'But there've been no actual sexual harassment complaints.'
'No,' said Martin. 'Faculty-student sex is a fixture of college life and complaints are very rare. For the most part, it's consensual. Isn't that so, Professor Delaware?'
I nodded.
'Kevin Drummond's gay,' said Milo. 'Should we be looking at that?'
'You're asking if Gordon's bisexual?' said Martin. 'Well, I haven't picked up on that, but the truth is nothing you'd tell me about him would surprise me. He's what used to be referred to as a scoundrel. Nice word,
that. Too bad it's fallen out of usage. He's your prototypical spoiled brat, he bounces along, doing exactly what he pleases. Have you met his mother?'
'Not yet.'
Martin smiled. 'You really should. Especially you, Professor Delaware. Right up your alley.'
'A font of psychopathology?' said Milo.
Martin regarded him with a long, amused look. 'The woman's devoid of basic courtesy and simple good sense. Every year at the endowment luncheon she corrals me and reminds me how much money her husband's doled out, then she proceeds to lecture me about the wondrous accomplishments of her baby boy. Gordon comes by his pretentiousness honestly. She presents herself as society, but from what I've gathered, her first husband - Gordon's real father - was a drunk. An unsuccessful real estate agent who spent time in prison for fraud. Both he and Gordon's brother died in a house fire when Gordon was young and a few years later, the mother found herself a sugar daddy.'
Milo scrawled in his pad.
Martin said, 'This has been educational, but I'm tired. If that's all-'
'If you've got a writing sample from Shull, that would be helpful.'
'Back at my office,' she said. 'I've got his latest end-of-year self-assessment. Every faculty member's required to submit one - listing accomplishments, goals. Gordon's is a formality because we both know he's got life tenure.'
'Maybe not,' said Milo.
'What a lovely thought,' said Martin. 'I'll come in early
tomorrow, messenger it to you first thing.'
She saw us to the door, and Milo thanked her.
'My pleasure,' she said. 'Really... you know, now that I think about it, Gordon's being a murderer doesn't really surprise me all that much.'
'Why's that, ma'am?'
'Someone that false, that shallow, could do anything.'
Petra was having a decent night. The air was cool, the sky was a velvety purple-black where Hollywood neon didn't bleach it gray, and A. Gordon Shull was well known at clubs and dives and alternative bookstores.
The recollections of a hungover barkeep at the Screw, a rancid thrash-metal cave on Vermont, were typical:
Yeah, I seen him. Wears black and tries to pick up young chicks.
Does he succeed?
Maybe, sometimes.
Any girl in particular?
They're all the same.
What else can you tell me about him?
Just an old guy trying to be cool - y'know.
I know what?
It's the way things go.
A whole different ball game than her futile attempts to find any links to Kevin Drummond. But something gave her pause: none of the sightings paired Shull with Kevin. Was the younger man even involved in the bad stuff?
Despite the IDs, her attempts to link Shull specifically to dope, violent tendencies, aberrant sex, or Erna Murphy were unsuccessful. By shift's end, she realized it added up to very little they could use in the short term, and she felt her mood sinking. Then she got a little gift from God: During her first pass down Fountain Avenue, the Snake Pit had been closed - NO SHOW TONIGHT - but when she passed by on the way to the station, she spotted cars parked in front and a door left slightly ajar.
She went in and encountered a fat, ponytailed bouncer nursing a gin and tonic. The place smelled like a toilet.
'Closed,' the fat guy told her. 'Maintenance.'
That meant him standing around guzzling and a diminutive man who looked like a rain forest Indian sweeping the sticky floor. Music - some kind of harmonica-driven, bass-heavy Chicago blues - blared on the sound system. Bare, plywood tables were arranged haphazardly. A drum kit sat on the stage. A microphone stand with no mike looked decapitated. Nothing sadder than a dive without patrons.
Petra stepped in farther and looked around some more and smiled at the bouncer.
'Yeah?' He folded thigh-sized forearms over his sumo belly. His skin was the pink-gray of raw pork sausage. A brocade of tattoos turned the arms into kimono sleeves. Prison art and finer work. A swastika graced the back of his neck.
He hadn't been one of the interviewees on Baby Boy's murder. She showed him the badge and asked him about that.
'I was off that night.'
She'd requested a full staff list from the management.
So much for that. She showed him Shull's photo.
'Yeah, he comes here.' Pork Sausage downed his drink, waddled behind the bar, and fixed himself another. He took a long time cutting a lime, squeezed it into the glass, then tossed the slice into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, rind and all.
'How often does he come here?' said Petra.
'Sometimes.'
'What's your name?'
He didn't like the question, but he wasn't the least bit intimidated. 'Ralf Kvellesenn.'
She had him spell it for her, write it down. Ralf with an 'F'. Some Viking ancestor was rolling over in his grave. 'Be more specific than "sometimes," Ralf.'
Kvellesenn frowned, and his greasy forehead furrowed. 'Dude comes in once in a while. He ain't a regular, I only know him because he comes on real friendly?
'With you?'
'With the acts. Dude's into talking to them. Between sets. He digs going backstage.'
'Is he allowed to do that?'
Kveliesenn winked. 'It ain't the Hollywood Bowl.'
Meaning a few bucks opened doors.
Petra said, 'So he's kind of like a groupie.'
Kvellesenn emitted a wet laugh. 'I never seen him giving head.'
'I didn't mean literally, Ralf.'
'Whatever.'
'You don't seem curious about why I'm asking you about him.'
'I ain't a curious person,' said Kvellesenn. 'Curious gets you fucked up.'
She recorded Kvellesenn's address and phone number, sat down at a bare table as he stared, took her time rereading her notes and found the name of the bouncer who'd been on the night of Baby Boy's murder.
Val Bove.
She left the club, phoned Bove's home number, woke him up, described Shull.
'Yeah,' he said.
'Yeah, what?'
'I know the dude you mean, but I don' remember if he was there when Baby got offed.'
'Why not?'
'House was packed.'
'But you definitely know who I'm talking about.'
'Yeah, the professor dude.'
'How do you know he's a professor?'
'He calls himself that,' said Bove. 'He told me he was a professor. like trying to impress me. Like I give a shit.'
'What else did he tell you?'
'Basically, he's like "I'm cool." "I write books," "I play guitar, too." Like I give a fuck.'
'An artistic type,' said Petra.
'Whatever.' A loud yawn came over the phone, and Petra could swear she smelled the guy's rotten breath.
'What else can you tell me about the professor dude?'
'That's it, babe. Next time don' call so early.'
She made careful, copious notes, was about to phone Milo, call it a day well spent, but drove to Dove House, instead. The assistant director, Diane Petrello, was at the downstairs desk. Petra had brought her a few people.
Diane smiled. Her eyes were pink-rimmed and raw. Her expression said, What now?
'Rough day?' said Petra.
'Terrible day. Two of our girls OD'd last night.'
'Sorry to hear that, Diane. They were doping together?'
'Separate incidents, Detective. Which somehow makes it worse. One was right around the corner, she'd just left for a walk, promised to come back for evening prayers. The other was in that big parking lot behind the new Kodak Center. All those tourists... the only reason we found out so quickly is both girls had our card in their purses, and your officers were kind enough to let us know.'
Petra showed her Shull's photo. Diane shook her head.
'Is he involved with Erna?'
'Don't know yet, Diane. Could I please show this to your current residents?'
'Of course.'
They trudged upstairs together and Petra began with the males - six profoundly inebriated men, none of whom recognized Shull. On the women's floor, she found only three residents in one room, including Lynnette, the gaunt, black-haired junkie Milo had spoken to about Erna.
'Cute,' she said. 'Kind of like a Banana Republic ad.'
'Have you seen him before, Lynnette?'
'I wish.'
Behind smudged eyeglass lenses, Diane Petrello's eyes shut tight, then opened. 'Lynnette,' she said softly.
Before Lynnette could reply, Petra said, 'You wish?'
'Like I said, cute,' said Lynnette. 'I could do him so good he'd buy me pretty things.' She grinned, revealing ragged mossy teeth. Yellow eyes, hepatitis or something in that league. Petra felt like stepping away, but she didn't.
'Lynnette, have you ever seen this man with Erna?'
'Erna was a skank. He's way too cute for her.'
One of the other women was elderly and whisker-chinned, stretched out on the bed, sleeping. The other was fortyish, tall, black, heavy-legged. Petra glanced at the black woman, and she drifted over, sliding worn bedroom slippers over threadbare carpeting and sounding like a snare drum.
'I seen him with Erna.'
'Right,' said Lynnette.
Petra said, 'When did you see him, Ms - ?'
'Devana Moore. I seen him here and there - talking.'
'To Erna.'
'Uh-huh.'
'Right,' said Lynnette.
Devana Moore said, 'I did.'
'Here and there?' said Petra.
'Not here... like, you know - here,' said Devana Moore. Talking slowly. Slurring. Forming sentences was an ordeal. 'Here and... there.'
'Not in the building,' said Petra, 'but in the neighborhood.'
'Right!'
'She's lyin',' said Lynnette.
'I ain't lyin',' said Devana Moore, without a trace of resentment. More like a kid protesting her innocence. Petra was no expert, but she was willing to bet this one's
IQ made her a disastrous witness. Still, work with what you have...
Lynnette snickered.
Devana Moore said, 'Girl, I be lyin', I be flyin'.'
Petra said, 'When's the last time you saw this man with Erna, Ms Moore?'
'Mizz Moore,' said Lynnette, cackling.
Diane Petrello said, 'C'mon, Lynnette. Let's get some coffee.'
Lynnette didn't budge. The old woman snored loudly. Devana Moore stared at Petra.
Petra repeated the question and Moore said, 'Had to be... few days ago.'
'How many days?'
Silence.
'About?' pressed Petra.
'Dunno - maybe... dunno.'
Lynnette said, 'They gonna bust you for lyin'. Mizz Moore.' To Petra: 'She's a retard.'
Moore sagged and pouted, and Petra thought she'd break into tears. Instead, she lunged at Lynnette, and the two women flailed their arms ineffectually until Petra got between them, and shouted, 'Stop it right now!'
Silence. Downcast looks. Lynnette cackled again, and Diane Petrello ushered her out of the room. Devana Moore was crying. Petra said, 'She's just being mean. I know you're telling me the truth.'
Sniffle. Moore looked at the floor.
'You're really helping me, Ms Moore. I appreciate it.'
'Don't bust me,' said Moore. 'Please.'
'Why would I bust you?'
Moore kicked her own ankle. 'Sometimes I whore. It's
a sin, and I don' want to, but sometimes I do it.'