Faye Kellerman - Hangman

“Can you give me an example?” Marge asked her.

“Let me think how exactly to say this,” Sela said. “When Adri-anna drank too much, she started giving advice—that I needed to get out more, that I needed more exercise. She’d try to fix me up with people I loathed. I knew she was tipsy but I could tell that she was saying what she really thought. It got on your nerves.”

Marge nodded.

“She could be really ridiculous.” A flush had come to the lawyer’s cheeks. “I don’t mean to sound snobby, but we’re in different places. And Adrianna kept on equating our stations in life. I didn’t care about that. But even when she wasn’t tipsy, she would say things. Like the time I was complaining to her that I had overbooked a couple of clients and I didn’t know what I was going to do. So instead of being sympathetic, Adrianna said to me, ‘Oh, you have clients. Isn’t that cute.’ I swear I wanted to slug her.”

The table fell silent.

“Oh God, that’s awful of me!” Sela started to cry. “She could be difficult, but she was also the nicest person in the world. I really loved her.”

Marge put a hand on her shoulder. “Of course you did. You were close. And close people know how to push each other’s buttons.”

“It’s horrible that she died in such a tragic, brutal way,” Oliver said. “But you’re not required to extol everything she’s ever done. Mean people die, too.”

“She wasn’t mean, she was just careless.”

“She could be a handful,” Oliver told her. “Her own father said so.”

“She didn’t get along with him.”

“We gathered that. What did they fight about?”

“What difference does it make? He didn’t kill her. I can guarantee that.”

“Just trying to get a complete picture,” Marge said. “Like when Garth was out of town and Adrianna had too much to drink, did she hook up with men?”

There was a long pause. Finally, Sela said, “She didn’t go missing from a bar, she disappeared from work.”

“But maybe she was meeting a pickup from the previous night,” Marge said. “From what she was telling you about Garth, it sounded like she was mad at him.”

“She was always mad at him. But she always went back…one of the reasons I tuned out her complaining. She’d never do anything about it.”

“Maybe cheating was her way of doing something about it,” Oliver suggested.

“How could she cheat with a guy? She worked last night.”

“She didn’t go on her shift until after eleven P.M.,” Oliver pointed out.

“She wouldn’t go to a bar before she worked.” Sela’s eyes were moving back and forth. Oliver could tell she was nervous. “She was dedicated in her job. I didn’t see her last night if that’s what you’re asking.”

Oliver said. “Would you know if Adrianna went out for dinner or a Coke at a bar before she went in to work?”

“I told you, she wasn’t with me.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Marge said. “What we’re asking is do you know if Adrianna went out last night.”

“Okay, here’s the deal.” A sigh. “I found out after the fact. Because Crystal called me. Crystal Larabee. The three of us were inseparable all through school. God, that seems like ages ago. Anyway, she told me that Adrianna was at Garage last night and she was flirting with someone. But Crystal insists that they didn’t leave together…that the guy went on to other women after Adrianna left for work. And since Adrianna showed up at work, the guy was probably a dead end. So Crystal didn’t want to say anything, especially to the police, because she didn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Why would she get in trouble?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I suspect she was comping Adrianna. Maybe even comping the guy along with Adrianna. She’s done it before. Crystal probably didn’t want the manager to find out she was giving away free drinks.”

“So why does she continue to comp people?”

“Because Crystal is Crystal. The point is that Adrianna didn’t leave with anyone, so it’s probably nothing.”

“What if Adrianna and the guy she was talking to decided to get together the following morning?” Marge said.

“From her phone call to me, it didn’t sound like anyone was waiting in the wings. She was tired and pissed. She’d just gotten off shift, so she probably wasn’t at her best.”

“Crystal isn’t at work,” Oliver said. “We’ve already called Garage looking for her.”

“She took a sick day off,” Sela told him. “When I spoke to her, she was at home and in bed.”

“We stopped by her place,” Marge told her. “She wasn’t in.”

“Any idea where she might be?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t routinely spy on my friends.”

“We’re just asking if you know where Crystal likes to spend her free time,” Marge said. “We need to talk to her.”

Oliver said, “But she’s not answering her cell phone.”

Marge said, “Maybe she doesn’t like taking calls from a blocked number. So I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you call her up and ask her where she’s at.”

“You want me to fink on her?”

“It’s not finking,” Oliver said. “It’s…locating someone, that’s all.”

Marge said, “And we know, Sela, that you want to do everything possible to find Adrianna’s killer.”

Sela made a point of massaging her temple. Then she picked up her cell and punched in some numbers. “Hey, where are you?…No, I can’t come over, I have to visit Kathy Blanc. Have you called her yet?…Yeah, I promised. I’m sure she’ll want to see you, too…No, I’m not telling you anything, I’m just suggesting…No, it doesn’t have to be now, just…Crys, how wasted are you?…No, I’m not insulting you, but…I know you feel…oh dear…stop crying, okay…I’m sorry , okay…I feel like shit, too, but I can’t come down and drink. I have work tomor—I’ll call…okay…okay…okay…okay, I will. Bye.” Sela turned to the detectives. “Now I’ve pissed her off. Happy?”

“Where is she?” Marge said.

“At the Port Hole in Marina Del Rey.”

“Thank you very much, Ms. Graydon.”

“It’s Sela and I feel like a fink.” She stood up and picked up her purse. “If she asked you how you found her, don’t mention my name.”

THE MINUTE HANNAHpulled into the driveway, Gabe’s stomach dropped. Although the school was not his school, it was a familiar environment—kids, teachers, classrooms, lockers. At her house, he was an alien. He didn’t want to have to make conversation with her mom. She seemed nice enough, but like most moms, she was a normal mom. His mom was different: part mom, part peer, part protector, part co-conspirator. The two of them were always figuring out ways how to avoid pissing off his dad. Most of the time, they were successful. Sometimes they weren’t, and a pissed-off Chris Donatti was a dangerous thing. Several times, when Chris was drunk or stoned, he’d taken potshots at Gabe for fun. His dad would always say the same thing.

Stop looking so scared. If I had wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.

He loved his mom—really he did—but she had made some poor life choices. He wasn’t too scornful, though. He wouldn’t have existed had she been wiser. There was even a part of him that loved his dad. His parents were his parents. And now they were both gone and he was once again in limbo. In a perverse way, this day had been one of the easiest that he could remember, not having to deal with either of them.

Hannah shut the motor. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He took off his glasses, cleaned them on his T-shirt, and perched them back on his nose. “Sure.”