The Murder Book

"What time?" said Milo.

"Must've been nine, ten."

"Who picked you up?"

"A college student- nerdy type, said he went to Caltech, but he was heading to the U. because he had a date with a girl there and that was really close to Bel Air. He had to tell us that, because we had no idea- I don't think either of us had ever been west of La Cienega, unless we were taking the bus straight to the beach, or, in my case, when I visited my father at the Navy base in Point Mugu. The nerd was a nice guy. Shy, probably picked us up on impulse and regretted it. Because we immediately started hassling him- turning the radio to our station, blasting it loud, teasing him- flirting. Asking him if he wanted to come to the party with us instead of some lame date with a college girl. Being real obnoxious. He got embarrassed, and that cracked us up. Also, we were hoping he might take us all the way to the party, because we still had no idea where it was. So we kept nagging him, but he said no, he liked his girlfriend. I remember Janie getting really rude about that, saying something to the effect of 'She's probably colder than ice. I can give you something she can't.' That was the wrong thing to say. He stopped the car at Stone Canyon and Sunset and ordered us out. I started to, but Janie held me back, started ragging on him to take us to the house, and that just made him angrier. Janie was like that, she could be extremely pushy, had a real talent for getting on people's nerves. The nerd started shouting and shoved Janie and we got out and she flipped him off as he drove away."

"Stone Canyon and Sunset. Close to the party."

"We didn't know that. We were ignorant. And drunk. Back on the boulevard, we'd also boosted a bottle of Southern Comfort, had guzzled our way through most of it. I hated the stuff, to me it tasted like peaches and cough syrup. But Janie loved it. It was her favorite high. She said it was what Janis Joplin had been into and she was into Janis Joplin because she had some idea that her mom had been like Janis Joplin, back in the hippie days. That she'd named Janie after Janis."

"Another fantasy," I said.

She nodded. "She needed them. Her mom abandoned her- ran away with a black guy when Janie was five or six, and Janie never saw her again. Maybe that's another reason Janie always made racist comments."

Milo said, "What'd the two of you do after you were dropped off?"

"Started walking up Stone Canyon and promptly got lost. There were no sidewalks, and the lighting was very bad. And no one was around to ask directions. All those incredible properties and not a soul in sight, none of the noises you hear in a real neighborhood. It was spooky. But we were having fun with it- an adventure. Once we saw a Bel Air Patrol car driving our way, so we hid behind some trees."

She frowned. "Complete idiocy. Thank God my boys aren't hearing this."

"How'd you find the party?"

"We walked in circles for a while, finally ended up right where we started, back at Sunset. And that's when the second car picked us up. A Cadillac, turning onto Stone Canyon. The driver was a black guy, and I was sure Janie wouldn't want to get in- with her it was always 'nigger' this, 'nigger' that. But when the guy rolled down the window and shot us this big grin, and said, 'You girls looking to party?' Janie was the first one in."

"What do you remember about the driver?"

"Early twenties, tall, thin- for some reason when I think of him I always think of Jimi Hendrix. Not that he was Hendrix's spitting image, but there was a general resemblance. He had that rangy, mellow thing going on, loose and confident. Played his music really loud and moving his head in time."

"A Cadillac," said Milo.

"And a newer one but not a pimpmobile. Big conservative sedan, well taken care of, too. Shiny, fresh-smelling- sweet-smelling. Lilacs. Like it belonged to an old woman. I remember thinking that, wondering if he'd stolen it from an old woman. Because he sure didn't match the car, dressed the way he was in this ugly denim suit with rhinestones all over it, all these gold chains."

"What color?"

"Something pale."

Milo opened his briefcase, removed Willie Burns's mug shot, handed it across the desk.

Melinda Waters's eyes got big. "That's him. He's the one who killed Janie?"

"He's someone we're looking for."

"He's still out there?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe? What does that mean?"

"It's been twenty years, and he was a heroin addict."

"You're saying he'd have a poor life expectancy," she said. "But you're still looking for him… why has Janie's murder been reopened? What's the real reason?"

"I was the original detective on the case," said Milo. "I got transferred off. Now, I've been transferred back on."

"Transferred back on by your department or you requested it yourself?" said Waters.

"Does it matter, ma'am?"

She smiled. "It's personal, isn't it? You're trying to undo your own past."

Milo smiled back, and Waters returned the mug shot. "Wilbert Burns. So now I have a name."

"He never introduced himself?"

"He called himself our new friend. I knew he was a junkie as well as a dealer. From how spacey he was- slurring his words. Driving really slow. His music was junkie music- slow jazz- this really draggy trumpet. Janie tried to change the station, but he put his hand on hers and she didn't try again."

"How'd you know he was a dealer?" said Milo.

"He showed us his wares. Carried one of those men's purses and had it on the seat next to him. When we got in, he put it in his lap and after we were driving for a while, he zipped it open, and said, 'How about a taste of something sweet, ladies?' Inside were envelopes of pills and little baggies full of white stuff- I couldn't tell you if it was coke or heroin. That stuff I stayed away from. For me it was just grass and alcohol, once in a while acid."

"What about Janie?"

"Janie had no boundaries."

"Did she sample Burns's wares?"

"Not in the car, but maybe later. Probably later. Because she and Burns got something going on right from the begi

"How'd Burns react to that?"

"He loved it. Said 'Ooh, baby,' stuff like that. Janie was giggling, both of them were laughing at nothing in particular."

"Despite her racism," I said.

"I couldn't believe it. I elbowed her a couple of times, as in, 'What's going on?' But she ignored me. Burns drove to the party- he knew exactly where it was, but we had to park up the road because there were so many cars there."

"Did he say anything about the party?" said Milo.

"He said he knew the people throwing it, that they were rich but cool, it was going to be the finest of the fine. Then, when we got there, he said something along the lines of, 'Maybe the president'll show up.' Because the house had huge pillars, like the White House. Janie thought that was hilarious. I was pretty put out by then, felt like Janie was shutting me out."

"What happened next?"

"We went inside the house. It was vacant and rancid-smelling and pretty much trashed, with beer cans and bottles and Lord knows what else all over the place. Kids ru