Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 03 by Milk & Honey

Author:Milk & Honey [Milk & Honey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Los Angeles (Calif.), Police Procedural, Police, Contemporary Women, Mystery & Detective, Police Spouses, Political, Lazarus; Rina (Fictitious Character), Fiction, General, Decker; Peter (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780061999260
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2011-01-25T06:00:00+00:00

17

Marge spied Decker parked across the street and gave him a wave. She pulled her Honda into Sophi Rawlings’s driveway and sneaked a sidelong glance at Sue Beth Litton. She’d been quiet in the morgue, completely mute on her ride over the hill—a woman shocked into silence.

But there were questions to be asked, and like it or not, Sue Beth needed to hear them.

Marge touched her hand, and Sue Beth jumped. The woman’s face was drawn as pale and tight as a drumskin. In a different situation, she might have been labeled cute, with her thick auburn hair, green eyes, a freckled nose—somewhere in her bloodline was the name O’something. She had very big ears, though. Carla had had big ears. Carla had also had a big nose and flat chest. Sue Beth’s nose was as small as a button; her chest, though not voluminous, was certainly not an ironing board.

Softly, Marge said, “I need to confer with my partner for a moment, Mrs. Litton. You can wait in the car.”

Sue Beth nodded, her eyes directed in her lap.

Marge stepped out of the car and met Decker by the trunk of her Honda. They spoke in hushed tones.

Marge said, “I don’t believe it. You beat us here.”

“Defense asked for a recess for the weekend,” Decker said. “A new PD. Wants to familiarize himself with the case.”

“What happened to the old PD?”

“Damned if I know. I told our woman that I’d be back Monday, giving her moral support. Hopefully, she’ll return as well. One more delay, and I’m afraid she’ll crack.” Decker kicked the ground. “Enough of that. What did you find out?”

“Forensics first,” Marge said. “Blood on Katie’s PJs. Matches with her mother and Carla. The kid was obviously at the scene of the crime either during the shooting or after all the blood was spilled. My guess she wasn’t there too long, otherwise she would have had blood from the others as well.”

“Good.”

“Rolland Mason. His sheet is clear, but that doesn’t tell us the whole story. I found his ex-lady—a waitress in Saugus named Betty Bidel. Chip’s tip panned out.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, he was good for something. Anyway, from Betty I learned that Rolland was dealing in meth. She also told me that Rolland had left her and had plans to marry Linda.”

Decker said, “Was Linda aware of his plans?”

“That I don’t know. It might have been unrequited love.”

“You know, Marge, we keep sticking Rolland with Carla like the two of them were an item. Maybe it was Rolland and Linda who were the happy duo, and they were confronting Luke about it. Tempers got hot, bam-bam.”

“Then where does Carla fit in?”

“Funny you should ask,” Decker said. “She may have had her own agenda. I visited Manfred and Associates today. I spoke to an associate.”

Marge said, “Taking on the big guys again?”

Decker laughed. Last time he visited the head of a big corporation, he’d leaned too heavily on a well-connected CEO, and it almost lost him his job. Only his supportive captain had saved his neck….

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