“Leaving the University?”
“Yeah. Place sucks, waste of time. You can’t learn business in school.” Another sidelong peek at his father. Senior, his head in a cloud of smoke, was staring at the framed awards.
Milo said, “So you thought she was a bitch and she threatened you. Did her threat scare you at all?”
“No way. Like I said, she was full of shit and I was out of there.”
“Did you ever consider taking action against her?”
“Like what?”
“Like anything.”
Senior swiveled and faced Bateman. “Can he get that general, Pierre?”
“Would you care to rephrase your question, Detective?” said Bateman.
“No,” said Milo. “Did you ever consider taking any kind of action against Professor Devane, Kenny?”
Junior looked from his father to Bateman.
Milo tapped a foot.
“Dad?”
Senior gave him a disgusted look.
Milo said, “Shall I repeat the question?”
Bateman said, “Go ahead, Kenny.”
“We—my father and me—we talked about suing her.”
“Suing her,” said Milo.
“For harassment.”
“Which it was,” said Senior. “The whole thing was a complete outrage.”
“It woulda served her right,” said Junior. “But we never did anything.”
“Why not?”
No answer.
“Because she was murdered?” said Milo.
“No, because Dad’s got some . . . he’s busy with business complications.”
“So we discussed it,” said Senior, loudly. “So what? Last I heard it’s still a free country, or have I missed something?”
Milo kept his eyes on the boy. “Did you ever consider taking any other kind of action against Professor Devane, Kenny?”
“Like what?”
“Anything.”
“Like what?”
“Like getting back at her physically?”
“No way, man. And anyway, if I would’ve wanted to do that it wouldn’ta been her I’d pound, it would be that wuss with her. I’d never hit a lady.”
“What wuss is that?”
“The faggot with her, he really got on my case, I don’t know his name.”
“You considered getting back at him physically.”
Bateman said, “Detective, that’s not a—”
Kenny said, “I didn’t consider it, but if I did, he would’ve been the one. He kept going at me, like trying to . . . outfeminist her.”
“So if you would’ve planned to hurt someone it would have been him, not Professor Devane.”
Senior said, “He never said he’d hurt anyone.”
“Exactly,” said Junior. “Him, I could’ve duked it out fair and square with. But she was a woman. I still open doors for women.”
“Car doors,” said Milo. “Like for Cindy?”
The boy’s shoulders bunched.
Milo checked the tape.
“Okay. Now let’s talk about where you were the night of the murder.”
“La Jolla.” Quick answer.
“Why?”
“I live there, I work there.”
“Work where?”
“Excalibur Real Estate, the training program. Used to, real estate’s in the dumpster.”
“So you quit.”
“Yeah.”
“What are you doing, now?”
“Exploring.”
“Exploring what?”
“My options.”
“I see,” said Milo. “But the day of the murder you were still in the Excalibur Real Estate training program.”
“Yeah,” said the boy. “But that day, specifically, I was with friends on the beach.” He ticked off his fingers: “Corey Vellinger, Mark Drummond, Brian Baskins.”
“Friends from La Jolla?”
“No, from here. The Omega house. They came down to see me.”
“How long were you with them?”
“From around ten to five. Then they drove back up to L.A.”
“What did you do at five?”
“Went driving for a while, got a video at Blockbuster, then I think the Wherehouse for some CD’s.”
“You bought CD’s?”
“No, I just looked.”
“Do you have the receipt for the video?”
“Nope.”
“You pay for it with a credit card?”
“Nope, I was overdue on my card so I left them a deposit, paid cash.”
“What’d you rent?”
“Terminator 2.”
“You go home and watch it?”
“First I went for dinner.”
“Where?”
“Burger King.”
“Is there anyone who can remember you there?”
“Nope, it was drive-through.”
“Where’d you eat?”
“At my place.”
“An apartment?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
“The Coral Motel, off Torrey Pines.”
“Anyone see you there?”
“Don’t think so, but maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I don’t know anyone, it’s just this dinky-shit single he was renting for me while I was in the program.”
“Who’s he?”
“Dad.”
Senior smoked and looked at the wall. “Month-to-month rent,” he said.