“There may be a problem with that. Eric’s furious with me, convinced I’m aligned with the police. I can understand that because I am friends with one of the—”
“Milo Sturgis,” said Safer. “A very effective investigator—I’m well aware of your friendship with Mr. Sturgis. Commendable.”
“What is?”
“A heterosexual man enjoying a friendship with a homosexual man. One of my sons was gay. He taught me a lot about having an open mind. I didn’t learn quickly enough.”
Past tense. His voice had dropped in pitch and volume. “Impetuous youth,” he continued. “I’m referring to Eric. I have five of my own, thirteen grandchildren. Four of my own, to be truthful. My boy Daniel passed on last year. His diagnosis sped up my learning curve.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh it was terrible, Doctor, your life’s never the same . . . but enough of that. In terms of Eric’s recalcitrance, I’ll have a talk with the boy. As will Richard. What about Stacy? I don’t have as much of a feel for her. She sits there while Eric does all the talking. Reminds me of my Daniel. He was my firstborn, always a peacemaker—his siblings’ ambassador to their mother and me when things got rough.”
I heard him sigh.
“Stacy’s a good kid,” I said. “My primary patient in the family. I had only one session with Eric, and not a complete one. The police showed up before we were through and took Richard away.”
“Yes. Dreadful. Rather cossacklike behavior . . . We-ell, thank you for your time, Dr. Delaware. Take care of yourself. You’re needed here.”
CHAPTER 24
THURSDAY AT 8:45 A.M. I called Alice Zoghbie, got the same taped message. Fifteen minutes later, I caught a newsbreak. Different reporter, same I’ve-got-a-scoop smile. Another backdrop that I recognized.
“… the woman, Amber Breckenham, claims that in addition, Haiselden regularly abused her and her daughter during their relationship. We’re here at Haiselden’s house, where neighbors say he hasn’t been seen for well over a week. At the moment this remains a civil case, and no word has come down from LAPD as to whether a criminal investigation will be pursued. From Westwood, with another bizarre twist on the murder of death doctor Eldon Mate, I’m Dana Almodovar, On-the-Spot News.”
Shift to the weather report. Hazy skies, low sixties to mid-seventies, for the fortieth day in a row. I played with the remote, finally found a complete story on one of the networks specializing in lurid.
Amber Breckenham, thirty-four, the manager of one of Roy Haiselden’s laundromats, in Baldwin Park, had filed a civil suit against her former boss. A shot of Breckenham walking into court with her attorney showed a tall, thickly built bleached blonde. Holding her hand was a dark-haired girl, eleven or twelve. The child kept her head down, but someone called her name—”Laurette!”—and she looked up just long enough for the camera to capture a glimpse of pretty African features and straightened hair brushed back from a high, smooth brow.
Breckenham’s story was that she’d had a seven-year affair with Haiselden, during which time he’d claimed to be investing her money but had, in fact, embezzled. Furthermore, he’d abused her physically and intimidated Laurette psychologically. The suit was for five million dollars, most of it punitive damages.
Haiselden’s reason for cutting town? Scratch one murder suspect?
But if Amber Breckenham’s charges were true, it indicated Mate had been less than a sterling judge of character. Had he misjudged fatally?
Or had choosing Joanne Doss been his big mistake?
And what had been Joanne’s mistake—the sin, if there was one, that had caused her to turn herself into the creature in Eric’s Polaroid?
I left the house, drove to the U. for my second trip to the research library in as many days.
Only one reference to Joanne’s death, a page-20 story in the Times:
Body Found in Desert Motel
Attributed to Dr. Mate’s Machine
LANCASTER.
A motel maid entering to clean a room at the Happy Trails Motel on the outskirts of this high desert community discovered the fully clothed body of a Pacific Palisades woman early yesterday morning. While no sightings of “death doctor” Eldon Mate’s van in the vicinity have been reported, toxi-cologic analysis of the blood of Joanne Doss, 43, indicating the presence of two drugs used consistently by the self-styled euthanist, as well as puncture marks suggesting intravenous injection, and the absence of forced entry or struggle, have led Sheriff’s detectives to suspect assisted suicide.