The two of them studied the photo. Milo said, “Looks posed to me.”
Petra nodded.
I said, “There’s no intent to demean, here. Just the opposite, he’s guarding her sexuality.”
“Kevin’s gay,” said Milo. “Maybe women aren’t sexual objects to him.”
“Julie was posed sexually. Kevin may be leaning toward gay, but if he’s our guy, he’s still plenty confused.”
“That makes sense,” said Petra. “Macho dad and brothers, all that emphasis on sports and being manly. It couldn’t have been easy for him.”
She glanced at Milo, and I noticed a spark of unease in her dark eyes. Wondering if she’d offended him.
He nodded, as if to reassure her.
“Whatever the motive,” I said, “the killer took care to make this victim look comfortable. Relative to the other cases, it’s an indication of respect.”
“Accomplice but not a girlfriend?” said Milo.
Petra said, “Even if Kevin does have an interest in girls—even if he’s quirky in ways we don’t know—I can’t see a young guy associating with a diseased homeless woman. What motive would he have to hang with her?”
“Kevin’s an isolate,” I said. “Probably sees himself an outcast from way back. On top of his sexual issues, he’s set himself up as a white knight fighting a lonely battle for art in its pure form. With that kind of alienation, I can see him gravitating toward other outsiders.”
“Which means I should be scoping out the street people, not the bookstores.”
Milo said, “Hanging with the homeless, offing the talented. It’s like a war against the bright side of life.”
I said, “There’s something else I find interesting. This body showed up behind a former theater. What if that’s a sneaky little allusion to the death of the performing arts?”
“They’re still performing there,” said Milo. “The church. Isn’t that what preaching is? Or maybe, he’s being sacrilegious.”
Petra said, “This is veering into serious weirdness.” She gnawed her lip. “Okay, what next?”
Milo said, “We’re ninety-nine percent sure this is the redhead CoCo Barnes saw, but let’s see if I can get a positive ID from the old lady. Main thing is find out who she is, woman like this is gonna be in the system somewhere. When do the prints come in?”
“You know prints. Could be today or next week. I’ll talk to Dig and Harry, see if we can speed things up.”
“Once we know who she is, we trace her movements. And maybe we don’t need to wait for prints. After Barnes told me what she saw, I did some asking around, found a shelter in your bailiwick—Dove House—where they knew of a tall redhead who dropped in from time to time. Bernadine something. They also said they figured her for someone who’d lived better once upon a time, because when her head cleared, she talked intelligently.”
I said, “Maybe that’s the side the killer saw. He knew he needed to get her blind drunk to render her helpless.”
Petra said, “I know Dove House, brought kids there. They’ve got a pretty good success rate.”
Milo looked at the death shot. “No one’s perfect.”
28
We found CoCo Barnes spinning an amorphous pot in her garage studio. Lance the dog snored at her feet.
It took her one glance to say, “That’s her—just like my drawing. Poor thing, what happened to her?”
“We don’t know yet, ma’am,” said Milo.
“But she’s dead.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, boy,” said Barnes, wiping clay from her hands. “Do me a favor, we ever meet again, call me CoCo, not ‘ma’am.’ You’re making me feel paleolithic.”
Milo phoned Petra and reached her out in the Valley. When he asked if we could hit the shelter without her, she said fine.
“What’s she doing?” I said.
“Keeping an eye on Kevin’s folks’ house. Stahl’s still watching the apartment, but that’s looking pretty useless.”
I turned the car around, noticed my gas gauge was near empty.
“All the back-and-forth,” he said. “I’ll pay to fill it up.”
“Spring for dinner instead.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere expensive.”
“Double date?” he said.
“Sure.” I pulled into a gas station on Lincoln.
He jumped out, used his credit card to activate the pump, hooked up the nozzle, bounced his eyes around, ever the detective. I felt like stretching, so I wiped the windows.