He’d call back, but always late at night when he knew I wasn’t in.” He ticked his ringers. ” ‘Sorry, been traveling.’ ‘There must be a bank mixup.’ ‘I’ll get you a cashier’s check.’ By the next month, I’d had it, but he was gone.”
“What about the second woman?” said Milo.
“Her I didn’t meet, I just saw her with him. Getting into his car-that’s another thing. His car. Yellow Corvette. Flashy. That he had money for. The time I saw the second woman was around the same time-five, six months ago. I’d come by to get the rent, no one was home. I left a note, drove away, got halfway up the block, saw
Orson’s car, turned around. Orson parked and got out. But then he must’ve seen me, because he got back in and drove off. Fast, we passed each other. I waved but he kept going. She was on the passenger side. Brunette. I’d already met the blonde, remember thinking He can ‘tpay the rent but he can afford two girlfriends.”
“You figured the brunette was his girlfriend.”
“She was with him, middle of the day. They were about to go into the house.”
“What else can you tell me about her?”
“I didn’t get much of a look at her. Older than the blonde, I think. Nothing unusual. When she passed me, she was looking out the window. Right at me. Not smiling or anything. I remember thinking she looked confused-like why was Orson making a getaway, but… I really can’t say much about her. Brunette, that’s about it.”
“How about a description of Orson?”
“Tall, skinny. Every time I saw him he wore nothing but black. He had these black boots with big heels that made him even taller. And that shaved head-real
Hollywood.”
“Shaved head,” said Milo.
“Clean as a cueball,” said Itatani.
“How old?”
“Thirties, maybe forty.”
“Eye color?”
“That I couldn’t tell you. He always reminded me of a vulture. Big nose, little eyes-I think they were brown, but I wouldn’t swear to it.”
“How old was the brunette in the car?”
Itatani shrugged. “Like I said, we passed for two seconds.”
“But probably older than the blonde,” said Milo.
“I guess.”
Milo produced Claire’s County Hospital staffphoto.
Itatani studied the picture, returned it, shaking his head. “No reason it couldn ‘t be her, but that’s as much as I can say. Who is she?”
“Possibly an associate of Orson. So you saw the brunette with Orson five, six months ago.”
“Let me think…. I’d say closer to five. Not long before he moved out.” Itatani dabbed his face again. “All these questions, he must’ve done something really bad.”
“Why’s that, sir?”
“For you to be spending all this time. I get burglaries at some of my other properties, robberies, it’s all I can do to get the police to come out and write a report. I knew that guy was wrong.”
Milo pressed Itatani for more details without success; then we walked through the house. Two bedrooms, one bath, everything redolent of soap. Fresh paint; new carpeting in the hallway. The replaced floorboards were in the smaller bedroom. Milo rubbed his face. Any physical evidence of Wark’s presence had long vanished.
He said, “Did Orson keep any tools here-power tools?” “In the garage,” said Itatani.
“He set up a whole shop. He kept more movie stuff in there, too. Lights, cables, all kinds of things.”
“What kind of tools did he have in the shop?” “The usual,” said Itatani. “Power drill, hand tools, power saws. He said he sometimes built his own sets.”
The garage was flat-roofed and double-width, taking up a third of the tiny backyard.
Outsized for the house. I remarked on that.
Itatani unlocked the sliding metal door and shoved it up. “I enlarged it years ago, figured it would make the place easier to rent.”
Inside were walls paneled in cheap fake oak, a cement floor, an open-beam ceiling with a fluorescent fixture dangling from a header. The smell of disinfectant burned my nose.
“You’ve cleaned this, too,” said Milo.
“First thing I cleaned,” said Itatani. “The hairdresser brought cats in. Against the rules-he had a no-pets lease. Litter boxes and those scratch things all over the place. Took days to air out the stink.” He sniffed. “Finally.”