeminate and all that.”

“That and just being strange – like getting up before dessert, no warning, and leaving. Like always keeping to himself. His father was like that, too, but Tony Senior would at least go to family gatherings and pretend to be social. Though, frankly, most of the time he’d sit outside and smoke – big smoker, that’s what caused his heart attack. He worked for a milk company, they delivered to the studios and Tony got Tony Junior a job at one of them. Paramount, I think. Basically a janitor job, moving stuff around, but those people pay well, lots of union pressure. Tony Junior would’ve been set up financially but he claimed he hurt his back and quit and since then he’s been doing nothing.”

“Claimed?”

“I’m sure he’s got some pain. We all do.”

“Let’s talk about his drug use.”

“All I know is what the kids said.”

“Your kids?”

“Mine and my brother Len’s. Not that Tony was a big topic of conversation, it just came up. We talk about everything in our family.”

“What did Tony’s cousins say he used?”

“It was never specific. More like Tony was stoned all the time, that’s why he bombed out in school. Which was hard for Ella, I’m sure. Education was important to her.”

“She ever mention being disappointed?”

“Ella wasn’t one to share her feelings. But everyone had a sense Tony was a big disappointment to her. Also, I think he gambles. In fact, I know he does. My boy Arnold saw him at one of the Indian casinos near Palm Springs. Arnold and his family were vacationing and he and Rita – Arnold’s wife – were playing the slots, just fooling around, they’re not gamblers. When they went to get the kids at the day care the casino has, Arnold spotted Tony at the blackjack table. Arnold was going to say hi, even though he and Tony weren’t close, just to be friendly. But then Tony played a hand and lost all his money and stomped away from the table cursing. Arnold didn’t think it was a good time to be social.”

“Do you have any other examples of Tony’s gambling?”

“No, but Arnold said from the way Tony was sitting – all hunched over, hiding his cards – it looked like he was used to it.”

“Drugs and gambling,” said Milo. “Anything else?”

“And gay,” Hoschswelder reminded him. “But I’m not accusing, just passing the information along. Don’t want you to think I’ve got something against Tony. I don’t, I feel sorry for him. Frankly, Tony Senior couldn’t have been easy to live with. That one had a bad temper, the Italian hot blood. But with what happened to Ella… I just thought I should talk to you.”

Milo said, “Let’s be theoretical, Mr. Hochswelder, and assume Tony does have some connection to Ella’s murder. What motive would you say he’d have?”

“Oh, no, Lieutenant, I couldn’t go that far.”

“Theoretically,” said Milo. “Just between us, right now, with nothing on the record.”

Hochswelder gnawed his upper lip. “Knowing Ella, she probably left everything to Tony. No reason she shouldn’t, he was her only child. Though, in my opinion, giving money to someone who doesn’t work is like flushing it down the toilet.”

“You don’t buy Tony’s injury.”

“Who knows?” said Hochswelder. “It’s between him and God.”

“How would you describe Tony’s relationship with his mother?”

“Like I said, Ella didn’t talk about her personal life.”

“Ever see any animosity between them?”

“No, I can’t say that. Except for that time at Thanksgiving.”

“Ella got mad at him?”

“They both looked tense when they arrived. Ella wore kind of a frozen smile, like she was pretending to be happy.”

“What about Tony?”

“Off in his own world.”

“Any idea what would’ve made them tense?”

“None whatsoever.”

Milo said, “Let’s switch gears for a second. Who were Ella’s friends?”

“I never saw that she had any,” said Hochswelder. “She and Tony Senior tended to keep to themselves. Every year we invited her to Christmas, told her to bring Tony Junior. Every year she showed up with a nice fruit basket. He never showed up. Frankly, we wondered if she even told him.”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“She knew he was antisocial. And after that scene at Thanksgiving four years ago, maybe she was embarrassed.”

“Leaving before dessert.”

Hochswelder adjusted a bulb. “Trust me, Lieutenant, our desserts are worth sticking around for. My wife bakes and so does my brother’s wife. That year we had six kinds of pies, as well as bread pudding and compote. From the way Tony looked at the spread the girls put out, you’d think we were trying to serve him garbage.”

We left the lighting store and stepped out into a mild evening.

Milo said, “Place is Dante’s Inferno. Charming fellow, huh?”

“Not that he wants to bad-mouth Tony.”

We got back in the unmarked and he began driving. “Close-knit clan except when they’re not. Any ideas from what he said?”

“His description of the Mancusis is interesting. Asocial father with a bad temper, isolated family. Abusers are great at corralling the herd, so Tony may have had a rough childhood.”