by Kirk Russell
At some point after trying to live larger than he was, Raveneau had figured it out. He sipped the coffee now and waited for his new partner to agree. When she did he punched in the first of two numbers they had for Deborah Lafaye and got an answer on the third ring.
‘This is Inspector Ben Raveneau with the San Francisco Police. My partner and I are investigating a homicide – a killing in China Basin a week ago Thursday. Maybe you read about it?’
‘I haven’t.’
‘Or saw the sketch that ran on TV when we went out to the public.’
‘Inspector, I’ve been out of town so I’m not sure how I can help you. Why did you call me?’
‘We believe you knew our victim and we’d like to meet and talk with you about her. Her name was Alex Jurika.’
‘Oh, my God.’
‘Did you know her?’
‘Yes. Yes, oh, really, my God, Alex is dead? She once worked for me. I can’t believe she’s dead. When did this happen? She was murdered? Alex was murdered? That’s terrible news.’
‘Yes, she was and I’m sorry. It sounds like you knew her well.’
Lafaye immediately qualified that.
‘I haven’t seen much of her in the last five years. This makes me so sad. What happened?’
‘We’re investigating. We don’t really know what happened yet. We found her body in a building in China Basin.’
Raveneau paused one beat and said, ‘We’d like to talk with you in person today.’
There was a gap as she debated that, but he knew what the answer would be. His guess was that right now she was spinning different scenarios about how they connected her name to Jurika. She hadn’t volunteered that she’d been in Jurika’s apartment.
‘I’ll have to ask you to give me a few minutes. I don’t even know my own schedule. I need to call my secretary and then I’ll call you back. What number shall I use?’
When she called back she said, ‘A driver is going to take me to a meeting in Napa. Would it inconvenience you, Inspector, if we met in the parking lot at the Larkspur Ferry in Marin? I realize that’s probably not what you had in mind, but there are people I’m supposed to rendezvous with there, and we could meet ahead of that. I can give you my cell number, or if you give me yours I’ll call you as I get there. Will that be OK?’ After a moment, she added, ‘I’m just so shocked.’
Thirty minutes later Raveneau was at the ferry landing and on his cell phone to Lafaye. He watched a big ferry gliding out and then churning a heavy white wake as it turned toward San Francisco, and Lafaye guided him to where she was waiting.
She was a lean woman, silver-haired, blue or almost violet-eyed, taller than average and eye-catching, though she must be his age. He couldn’t help but look at her fingers. The man who’d done it to her had done a very thorough job.
She caught his secret glance and said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Everybody looks at my hands. I knew as soon as you told me she was dead why you’d called me. I just wanted to talk to my lawyer before meeting you. You’re wondering what my fingerprints were doing in Alex’s apartment.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I hope you’re not wondering if I killed her.’
‘Why would we wonder that?’
‘You’re in the suspicion business.’
‘I’ve always thought of it in a different way.’
‘And you wanted to meet face to face.’
‘It’s better that way.’
‘Then why don’t we get coffee and talk?’
Something about her eyes was arresting, the color maybe. ‘Let’s do that,’ he said, and then added, ‘We’re just hoping you can help us.’
She smiled at that and said, ‘I use that line all the time myself when we’re fund raising.’
TWENTY-SEVEN
They took an outdoor table at the coffee house in the mall across from the ferry landing. The table was in sunlight, the fall morning pleasant. When the coffees came Lafaye didn’t touch hers.
‘Alex worked for me in 1997 after I started the foundation. She was very good at getting people to pledge money, and I don’t mean the rich or the corporate, but the average person. She had that touch. She could get a guy who couldn’t make his rent to give a hundred dollars. I would sit in a chair sometimes and just listen to her on the phone trying to figure out why she was so successful at it.’
She watched Raveneau now as she added, ‘I still see her about once a year.’ She touched her face. ‘Or I did. I really am in shock over this.’
‘I understand.’
‘I hope you do. I saw her a week ago, Tuesday or Wednesday. She wanted to pitch an idea to me so I went over to her apartment to have a glass of wine and listen.’
‘Was it a good idea?’
‘Oh, yes, and many of her ideas were great ideas, but I would never consider bringing Alex back into the foundation.’ She reached across the table and touched his arm. ‘I don’t want to say anything bad about Alex.’ She looked up suddenly. ‘You haven’t told me how she died.’
‘She was strangled in an empty building in China Basin. What did she pitch you?’
‘Strangled. What was she doing there?’
‘We don’t know yet.’
‘She said she was moving to Phoenix. She proposed setting up a facility there for my foundation. Her idea was to consolidate all the monthly pledges made all over the world via credit cards. She wanted me to hire her to oversee that aspect and run it from Arizona.’
‘Was she qualified?’
‘Well, it’s funny you ask that because she was the farthest thing from the type you’d expect to run something like that, but I’d say she was way above the level of your basic MBA. She was remarkable with numbers. She could have organized anything numerical.’
‘But you were reluctant to pursue the idea with her.’
‘Is that what we’re here to talk about?’
‘No, but we have questions about how she earned a living, so anything you can tell me helps.’
‘She only talked about this idea of a consolidated credit facility. We had our yearly glass of wine and I left town the next day. I didn’t get home until yesterday so maybe that’s how I missed hearing that she’d been killed.’
‘Where did you go?’
‘Washington. Do you want the names of the senators I met with?’
He thought about that a moment. ‘Sure.’ He wrote down their names.
‘Why wouldn’t you rehire her?’
‘I’d rather not discuss that.’
‘Then let me say this, we believe she may have been involved in a credit card theft ring.’
Lafaye shook her head. She looked dismayed. She looked past him.
‘When she left us the foundation received complaints regarding credit card charges. Obviously, if it had tied to Alex I wouldn’t have been drinking wine with her a week ago, but it was a factor in not talking her out of resigning. A private investigator suspected her. I decided to keep the friendship but never mix it with business again.’
La Rosa walked up now, took her sunglasses off, introduced herself and handed Lafaye a card. Lafaye looked surprised, even nervous that a second inspector had showed up.
‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ Lafaye said to la Rosa, ‘but I’m afraid I’m out of time. I wish I knew more about Alex’s life. I’m truly sick at heart that she was killed and I’d like to do anything I can to help you catch her murderer, but I have no idea how to help. But please call me if you think I can.’
‘Before you go I want to say I’m a great admirer of your foundation,’ la Rosa said. ‘You’ve really made a difference.’
‘I hope to continue to. I appreciate you saying that.’
She stood and picked up her purse but left la Rosa’s card on the table. The inspectors stood as well and Raveneau said, ‘I need to take a couple of notes.’ He opened his notebook with la Rosa alongside him now as a witness. ‘Did you say it was a week ago Wednesday that you were with Alex Jurika in her apartme
nt?’
‘I believe it was Wednesday but it may have been Tuesday. You can double-check my memory of it being Wednesday by finding the tenant in her apartment complex that just had back surgery. I rode up the elevator with him and we chatted about his surgery. You might try him.’
‘Did you call her before coming by?’
‘We had set it up a month or so before. She was in touch with my secretary. I can ask him. What am I missing here, Inspector? Why does it matter how we organized a glass of wine?’
‘So far you’re the only person we know of who was in communication with her just before she was murdered.’
‘And, again, I’ll do everything I can to help, but please reassure me you aren’t even vaguely imagining that I know something about her murder.’
‘I thought we had covered that.’
‘Well, it’s the way you’re asking things, and this business of opening your notebook as we’re getting ready to say goodbye.’
‘I’m a great admirer,’ la Rosa said. ‘Honestly, I just wanted to meet you.’
Lafaye’s cell rang and as she retrieved it she said, ‘You’ve heard my phone ring while we’ve been here. Hasn’t it rung at least ten times?’
It probably had.
‘That’s what my life is like,’ she said as she looked at the screen but didn’t answer.
‘You must be so organized,’ la Rosa said.
‘No, I’m the opposite but I have people around me who are very efficient.’ She turned her attention back to Raveneau. ‘It was Wednesday because Thursday I was on a plane to London. If I had to guess, I’d say I left her apartment at around seven thirty. I’ll try to remember more before we speak again.’
This time as her phone rang she answered it and waved goodbye as she walked off.
‘Now what?’ la Rosa asked.
‘We go back and regroup. She’s hiding something.’
They went back to the homicide office and Raveneau got a call from Lieutenant Becker.
‘There are a couple of Oakland detectives who’d like to talk to you today,’ Becker said. ‘Are you available?’
‘Are they named Hendricks and Stalos?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell them to come to the office. I’m here with Elizabeth following up on a new lead on the China Basin killing.’
‘Stay there. I’ll be coming in too. The Oakland detectives have new questions about Bates. They want your opinion. They’re wondering why he doubled the life insurance payout on his wife three months ago.’
‘Is that right?’
‘That’s what they claim.’
Forty minutes later Becker arrived. The Oakland inspectors were right behind him. They were all charged up and it was written large on their faces. They had it all figured out.
TWENTY-EIGHT
‘We understand Ted Whitacre asked you for help. Is that correct?’
Raveneau nodded.
‘When you met with him what did he ask you to do?’
‘Knock on Stoltz’s door and let him know we knew he was following Ted.’
‘Warn him off?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you?’
‘Ted died before I got to Stoltz. I was on-call that week. I had planned to go see him as soon as I was off.’
‘Did you tell Charles Bates that you were going to visit Cody Stoltz?’
‘Sure. The day I met with Whitacre I called Charles on my way back to the Hall.’
‘How did he respond?’
‘He was skeptical Whitacre had been followed by Stoltz. He said he was getting regular calls from Ted at night about old cases and guessed it had something to do with the cocktail of cancer drugs, Ted wanting to clean up the unsolved cases before dying. I’m sure you’ve asked Bates – what’s he told you?’
Stalos checked it with his partner before answering. Hendricks gave the faintest nod.
‘Basically, he told us what you just said.’
‘Whitacre was a pretty reliable guy. I took him at his word that he’d seen Stoltz.’
‘After Ted Whitacre’s body was found did you ask Mr Bates to drive with you to Los Altos where Stoltz lives?’
‘No, I went alone.’
‘What was the point?’
‘I wasn’t convinced Ted’s death was suicide.’
‘What do you think now?’
‘I think he was murdered.’
Hendricks spoke for the first time, saying, ‘We agree with you,’ and Stalos added, ‘The Burlingame detective, I can never remember his name—’
‘Choy.’
‘Yeah, Ed Choy said you came in the door calling it a murder.’
‘That’s not quite right, but I was upset at how fast he was moving and I was upset anyway. I’d worked with Ted for twenty years.’
‘We hear you. We understand.’
Stalos leaned forward a little more, setting up to confide. Raveneau had done this many times himself.
‘Detective Choy gave us a look at what he’s got so far. Seems to us he just made an assumption about suicide. I’ve got a copy of his report. Do you want to take a look at it?’
‘Not right now. Why don’t you tell me why you’re here? I understand that Bates doubled the life insurance on his wife three months ago, or you think he did. So start there.’
Hendricks stepped in on that one, saying emphatically, ‘He did double it.’
‘Here’s what we have,’ Stalos said. ‘We’ve got a significant bump in the life insurance coverage on both Charles and Jacie Bates that was done six months ago, not three months. That’s unusual for a man with heart and prostate problems and a police pension to pay for it. It ramped their payments way up. Jacie had her own medical troubles, and then there’s the girlfriend thing. Bates has been seeing a younger woman who works for the Alameda DA. We got a tip about that and it checked out. So now we’re wondering what we’ve got.’
‘Who bumped the insurance coverage?’
‘Jacie Bates did, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t talk her into it.’
‘Go on.’
‘He missed the walk that night and neighbors say he was pretty good about making the walks with her. He didn’t miss many of them.’
‘But he missed some or did you find a neighbor keeping track on a calendar?’
‘We know they mostly walked together.’
‘He was home when the pickup burned. How do you explain that?’
‘He had her hit. Hired somebody to run her down and burn the truck. It has started to look like a different investigation. So we’re here to talk to you. Did he have a girl on the side when he worked the detail here?’
‘Not that I ever heard about.’
‘Did he ever talk about problems with his marriage?’
‘Not to me and I always had the impression that he and Jacie were very close. My wife and I divorced years ago. I used to look at Bates and think he had a really strong, good thing with Jacie.’
‘Do you want to hear the whole wild ass theory?’
‘Go ahead.’
‘OK, Bates killed his former partner so that he could then kill his wife and make it look like Stoltz did it. He knew Whitacre would talk to other people about being followed and he saw an opportunity. Stoltz wouldn’t know where the key was under the flagstone in Whitacre’s backyard, but Bates did. He told us he did. His old partner was starting to have Stoltz sightings, and was dying anyway, so he starts thinking about a way to free Whitacre from his cancer and deal Jacie out of the game so he can be with his girlfriend.’
Hendricks held up his left hand, the fingers long and thin as a pianist’s. ‘How many days has it been since Jacie was killed?’ He counted them off on his fingers. ‘Damn if I can’t almost count them on one hand. He was with the girlfriend last night. What’s that say about his grief?’
He waved his hand as if erasing everything said.
‘But we admit we don’t know much yet and obviously we don’t want our theory to be right.’
�
�I can tell how.’
‘No, I mean it, Raveneau. We’d like to be wrong on this. That’s why we’re looking to you. We want you to prove we’ve got our heads up our asses.’
‘Maybe I can help you with that part either way.’
That got a smile from Hendricks.
‘You say he never mentioned this girlfriend to you and you don’t know him as a man with girls on the side.’
‘That’s true.’
‘What do you think about him spending the night with the girlfriend this close to Jacie’s death? We haven’t even released the body.’
‘It surprises me, but I don’t know what he’s feeling and having a girlfriend doesn’t mean he killed his wife.’
He felt both watching him and then it was Hendricks who put the question to him.
‘If we need it, would you be willing to wear a wire?’
‘No.’
‘What if we have solid proof?’
‘If you’ve got that kind of proof, arrest him.’
They didn’t like that and it kind of quietened the room. Raveneau figured they must have been counting on selling the wire idea.
‘We’ve got some questions we want you to ask him. We think you’re the one to talk to him since you’re the one with the Whitacre murder investigation, and you and your partner are looking at this Cody Stoltz. We think Bates will want to know what you learn and monitor your progress.’
Raveneau didn’t answer.
TWENTY-NINE
Raveneau didn’t inform the Oakland detectives, nor had Becker, but for the past two days an undercover team from San Francisco’s Special Investigation Division, SID, had covered Stoltz. Right now, a black limo was in the driveway with the trunk up. Four pieces of high quality black plastic luggage, neither masculine nor feminine looking, that could belong to either Stoltz or his mother, had just been loaded into the trunk. Somebody was taking a trip.
Yesterday they learned that Stoltz had a route where he came through the garden, alongside the guest house, past the tennis courts and pool, and in through the doors of a sunroom at the rear of mom’s place. Stoltz alternated his daily routes and Mike Malloy, the Special Investigations Division officer watching, wondered as he had several times in the last forty-eight hours whether Stoltz knew he was under surveillance.