by Robert Crais
Krantz barked, “How long have you been partnered with Officer Wozniak?”
“Two years.”
“And you expect us to believe you don't know what he's doing?”
The blue eyes went to the parrot, and McConnell wondered what on earth could be behind those eyes. Pike didn't answer.
Krantz stood. He was given to pacing, which annoyed McConnell, but McConnell let him do it because it also annoyed the person they were questioning. “Have you ever accepted graft or committed any act which you know to be in violation of the law?”
“No, sir.”
“Have you ever witnessed Officer Wozniak commit an act which you know to be in violation of the law?”
“No, sir.”
Louise Barshop said, “Has Officer Wozniak ever mentioned committing such acts to you, or done or said anything that would lead you to conclude that he had?”
“No, ma'am.”
Krantz said, “Do you know Carlos Reena or Jesus Uribe, also known as the Chihuahua Brothers?” Reena and Uribe were fences operating out of a junkyard near Whiteman Airport in Pacoima.
“I know who they are, but I don't know them.”
“Have you ever seen Officer Wozniak with either of these men?”
“No, sir.”
“Has Officer Wozniak ever mentioned them to you?”
“No, sir.”
Krantz fired off the questions as fast as Pike answered, and grew increasingly irritated because Pike would pause before answering, and each pause was a little longer or shorter than the one before it, which prevented Krantz from working up a rhythm. McConnell realized that Pike was doing this on purpose, and liked him for it. He could tell that Krantz was getting irritated because he began to shift his weight from one foot to the other. McConnell didn't like fidgeters. His first wife had been a fidgeter, and he'd gotten rid of her. McConnell said, “Officer Pike, let me at this time inform you that you are under orders not to reveal that this interview has taken place, and not to reveal to anyone what we have questioned you about. If you do, you will be brought up on charges of failing to obey a lawful administrative order, and fired. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, sir. May I ask a question?”
“Fire away.” McConnell glanced at his watch and felt a cold sweat sprout over his skin. They had been at this only eight minutes, and the pressure in his lower gut was building. He wondered if anyone else could hear the rumble going on down there.
“Do you suspect that I'm involved?”
“Not at this time.”
Krantz glared at McConnell. “That's still to be determined, Officer.” Krantz actually stalked around the table and leaned over so the three of them could have a little huddle, Krantz whispering, “Please let me drive the questions, Mr. McConnell. I'm trying to create a certain mood with this man. I have to make him fear me.” Saying it like McConnell was just some incompetent old fuck standing in the way of Harvey Krantz driving in the game-winning run so he could be elected Chief of Police of the Lord Jesus Christ Amen!
McConnell whispered back, “I don't think it's workin', Harvey. He don't look scared, and I wanna finish up.” McConnell was certain that if he didn't find a way to pass some gas soon, he was gonna have a major explosion back there.
Krantz turned back to Pike and paced the length of the table. “You don't expect us to believe this, do you?”
The blue eyes followed Krantz, but Pike said nothing.
“We're all police officers here. We've all ridden in a car.” Krantz fingered through his stack of files. “The smart way to play this is to cooperate. If you cooperate, we can help you.”
McConnell said, “Son, why did you become a police officer?”
Krantz snapped an ugly scowl his way, and McConnell would've given anything to slap it off his face.
Pike said, “I wanted to do good.”
Well, there it is, McConnell thought. He was liking this boy. Liking him just fine.
Krantz made a hissing sound to let everybody know he was pissed, then snatched a yellow legal pad from the table and started barking off names. “Tell us whether or not you know anything about the following places of business. Baker Metalworks.”
“No, sir.”
“Chanceros Electronics.”
“No, sir.”
One by one he named fourteen different warehouses scattered around the Ramparts Division area that had been burglarized, and after every location, Pike answered, “No, sir.”
As Krantz snapped off the names, he paced in an ever-tightening circle around Pike, and McConnell would've sworn that Pike was following Krantz with his ears, not even bothering to use his eyes. McConnell reached under the table and rubbed his belly. Christ.
“Thomas Brothers Auto Parts.”
“No, sir.”
“Wordley Aircraft Supply.”
“No, sir.”
Krantz slapped the tablet in frustration. “Are you telling us you don't know about any of this?”
“Yes, sir.”
Krantz, red-faced and eyes bulging, leaned over Pike and shouted, “You're lying! You're in on it with him, and you're going to jail!”
McConnell said, “I think we've walked far enough down this road, Harvey. Officer Pike seems to be telling the truth.”
Harvey Krantz said, “Bullshit, Mike! This sonofabitch knows something!” When he said it, Krantz jabbed Pike on the shoulder with his right index finger, and the rest happened almost too fast for McConnell to see.
McConnell would later say that, for a guy who looked so calm that he might've been falling asleep, Pike came out of the chair as fast as a striking snake. His left hand twisted Krantz's hand to the side, his right clutched Krantz's throat. Pike lifted Krantz up and backward, pinning him against the wall a good six inches off the floor. Harvey Krantz made a gurgling sound and his eyes bulged. Louise Barshop jumped backward, scrambling for her purse. McConnell jumped, too, shouting, “Step back! Officer, let go and step back!”
Pike didn't let go. Pike held Harvey Krantz against the wall, Krantz's face turning purple, his eyes staring at Pike the way deer will stare at oncoming headlights.
Louise Barshop shouted, “Leave go, Pike. Leave go now!” She had her purse, and McConnell thought she was about to pull her Beretta and cut loose.
McConnell felt his stomach clench when Pike, who hadn't let go, whispered something to Krantz that no one else could hear. For years afterward, and well into his retirement, Detective-Three Mike McConnell wondered what Pike had said, because, in that moment, in that lull amid the shouting and the falling chairs, they heard the drip-drip-drip sound and everybody looked down to see the urine running from Krantz's pants. Then the most awful smell enveloped them, and Louise Barshop said, “Oh, God.”
Harvey Krantz had shit his pants.
McConnell said, as sternly as he could muster, “Put him down, now, son.”
Pike did, and Harvey hunched over, his eyes filling with rage and shame as the mess spread down his pants. He lurched knock-kneed out of the room.
Pike returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.
Louise Barshop looked embarrassed and said, “Well, I don't know.”
Mike McConnell retook his seat, considered the young officer who had just committed a dismissible offense, then said, “He shouldn't have laid hands on you, son. That's against the rules.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That's all. We'll contact you if we need to see you again.”
Pike stood without a word and left.
Louise said, “Well, we can't just let him leave like that. He assaulted Harvey.”
“Think about it, Louise. If we file an action, Harvey will have to state for the record that he shit his pants. Do you think he'd want to do that?” McConnell turned off the Nagra. They'd have to erase that part of the tape to protect the boy.
Louise glanced away. “Well, no. I guess not. But we'd better ask him when he returns.”
“That's right. We'll ask him.”
Then McConnell felt his own guts knot and he knew that the goddamned clam had finally gotten the best of him. He rocked to his feet, told Louise he was going to check on Harvey, then hurried to the men's room with his cheeks crimped together tighter than a virgin's in a whorehouse, barely making it into the first available stall before that goddamned clam and all of its mischief came out in a roar.
As the first wave passed, he heard Harvey Krantz in the next stall, sobbing with shame. “It's okay, boy. We'll keep the lid on. I don't think this will hurt your career too badly.”
The sobbing grew louder, and Mike McConnell smiled.
9
• • •
I spent the afternoon at my office, waiting for Krantz to call about the autopsy, then went home and waited some more. He still hadn't called by the time I went to bed, and I was getting irritated about it. At nine-forty the next morning, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called Parker Center and asked for Krantz.
Stan Watts said, “He's not available.”
“What does that mean, Watts? He said he would call.”
“You want to know every time we wipe our asses?”
“I want to know about the autopsy. It's going on three days since she was murdered, and I'm supposed to be there. Did you get it moved up or not?” Giving back some of the irritation.
“Hang on.”
He put me on hold. LAPD had installed one of those music-while-you-wait systems. It played the theme from Dragnet.
I was on hold for almost ten minutes before Watts came back. “They're making the cut this afternoon. Come on over, and I'll have someone bring you down.”
“Good thing I asked about it.”
At ten forty-five, I once more parked in the sun at Parker Center, presented myself to the lobby guard, and claimed a visitor's pass. This time when the guard phoned RHD, they let me ride up on my own. Maybe they were starting to trust me.
Stan Watts was waiting when the doors opened.
“You my guide today, Stan?”
Watts made a snort. “Sure. You're all I got to do with my time.”
The RHD squad room was quieter than yesterday. The only face I recognized was Dolan's. She was talking on the phone at her desk with her arms crossed, and she was staring at me, almost as if she had been waiting for me to come through the doors.
I stopped, and Watts stopped with me. “Dolan again?”
“Dolan.”
“I don't think she likes me.”
“She doesn't like anyone. Don't take it personally.”
Watts brought me over. “I'll leave you two lovebirds alone.”
Dolan cupped her receiver. “C'mon, Stan. How about I follow up on these calls I got? Can't someone else take him?”
Watts was already walking away. “Krantz says you.”
Her mouth pruned and she cupped the receiver. “Fuckin' Pants.”
Watts laughed, but he didn't turn around.
I said, “Hi, Dolan. Long time no see.”
She pointed at the little secretarial chair, but I didn't sit.
Dolan thanked whoever she was talking to for their cooperation, asked them to call her if they remembered anything else, then hung up. She hung up hard.
I said, “Looks like today's going to be another good day, doesn't it?”
“Speak for yourself.”
The drive from Parker Center to the L.A. County coroner's office takes about fifteen minutes, but the way Dolan launched out of the parking garage I thought we might make it in five, even in the busted-out detective ride she drew out of the motor pool. Dolan turned off the unit's mobile two-way with an angry snap as soon as she was behind the wheel, and tuned to an alternative rock station that was blaring out L7's “Shove.” L7 is an L.A. chick band known for their aggressive, in-your-face lyrics.
I said, “Kind of hard to talk with the radio that loud, don't you think?”
We careened out of the parking lot, leaving a smoking rubber trail. Guess she didn't agree.
L7's singer screamed that some guy just pinched her ass. The words were angry; the music was even angrier. So was Samantha Dolan. Everything in her manner said so, and said she wanted me to know it.
I cinched the seat belt, settled back, and closed my eyes. “Too on the nose, Dolan. The music should be counter to your character, and then the statement would be more dramatic. Try Shawn Colvin.”
Dolan jerked the sedan around a produce delivery truck and blasted through an intersection that had already gone red. Horns blew. She flipped them off.
I made a big deal out of yawning. Just another day at the demolition derby.
We roared past a crowd of short, stocky people trying to cross the street to catch a bus. We missed them by at least two inches. Room to spare.
“Dolan, throttle back before you kill someone.”
She pressed the pedal harder and we rocketed up the freeway on-ramp.
I reached over, turned off the ignition, and the car went silent.
Dolan screamed, “Are you out of your mind?!”
She hit the brakes, wrestling the dead power steering as she horsed the car to the side of the ramp. She got the car stopped and stared at me, breathing hard.
“I'm sorry you've got to eat shit from a hack brownnoser like Krantz, but it's not my fault.”
The horns started to go behind us. Something that might've been hurt flickered in Dolan's eyes, and she took a breath.
“I guess maybe you should be the lead on this case. I guess it's hard accepting the fact that you aren't.”
“You don't know me well enough to say something like that.”
“I know Krantz is scared of you, Dolan. He's scared of anyone who threatens him, so you get stuck doing the work that no one else wants to do. Like babysitting me, and running off copies, and having to sit in the backseat. I know you don't like it, and you shouldn't have to, because you're better than that.” I shrugged. “Also, you're the woman.”
She stared at me, but now she wasn't glaring. She had lovely hands with long slender fingers, and no wedding band. She wore a Piaget watch, and the nails were so well done that I doubted she'd done them herself. I guess the television series had been good for her even if it sucked.
Dolan wet her lips, and shook her head. Like she was wondering how I could possibly know these things.
I spread my hands. “The finest in professional detection, Dolan. I see all, I hear all.”
She gazed out the window, then nodded.
“You want to get along, we can get along.”
Grudging. Not confirming anything I'd said. Not even putting it on Krantz. She was some tough cookie, all right.
Dolan started the car, and ten minutes later we pulled down into the long curving drive that led to the rear parking lot of the L.A. County medical examiner's office behind County-USC Medical Center.
Dolan said, “You been here before?”
“Twice.”
“I've been here two hundred times. Don't try to be tough. If you think you're going to barf, walk out and get some air.”
“Sure.”
The rear entrance opened to a yellow tile hall where the smell hit us like
a sharp spike. It wasn't terrible, like bad chicken, but you knew you were smelling something here that you wouldn't smell any other place. A combination of disinfectant and meat. You knew, on some primitive level deep in the cells, that this meat was close to your own, and that you were smelling your own death.
Dolan badged an older man behind a counter, who gave us two little paper masks. Dolan said, “We've gotta wear these. Hepatitis.”
Great.
After we put on the masks, Dolan led me along the hall through a set of double doors into a long tile cavern with eight steel tables. Each table was surrounded by lights and work trays and instruments, not unlike those you see in a dentist's office. Green-clad medical examiners were working on bodies at each table. Knowing that they were working on human beings made me try to pretend that they weren't. Denial is important.
Krantz and Williams were clustered at the last table with the Buzz Cut and his two buddies. The five of them were talking with an older, overweight woman wearing lab greenies, surgical gloves, and a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap. She would be the medical examiner.
Karen Garcia was on the table, and even from across the big room I could see that the autopsy was complete. The medical examiner said something to two lab techs, one of whom was washing off Karen Garcia's body with a small hose. Blood and body fluids streamed along a trough in the table and swirled down a pipe. Her body had been opened, and a blue cloth fixed to cover the top of her head. The autopsy had happened without me.
The Buzz Cut saw us first, and tipped his head. Krantz turned as we approached. “Where the hell were you, Cole? The cut was at nine. Everybody knew that.”
“You were supposed to call me. You knew her father wanted me here.”
“I left word for you to be notified. No one called you?”
I knew he was lying. I wasn't sure why, or why he didn't want me at the autopsy, but I was as sure of it as I've ever been sure of anything. “What am I supposed to tell her family?”
“Tell'm we fucked up. Is that what you want to hear? I'll explain it to her father myself, if that's what you want.” He waved at the body. “Let's get out of here. This stink is ruining my clothes.”
We went back into the tile hall, where we pulled off the masks. Williams gathered the masks from everybody and tossed them in a special can.