She chopsticked a cube of tofu. “The good Samaritan was your pal, Mr. Huck. He never gave his name but I’m sure it’s him, that face is hard to forget. He was gaunt, almost feeble, not in good shape at all. I distinctly recall some sort of neuro damage, maybe an old closed head injury or a minor stroke.”
“Off-kilter mouth,” I said.
“Yes,” she said, flashing a victory V. “I knew it was him. His walk was unsteady, at first the triage nurse thought he was drunk, in danger of dropping the baby. Meanwhile, the baby’s wailing, all that blood, it was some scene. The news said Huck was a person of interest for those killings. What does that mean?”
“It means the department’s being ambiguous.”
“Why?”
“Too complicated, Nathalie.”
She gave me a long look. “Fair enough. But off the record, is he a suspect for those murders?”
I nodded.
“Wow,” she said. “I have to tell you, Alex, I never got any ominous vibe from him. He was nervous, timid, probably more scared than the baby. He said he’d found her on the sidewalk while taking a walk, heard the squalling, thought it was a wounded animal. When he saw it was a baby, he grabbed her up and hand-carried her to us. We’re talking from Silverlake to East Hollywood, a good two miles on a chilly night. He’d taken off his jacket to keep the baby warm, had on a T-shirt and these cheap plaid pants-funny the things you remember. Probably thrift-shop stuff, tied at the waist with a rope. His teeth were chattering, Alex.”
“Any reason he didn’t call 911?”
“Maybe he felt he could get her there faster, I don’t know.”
Or he knew that his history would make him an immediate suspect.
Nathalie said, “Did he scare us at first? Of course he did. He had blood all over himself, it was something out of those disgusting movies my kids like. We didn’t want to confront him, but we did try to keep him there until the cops arrived. Once he saw the baby was okay, he bolted past our guard. You remember the caliber of our security.”
“Old, weak, lazy, myopic.”
“On a good day. On top of that, the cops took a long time to arrive and our attentions were focused on the baby. Which is somewhat alarming, now that I think about it. What if Huck really had been a psycho killer?”
“How do you know he wasn’t?”
“Because the case closed right away. That’s the official term, right? Closed, not solved.”
“You’ve been doing your homework, Nathalie.”
“Charlie likes those crime shows.”
“How’d the case close?”
“We directed the police to where Huck said he found the baby, they found the blood trail, followed it, discovered a body lying in some bushes. Turned out to be the baby’s mother, seventeen-year-old girl named Brandi Loring. She lived a few blocks away, alcoholic mother and stepfather, half sibs, stepsibs. The baby’s name was Brandeen, miniature Brandi, I guess. The family knew who the killer was. Brandi’s ex-boyfriend, another kid, one year older than Brandi. Apparently, she broke up with him before the baby was born and he’d been stalking her. Soon as the police showed up at his house, he broke down, confessed to beating her to death. He had a broken hand and raw knuckles to prove it, plus they found his blood on Brandi’s face and neck and chest. When the cops asked him why he left the baby there, right out on the sidewalk, he gave them a stupid look. Like, oops, I forgot about that.”
“Who gave you all the details?”
“The detective who did the paperwork. That’s what he called it. ‘Doing the paperwork. This ain’t Sherlock territory, Doc.’ ”
“Remember his name?”
“Leibowitz,” she said. “Jewish detective, who knew?”
Before we parted, I asked her how her son was enjoying the Windward School.
“Interesting place,” she said.
“Interesting how?”
“It’s really two schools-sociologically. Smart rich kids and not-so-smart really rich kids.”
“I’m sensing a common theme.”
“Forty grand tuition makes it common, Alex. Charlie thinks it’s ridiculous and I guess I do, too. As to which group Jarrod falls into, depends what day you catch me. You know adolescents, no impulse control-look at what happened to poor Brandi Loring. I wouldn’t have minded sending him to public school and Charlie definitely wanted that. But our prince yearned to play varsity baseball and was sure he’d never make the grade in public school. I guess that makes him one of the smart ones. Knowing his limitations.”
I phoned Hollywood Division and asked for Detective Leibowitz. The clerk had never heard of him and neither had the desk officer.
“Detective Connor, then.”
“She’s out.”
I tried Petra ’s cell. She said, “Barry Leibowitz, he left shortly after I came on. And don’t be making any causal connection there. Barry was in his sixties.”
I laughed. “Any idea where I can find him?”
“Sorry, no. Can I ask why?”
I told her about Travis Huck rescuing the baby.
She said, “Your bad guy did something good? Ted Bundy worked a suicide hotline.”
Milo said, “Doesn’t mean a goddamn thing. BTK was president of his church.”
Moe Reed said, “That’s what I figured when she called, Doc. I was going to let you know, but I got swamped, going over bus and train records and checking out car rental contracts.”
Milo said, “So there’s no doubt the boyfriend killed the baby’s mom.”
I said, “That’s what Detective Leibowitz told Dr. Rothman.”
“Leibowitz… don’t know him.”
“He retired right after Petra came to Hollywood. I was going to look for him, but if you think it’s a waste of time, I won’t.”
“What would be the point?”
“If Leibowitz managed to find Huck and interview him, it might give us some insight into Huck’s personality.”
“The insight I’d like is what Huck was doing walking a dark, deserted street at three in the morning in Silverlake, but sure, go ahead.”
Reed said, “That time frame, we know he trolls for street girls. Maybe when he can’t connect, he stalks houses, peeps windows, or worse.”
Milo said, “Least now we know where he was ten years ago. Street guy, no Social Security number, so ten to one he was supporting himself illegally. Let’s see what Records can give us on hot-prowl burglaries back then, especially in East Hollywood and Silverlake. I’ll do it, Moses, you keep working the transport angle and taking phone tips.”
“You got it.”
I said, “Huck said he’d walked the baby to the hospital. If it’s true, he didn’t have a car. That could mean his home base wasn’t far from where he found her.”
Reed said, “He stays on the boulevard for fun, crawls back to some hole up in the hills.”
Milo said, “Could be, but forget about canvassing the boulevard. No one from ten years ago is gonna be around. The residential neighborhood could be a different story. We go back to where the baby was found, we might turn up someone who remembers Huck.”
“Better yet,” I said. “Huck remembers and returns there to hide.”
Milo chewed his cheek. “Home is where the heart is, huh?”
Reed said, “Back to the old comfort zone. Might sound appealing when you’re rabbiting from la policía.”