Jonathan Kellerman - Bones

Just as the bespectacled woman brought rice pudding, his cell beeped.

“Reed…” Eyebrows so pale they fought for recognition arched steeply. “Yes, sir… hold on while I get something to write on.” Reaching behind, he retrieved his pad, printed neatly. “Thank you, sir. No, not at this time, sir.”

Click. “Headmaster Rumley says he traced the gossip stream completely. The Brandt kid told Sarabeth Oster, who also thought it was hilarious. She told a girl named Ali Light and Ali told her boyfriend, Justin Coopersmith, and he thought it was so darn funny, he passed it along to his older brother, a Duke sophomore named Lance, home for the summer. Lance Coopersmith seems to be more moral than the others, he’s the one who called us. Said he felt it was his duty.”

“Should be easy enough to verify.”

Reed nodded. “I asked for a trace this morning. Came in on the non-emergency, so it takes longer than a 911 and there’s no audio. Want me to check now?”

“Go for it.”

Moments later: “Verizon cell phone registered to Lance Allan Coopersmith, address in Pacific Palisades. Any sense following up?”

“Not for the time being,” said Milo. “Gonna be a long day, have some lobster.”

Pulling out his own phone, he requested a warrant on Selena Bass’s apartment.

I left the Seville in the Westside lot, returned to the back of Reed’s unmarked for the twenty-minute drive to Indiana Avenue. Milo used the time to follow up on the warrant request.

Granted telephonically, with paper to follow.

“You run her beyond DMV?” he asked Reed.

“Yup. Nothing on the bad-guy sites. I was planning to Google her today.”

Milo logged on to Reed’s Mobile Dispatch Terminal and got on the Internet. “Nice talking straight to God… here we go-two hits… one’s an exact copy of the other… looks like she’s a piano teacher-introducing a student at a recital… named… Kelvin Vander.”

An image search pulled up nothing.

Reed said, “Piano teacher isn’t exactly high risk.”

Milo said, “Nothing like a sad song to kick off the week.”

“What about all those other bodies, Lieutenant?”

“Let’s see what the bone pickers come up with. Meanwhile, we work with what we’ve got.”

I tossed in my thoughts about someone with a thing for the marsh.

Milo said, “Could be.”

Reed said nothing.

Selena Bass’s converted garage was a double, set behind a white stucco, one-story duplex.

The front unit, blanketed by banana plants and mock orange, was occupied by the owner-landlady, an ancient eminence in a wheelchair named Anuta Rosenfield. A cheerful Filipina caretaker ushered us into a diminutive front room muffled by pink velvet drapes and crowded with houseplants and porcelain figurines on precarious stands.

“She will be a hundred this January!”

The old woman didn’t stir. Her eyes were open but clouded, her lap too flimsy to support one of her bisque dolls.

Milo said, “That’s wonderful,” and stooped close to the wheelchair. “Ma’am, could we have a key to Ms. Bass’s apartment?”

The caretaker said, “She’s deaf, can’t see, either. Ask me all the questions.” Pointing to her chest. “Luz.”

“Luz, could we-”

“Of course, guys!” Out of her uniform pocket came the key.

“Appreciate it.”

“Is she okay-Selena?”

“You know her?”

“I don’t really know her, but sometimes I see her. Mostly when I leave. Sometimes she’s leaving, too.”

“When’s the last time you saw her?”

“Hmm… now that you mention it, not for a while. And you know what, I haven’t seen lights on in her place for… the last few days, at least.” Deep breath. “And now you guys are here. Oh, boy.”

“A few days,” said Reed.

“Maybe four,” said Luz. “Could be five, I don’t keep count.”

“What’s she like?”

“Never talked to her, we just smile and say hi. She seemed nice. Pretty girl, skinny-no hips, the way they are now.”

Milo said, “What time do you usually leave work?”

“Seven p.m.”

“Someone else takes over the night shift.”

“Mrs. Rosenfield’s daughter comes home at seven. Elizabeth, she’s a nurse at Saint John’s.” Whispering conspiratorially: “Seventy-one but she still likes to work the neonatal ICU-little babies. That’s how I met her. I’m an LVN, also did the NICU. I like the babies, but I like this better.”

She patted her charge’s shoulder. “Mrs. R. is a very nice person.” A sweet smile tangoed across the old woman’s lips. Someone had powdered her face, blued her eyelids, manicured her nails. The air in the room was close and heavy. Roses and wintergreen.

Milo said, “What else can you tell us about Selena Bass?”

“Hmm,” said Luz. “Like I said, nice… maybe a little shy. Like maybe she doesn’t want to have a long conversation? I never heard Elizabeth complain about her and Elizabeth complains.”

“What’s Elizabeth ’s full name?”

“Elizabeth Mayer. She’s a widow, just like her mommy.” Downturn of eyes. “We all three have that in common.”

“Ah,” said Milo. “Sorry for your loss.”

“It was a long time ago.”

Mrs. Rosenfield smiled again. Hard to know what that meant.

Reed said, “Who lives in the other unit?”

“A man from France who’s almost never here. A professor, French, I think. Mostly, he’s in France. He’s in France now.”

“Name?”

Head shake. “Sorry, you’d have to ask Elizabeth. I don’t see him five times in two years. Nice-looking man, long hair-like that actor, the skinny one… Johnny Depp.”

Milo said, “Sounds like things are pretty quiet around here.”

“Very quiet.”

“Ever see Selena with a friend?”

“A friend, no. Once, I saw a guy,” said Luz. “Waiting out by the curb for Selena and she got into his car.”

“What kind of car?”

“Sorry, I didn’t see.”

“Could you describe him?”

“He had his back to me and it was dark.”

“Tall, short?” said Reed.

“Medium-oh, one thing-I’m pretty sure he had no hair-shaved, like those basketball players do. Light bounced off his head.”

“Was he a white man?” said Reed.

“Well,” said Luz, “not black, that’s for sure. Although I guess he could’ve been a light black guy. I’m sorry, it was just his back, I guess he could’ve been anything. Did he do something to Selena?”

“Ma’am, at this point, we’re not even close to a suspect. That’s why anything you did see is important.”

“A suspect… so she’s… ”

“Afraid so,” said Reed.

“Oh, no.” Her eyes watered. “That’s very sad, such a young one… oh, my… I wish I could tell you more.”

Milo said, “You’re doing great. Could I please have your full name for the records? As well as a contact number?”

“Luz Elena Ramos-is it dangerous to stay here?”

“There’s no reason to think that.”

“Wow,” said Luz. “This is a little scary. I’d better be careful.”

“I’m sure you’re fine, Ms. Ramos, but careful’s always good.”

“When you showed up, I guess I knew something happened. I work in a hospital for eight years, know what bad news looks like.”

Selena Bass’s four hundred square feet of space couldn’t shrug off its automotive origins.

Cracked cement floors had been painted bronze and lacquered but oil blotches peeked through the gloss and a faint petro-reek lingered. A dropped ceiling of whitewashed drywall panels compressed the room. The same material was used for the walls, tacked haphazardly to the underlying lath. Tape seams were visible, nailheads erupted like prom-night acne.