True Detectives

“Instead of money.”

“I was short on cash, figured he'd sell it.”

“You never signed over the pink slip.”

“I didn't?”

“No, sir.”

“Oh… did Ray do something with that car-hit someone while drunk?”

“No, Reverend. Back to your daughter. You helped your brother out and he repaid you by snooping on Sarah. Was that before he asked for a handout or later?”

Arnold's jaws clenched. “Sarah didn't tell me until several days later. She'd been looking upset and I finally got it out of her. I thought it was something about school, friends. I never expected to hear that.”

“What did she say happened?”

“She was in her room, getting ready for bed, spotted movement from the window, caught a clear glimpse of Ray's face. Then he disappeared. She was sure it was Ray. That mustache of his is pretty distinctive. Fortunately, she's a modest girl, wears a long nightgown. But just the fact that he was out there… Sarah was more angry than scared.”

“And you doubted it was a onetime thing.”

“We talked about it as a family and my older daughter, Eve, said she'd always gotten a strange feeling from Ray. He never actually did anything but his presence made her feel uneasy. Eve's a bright, perceptive girl.”

“Makes you wonder about a darker side to your brother.”

“Was Adella… was there that kind of assault as well?”

Instead of answering, Moe said, “Is there anything else in Ray's history you want to tell me-sexually speaking? Like when you were growing up?”

“No, no, nothing that I know-will he be charged with snooping on Sarah?”

“Do you want him to be?”

“The reason I didn't report it in the first place was I didn't want to put Sarah through anything traumatic. And she insisted that's what she wanted. We talked about it as a family and came to a decision. Ray was to be barred from the house forever. It seemed the best solution. Now you're telling me Ray may have committed an act of perversion-”

“No, sir, I never said that.”

“But you didn't deny it when I asked you if Adella was assaulted.”

Moe took pity on the guy. “She wasn't, Reverend Wohr. And to be honest, I don't see how Ray can be charged for snooping.”

“Too much time has passed?”

“Even if you'd reported him at the time, I doubt he would've been charged. Being spotted on the other side of a niece's window when she's fully clothed when he wasn't trespassing can be explained away easily. He was out there smoking, just happened to pass by.” Looking straight at Wohr. “If he's never done anything along those lines before.”

“He hasn't,” said Wohr. “Not with my girls.”

“Then no cop would've busted him, sir-not here or in La Puente.”

But the sexual element was definitely worth looking into.

“Thank you,” said Arnold. “For trying to make me feel better.”

“I'm being honest, Reverend. I appreciate you coming all the way out here and doing the same.”

Wohr squirmed. “There is one more thing, Detective. Something Ray said the last time I saw him. Part of that speech about getting his life together. He could see I was skeptical, so he got specific, claimed he was representing people in entertainment.”

“Representing how?”

“I asked him that but he just repeated himself. Representing. Like he was some sort of an agent. Then he brought up Adella, said ‘Remember her? High-class, Arnie. She's what I'm talking about.’ I said, ‘Ray, if you need money, just come out and say so and stop spi

Arnold shook his head. “I never talked to him like that, something must've come over me. He started using foul language. Jammed his palm right up in my face, said ‘Fill the collection plate, Scrooge.’ That irritated me, I smacked the bills into his hand hard. He made some blasphemous remark, how if the God squad behaved this way, God must be a loser. At that point, I knew he had to leave before I did something I'd regret. I was still smoldering when Sarah told me what happened. It was like lighting a match to my soul. I called my brother, left a message telling him to get help for his perverted impulses, told him I never wanted to see him again. And he's honored that request.”

“Six months ago.”

“Not to the day, Detective. Give or take.”

Representing a dead woman.

“Anything else you want to tell me, Reverend?”

Arnold shook his head. “Where's Ray living?”

“I don't know, sir.” No sense in a confrontation between the brothers at Alicia Eiger's crib.

“You don't have him in custody?”

“No, sir.”

“So he really isn't a suspect.” “Not at this point.”

“Okay,” said Arnold Wohr, sounding more regretful than relieved. “Something else on your mind, Reverend?”

“If you do put him in custody, Detective Reed, I'd like to know. So I could visit him. See how I could help.”

CHAPTER 25

Back at his desk, Moe distilled droplets of fact from his interview of Arnold Wohr.

Brother Ray's scumbag image had filled out nicely. No violence on his sheet, but the guy was sexually twisted enough to peep a thirteen-year-old.

The “entertainment” co

Was Wohr's Industry biz limited to a fringe hanger-on like Ax? Or had he actually networked with serious money types?

With unhealthy appetites.

If Wohr's reach did stretch to A-list dope fiends like Mason Book, this could get really interesting.

Mountains of money to indulge the gimme gimme gimme.

Ramone's boast of “representing” Adella might mean he really had pimped her. Or he was making himself more than he was.

She had accompanied him to Easter di

With her baby.

Who Ramone showed no interest in.

The creepiest part was Ramone bragging about representing Adella long after her murder. No official violence in his sheet but he was callous enough to exploit her memory in order to cadge money out of his brother.

Arnold and his family had been confused about the relationship between his brother and the surprisingly polite “young lady.”

Because citizens like Arnold and his family had no clue.

Moe thought about the rev's description of the interaction between Ramone and Adella. No affection, no conversation.

Scooping food off her plate when she went to feed the baby.

Why would Adella, a devoted mom, hang with him?

No reason but money.

The Easter visit had probably been Ramone's idea of a joke. Bringing high-priced flesh to his devout brother's house on a sacred day.

Callous and mean-spirited.

Toss in Ramone peeping his own niece during a visit to ask for yet more money, and you ended up with a really nasty picture.

Cold, uncaring, sexually impulsive.

Exactly the combo Delaware had listed during the marsh-murder investigation when describing the classic kink-wired, career-criminal psychopath.

Meaning Ramone was capable of anything.

Moe fetched himself coffee, drank amid the low buzz of the D-room, visualizing Technicolor flash-frames filled with mind-searing brutality.

Caitlin's pretty young face, contorted in agony.

Adella Villareal thinking she was a pro but getting the worst kind of surprise.

Two good-looking young women, as different from each other as any two people could be, united in death.

The baby.

Moe had to get air or he'd start hitting something.

Making his way past half a dozen other detectives, he hurried out to the hallway that led to Sturgis's closet-sized office. Race-walking past the Loo's closed door, he repeated the circuit a couple of times. Got dry-mouthed and itchy-eyed and bought a Coke from the machine before returning to his chair.