“Toys,” said Milo. “When you were over at Fairway Ranch, see any good climbing spots?”
“The entire development is backed by the Tehachapi mountains. But a short walk through foothills is one thing, serious climbing’s another. Crimmins would be limited by Peake’s condition. Even if Peake’s vegetable act’s a fake, he’s no Edmund
Hillary. Also, if Crimmins has returned to Treadway, it’s because it has psychological meaning for him. So maybe he’ll stick close to home.”
“What kind of psychological meaning?”
“Something to do with the massacre-maybe he’s reworking it. For his movie.
Rescripting-reliving-a major triumph. Back when he lived there, Treadway was essentially divided between the Ardullo and the Crimmins ranches. Wanda Hatzler told me the Mexican girl Derrick and Cliff threw out of their car ran toward the Ardullo property. On the north side. That could narrow things down.”
“But which way would he go? To the Ardullo side because that’s where the massacre went down, or to his daddy’s place?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “Maybe none of the above.”
“What’s there now? Where the ranches were.”
“Homes. Recreational facilities. A lake.”
“Big homes?” he said. “Something that might remind Crimmins of the Ardullo place?”
“I didn’t get that close a look. It’s an upscale development. Whether or not that will trigger anything in Crimmins’s head, I can’t say.”
“Any obvious place to hide out?”
“It’s pretty open,” I said. “Two golf courses, the lake. If they break into someone’s home, there’ll be plenty of cover. But even if Crimmins is loosening up mentally, that seems downright stupid…. Maybe outside the development.
Somewhere at the base of the Tehachapis. If Derrick climbed as a kid, he could have a special hiding place.”
Milo got back on the phone, called Bunker Protection. Once again, his side of the conversation was tense. “Idiot rent-a-cops. No sign of any disturbance, no disreputables have driven through tonight, yawn, yawn… Okay, let me toss the rest of this palace.”
The second bedroom, the space where Heidi and Derrick Crimmins had slept, was narrow, also devoid of personal touches, with barely enough space for the queen-size mattress and two cheap nightstands. In the top drawer of the stand on the right were a half-empty box of tampons, three gold-wrapped Godiva chocolates, two energy bars, a baggie of marijuana. The bottom compartment held woman’s underwear, an empty Evian bottle, some white powder in a glassine envelope.
“The 11351.5 didn’t make much of an impression,” I said.
“First offense-she probably got probation. If that.”
“More fuel for her confidence. Coke and poppers would’ve helped, too.”
He checked under the mattress, in the pillowcases, moved around to Crimmins’s nightstand. Pack of Kools, two foil-wrapped condoms, two matchbooks, and a thin red paperback book entitled Finding Fame and Fortune in Hollywood: Writing Your
Screenplay, “by the editors of the Fame and Fortune Series.”
The publisher was an outfit called Hero Press, FOB address in Lancaster, California.
The flyleaf said others in the series included Buying Real Estate with Nothing Down,
Options and Commodities Trading with Nothing Down, Start Your Own Business with
Nothing Down, and Live to 120: The Herbal Way to Longevity.
“The scammer finally gets scammed,” said Milo, kneeling in front of the lower compartment.
Inside was a black vinyl looseleaf. He pulled it out, turned to the title page.
Typed at the top was
BLOOD WALK
A TREATMENT FOR A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
By D. Griffith Crimmins***
***PRESIDENT AND CEO, DGC PRODUCTIONS, THIN LINE PRODUCTIONS, ENTERPENEUR, DIRECTOR,
PRODUCER, AND CINEMATOGRAPHER
The next page, soiled and smudged, bore several up-slanting lines written in ballpoint. Curious, sharp-edged penmanship, full of angles and peaks that reminded me of hieroglyphics.
Equip. Noprob. Obviosly.
Casting: wrd ofmth?Ad? Pickups? Special effects: fakeout, double-bluff
Figure out the cameras or use video? Worth the hassle? Viedo can work good enough
Titles: Blood Walk. Bloodwalkers. Walk of Blood. Blood-bath. The Big Walk
Alternetive titles: 1. The Monster Returns 2. Bagging the Monster 3.
Daredevil Avenger-justice for all. 4. Saturday The 14th 5. Return of the
Master 6. Horror On Palm Street 7. Maniac 8. Psycho-Drama 9. The Ultamite
Crime 10. Genius and Insanity 11. The Thin Line-who s to say whos crazy and whos not.