around the edges. We were about the same age – he was nine months older – so I supposed my jawline had surrendered a bit, too. I didn’t spend much time looking in the mirror.
He walked to the kill-spot and I followed. Faint chevrons of tire tracks corrugated the yellow soil. Nearby lay a scrap of yellow cordon tape, dusty, utterly still. A week of dead air, nothing had moved.
“We took casts of the tracks,” he said, flicking a hand at them. “Not that it matters. We knew where the van came from. Rental sticker. Avis, Tarzana branch. Brown Ford Econoline with a nice big cargo area. Mate rented it last Friday, got the weekend rate.”
“Preparing for another mercy mission?” I said.
“That’s what he uses vans for. But so far no beneficiary’s come forth claiming Mate stood him up.”
“I’m surprised the companies still rent to him.”
“They probably don’t. The paperwork was made out to someone else. Woman named Alice Zoghbie, president of the Socrates Club—right-to-die outfit headquartered in Glendale. She’s out of the country, attending some sort of humanist convention in Amsterdam—left Saturday.”
“She rented the van and split the next day?” I said.
“Apparently. Called her home, which also doubles as the Socrates office, got voice mail. Had Glendale PD drive by. No one home. Zoghbie’s message says she’s due back in a week. She’s on my to-do list.” He tapped the pocket where his notepad nestled.
“I wonder why Mate never bought a van,” I said.
“From what I’ve seen so far, he was cheap. I tossed his apartment the day after the murder, not much in the way of creature comforts. His personal car’s an old Chevy
that has seen better days. Before he went automotive he used budget motels.”
I nodded. “Bodies left on the bed for the cleaning crew to find next morning. Too many traumatized maids turned into bad publicity. I saw him on TV once, getting defensive about it. Saying Christ had been born in a barn full of goat dung, so setting doesn’t matter. But it does, doesn’t it?”
He looked at me. “You’ve been following Mate’s career?”
“Didn’t have to,” I said, keeping my voice even. “He wasn’t exactly media-shy. Any tracks of other cars nearby?”
He shook his head.
“So,” I said, “you’re wondering if the killer drove up with Mate.”
“Or parked farther down the road than we checked. Or left no tracks—that happens plenty, you know how seldom forensic stuff actually helps. No one’s reported seeing any other vehicles. Then again, no one noticed the damn van, and it sat here for hours.”
“What about shoe prints?”
“Just the people who found the van.”
“What’s the time-of-death estimate?” I said.
“Early morning, one to four A.M.” He shot his cuff and looked at his Timex. The watch crystal was scarred and filmed. “Mate was discovered just after sunrise—six-fifteen or so.”
“The papers said the people who found him were hikers,” I said. “Must’ve been early risers.”
“Coupla yuppies walking with their dog, came up from the Valley for a constitutional before hitting the office. They were headed up the dirt road and noticed the van.”
“Any other passersby?” I pointed down the road, toward Encino Hills Drive. “I used to come up here, remember a housing development being built. By now it’s probably well-populated. That hour, you’d think a car or two would drive by.”
“Yeah, it’s populated,” he said. “High-priced development. Guess the affluent get to sleep in.”
“Some of the affluent got that way by working. What about a broker up early to catch the market, a surgeon ready to operate?”
“It’s conceivable someone drove past and saw something, but if they did they’re not admitting it. Our initial canvass produced zip by way of neighborly help. How many cars have you seen while we stood here?”
The road had been silent.
“I got here ten minutes before you,” he said. “One truck. Period. A gardener. And even if someone did drive by, there’d be no reason to notice the van. No streetlights, so before sunrise it would’ve been pure black. And if someone did happen to spot it, no reason to give it a thought, let alone stop. There was county construction going on up here till a few months ago, some kind of drain line. CalTrans crews left trucks overnight all the time. Another parked vehicle wouldn’t stand out.”