Glancing over his shoulder, Hayes suppressed a groan. Bentz was out of the car, standing in the pool of light at the chain-link fence, murmuring something to Rufus, who had finally stopped barking. "He"s fine out there," Hayes said, trying to distract Yolanda Salazar. "Sorry to bother you, but if you could just-"
"Wait a minute." Yolanda"s eyes were cold, black pebbles as her face hardened into a scowl. "Sebastian!" She motioned him toward the door, a stream of Spanish erupting between them. "b.a.s.t.a.r.do!" "b.a.s.t.a.r.do!" she hissed. she hissed.
Alarmed, Sebastian crossed to the door and gaped at the atrocity his wife indicated.
Hayes ground his teeth together, knowing what this was all about. Bentz.
Yolanda wheeled on Hayes and Martinez. "Get out of my house! You bring a baby killer into my home? The hombre hombre who killed my brother? Shot him dead?" She pointed an accusing finger to the street. "He is the cop who shot Mario, a twelve-year-old boy! An innocent." Her upper lip curled into a snarl of distaste. "Leave now," she insisted. And then, to Hayes"s horror, she flew out the door. who killed my brother? Shot him dead?" She pointed an accusing finger to the street. "He is the cop who shot Mario, a twelve-year-old boy! An innocent." Her upper lip curled into a snarl of distaste. "Leave now," she insisted. And then, to Hayes"s horror, she flew out the door.
Pacing along the chain-link fence, Bentz was on the phone. "...I think her name was Judd. Yolanda Judd," he said to Montoya as Yolanda herself burst out of the house. Bare feet flying, she cut across the yard and lunged toward him. "Baby killer!" she accused. "What are you doing here?"
Hayes and Martinez were on her heels with a big guy, most likely her husband, following.
"I"ll call you back," he said to Montoya and hung up.
"Can"t you leave us in peace? Isn"t it enough that you killed my baby brother and ruined my mother"s life?" she said as Bentz swung around to face her.
She spat then, hitting him square in the face.
Bentz"s hands clenched into fists. Crazy b.i.t.c.h! Crazy b.i.t.c.h! He could barely contain his fury. He could barely contain his fury.
"Back off!" Hayes shouted. He waved Bentz toward the car, motioning for him to return to the backseat in a feeble attempt to defuse the situation. "Mrs. Salazar, we just need to ask you some questions about your car," he insisted to Yolanda.
"Then why is he he here?" She hooked a finger at Bentz as he wiped his face. here?" She hooked a finger at Bentz as he wiped his face.
Certainly not to endure your abuse, Bentz wanted to say. Bentz wanted to say.
"Do you know where your car is now?" Hayes stepped between Yolanda and Bentz.
"With Fernando...oh, Dios. Dios. Fernando. Where is he?" Her anger appeared to morph into genuine fear. Fernando. Where is he?" Her anger appeared to morph into genuine fear.
"I don"t know, Mrs. Salazar. But we have your vehicle."
"Where?" She seemed stunned.
"At the police lot. We"re looking through it for evidence."
"Evidence of what?"
"It could be linked to three homicides."
"What?" She glanced at Bentz, but some of her hostility had evaporated. "Homicides?"
"That"s right. Who usually drives the car?"
"II do."
Hayes looked at the driveway where a pickup with a canopy was parked beside a shiny Lexus. "Who drives those?"
"The Nissan truck is mine," the husband said and Yolanda sent him a withering look. "Yolanda drives the Lexus. We use the Chevy as an extra car, bought it from Carlos because it was a good deal. Lately Fernando has been borrowing it."
"He lives here?" Martinez asked.
Yolanda"s lips pinched in disapproval, but Sebastian nodded and answered, "Most of the time."
"Does he have another vehicle?" Martinez had taken out a small notepad and was jotting down the information.
"His Blazer is in the shop; needs a new transmission. He hasn"t decided if it"s worth it yet."
"Where"s Fernando now?" Martinez asked, risking a look at the dog, who was now standing on his hind legs and digging at the meshed steel of the fence.
"I don"t know." Yolanda shot a nervous glance up the street, as if she expected her brother to appear at any second.
"Is he at work?" Martinez asked.
"School," Sebastian said, wrapping a big arm around Yolanda"s shoulders. "He takes night cla.s.ses at the junior college. Like my wife. He usually comes home after work at the restaurant, The Blue Burro, but today he didn"t. Called and said he was going straight to school."
"You got a phone number for him?"
"No!" Yolanda said, obviously scared, but Sebastian placed a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed it as he gave Martinez the number.
"d.a.m.n it, Sebastian!" Yolanda said, pushing his hand away.
Her husband wasn"t put off. "If he"s in trouble, we need to know about it."
Hayes tried a different tack. "Does Fernando have a girlfriend? Anyone he would loan the car to?"
"No one serious," she said.
Sebastian scowled. "Fernando, he knows lots of girls. But I don"t know about loaning the car to any of them. He should know better than that, you know? The car, it belongs to my wife."
Hayes asked, "Do you know a woman named Jennifer Bentz?" When Yolanda shrugged, he continued. "Come on back inside, I have some pictures I"d like you to see."
Yolanda shot Bentz one last hateful glance, then begrudgingly returned to the house.
Still seething, Bentz climbed into the back of the Toyota, leaving the door open so that a breeze slid into the car.
He wondered about Yolanda and the d.a.m.ned car.
She hadn"t been driving it earlier today.
Nor had Fernando.
But Fernando Valdez was the next person on Bentz"s list to interview.
Despite Hayes"s warning, he put in a call to the phone number, but Fernando didn"t pick up.
Bentz leaned against the seat, wondering if Yolanda was telling the truth. Something he doubted. He watched a bicyclist in reflective gear whiz past while a cat in a neighboring yard slunk through the shrubbery, hunting.
Meanwhile, Rufus had settled down to whining and pacing.
Bentz used his cell phone to reserve another rental car. He also called the So-Cal Inn, hoping against hope that Olivia might have slipped through the cracks and come looking for him there.
No such luck, of course.
He rented another room, one facing the interior pool this time, and gave Rebecca specific instructions to phone him if she heard from his wife. It was a long shot, of course, but he had to cover all his bases, even the most obscure.
Twenty minutes later, Hayes and Martinez were emerging from the house when Bentz"s phone rang. He picked it up, hoping to see Olivia"s number on the screen. Instead he saw Montoya"s.
"Bentz."
"You were right," Montoya said. "I pulled up some records on Yolanda Valdez in Los Angeles County, dug a little deeper, and it seems that she was married to an Erik Judd for a short period of time. Erik was a roofer and he had an accident; fell four stories and died before the divorce was final."
"They were getting a divorce?"
"Had filed the papers."
"How do you know this?" Bentz said, looking outside to the night. No county offices would be open.
"You just have to know what you"re doing, who to call, and how to work the Internet. Public records can be located."
"If you say so."
"I do, and the kicker is this: He had a five hundred thousand dollar insurance policy on him. Half a million. The beneficiary, none other than his soon to be ex-wife."
"Anything fishy about the accident?"
"The insurance company didn"t balk. According to bank records, Yolanda owns her house in Encino outright and still has eighty thou sand in the bank." Montoya sounded pleased with himself. "No student loans for this girl."
"Thanks," Bentz said. "Now, do me a favor. Find out what you can about the brother. Fernando Valdez. He"s been using the car that Jennifer Jennifer was driving. I think he lives with his sister and brother-in law, but right now he"s MIA." was driving. I think he lives with his sister and brother-in law, but right now he"s MIA."
"I"ll see what I can find."
"Thanks."
"You owe me a beer.... No, wait, I think the debt is more than that. You"re up to half a case already."
"I"m good for it," Bentz said. "You haven"t heard from Olivia, have you?"
"No. Why? Didn"t she show up?"
"Nope. She landed at LAX. We talked on the phone. She was meeting Officer Petrocelli and I haven"t heard from her since."
"You"re sure she was on the plane? If she was on her cell, she could have been anywhere."
"Yeah. I checked with the airline."
"So what happened?"
"I don"t know," Bentz admitted, refusing to be defeated. "But I"ll find her."
"Of course you will, man," Montoya said but there was an undercurrent of worry in his voice, one that was echoed in Bentz"s own fears.
I have to work quickly, and I"m getting a little rattled. I feel it and I don"t like it. It"s not that I"m not fast on my feet; it"s that I prefer to have everything worked out to the finest little detail. That"s why it"s taken twelve years to execute this plan. Twelve, long, torturous years.
I can"t blow it now, I think, stripping off my clothes in a cabin on the boat and seeing my reflection in the slim mirror. I"m in good shape, better than anyone would guess or know, and I give myself credit. It"s taken years to hone my muscles, to look just how I want.
Like so many things in my life, my strength and appearance took patience, timing, and determination. I didn"t give up cigarettes for nothing.
Sometimes, unfortunately, it"s necessary to take chances, to react to the moment. It"s nerve-racking, I admit as I stuff my hair into a baseball cap. So after those risky moments, I just have to gain my equilibrium again, retain my focus, remember my ultimate goal.
I pull on my running pants and zip up my jacket, then sneak off the craft. No one"s around at this hour, so I slip into the car unnoticed.
In the backseat, Sherry is all ready to go. Her clothes, badge, and purse sit beside her. "It"s very quiet back there," I tell her.
Checking the rearview mirror, breathing slowly, I drive to a dead-end street about a mile from the restaurant where I met Sherry earlier. She and I go way back and it was a shame she had to be sacrificed, but the truth of the matter is that she always bothered me, a cop without any grit.
I park in a back alley and wipe off the areas where I might have left prints when I drove her away from the restaurant. I drop the latex gloves onto the backseat, douse it all generously with gasoline, and strike a match.
Hisssss!
The little flame glows bright for a second and I toss it through the open window onto the gloves. Combustion! The backseat ignites, burning quickly, setting the entire vehicle aflame.
Perfect, I think, starting to run when I see him. A guy on a motorcycle, cutting down the street behind me. I think, starting to run when I see him. A guy on a motorcycle, cutting down the street behind me.
Oh, h.e.l.l. My pulse skyrockets. Sweat beads on my forehead and hands. What if he saw me at the car? What if he can describe me? What if...
Calm down! He didn"t see you. He might find the burning car, but that"s what you want, remember? Just keep running.
Spurred by my own pep talk, I head out, cutting down back alleys, jogging at my regular pace, fast enough, considering everything I"ve been through.
I"m almost at the restaurant when I hear the sirens screaming. Fire trucks. Police cars. Probably a rescue vehicle. "Have at it," I say as I spy my own car parked in an alley several blocks from the restaurant, as it has been for hours, patiently waiting.
I drive home without a hitch. After stripping off my running clothes and tossing them into the washer, I take a long warm shower, giving myself a little time to think about Bentz and how he"s suffering now. He"s sick with worry about his precious little wife. He"s all messed up about his dead one.
"Having fun yet, RJ?" I laugh while the steam rolls through the bathroom. As I shampoo my hair, then wash my body, my mind seizes on my next move, tomorrow"s plan. Bentz is in for a few more heart attacks before I"m done. Olivia is going to die...oh, yes, I think, running the loofah over my back and down my arms, inhaling the scented soap. But before she bites it, I want Bentz to twist in the wind until he nearly breaks.
I scrub my feet, then let the warm water cascade over me, washing away all traces of dirt, grime, and sweat. Finally, I step out of the shower and towel off, thinking of Olivia rotting in the bowels of the boat, scared to death, probably screaming her lungs out to no avail.
Didn"t I tell her not to waste her time? After grabbing my robe from the hook on the back of the bathroom door, I throw it on and cinch the waist.