Jonathan Kellerman - Flesh And Blood

He glanced back at the mansion. Irina Ovensky remained in the door, and she smiled and waved.

“A saint,” I said.

“The type you take home to Mom.” He waved back, smiling. His jawline knotted as he opened the car door, got in, took out the envelope. “Okay, let’s have a look at these.” Flipping through the photos quickly, he paused at a close-up of the stocky man’s face. “He does have that mechanic look… Still, what I said holds. If he was doing wet work for the Dukes, why would they keep him close? If I have time, I’ll run this by the Organized Crime Task Force.”

“Didn’t know there was one,” I said.

“Since the fifties. Not much mafia in L.A., so for years the task force guys enjoyed long lunches. Now they’re tied up with Asian and Latin drug gangs, but who knows – maybe this mug’ll show up in their files. The Morris office is closed, but I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning, see if I can learn anything about Justin LeMoyne’s travel habits before they kick my butt out to South Rodeo – Think I should wear a designer suit?”

“You own one?”

“Yeah, fashion by Sir Kay of the Mart. I put a call in to a guy at the D.A.’s office who worked on Gretchen’s case – let’s see if Kent Irving’s name shows up, for what that’s worth. I also placed my third call to Leo Riley, still no answer.”

“So much for professional courtesy,” I said.

“More likely he’s got nothing to tell me. We law-enforcement types don’t like to dwell on our failures. Meanwhile, I’m packing it in for the evening. Rick has informed me that we’re going to eat at a genuine restaurant tonight, where we will pretend to be persons deserving of fine cuisine and impeccable service. And then, maybe a movie. He says if I bring the phone, he will dismantle it with surgical precision.”

“Frustrated.”

“I tend to do that to people.”

I CRACKED THE bedroom door. Robin was curled on her side, the top sheet pulled down to her bare belly, mouth parted, breathing slowly. As I approached the bed and shut off the alarm clock, her eyes opened.

“A minute to six,” I whispered. “Good morning.”

She yawned and stretched. “I got tired… didn’t see you much today – what’d you do?”

“Took a little drive up the coast.”

“Oh… I was thinking maybe we’d have dinner somewhere at the beach. Guess not, now that you’ve already-”

“The beach is one thing,” I said. “The beach with you is another.”

Kissing her chin. What a sweet guy. But all the time thinking: Malibu’s a small place. Running into someone I knew would not be pretty.

By the time we left the house it was eight P.M., and we reached the coast highway twenty minutes later. I bypassed all the trendoid-infested spots-of-the-week and tried a place we’d never been before – a gray-wood café resembling an oversized bait shack perched on a mound of dirt above PCH. On the land side, just past Big Rock, where massive mudslides are the rule and thirty-foot-wide beach properties level off at a million and a half bucks. The decor was rickety picnic tables, sawdust floors, daily printed menus with all the polish of a high school bulletin, char broilers on overdrive, beery dialogue. The room was high enough to catch a clean vista of black ocean, and if the grandmotherly old waitress who greeted us with “Hello, dearies” had ever harbored showbiz illusions, they predated Technicolor.

Several miles before Paradise Cove.

We huddled at a tiny table in the corner, gorged on the mixed seafood grill, fresh corn, creamed spinach, decent Chablis, terrible coffee.

Having a life, and when Robin said, “You seem a little more relaxed,” I hid my surprise and nodded innocently. Cheryl Duke’s number sat in my wallet, but Robin never goes through my things.

I reached for her hand. She allowed me to hold it for a few minutes, then let go, and I wondered if I was less Olivier than I’d given myself credit for.

“Everything okay?” I said.

“Everything’s fine. Just a little tired.”

“Still?”

“Guess so.”

We went to bed without making love, and I slept restlessly.

The next morning she was up way before me, and by the time I reached the kitchen she was heading out with Spike.

“Errands?” I said.

“Elvis, again. He still thinks he can sing – Stay safe.”

“You too.”

“Me?” she said. “That’s never an issue for me.”

Before I could respond, she was gone.

I didn’t hear from Milo until three P.M. “No progress on LeMoyne and Salander’s travel plans, couldn’t get past the front desk at Morris, and the prosecutor who handled Gretchen’s case has been kicked upstairs to Washington, D.C. Her assistant has taken over, and she says Kent Irving’s name doesn’t ring a bell. I asked her to check anyway – I suppose there’s a chance she will. I asked her about garment guys, period, and she did admit that Gretchen’s girls had worked the Mart – servicing buyers, that kind of thing. But the main reason I’m calling is I identified your Mr. Goombah.”

“The task force knows him?”

“Didn’t have to go to the task force. I had the photos spread out on my desk last night, and when Rick came in to drag me out to dinner he glommed on to them and said, ‘How do you know Maccaferri?’ As in Dr. Maccaferri. First name, Rene. The guy’s a renowned physician, Alex. Big-time researcher headquartered in Paris, but he consults to the National Cancer Institute. Rick recognized him because he attended a seminar Maccaferri gave last year. Prostate cancer. It’s his specialty.”

“Oh,” I said. “Tony Duke’s sick.”

“And Dutiful Son went to the airport to pick up his doctor.”

I laughed. “So much for my big-time mafia theories.”

“Hey, you tried.”

“Maybe the rest of it’s worthless… Cancer – that’s why the parties have ended. Why Cheryl said there’d be no more. Tony passed the banner to Anita because he’s in no shape to run things. That may also be why Cheryl and the kids moved back – the gas leak story could be a ploy to keep Tony’s illness quiet.”

“Hold on,” he said. “Maccaferri’s no big bad torpedo, but Lauren and a lot of people are still dead. So let’s not be too hasty. And I’m still left with little Andy Salander. Alex, the more I think about his cutting out so abruptly, the less I like it. He and LeMoyne packing and leaving in the middle of the night – it’s a clear rabbit. The rest of my day will be spent on the phone with the airlines. Maybe I’ll luck out. Anyway, thanks for trying, have a nice day.”

Renowned physician.

So much for my big-time intuition. Milo had been gracious, but was the rest of it – including suspicions of Ben Dugger – just as off base?

Still, Dugger was an odd man who’d paid good money to Lauren and Cheryl and who knew how many other beautiful blondes to sit in a cold little room and entice men.

Hiring female flesh, compiling data that hadn’t been published or put to any apparent use.

Hidden cameras, grids in the floor… voyeurism masquerading as science. Dugger had eschewed the flash and spark of Tony Duke’s lifestyle for… what?

I thought of how easily Dugger had relinquished Cheryl to Tony Duke the moment the old man had made his interests known. The personal trip to LAX to pick up Maccaferri – a job easily accomplished by a factotum.

Maybe Dugger was a strong adherent to the Fifth Commandment. But perhaps, now that his father was seriously ill, there was a more practical reason to be attentive.

Back to the money: millions of dollars’ worth of motivation.

Tony Duke’s death was more than theoretical now. One day – perhaps sooner rather than later – Duke Enterprises would be divvied up. Ben Dugger ’s lifestyle was far from lavish, but his market research seemed to generate very little income, and someone had to pay for the ocean-view high-rise, offices in Newport and Brentwood.