Stalker (25 page)

“I think Amory was hoping you were sleeping with Tropper,” she said. “If you were stupid enough to do that, you’d be stupid enough to fall for one of his lines.”

“You didn’t answer the question. Have you heard any comments like that?”

“Nothing serious. Amory’s a pussy hound. He was trying a line out. It didn’t work. Let it pass.”

Cindy didn’t bother asking how she knew about Sean. “What about Bederman?”

“Don’t even ask.” Marx rubbed her forehead. “God, I’m sick of this fucking place. Why are we here?”

Because you suggested it
! Cindy wanted to say. Instead she said, “Let’s go somewhere quiet for coffee.”

“That sounds good. How about your place?”

Why the hell would Hayley want to go to her apartment? To finish off a job she started last night
? But, by her tone of voice, the invitation almost sounded romantic…like she wanted something cozy. With the way that Cindy felt about guys at the moment, it almost sounded tempting.
Almost
. “Did you work things out with Lopez?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Where is he?” Cindy looked around. “I don’t see him. Where’d he go?”

“I dunno.” Hayley searched the room. “I left him at the bar. Who cares? Let’s just get out of here.”

Cindy swung her purse over her shoulder. “You know where I live?”

“Haven’t a clue.”

“Then follow me home. I could use a good cop watching over my tail.”

Hayley frowned. “Why’s that?”

“It means I’ve had some incidents lately. Let’s go.”

Hayley didn’t move. “What kind of incidents?”

She sounded concerned more than surprised. Cindy should have been suspicious, cautious. Instead she found herself wanting to confide in this woman. What was it about her that inspired Cindy’s trust?

“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Cindy said. “Just not here. Especially not here.”

Eight messages according
to the phone machine. But it would have been unwise to listen to them with Hayley in the room. Cindy was amazed at how fresh the apartment looked—scrubbed and straightened with her kitchen counters clear of debris, as if the place had undergone spring cleaning. Hayley’s eyes canvassed the space, landing on the couch and its stitched-up upholstery.

“What happened to your furniture?” she asked. “Looks like someone went crazy with a knife.” She regarded Cindy’s face. “Is this an example of the incidents you were referring to or did you just get this secondhand?”

“No, it was whole when I left for work on Friday.”

“Jeez, Louise!” Hayley wrinkled her brow. “What happened?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you.”

“Someone broke in.” Hayley shook her head. “Wow! No wonder you look so drained. Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

Cindy shrugged.

Hayley said, “So when did it happen?”

“Last night. Probably when I was at my dad’s. Sit down. I’ll make coffee.”

“Have anything stronger?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to serve it. I don’t need it and neither do you.”

“That’s probably true.” Hayley tossed her purse on the
floor and sat down next to the jigsaw stitching. She fingered it gently, then spoke out. “Did you call the cops?”

“My dad came over and poked around.” Cindy poured water into her coffeemaker, then came back into her living room. She suddenly felt heavy, as if her feet were shod in iron. “This wasn’t random. My place was trashed, and some of my things were ruined, but my valuables weren’t missing.”

Hayley nodded.

“The suggestion box is open,” Cindy said,

“Who’d you piss off?”

“I don’t know.” The phone rang. Wordlessly, Cindy picked up the receiver. “Hi, Dad. I just got in.”

“You don’t believe in returning your pages? I called your house, I called your pager, I called your cell—”

“I didn’t get any of it, Dad…well, I don’t know about the house. I just got home. I was at Mom’s and then I went out with a friend.” Here she was, at twenty-five, still explaining herself to her father. “I turned my cellular off, but my pager’s on. How many times did you page me?”

“About a half-dozen times.”

She pulled her pager from her belt. “Nothing’s registering, hold on and let…it’s not turning on. The battery must be dead.” She slid open the small plastic cover. “Actually, the battery is gone.”

The line was quiet. Then Decker said, “I’m coming over—”

“Dad, it’s not necessary. I’ve got company right now. I’m all right.”

“Who’s there? Oliver?”

“Hayley Marx.”

“I don’t know which one is worse.”

Despite herself, Cindy smiled. “I’ll call you back later. I’m sorry you were worried.”

“When was the last time you took your pager off your body, Cindy?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I’ll have to think about it.”

“You don’t have any idea?”

“I usually wear it when I’m out. Sometimes I leave it in
my desk at work because I don’t want to get distracted on the job. I’ll have to think about it,” she said again.

“Was your pager working Friday?”

“Dad, I’ll have to
think
about it. As soon as I have some answers, I’ll call you.”

Her voice sounded unsteady. Decker desperately wanted to take away her pain. This unrelenting concern for his children’s welfare was eroding him like sand, grain by grain. “Okay. Just call me before you go to bed. Check your locks, check your windows!”

“I will call you and I will check my locks and windows. Bye now.” Cindy hung up and glared at her pager, then at Hayley. “I need to go to the drugstore and get a battery.”

“Somebody removed it from your pager?”

“Appears that way.”

“This is serious.” Hayley pulled her pager from her purse and took out the battery. “Here. Put this in. Just to see if you have any messages.”

“Thanks.” Cindy inserted the battery into the fittings. Instantly, the compact black box vibrated back to life. She riffled through the numbers, counting five from Dad, two from Mom, along with a couple of numbers whose combinations seemed vaguely familiar—maybe Marge’s or even Oliver’s. She’d check them out later. She gave the battery back to Hayley. “Here you go.”

“Cindy, was this the first time someone broke into your place?”

“Yes. Why?” She inspected her with hard eyes. “You seem to have some…familiarity with the situation, Hayley. You want to tell me about it?”

“Stop glaring at me,” Hayley said. “I’m on your side. Can I have some coffee now?”

Cindy broke her stare. “Yeah. Sure.” She poured two hot mugs of thick, strong coffee. She gave a mug to Hayley, then made herself comfortable on one of her armchairs. “If you can shed some light on this mess, I’m all ears.”

Hayley took a protracted sip of coffee. “It’s just a hunch, okay. But maybe…just
maybe
, this was some kind of hazing ritual.”

Cindy was incredulous. “You’re saying this was done by
cops
? Cops that I
work
with!?”

“Possi—”

“You’re actually telling me that…that
cops
broke into my apartment and left dog shit on my bed—”

“Someone left dog shit on your bed?” Hayley appeared appalled. “That’s horrible!”

“Not to mention disgusting.” Cindy was breathing hard. “Do you
know
anything about this?”

Hayley kept looking around for somewhere to put her mug.

“Just put it on the floor.” Cindy stood up, her fury barely under control. She made her voice soft and strong and spoke very slowly. “You can’t have it both ways! Either you did know or you didn’t know!”

“I said it was just a hunch—”

“And just
what
are you basing your hunch on—”

“Stop looking at me like that!” Hayley laid her coffee cup down. “I just know what some of these guys are capable of doing, especially to rookie women. Cin, we’re not exactly dealing with PC guys here. We’re talking high school graduate, working stiffs who like a little excitement and want a good pension. Why do you think I’ve been keeping watch over you—”

“Well, if you’ve been keeping watch over me, you fucked up somewhere.” No one spoke, giving Cindy a moment to absorb what had been said. She took in a breath and let it out. “You didn’t fuck up. I’m not your responsibility. Sorry for the outburst.”

Hayley waved her off. “If someone broke into my apartment, trashed it, and left dog shit on my bed, I’d be frozen. It’s amazing you’re talking in full sentences.”

“You should have seen me twelve hours ago.” Cindy collected her thoughts. “Things have happened to you.” A statement as opposed to a question. “What?”

Hayley’s jaw began to work overtime. “At least it didn’t involve excrement.”

“What happened?” Cindy asked.

“In the beginning, my car broke down a lot. One time it
was the hose, one time it was the battery, one time it was the distributor cap, one time it was out of gas…that time I had just left Bellini’s. It was three o’clock in the morning and no one was around. My gas gauge read half full, but I was as dry as dust—”

“Why didn’t you
tell
me?”

“Tell you what? That the guys we work with are assholes? You already know that!”

“Hayley, at least it would have put me on alert. This way, I was totally blindsided!”

“I’m sorry.”

“How long did it last?”

“Most of my rookie year. Then they found others to pick on. I should have said something. I didn’t and that was a conscious decision. I didn’t want to poison the well, Cindy. I thought that maybe it wouldn’t happen to you because of your dad. And you’ve also been here for a while. We walk a very thin line, between being one of them and being one of us. The more we women can blend in and not cause trouble, the more they’ll like us.”

“What is this?” Cindy barked. “Junior high?”

“Decker, it’s not just a matter of being popular. It’s life and death. They’ve got to feel that we’re one of them. Otherwise, they aren’t going to put their asses on the line when we need it. So I say, let them have their fun. Then what you hope is that they had enough of a good time to save you when it really matters.”

“If destroying a house and putting dog shit on somebody’s bed is the old boys’ idea of fun, then something is terribly rotten in the state of Hollywood.”

Hayley nodded. “Excrement seems extreme.”

“
Seems
?” Cindy was still pacing. “You’re saying someone at the stationhouse did this as a…rite of passage?”

“Possibly. Maybe it was Tropper. You pissed him off a while back, right? Maybe he did it to get even.”

“It was over a week ago. And I’ve been helping him out ever since.”

“He could still be carrying a grudge.”

“Is he the type?”

“Yes. Definitely.”

Hayley seemed anxious to pin the blame on Tropper. He
was
a logical choice, but Cindy wasn’t quite ready to proclaim Hayley innocent. What did she mean by “keeping watch” over her? Cindy asked her that very question.

“Just keeping my eyes and ears open,” Hayley responded.

“And?”

She looked at her lap. “You hear things. ‘Decker’s smart, she’s a pain in the ass, she’s not up to her father, she’s got a nice ass.’ Does it mean anything?” She shrugged. “Most of the dirt had to do with that hot domestic where you showed up Tropper. Your partner kept telling the story, over and over—”

“
Graham
?”

Hayley nodded.

“What was his spin on it?”

“That you did real good. And that you burned Tropper’s butt. And that’s why you’re typing up his reports. To get back on his good side, and not to sleep with him. I think he got a kick out of it. You know Beaudry. He’s so straight that he can’t picture anyone bucking authority—”

“When did you hear this
sleeping with Tropper
rumor?”

“After you started helping the Sarge out. Beaudry was talking to Bederman, who was off on one of his famous antiwomen, anti-affirmative-action tirades, trying to hide his pig attitudes with some kind of perverse reasoning. Bederman has a hard-on for you, you know. And I don’t mean the sexual kind. Although maybe that’s part of it, too.”

“I know he doesn’t like me. I don’t know why. I’ve maybe talked to the guy a few times, including tonight.”

“What does logic have to do with it? Maybe it’s because he’s seen us together. Bederman hates my guts. Did he try to pick you up tonight?”

“No. But he did warn me not to follow in your ways, saying you’ve fucked a lot of married men.”

Hayley winced. “He’s right about that.”

Cindy said, “Did it end badly?”

“They all end badly.”

“And because it ended badly for you, Bederman doesn’t like me?”

“Could be. Also, maybe it’s because you’re partners with his old partner—”

“But Beaudry didn’t ask for the transfer from Bederman. It was the other way around. So why would he care about my being Graham’s partner?”

“Maybe he feels Graham likes you better—”

“For God’s sake, Hayley, we’re supposed to be grown-ups!”

“It’s stupid, but unfortunately, it’s reality!” She looked up at her. “Will you sit down? You’re making me even more nervous than I am.”

Cindy gave her a quick once-over. “Why should you be nervous?”

“Because it’s very unpleasant to talk about this. Brings back bad memories of how I fucked up my chances. Maybe that’s why I’ve taken it upon myself to be your rabbi. You still have a clean slate. And you’ve got the brains for it. If I can’t do it for myself, maybe I can help you to do it.”

“Do what?”

“Go for the gold, of course. You’ve got the brains, but you also have to learn to play the game.”

Cindy studied Hayley’s face: it registered nothing. She started to pace again but thought better of it and plopped into her armchair. “How about starting by being honest with me. First of all, what were you doing up in Angeles Crest?”

“Making sure you were okay.”

“Meaning you
followed
me out from the stationhouse up into the mountains?” Cindy was flabbergasted. “Why on
earth
would you do that?”

“Hold on,” Hayley cautioned. “It wasn’t like that at all. We left the stationhouse at around the same time, right? We walked out to the parking lot together. We were going in the same direction, right?”

Cindy was quiet.

“Right?”

“Right, right. But—”

“Wait a sec,” Hayley interrupted. “You asked me a question, let me answer it. I wasn’t following you, Decker. I was following the Camry that I thought might be following
you
. My first thought was that one of the guys was maybe planning on taking away your distributor cap.”

“You saw the license plate, then.”

“Yes. I did, and I called it in—stolen plates. So I figure it was one of the Dees in GTA playing tricks using some of his old evidence—”

“Do you seriously expect me to
buy
that?”

“I’m not selling, so I don’t care if you’re buying. But that
is
what I thought.”

“Some detective is purposely lifting hot license plates from the evidence room in order to stalk me.” Cindy nodded her head. “Well, that makes perfect sense.”

Hayley reacted without emotion. “You’re green, so you don’t know. But these kinds of things happen. The big stuff makes headlines only when
pounds
of cocaine are missing. But no one cares about an ounce…or a necklace here and a ring there…or that old TV, or a ten-year-old stereo. Evidence has
boxes
of pilfered license plates from stolen vehicles.”

Cindy’s head was reeling. “You actually thought…that the Camry was a joke?”

“Not a joke, a
prank
!” Hayley said. “That’s why I kept an eye on it. I had time to kill. I figured if it could save you some…inconvenience, why not? When you started switching lanes, I knew that you picked up on the tail. Which impressed me, being that you’re a rookie. When the Camry doubled back and tried to shake you, I thought for sure I was right. It was one of the guys trying to stick it to you. You should have just called it in, Decker, then let it go.”