“But you could study reactions,” said Milo, “see if anyone comes across weird. We’d take it from there.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t wear yourself out, give it one day. It’s a long shot, but you never know.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow,” I said. “But we should also consider other sources of income for Kevin. All that computer equipment, the printers, the scanners. And Kevin collected pornography.”
Both of them stared at me.
Petra said, “I should’ve thought of that. When we visited Frank Drummond’s office, his secretary asked if this had something to do with porn. Jeez, right under my nose—maybe she knew the kid had a history.”
“Summers at Daddy’s office,” said Milo. “Didn’t seem to be a happy memory for Daddy.”
“Kevin being creative,” said Petra. “Maybe in ways Daddy didn’t like. The stuff Junior collects is hard-core S & M.”
“Or it wasn’t just Kevin in the biz, and they had creative differences,” I said. “What if there’s more than parental protectiveness to Frank’s hostility?”
Both of them were silent. Petra played with her fork. “Family business . . . you know, Terry looks like she could’ve done dirty movies in her youth.” She bounced the fork’s tines on the tabletop. “I’ll check it out with Vice.”
I spent all day talking to friendly faces at Western Peds and other Sunset Boulevard hospitals. No one recognized Kevin. I tried a few less friendly faces, got blank stares, headshakes.
I drove by the spot where Erna Murphy had been picked up. During the day, the street was quiet, sunny, lined with old apartment buildings. Not a hint of what went on after dark.
I spotted a young Hispanic woman walking twin babies in a double stroller. Smiling. The infants dozed.
A few miles west, she’d be wearing a uniform and they’d be someone else’s babies. Here, mothers took care of their own.
And locked them in at night.
Before heading home, I called Milo to let him know I’d come up empty. He said, “Comrades in arms, pal. No progress at the airlines, and I’ve been on the phone to Boston all morning, trying to find out if Kevin checked in anywhere near there—both now and during the period when Angelique Bernet got carved up. Nothing on the former, hard to be certain regarding the latter because most of the smaller hostelries claim not to hold on to their guest registers for more than a year. A few places did crack their computers, but if Kevin’s staying at any of them, it’s not under his own name. The bigger hotels report being booked the week of Bernet—lots of conventions—and they do keep records. Again, no Kevin.”
“What kind of conventions?”
“Let’s see . . . there were six good-sized affairs that week. Three at Harvard—rehabilitation medicine, media and public policy, and history of science—one on plasma physics at MIT, a law symposium at Tufts, something to do with the Middle East at Brandeis. Any of those sound like our boy’s cup of tea?”
“No,” I said, “and a student on a limited budget wouldn’t have stayed at the Four Seasons or the Parker House.”
“That’s why I concentrated first on motels and budget places. I also checked car rental outfits and bugged Boston and Cambridge PDs to check their traffic files, on the chance that Kevin rented another under an assumed name and got a parking citation. It’s how Son of Sam got nailed, why shouldn’t I be lucky?” Long breath. “Nada. And Petra found out the Drummond pornography connection isn’t Kevin, it’s his daddy. Franklin D. has represented over a dozen adult filmmakers. The Valley is Porn Central, so an Encino mouthpiece makes sense.”
“Constitutional issues?”
“Bread-and-butter civil issues: overdue bills, contract disputes, workman’s comp. Frank comes across as your basic hardworking solo practitioner. Guess he doesn’t blush easily. Given all the X-rated types in and out of the office, I can understand his secretary wondering about Kevin getting his feet wet. So to speak.”
“But no evidence Kevin got involved?”
“Not so far. Vice knew about Frank but never heard of Kevin. They checked all the corporate doing-business-as registrations. Nada redux.”
“What about Terry?” I said.
“Nothing. But even assuming Mommy did make some dirty movies. Maybe that’s even how she and Frankie met. So what, if Kevin didn’t take up the family biz.”