In the driveway something hulked under a spotless black cover. Milo lifted a corner of the cover on a shiny black Ford pickup with a freshly chromed bumper. Raised suspension, custom wheels. A sticker protected by a plastic coating said: How Am I Driving? Call 1-800-SCRU YOU.

We walked to the front door. A security firm sticker was centered on a black lacquer door. Pushing the bell elicited chimes. Oh-oh-say-can-you-see?

“Hold on!” A woman opened. Tall, young, pretty but washed out, she had a heart-shaped face, wore a filmy black tank top over white terry-cloth shorts. No bra, bare feet. Great legs, a shaving nick on one glossy shin. Her hair was white-blond with no luster, bunched above her head in a careless thatch. Pink nail polish on her fingers, chipped badly. Darker polish on her toes, in even worse shape. Behind her was a room full of cardboard cartons. New cartons with crisp edges, sealed with brown tape and marked CONTENTS followed by three blank lines.

She folded her arms across big, soft breasts. “Yes?”

Milo showed her the badge. “You’re Mrs. Nichols?”

“Not anymore. You here about Roy?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She sighed and waved us in. But for a few feet inside the door, the entire room was filled with the packing boxes. A child-sized mattress stood propped against a tied-off garbage bag.

“Moving?”

“Soon as I can get the movers over here. They say by tomorrow, but they’ve already missed one appointment. The house is already sold, I’ve got to vacate by next week. What did Roy do?”

“You’re assuming he did something.”

“You’re here, right? I didn’t do anything, and neither did Lorelei. My daughter. She’s four years old, and if she wakes up from her nap, I’m going to kick you guys out.”

“Your name, ma’am?”

“Ma’am,” she said, amused. “I’m Lisa. Nichols, still. I’ll probably go back to my maiden name, which is Jenrette, and I always thought was a lot prettier than Nichols. Right now I’ve got other things to keep me busy. So what’s he done?”

“Could be nothing. We just want to talk to him.”

“Then go over to his job site. He’s working in Inglewood. On Manchester, near the Forum. They’re fixing up an office building. I know he’s making good money but try getting a penny out of him. Thank God his parents are cool. They want Lorelei to live decently, even though she’s not theirs, biologically. I told ’em I’d stay in L.A. and they could see her if they make it easy for me; otherwise, I move back to Tucson, where my folks are.”

“Roy’s tight with a buck,” said Milo.

“Roy’s like a stingy old man except when it comes to his projects.”

“What kinds of projects?”

“His truck, his single-malt collection, fixing up the house. Did you have a look at this place- he never stopped fooling with it. If there weren’t so many boxes, I’d show you all the paneling he did in the back rooms. Rosewood paneling, expensive stuff, in all three bedrooms. Made it dark as a funeral parlor, but he claimed it would help the resale value. So what happens, we put the house up for sale and we get a buyer and the first thing they’re going to do is rip out the paneling.”

“That couldn’t have made Roy happy,” I said.

“Roy’s not happy about anything.”

“Moody.”

She turned to me. “Sounds like you know him.”

“Never met him.”

“Lucky you.”

Milo asked if she’d seen Roy recently.

“Not for a month. He’s living with his parents, four blocks away. You’d think he’d drop by to see Lorelei.”

“Not a single visit?”

“I bring Lorelei over once a week. Sometimes Roy’s there, but even if he is, he doesn’t play with her. To him it matters that she isn’t his.” Her eyes misted. She shifted her weight, uncrossed her arms, looked down at the carpet. “Listen, I’ve got calls to make. Why won’t you tell me what he’s done? I mean, if he’s dangerous, shouldn’t I know?”

Milo said, “You see him as potentially dangerous?”

“What are you,” said Lisa Nichols, “some kind of shrink? We went to one, ’cause of the divorce. The court ordered it, and he did that- the shrink. Asked questions instead of giving answers.”

“Roy hasn’t done anything. We just want to talk to him about a former girlfriend.”

“The one who got murdered? Flora?”

“You know about her.”

“Just what Roy told me.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “You’re not saying…”

“No, ma’am. We’re reviewing the case and are talking to everyone who knew her.”

“I’ve got a four-year-old,” said Lisa. “You’ve got to be straight with me.”

“You’re afraid of Roy,” I said.

“I’m afraid of his temper. Not that he ever did anything to me. But the way he gets- crawling into himself.”

Milo said, “What did he tell you about Flora Newsome?”

“That she was…” She folded her upper lip between her teeth. “It’s going to sound…”

“What, ma’am?”

“He said she was cold. In bed. Not good sexually. He said she probably came on to some guy, then wouldn’t come through and that’s what happened to her.”

“That was his theory, huh?”

“Roy sees everything in terms of sex. If it was up to him…” Her head flipped away from us. “I’ve got to finish up packing. Lori will be up soon and my hands will be tied.”

She gave us Roy Nichols’s parents’ address and phone number. Milo called there, spoke to the mother, lied about being a general contractor looking for framers and got the location of Nichols’s current job site.

As we drove south on Sepulveda toward Inglewood, he said, “My guess is Flora wouldn’t put out enough for Nichols, and that’s why he dumped her. Ergo, his theory. Or, he was- what do you guys call it, when you put your own crap on someone else-”

“Projecting,” I said. “No forced entry at Flora’s apartment is consistent with someone she knew. The overkill fits with a lot of background rage, and the sexual posing suggests the source of the rage.”

“Wrought-iron fence post. Got to be some of those lying around construction jobs. More than ever, I want to know where this bastard was the night Gavin and the blonde were killed. Speaking of which, I sent two D’s over to the fancy hotels, then they talked to BHPD, and no one knows our Jimmy Choo girl. The hotels are probably lying, but the B. H. cops do keep a file of high-priced call girls, and she’s not in it. It’s just a matter of time. Someone’s got to miss her.”

CHAPTER 13

Roy Nichols’s supervisor was a compact middle-aged man named Art Rodriguez, with a graying beard and the excitability quotient of a stone Buddha. A DODGER BLUE sticker was emblazoned across his hard hat above an American flag decal. He wore an oversize Disneyland T-shirt under a chambray shirt, filthy jeans, and dusty work boots, held a folded racing form in one hand.

We stood out in the dusty sun, just inside the chain-link border of the construction site. The job was tacking a side addition onto an ugly brick-faced two-story office building. The original structure was gutted and windowless but a sign- Golden Age Investments- remained atop the door hole.

The new space was in the framing stage, and Roy Nichols was one of the framers. Rodriguez pointed him out- crouching on the second floor, wielding a nail gun. The air smelled of raw wood and pesticide and sulfur.

Art Rodriguez said, “Want me to get him? Or you can put on hats and go up there yourselves.”

“You can do it,” said Milo. “You’re not surprised we want to talk to him.”

Rodriguez gave a tobacco-laced laugh. “This business? All my roofers are cons, and a whole bunch of the other trades are, too.”

“Nichols isn’t a con.”

“Con, potential con, what’s the difference? Everyone gets a second chance. It’s what makes this country great.”