She picked up the phone again to call Woody. Though she’d only heard about the girl through Luke and Woody, she felt she knew her.
Bad guys need to be caught.
The phone rang before she punched in Woody’s number.
“Detective Hart, please.” The voice was formal, clear.
“This is she.”
“One moment please.”
Abby realized that had been someone’s secretary and she was being transferred. After a click, a deep baritone voice came over the phone.
“Detective Hart? This is Marcus Freeman. I represent Althea Joiner.”
Abby’s heart caught in her throat. How did this man get her phone number? She knew very well who he was. He wanted her fired. He was threatening to sue her for violating Clayton Joiner’s civil rights, for wrongful death, and she forgot what else.
“This is Detective Hart. I’m not sure we should be speaking.”
“I’ve cleared this conversation with the chief of police. I have a request from my client.”
He paused, and Abby wondered if he was waiting for her response, but after a couple of seconds he went on. “Mrs. Joiner would like to meet with you. She has something she’d like to say and a few questions to ask you.”
“Uh, I don’t know what to say. . . .”
“I know this is irregular. It was not my suggestion. It’s not a trap or a ploy; it is my client’s wish, and I’m obligated to relay my client’s wishes.”
Abby got the distinct impression he wanted her to tell him to pound sand. And that was her first impulse. But she was too curious to pop off with the first thought that crossed her mind.
“Can I ask what she wants to talk to me about?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. I will say that the meeting is to be just the two of you. Are you familiar with Grounds Café on Spring Street?”
“Yes, I know the place.”
“Mrs. Joiner would like to meet you there tomorrow morning.”
“That’s quick.”
“Yes, it is. Shall I tell her you decline?”
This guy did not want the meeting to take place. I must be obstinate, Abby thought, because just knowing he doesn’t want me to meet with Althea makes me want to be there. Before the shooting, Abby had liked Althea and thought that they had connected on one level. Althea had trusted her to find her daughter’s killer, had even prayed with Abby and Bill a couple of times. A tinge of guilt bit Abby’s gut as the shooting flashed in her mind, and she heard Althea’s accusations.
I want to talk to her as well, she thought.
“Detective Hart?” Freeman sounded impatient.
“No, you can tell her I’ll be there. What time?”
Althea’s lawyer’s request wasn’t the only surprise of the day. Uncle Simon phoned that night as well.
Abby was prepared for the collect call. California prison inmates could not be phoned; they could only make collect calls. She’d expected her uncle would be contacting her once he knew that she submitted her visitation application. She accepted the charges. After a couple of clicks, she heard his voice.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Uncle Simon?”
“Yeah, wow! I’m so glad you agreed to talk to me and that you want to visit.”
Abby swallowed. “I think we probably have a lot to talk about.”
“You’re right; we do. I’m not sure how long your approval will take, but I turned in the form. I’m so looking forward to your visit. You are all the blood family I have left.”
He explained to her how visiting worked. She could walk in on a Saturday or Sunday or set up an appointment online.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I know. I have a few minutes. How are you? I read about the stuff going on in your life.”
“I’m okay. I—” For a second she fumbled, not sure what to say to a man she’d never met.
He read her mind. “Kinda funny talking to someone you don’t know. You’ve probably only seen me in decades-old photographs.”
Abby laughed. “That’s true. From those, you looked a little like my dad.”
“A little, but he was always better-looking. I lost my hair by the time I was thirty. Buck’s hair was always thick and full. We corresponded for a time before he died, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know.” This was a surprise to Abby. She’d always been told her father disowned his brother.
“Yeah, he kept it quiet because his partner didn’t want any connection to a convict to overshadow the restaurant. I guess I can understand that.” There was some noise and clanging in the background.
Abby wanted to ask him more questions, but he asked her to hold on for a minute.
“I have to go,” he said when he returned. “I’ll call again, maybe read you some of your dad’s letters if you’d like.”
“Yeah, I would like that. I really would.”
“Okay, good-bye, Abby. It’s really great to talk to you.”
The call ended and Abby stared at the phone for a minute. Letters from her dad, his actual writing. She didn’t know what to say, but the knowledge that such things existed made her feel warm and hopeful.
CHAPTER
-40-
AS LUKE DROVE TO HIS MEETING with Brenda Harris, he thought about their conversation when he’d initially found her. She was skeptical about him and about the investigation.
“That was so long ago. How can you still be interested in that tip?”
“The crime has never been solved. The young victim is having a difficult time. I’d like to give her the peace of closure.”
Concern for the victim seemed to allay Harris’s reticence, and they made an appointment to meet.
Luke recognized Brenda right away even though all he had was a driver’s license photo. Brenda Harris could be an older version of Molly Cavanaugh. The petite blonde woman entered Panera a little after eleven thirty.
“Mrs. Harris?” He stepped toward her. “I’m Luke Murphy.” He handed her his ID. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
She looked at the ID, then looked at Luke and shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I don’t drink coffee. I just picked a nice crowded public place to meet you.”
Luke smiled and motioned to a table where they both sat down.
“You’re not an LA County sheriff. Why are you investigating this case?”
He told her about Faye Fallon, her blog, and the cold case.
“If you really think you can solve this, why are you talking to me? I thought Gil was in Iraq at the time of the crime; he couldn’t be your guy.”
“I couldn’t find any record of him serving in Iraq. Who told you he was there?”
Her brows scrunched together. “I don’t remember now where I heard that. It must have been from one of the original investigators.” She looked down and rubbed her forehead. “Yes, I think that’s who told me, a long time ago. I was so sure it was Gil, and he said that it couldn’t be. But it did surprise me that Gil joined the armed forces. He never seemed the type.”
Luke considered that, wondering if this was a waste of time. “Well, we’re starting over from the beginning. There were many tips, but yours was one of the few who left contact information. And you were convinced the composite was Gilbert Barone. I wanted to show it to you again and ask what made you so certain. Do you remember?” He slid the composite across the table.
Brenda took a deep breath and slid it back. “Unfortunately I will never forget. That guy was my personal nightmare. I lived next door to him—rather, his parents—in Northridge.” She shuddered. “It was a wonderful place to live at first. His parents were really nice people. His dad was always helping me out. I’d just moved to California from Utah, got my first engineering job in the valley. His mom was a saint, but she got sick. That was when Gil moved back in. He was in his twenties, I think, twenty or twenty-one. There was some nasty gossip in the neighborhood that he got kicked out of college for some perverted reason, but that’s just gossip. Anyway, Gil was very
good-looking. I noticed him right away. Because his dad had been so nice, I just assumed the son would be the same.” She shook her head.
“Not a chip off the old block?”
“Not at all. One day I saw him out in the yard and engaged him in conversation. I guess he thought I was coming on to him. Next thing I know, he’s knocking on my back door. It scared me half to death because I had a fenced-in yard. I answered the door, and he’s asking me if I want to get high with him. I told him no. I was a working person. I had a job that did drug tests. I didn’t get high. But the way he looked at me was so disturbing, like he was imagining me without my clothes on.”
“I take it he didn’t like being turned down.”
“You got that right. That was when the nightmare started. I swear he stalked me. He prowled around in my backyard at night trying to peep in my windows, he vandalized my car, but the worst . . .” Her voice trailed off and she took a deep breath. “The worst was when he broke into my house. I know it was him. I came home and found all my underwear spread around my bedroom and in the center of the bed some of the most graphic, disgusting pornography. I’d never seen anything like it and I hope I never do again.”
“You’re sure he did all of this? You called the police?”
“Of course I did. But I had no proof it was him. I just knew—I can’t explain how, but I just knew. Anyway, after that, I packed up some things and left. It was a rental, so I just moved out. When I saw the composite . . . Well, that’s Gil. It’s as if he posed for it.”
“Did you ever talk to Gil’s dad about his son?”
She shook her head. “That poor man. His wife was dying. I didn’t have the heart to say anything.”
“Do you remember what college he went to? Where he was kicked out?”
“I think Long Beach State.” She frowned. “But if Gil was in Iraq when the rape happened, why do you even care about any of this?”
Luke thought about Gil Barone on the drive back to Long Beach. The college was near his home, so he made a stop there to see if the man had been a student. The only information they would give him was whether or not he had been enrolled. Barone had been a student from 2000 to 2001. What classes he took or why he left was information Luke could get only with a subpoena.
When he got home, he did a computer search for Barone and laughed out loud when he found a match. A Gil Barone owned a computer repair shop in Tehachapi. He clicked on the website for the store. There was a head shot of Barone, but this man was bearded and it was impossible to compare the small square image with the composite. But the details fit: Barone would be the right age, and the name was not all that common. Luke felt confident this was the man he was looking for. Even more so when he saw a small paragraph that said Barone had moved from Northridge five years previous. The blurb was from an endorsement page, a customer raving about the service he got, driving all the way to Tehachapi from Northridge whenever he had a computer problem, being worth the time and money.
Luke read every comment on the endorsement page. Customers loved Barone. But then he certainly wouldn’t put negative comments on his website. He couldn’t wait to tell Woody. They’d add visiting Barone to the list and, he hoped, hit pay dirt.
Luke was sure he was at least Brenda’s old neighbor and quite possibly a vicious rapist. And maybe even a serial killer.
CHAPTER
-41-
“IT’S NO PROBLEM AT ALL, Mrs. Gentry. It was an easy problem to fix.” Gil Barone smiled his best smile. Gil knew it was pleasant and disarming no matter what was going on in his mind.
“Oh, but you had to take time out of your day. Please let me pay you.”
He shook his head. “Nonsense. It was my pleasure.”
“Well, I’ll be baking this weekend. Maybe I can bring by a pie?”
Gil grinned. “Now that I would never refuse.”
The woman nodded and picked up her laptop. Gil had reformatted the drive and added security software after the woman had picked up a virus and crashed her system. While he thought the woman was an idiot, she was the wife of the mayor, and Gil knew it paid to have friends in high places.
“I’ll see you on Saturday then.”
The phone began to ring. Gil wheeled himself over to answer it.
“Gil?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Who is this?” Gil did not recognize the voice.
“It’s me, Jerry G.”
Gil recognized the man now. He was an acquaintance of his father’s, not really a friend because his dad had never liked him. Jerry G. had issues. He was into kiddie porn. Gil had erased a hard drive for him once when Jerry came to him terrified that the police were going to seize his computer.
“Sure, I remember you, Jerry.” Wary now, Gil wondered what the creep was up to. “What can I do for you?”
“I know that I owe you, and I may have something that will go a long way toward clearing that debt. I have a little work to throw your way, if you’re interested.”
“Computer work? Sure.”
“Not computer work. This is easier. I just need you to keep tabs on some people who are going to be in your neck of the woods.”
“That’s not my line of work.” How is this paying the debt? Gil wondered.
“I’ll make it worth your while. Ever heard of that blogger, Faye Fallon?”
Gil made a rude noise. “Who hasn’t? She’s easy on the eyes.”
Jerry told Gil about some private investigators coming to Tehachapi at the request of Fallon.
“My employer just wants to know where they are and what they do. I’ll send you a brief description of everything, and like I said, there’s money here, a lot for little work.”
“Give me a minute to think about it.” Gil set the phone down on the counter and scratched his beard. His legitimate computer business did well, and so did his illegitimate business. He wasn’t wanting for money. He’d also branched out into security systems, camera systems, and any miscellaneous technology problems he could solve. He wanted his adopted hometown of Tehachapi safe and sound.
If this was just surveillance on out-of-towners, he wouldn’t be fouling anything. And it sounded as if the job wouldn’t take much energy. It might even be entertaining if it involved the looker Faye Fallon. The man on the other end of the phone had been a cop, a crooked one. Growing up, Gil had hated cops because he’d hated his father. He’d always worked to avoid them. But now he saw them as a new challenge to manipulate. Sometimes they were smarter than the average guy, but not often. And Gil loved to pull one over on a cop. He knew firsthand that Jerry wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but the fact that he wanted someone watched and it involved an adult skirt made Gil curious.
Yeah, it might be worth his time to find out what this little job was all about. He picked up the phone.
“Sure, Jerry. I’ll help you out. E-mail me the specifics.” Gil gave him an untraceable e-mail address and disconnected.
He turned to his laptop and looked for the Fallon blog. What was it called? He tried to think. He knew the woman was a Holy Roller. The title of her blog was like a Bible saying. He gave up and just punched in her name.
The blog popped up right away, and he scowled.
Justice, a Joy to the Righteous—A Blog for Safety-Minded High Desert Dwellers
What a stupid name. But he knew she had a lot of readers, even here in Tehachapi, though she wrote primarily for the Antelope Valley. People were always talking about her blogs on the state of crime in the area.
“Cold Case Warriors Set to Visit the Valley” was the title of her latest entry. He read the piece through, and for the first time in a long time, he felt fear bite.
Closing the laptop and pushing his chair back from the counter, Gil stroked his beard and took a calming breath. He was smarter than they were. Even with the DNA there was no way they’d ever connect him to that crime. No way.
CHAPTER
-42-
“I’VE GOT A FRIEND who works for Cal State Long Beach
police,” Woody told Luke after being updated on what Brenda Harris had said. “He’s been there for thirty years. He’d know if there was a complaint filed against this guy, Barone, through the campus PD.”
They were in a rental car office waiting for their ride to be brought up from the lot. They had decided to make the trip to Tehachapi in a rental, figuring a full-size sedan would look more official than Luke’s pickup truck or Woody’s beat-up Saturn.
“Can you get ahold of him?”
“I’ll call him right now.” Woody activated his phone. “He might have to research it a bit. I’m not sure how long it took campus police to get everything computerized. In 2001 LBPD was still lagging behind in that area.”
Woody phoned his friend and left a detailed voice mail message. “Sheldon is a good guy. He’ll come through.” He put the phone back on his belt as the rental car guy waved them out to a vehicle.
Luke and Woody started their trip to the Antelope Valley with a plan. They wanted to be familiar with the area in which the crime occurred, and they wanted an idea about the timing involved. Luke wasn’t sure he liked that he was getting used to the drive along the 14, the Antelope Valley freeway, through Canyon Country, Acton, and assorted dry, high desert communities. The Antelope Valley, or AV, specifically the Palmdale/Lancaster area, was considered high desert. It was actually part of the Mojave Desert. He knew from his research that the Tehachapi and the San Gabriel mountain ranges bounded in part the western end of the Mojave Desert. The Tehachapi range was ahead of them and the San Gabriel behind. The desert itself was huge and ranged between three thousand and six thousand feet in elevation. It generally received less than six inches of rain a year. That made sense to Luke. It was just desert, barren and kind of ugly.
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