“Daney molests and murders for years and she’s Little Miss Clueless until now?”

“Nothing we’ve learned so far says she did anything worse than exceed the foster limit. Beth Scoggins said she filled her days cooking, cleaning, and teaching. My bet is she kept busy so as not to think.”

“Not to mention seven grand a month.”

“For Drew it was the money,” I said. “Maybe for her, too. But she drives an old heap and lives simply. Plus you saw how she worked with Valerie. Patient, despite Valerie’s resentment.”

“The dutiful hausfrau,” he said. “Meanwhile Drew’s out doing his sperm thing… I’m still not convinced she’s squeaky clean, but fine, let’s run with it. She wants Rand to rat out Drew, does therapy with him, then what?”

“She fails. The most common errors unqualified therapists make are moving too fast and talking too much. Toss in Cherish’s anxiety and she’d have come on way too strong. She needed Rand to ‘see’ that Drew had contracted Troy to kill Kristal. Whether or not he had.”

“She tried to plant it in his head?”

“It started during prison visits. Hinting around, hoping to set off a spark in Rand’s head. Rand was a submissive personality, impressionable, so perhaps he actually recalled something- seeing Drew talk to Troy shortly before the murder, an offhand comment by Troy about Drew. Or he thought he did. Because an adult mastermind would be welcome news for him. Reduce his own culpability.”

“ ‘I’m a good person.’ ”

“ ‘I’m a good person because Daney was behind it and Troy was his henchman and I was in the wrong place at the right time.’ Cherish could’ve even presented it to him that way.”

“If he bought it, why didn’t he open up?”

“Eight years in jail, being beaten and stabbed and left to fend for himself, had taught him to be wary. Nevertheless, the idea Cherish planted took root and it terrified him: He’d be living under the roof of the devil who’d ruined his life. That’s why he was so anxious when he was released to the Daneys.”

“Then why’d he go there in the first place?”

“He had no immediate alternatives. No family, no resources, no grasp of what the world outside prison was like. He also had to be careful not to set off Drew’s suspicions with a sudden shift in plans. But I’ll bet he intended to get out of there as soon as possible. As soon as he could get someone to listen.”

“You.”

“Cherish’s eagerness could have made him even more wary. Lauritz Montez had defended him by the numbers. He sure wouldn’t view the D.A. or the police as sympathetic. That left me.”

“Modesty, modesty,” he said. “So he gives the Daneys a phony story, walks away, somehow makes it over the hill, calls you from Westwood.”

“I don’t think he made it over the hill alone. He couldn’t keep his anxiety under control and Drew did catch on that something was wrong. Drew was out of the house when Rand left. He could’ve been nearby, watching Rand. Or he called in and Cherish told him Rand had gone to the construction site. That fed Drew’s suspicions because he knew the site was closed Saturday except for cleanup. He went after Rand, spotted him, picked him up in the Jeep.”

“And took him into the city? Why?”

“To allay Rand’s fears,” I said. “Rand’s shuffling along, disoriented, looking for a pay phone, or just trying to clear his head. Daney cruises by, all smiles, says hop in, let’s grab a bite. Caught off guard, Rand would’ve felt forced to comply, so as not to appear nervous. Daney drove over the hill and disarmed Rand further with small talk. Dropped him off at the entrance to Westside Pavilion with some pocket change, told him to have a good time, he’d pick him up later. No one from the mall remembers Rand, he may never have gone in. This was a dull, confused kid who’d grown up behind bars. It would have been like dropping him on Mars.”

“Why would Daney go to all that trouble? Why not drive him somewhere secluded and kill him right off?”

“Daney had his suspicions, but at that point, Daney wasn’t sure killing Rand was necessary. Another Kristal-related death might set off a whole chain of events he couldn’t control. Which is exactly what happened. After he dropped Rand off, he stuck around to watch. Saw Rand walk away from the mall, watched him head for the phone booth. Rand was agitated when he called me, his body language would’ve been easy to read. When Rand left the booth, Drew went after his quarry.”

“Picking him up again,” he said. “This time it would have to be at gunpoint, Rand wouldn’t have gone willingly.”

“Drew’s deviousness can’t be discounted. I can see him using a phony story- Cherish had suddenly taken ill, they needed to get home fast. Maybe Rand figured that if he didn’t show up at the pizza place, I’d sound some kind of alarm and someone would come to his aid.”

If so, he’d overestimated me.

Milo said, “Okay, one way or the other, he gets back in the Jeep and Drew drives somewhere secluded- the dump site says it was probably up into the foothills of Bel Air. Rand, not knowing the city, doesn’t catch on that Drew’s taken a detour. Drew finds a spot, pulls over. Then what?”

“Rand was big and strong, so Drew needed to avoid a physical struggle by keeping it friendly. He’d prepared by opening the Jeep’s passenger window. Came across calm, paternal, even spiritual. Rand was probably looking straight ahead, scared and confused but fighting to maintain calm, when Drew pressed the gun against his temple and pulled the trigger. Drew had plenty of time to wipe down the Jeep and look for the bullet. Then he cruised back to Sunset after dark, drove to the on-ramp, made sure no one was watching, and dumped the body. The next day, he probably washed the Jeep. But there still might be some kind of transfer- blood, powder residue, tiny bone fragments.”

“Good story, Alex. Great story, makes perfect sense. But clever plots don’t earn warrants.”

“You’ve already got grounds for a warrant,” I said. “Drew’s statutory rapes. Get the downtown juvey team interested, toss the house, include the Jeep in the paperwork.”

“For that I need DNA to prove what Daney did to Valerie,” he said. “Or one of the other girls coming forward.”

“You saw him with Valerie at the clinic.”

“I saw him waiting and picking her up. It’s suggestive but not probative. Any progress on Beth Scoggins?”

“No.”

“Just like that.”

“Just like that.”

“Allison’s adamant?”

“Let’s leave it at ‘just like that,’ ” I said.

Silence. “Any other suggestions?”

“Isolate Cherish and talk to her. Don’t mention the murders right off, tell her you know about Valerie’s abortion and that you suspect Drew was the father. She might be willing to acknowledge her suspicions about the molestations or even go all the way and talk about Kristal.”

“If she’s so intent upon clearing herself, why didn’t she come forward after Rand was murdered?”

“Like Rand, she’s living under the same roof with Drew. Maybe she’s worried she doesn’t have enough evidence to ensure he’d be put away.”

“Makes sense,” he said. “But we’ve left something out: Cherish and Malley. If he’s her squeeze, why wouldn’t she tell him? And if she did, why didn’t he cooperate with me? Something’s still wrong with the picture, Alex. I’m not ready to put Barnett or Cherish on the good-guy list.”

“We know what list Drew’s on and he’s living with eight underage girls. Then there’s Miranda.”

“I am not unaware of the exigencies.”

“Didn’t mean to imply you weren’t.”

“Let me sleep on this. So to speak. In the morning, I’ll get Binchy to watch the Daney house really early, which ain’t gonna be a snap, Galton Street being so quiet. If Cherish leaves first, Sean’ll follow her and hand her off to me. If Drew leaves, Sean’ll stay on him and I’ll pay Cherish a little visit.”

“Either way, let me know.”