Jonathan Kellerman - Gone

Brad Dowd moved in and out quickly. The aging-surfer insouciance I’d seen at his house had given way to gamecock jumpiness.

Nothing like family to shake you up.

He left. I lingered and glanced at the photos. Mae West, Harold Lloyd, John Barrymore. Doris Day and James Cagney in Love Me or Leave Me. Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd in The Blue Dahlia. Voight and Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy. Black-and-white faces I didn’t recognize. A section devoted to youth acts. The Lennon Sisters. The Brady Bunch. The Partridge Family. The Cowsills. A quartet of grinning kids in bell-bottoms called the Kolor Krew.

I returned to the front room. Milo and Brad Dowd sat at the edge of the stage. Dowd’s head was down. Milo was saying, “You can help by trying to remember where your sister goes when she travels.”

“She wouldn’t let that thing in the garage and just go off somewhere.”

“Covering bases, Mr. Dowd.”

“Traveling…okay, she flies to Paris every year. Later in the year, mid-April. She stays at the Crillon, costs a fortune. Sometimes she goes on to the south, rents a little chateau. The longest she’s been away is a month.”

“Anywhere else?”

“She used to go everywhere- England, Italy, Germany – but France is the only place she really likes. She speaks high school French, never had any of those problems you hear about.”

“What about here in the States?”

“She’s been to a health spa in Mexico a few times,” said Dowd. “Down in Tecate. I think she also goes to a place in Ojai. Or Santa Barbara, somewhere in that vicinity. She likes the whole spa thing- you think that could be it? She just wanted to be pampered and I’m worrying about nothing? Hell, maybe Meserve did learn the combination and stashed that piece of shit and Nora knows nothing about it and is getting a mud pack or whatever.”

His fingers drummed his knees. “I’ll get on the horn, call every damn spa in the state.”

“We’ll do that, sir.”

“I want to do something. ”

“Help me by thinking back,” said Milo. “Did Nora mention anything about traveling recently?”

“Definitely not.” Brad bounded up. “I’m going to check on Billy, then it’s over to Nora’s house, Lieutenant. She doesn’t like me using my key but what if she fell and needs help?”

Milo said, “When’s the last time you remember seeing her with Meserve?”

“After Meserve pulled that stunt and she assured me it was over.”

Milo said nothing.

Dowd’s laugh was bitter. “So what’s his damn car doing here, right? You think I’m clueless.”

“Your sister’s an adult.”

“So to speak,” said Brad Dowd softly.

“It’s tough being in charge,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s a day at the beach.”

Milo said, “So you have a key to Nora’s house.”

“In my safe at the office but I’ve never used it. She gave it to me years ago- same reason I gave her the combination to the garage. If she’s not home, maybe I’ll look around just a little. See if I can find her passport. I’m not sure where she keeps it but I can try. Though I guess you could find out faster- just call the airlines.”

“After Nine-Eleven, it’s a little complicated,” said Milo.

“Bureaucratic bullshit?”

“Yes, sir. I can’t even go into your sister’s house with you, unless she explicitly gave you permission to bring in guests.”

“Guests,” said Brad Dowd. “Like we’re having a goddamn party- no, she never did that. Truth is, I’ve never gone in there myself without Nora. Never thought I’d need to.”

He brushed invisible dust from his sweater. “I’m firing Reynold.”

“Please don’t,” said Milo.

“But- ”

“There’s no evidence against him, Mr. Dowd, and I don’t want to alert him.”

“He’s a goddamn pervert, ” said Brad Dowd. “What if he does something on the job? Who gets sued for liability? What else haven’t you told me?”

“Nothing, sir.”

Dowd stared at Milo. “Lieutenant, I’m sorry if it messes up your case, but I am going to fire him. Once I’ve talked to my lawyer and my accountant, make sure everything’s by the book. It’s my prerogative to handle my business any- ”

“We’re watching Peaty,” said Milo, “so the likelihood of his stepping out of line is next to nil. I’d strongly prefer you to hold off.”

“You’d prefer, ” said Dowd. “ I’d prefer not having to deal with everyone else’s shit.”

He left us, passed the rows of folding chairs. Kicked a metal leg. Cursed under his breath.

Milo remained on the stage, chin in hand.

One-man show. The Sad Detective.

Brad Dowd made it to the entry hall and looked back. “You planning on sleeping here? C’mon, I need to lock up.”

Milo toed the curb and watched as the Corvette sped off.

I said, “You wanted Brad to take Peaty more seriously.”

He reached behind and slapped his rear. “C.Y.A. time. If it turns out something bad happened to Nora, he’ll be looking for someone to blame.”

“You didn’t tell him Nora left Friday night.”

“There are limits to my honesty. First of all, Beamish never saw who was in the car. Second, there’s no law keeping her inside her house. She coulda been going out for drinks. Or she did have travel plans. Or she got abducted by aliens.”

“If Meserve snatched her, why would he leave his wheels at her school and broadcast the fact? And if the snow globe’s some kind of trophy, he’d take it with him.”

“If?” he said. “What else could it be?”

“Maybe a defiant message to Brad from Dylan and Nora: ‘We’re still together.’ That also fits with planting the Toyota in one of Brother’s Treasured Spaces. Is there some reason you don’t trust Brad?”

“Because I didn’t tell him everything? No, I just don’t know enough to be sharing. Why, does he bug you?”

“No, but I think his value as a source of data is limited. He clearly overestimates his authority with Nora.”

“Not so take-charge sib.”

“He assumed the caretaker role because Billy and Nora aren’t competent. That allowed them to remain adult children. Nora’s more of a perpetual adolescent- self-centered, casually sexual, smokes up. And what do rebellious teens do when they’re cornered? They resist passively or fight back. When Brad insisted she break off with Meserve, Nora chose passive.”

“Tooling off in her Range Rover and leaving lover boy’s heap behind so they can travel in style? Yeah, could be. So what do we have, just a road trip? Bonnie and Clyde in fancy wheels cutting town because they’ve been doing bad things.”

“Don’t know,” I said. “People who attend Nora’s school keep disappearing, but now that we know Peaty’s got wheels he’s got to remain center focus.”

“A van. Your basic psycho meat wagon. And soon he’s gonna be unemployed. If Sean’s yanked off surveillance and that bastard sneaks away, I’m further back than when I started.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “I screwed up by telling Brad about Peaty’s van.”

“Peaty cleans lots of buildings,” I said. “It was the right thing to do, morally.”

“Weren’t you listening? I was covering my own ass.”

“Sorry, can’t hear you.”

While we waited for the LAPD tow truck to arrive, Milo tried phoning Binchy. Again no connection. He said something about the “high-tech big lie” and paced up and down the block.

The truck appeared, moving slowly as the driver searched for the address. Milo ’s wave went unheeded. Finally, the rig pulled up and a sleepy-looking driver around nineteen got out.