The gulls screamed again–a reprimand that reminded me I was trespassing.
The coffee and crumbs said Katarina was in town. Probably gone out for an errand.
I could wait here, but the more efficient thing would be to call Milo and catch him up on Becky Basille’s notes, Harrison, and Bancroft.
As I started to leave, I passed the garage once again and saw the rear end of another car, parked in front of the little white sedan. Bigger and darker-black. The distinctive vertical slash taillights of a Buick Electra. Same car I’d seen at the front of the hospital, in seventy-nine.
Something near the rear tire.
Fingers. White and thin. A hand, the top speckled by an eczematous rash.
No, another kind of speckling.
Darker than eczema.
She was lying on the cement floor, faceup, parallel to the Buick, nearly concealed under the chassis. The other hand was over her head, palm exposed, gouged with deep cuts. Tendons looped from some of the wounds, limp as tired elastic bands.
Defense cuts.
She had on a pink housedress under a white terry cloth robe. The robe was splayed open and the dress was pushed up past her waist, nearly reaching her chin. Her feet were bare, the soles grimed by garage dirt. Her eyeglasses were a few feet away, one of the sidepieces twisted nearly off, one of the lenses cracked.
Her neck was cut, too, but most of the damage had been done to her abdomen. It was black and red–ripped apart, a jumble of viscera–but oddly bloated.
The vertigo returned. I wheeled around, then checked my back. I faced the body again and felt myself grow weirdly calm. Time slowed and an internal rush and roar filled my head, as if the ocean had been transplanted there.
Something missing. Where was the inevitable message?
I forced myself to look for red letters.
Searching for two words. .. nothing. Nothing in the garage but the car and Katarina and a small metal workbench off to one side, backed by a pegboard panel.
A workbench like Robin’s, but cluttered with paint cans, tools, gluepots, jars of shellac. Hanging from the pegboard, hooks bearing hammers, gouges, chisels-one of the chisel hooks empty.
A knife on the table, its blade glazed red.
Birchwood handle. Wide tapered blade. Everything glazed. .. the bench stained, but no words, just a spatter of stains.
Old paint blotches. New ones. All mixed in with the telltale red-brown.
Dribs and droplets but no proclamation.
Something white underneath the handle of the killing tool.
A scrap of paper. Not white–almost white, beige. A nice, classy shade of ecru.
Business card.
Confident-looking brown letters said: SDI, Inc. 9817
Wilshire Boulevard Suite 1233
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Something else.
In the upper right.
Tiny.
Hand printed by ballpoint.
Printed neatly, the characters identical to the lettering on my tape package.
So much pressure on the pen that the stiff paper had been torn through in spots.
BL!
I ran down the driveway, threw myself into the car, and sped down to the marina. There was a pay phone on the boat moorings, near some trash cans. The stench was welcome.
I tried Robin again. Still no answer.
A detective at West L.A. Robbery-Homicide said, “He’s not “It’s an emergency.”
“Sorry, don’t know where he is.”
“Maybe he’s out in his car,” I said. “Could you try radioing him?”
His voice hardened: “Who is this?”
“Assistant Chief Murchison,” I said without thinking, marveling at the ease of the lie.
Second of silence. Something that might have been a gulp. “One moment, sir.”
Thirty seconds later: “Sturgis.”
“It’s me, Milo–” Pause.
“Alex,” I said.
“You palmed yourself off as Murchison?”
“Katarina’s dead. I just found her body.” I gave him the details, describing the crime scene in a rapid word storm. The card with the “bad love” message.
“Same printing as the package the tape came in.”
“SDI,” he said.
“It’s right there in Beverly Hills. Maybe he chose to use it for the message for a reason.”
“SDI. .. sure as hell not the Strategic Defense Initiative.”
“Could you check on Robin? I know the place is secure, but the killer’s picking up speed, and the idea of her being alone up there.