Hangman (6 page)

P
OSITIVELY THE WORST
part of the job was bringing bad news to loved ones. It simply sucked. Kathy Blanc’s hands were shaking when Decker handed her the first picture and all it took was one look before she bolted from his office. Wanda Bontemps was there to direct her to the ladies’ room. Decker sat at his desk with his face in his hands, wondering just how long he could take this kind of stress. And if that weren’t enough, there was a fourteen-year-old boy with missing parents, living in his home.

Sometimes it isn’t even worth getting up in the morning.

Five minutes later, Wanda Bontemps led Kathy Blanc back into Decker’s office and seated her across from his desk. Kathy’s complexion had turned the color of eggshell; her eyes were red with black tears streaming down her cheeks courtesy of mascara. Red lipstick had run into the lines atop her mouth. Her body was enveloped with the shakes and she hugged herself in a weak attempt to stop her seizing. The woman’s coiffed blond hair framed a long, patrician face now smeared with makeup. She wore pearls in her ears and had on black knitted pants and a red knitted top. Black pumps on her feet.

Wanda Bontemps was at the doorway, her dark eyes looking pretty somber. “How about some water and a wet towel?”

Decker nodded and then faced Kathy Blanc’s imploring eyes. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Blanc. Is there anyone we can call for you?”

“My…hus…band.” She opened her purse, but Decker was quicker. He handed her a Kleenex. “Thank you.”

“Do you have a number, ma’am?”

“It’s area code 213-827…” Her face crumbled and Decker handed her another tissue. She managed to get out the next four digits. When Wanda returned, he handed her the number and told her to make the call. He gave the water to Kathy along with a damp white towel.

“Is there anyone else you want me to contact?” Decker asked her.

“I can’t even think.”

Decker nodded. “I want to let you know that we’ll do whatever needs to be done to find out what happened. We’ve got a lot of people working on this. Are you up to my asking you a few questions?”

“I don’t…” The tears started anew, but she nodded for Decker to go ahead.

“Was Adrianna having problems with anyone?”

Kathy shook her head no.

“How about a boyfriend? You told my detective that there was one.”

“Garth Hammerling.”

“Any problems with him?”

“Not that I know.”

“I don’t mean to sound intrusive, Mrs. Blanc, but did you and Adrianna have the type of relationship where she would talk to you about personal things?”

Kathy dabbed her smeary eyes with the towel. When she saw that her makeup was coming off, she whispered an “oh dear.” “Adrianna didn’t complain a lot.” She rubbed her face vigorously to get off all the streaked makeup. “But if something was wrong, I think she’d tell me.”

“What do you think about Garth?”

She continued wiping her face. “He seemed all right. I don’t think Adrianna was all that serious about him.”

“Where’d she meet him?”

“He’s a tech at St. Tim’s.” Kathy looked up. “Why are you asking questions about Garth?” Her eyes filled with moisture again. “Was she…violated?”

“I don’t know—”

“I don’t feel well.” She stood up. “I need to use the restroom.”

“Detective Bontemps will take you.”

“I know where it is.” She got up and left. Bontemps stepped into the office.

“Garth Hammerling was Adrianna’s boyfriend.” Decker wrote the name on a piece of paper and gave it to her. “Check him out…although I think Marge said something about his being out of town. Did you contact Mrs. Blanc’s husband?”

“Yes, I did. I didn’t tell him what was going on, but he knew it concerned Adrianna because Kathy had called him several times.”

“Where does he work?”

“Law offices of Rosehoff, Allens, Blanc, and Bellows. Mack Blanc is a senior partner. He’s on his way here from downtown L.A.”

“We should send a car to pick him up. He shouldn’t be driving.”

“Didn’t get a chance to tell him too much of anything. He hung up on me as soon as I told him his wife was here.”

“Give me the number. I’ll see if I can reach him. You go into the restroom and make sure that Mrs. Blanc is okay. Well, she’s not okay, but make sure she doesn’t need medical care. If she does need care, call an ambulance. Have them take her anywhere but St. Tim’s.”

“THE MOTHER MADE
an ID with the pictures,” Decker told Marge over the phone. “That means the car is part of an official crime scene. Are the crime techs there yet?”

“Any moment now. Are you coming down?”

“I’m waiting to talk to Adrianna’s father. I’ll come down after that. Have you talked to anyone at St. Tim’s about Adrianna?”

“Oliver’s trying to get a time frame. It appears she completed her shift. That would mean she left the building around eight in the morning. Things go blank after that. We did find a nurse named Mandy Kowalski who knew Adrianna Blanc for six years. She’s on break in about a half hour and has agreed to speak with us. We’re trying to locate a good spot to talk. It looks like the cafeteria is winning the election.”

“Who else have you talked to at the hospital?”

“A little of this, a little of that. People are on shift and seem reluctant to talk.”

“The hospital isn’t cooperating with you?”

“The administration’s been all right. We’ll see what happens once they find out it’s murder. Oliver is getting a list of names of the security officers on duty. There are always a couple of guards roaming the parking lots.”

“What about video cameras?”

“We’re working on getting the tapes for all the entrances and exits. I don’t know if there’re video cameras in the parking lots, but I’ll find out.”

“Has the hospital had trouble with crime in the past?”

“I don’t know. We’ve still got a lot of searching to do. As soon as we get information, we’ll keep you in the loop.”

“As long as the loop ain’t a noose around the neck.”

“WE WENT TO
nursing school together.”

Eyes on the tabletop, Mandy Kowalski was staring at bad coffee. Oliver knew it was bad because he was drinking the same swill.

A cute little thing, he thought, dressed in blue scrubs, with a pixie face, bright red hair, and hazel eyes. A dozen moons ago, he would have asked her out despite the forty-year age difference. But a lifetime of bad choices had finally made him realize that sometimes it was best to keep things on the professional level. He was currently
dating a middle-school teacher named Carmen who was much too good for him. By the grace of God, she was able to deflect his neuroses and shenanigans with a knowing look and a laugh.

“You’re sure she’s gone?” Mandy’s eyes were still downcast. “Sometimes people just leave without telling anyone.”

Marge and Oliver exchanged glances. Marge said, “Mandy, we got a recent update, and unfortunately, the news isn’t good. It appears that Adrianna has been murdered.”

“Oh God!” Mandy gasped and knocked over her coffee cup with shaking hands. She covered her mouth. “Oh no! Oh my God! How horrible! Oh no!” She looked up and tears had sprouted from her eyes. “That can’t be!”

“We got a positive ID from her mother,” Marge told her.

“Oh, that poor woman. Poor Adrianna.” She buried her face behind her hands. “I’m sorry. I can’t…”

“That’s okay,” Marge told her. “Take your time.”

Oliver stood up. “I’ll get you a glass of water.”

Marge tried to distract her. “I noticed you’re wearing scrubs. Are you a surgical nurse?”

“Thoracic.” She wiped her eyes with a napkin. “Anything to do with the chest.”

“Is that what Adrianna did?”

At the mention of her friend’s name, Mandy let go with a fresh set of waterfalls. “She’s in the NICU. Neonatal intensive care. She’s a…she was a pediatric nurse. She was great at her job. We used to call her the baby whisperer. But even when she worked with older kids, they loved her.”

“I see.” Marge took out her notepad. “And you’ve known Adrianna for six years?”

“Around six years.” Oliver came back with water and a new tissue box. Mandy thanked him for both items. “I was just telling your partner that I knew Adrianna for around six years. We went to nursing school together.”

“Where at?” Oliver asked. “C-SUN?”

“No,” Mandy said. “We went to the Howard Professional School.
Originally Adrianna was just going for an LVN, but I told her that she was smart enough to go all the way for an RN. It was a
lot
harder, I’m not going to lie, but I convinced her that it would be worth it.”

“Wow, that was awfully nice of you,” Marge told her.

“It was partially for selfish reasons,” Mandy said. “We met the first day of orientation and hit it off right away. I figured it would be easier if I had company. I helped her over a couple of rough patches, but she took her own tests and did well.”

“You sound like a good friend,” Oliver told her.

“At that time, we were very good friends.”

“But not so much anymore?” Marge asked.

“You know how it is…” Mandy’s eyes darted back and forth. “Things change.”

“Like what?” Oliver said.

“We drifted apart,” Mandy said. “Aside from work, we stopped hanging out.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing really…just lifestyle issues. Adrianna has…” Mandy licked her lips. “She has a lot more energy than I do. She likes to have a good time.”

“She’s a party girl?” Marge suggested.

“That’s making her sound cheap,” Mandy said. “She liked her fun. I mean, I do too, but I guess I need more sleep than she does.”

“Did her fun include drugs?” Marge said.

Mandy hesitated. “I guess she’d be like a recreational user.”

“Did it ever interfere with her work?”

“Never!” Mandy was adamant. “She was a miracle worker with those babies.”

“What do you know about her boyfriend?” Marge checked her notes. “Garth Hammerling. What do you know about him?”

“He works here at St. Tim’s. He’s a radiology tech.”

“How well do you know him?” Oliver asked.

“Casual acquaintances,” Mandy told him.

But her eyes were elsewhere. Marge said, “Would you know where he lives?”

Mandy looked away. “Why would I know where he lives?”

“Maybe you went to a party there?”

“Can’t recall that.” Mandy looked at her hands. “I could probably get you his address, but you could probably do it just as easy.”

“Not a problem,” Oliver said. “Just wondering if you knew it offhand because we need to talk to him.” When Mandy didn’t answer, he said, “You know we need to ask all sorts of personal questions.”

Marge said, “So if I asked you personal information, you shouldn’t be offended.”

“Because we ask everyone personal information,” Oliver said. “Like I could ask you if you had a thing going on with Garth.”

“No!” Mandy dried her eyes. “Why would you think that?”

“Just a question,” Marge said.

Oliver said, “Because if you had something going on with him, we’d eventually find out about it.”

“So now’s the time to fess up,” Marge said. “Hiding stuff makes you look bad.”

“I don’t have anything…” Again her eyes moistened. “He came on to me, okay?”

“See, that was simple,” Marge said. “What could you tell us about it?”

“Nothing happened. I wasn’t interested.” She shook her head. “It was at one of Adrianna’s parties. She had them almost every other weekend. He cornered me in the kitchen and tried to mash me. God, it was embarrassing. He was drunk. So was she.” She dabbed her eyes. “It’s hard for me to talk smack about her, especially now that she’s…and we used to be such good friends. It’s not that Garth is a bad guy. He’s just a player. Everyone knows he’s a player.”

“Did Adrianna know?”

“Maybe in the back of her mind, she did.” She stood up. “I’ve got to get back to my shift. If you want to talk to me again, please don’t do it here. I live in Canoga Park. I’m in the book.”

“Thanks, Mandy,” Marge said, “you’ve been very helpful.”

“No problem. Just find the bastard who hurt her. Adrianna may have had her issues, but who doesn’t have problems?”

“True that,” Marge said as she watched the nurse walk away. Then she said, “What do you think?”

“An emotional girl for someone who had drifted away from the victim.” Oliver shrugged. “What’s going on with Garth?”

“His landline answering machine says…” Marge checked her notes. “That Garth, Aaron, and Greg went river rafting and wouldn’t be answering calls for a week. If he left a couple of days ago, he’s given himself an alibi.”

“Some people have perfect timing.”

“You know what I think, Oliver?” Marge said. “Perfect timing is always suspicious.”

D
ECKER GOT THE
feeling that Mack Blanc’s language was an embarrassment to Kathy, but she was just too numb to stop him.

What the fuck happened!

That’s what we’re investigating, Mr. Blanc. I’m so sorry.

I don’t want your fucking apologies, I want some fucking answers!

Over and over and over and over and over.

The three of them were in Decker’s office. Kathy remained silent and seated as her husband paced and swore. Finally, Mack attempted a new line of attack.

“Well, if you don’t know what fucking happened, what do you fucking know?”

Decker pointed to the chair. Reluctantly, Mack sat down. As soon as he was quiet, his eyes overflowed. Wordlessly, Decker handed him a tissue.

“Her car is still in St. Tim’s parking lot. We’re going over it right now.”

“Was she…” Kathy choked back sobs. “Did it happen in the car?”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Blanc. I sure don’t want to tell you wrong information.”

Mack took her hand and she leaned against his chest, weeping. The hapless man couldn’t offer her any words of comfort.

Decker said, “We’re also interviewing people at the hospital to get a time frame. Your wife was kind enough to give us Adrianna’s cell number and we discovered she made a couple of calls around the time she got off shift.”

“She called Sela Graydon,” Kathy explained to her husband.

“She and Adrianna have known each other since junior high,” Mack answered. “What about the other number?”

“When we called it, no one answered. The voice-mail box is full, so we don’t know who it belongs to. We can find out who owns the number and how long the conversation lasted, but that will take a little maneuvering. Also, there’s no guarantee that the person who owns the number is the one who answered the call.”

“It’s not a familiar number to me,” Kathy told her husband.

“What about Garth?” Mack said.

“It isn’t Garth’s number.”

“I don’t trust that guy,” Mack said. “He’s cocky. Lord only knows why.”

Kathy said, “He’s good-looking.”

“How could you say that?” Mack said. “Guy had about twenty pierces in his ears and that crazy soul patch. His hair looked like he stuck his hand in a light socket.”

“That’s the fashion, Mack. All the rock stars have hair like that.”

“He wasn’t particularly smart. He was always going to Vegas and never invited Adrianna. Lord only knows where he got the money for his excursions.”

Decker noticed Kathy’s cheeks reddening. He said, “What do you know about the money, Mrs. Blanc?”

Kathy looked up. “Pardon?”

“Had Adrianna ever loaned Garth any money?”

“What?” Mack stared at his wife. “Did she give that loser money?”

“She didn’t give it to him, she loaned it to him.”

“I don’t believe…” He jumped up and started pacing again.
“Why?”

Kathy erupted into tears. “I don’t know why, Mack, all I know is that she did!”

“Was she generally a soft touch?” Decker asked.

Mack muttered under his breath and kept pacing. Kathy said, “Softhearted. That’s why she became a nurse.”

Decker said, “I’m just trying to get a feel for her, so please don’t take offense at my questions. As far as you know, did Adrianna take drugs or drink excessively?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Kathy told him.

“Of course we know,” Mack said. “We found weed in her dresser when she was in high school. Twice!”

“She said she stopped.”

“She also said the weed wasn’t hers.” To Decker: “Yes, she probably smoked dope and she probably drank too much.”

Kathy wiped her eyes. “She didn’t have a problem, Mack.”

“I didn’t say she had a problem.”

“It doesn’t sound like she had a problem,” Decker said. “She had an important job, and from what I heard, she did it very well.”

“She worked in the NICU with all the sick little preemies.” Kathy started crying. “They all loved her.”

“Good Lord.” Mack’s eyes moistened. “What the fuck happened?”

Back to square one
. Decker said, “What else can you tell me about Garth Hammerling?”

“Met him about a half-dozen times. Didn’t trust him.” Mack stopped pacing. “Tell you the truth, I didn’t always trust Adrianna. Her judgment wasn’t the best.”

“A good kid,” Kathy said. “But she could be a little—”

“She was wild. She was also spoiled.
We
were spoiled by her older sister. That one never gave us anything to worry about.”

“Bea was a different child. There’s no sense comparing.”

“But we do anyway,” Mack told her. “More than once we were up
at four in the morning, calling Adrianna’s friends because her cell was off and we didn’t know where she was. When she wanted to be a nurse, I was skeptical. But…”

Mack Blanc’s voice cracked.

“The girl proved me wrong.” He sniffed back tears. “She not only graduated, but got a job with responsibility. Her coworkers love her.”

“You met her coworkers?” Decker asked him.

Kathy said, “She had a Christmas party in her apartment two years ago. She invited us and we went.”

“I think that’s when we first met Garth,” Mack told her.

“Do you remember any other coworkers?”

“There was her friend Mandy Kowalski,” Kathy told Decker. “They went to nursing school together. I think it was Mandy who set Adrianna up with Garth.”

“Mandy set her up with Garth?” Decker repeated.

“I think so.” Kathy squinted, trying to bring back memories. “I think she knew a boy who knew him…something like that.”

“Do you remember the boy’s name?”

“No.” Mack waved his hand in the air. “We kept out of Adrianna’s business.”

Kathy said, “His name was Aaron Otis.”

“How did you remember that?”

“I just do.”

Mack shook his head. “She’s a whiz with names.”

“That’s very good,” Decker said. “Aaron Otis. Did you ever meet him?”

“I had to have met him once because I recall he was tall with sandy hair…unless I’m getting things confused.” She looked down. “That’s certainly possible.”

“That’s helpful,” Decker said. “How about the names of Adrianna’s other friends?”

“You can start with Sela Graydon and Crystal Larabee. The three of them were a tight little group.”

“Did either of them become nurses?”

“Heavens no,” Mack said. “I think Crystal wanted to be an actress. At twenty-nine, it ain’t gonna happen. What is she? Like a bartender?”

“She’s a main hostess at Garage.”

“Yeah, waiting to be discovered.”

“Be kind, Mack.” Kathy regarded Decker. “Garage is the newest Helmet Grass restaurant. It’s downtown…right near the New Otani.”

“Got it. What about Sela Graydon? What does she do?”

“She’s a lawyer,” Mack told him. “She was always the smart one of the three.”

“Do both women live in town?”

“Yes,” Kathy said. “I’ll get you their phone numbers.”

“Do you know anything about Mandy Kowalski?”

“Just that Adrianna met her in nursing school,” Mack said. “She seemed nice enough.”

“She used to help Adrianna study, especially when finals rolled around. The first time they happened, Adrianna freaked out. I couldn’t help her. I don’t know the first thing about the nervous system or the circulatory system, but after studying with Mandy, she not only pulled through, she did well. She even got a couple of A’s in some of the classes.”

The tears came flowing down Kathy’s cheek.

“She was so…proud!”

Decker gave her another Kleenex and watched the woman sob. There wasn’t a state-of-the-art dam in the entire world that could hold back that torrent.

“THERE’S NOT MUCH
to come down for.” Marge was just outside in the parking lot of St. Tim’s because the reception for her cell was better. “The car’s being processed and we’re just about done with our preliminary interviewing. We spoke to a few of her coworkers. Also, we talked to a woman named Mandy Kowalski. She and Adrianna went to nursing school together, but they don’t work on the same floor.”

“Yeah, Mandy’s name came up when I interviewed the mom,” Decker told her. “She thought that Mandy might have set Adrianna up with Garth.”

“Hmm. Mandy neglected to mention that. She did say that Garth came on to her.”

“Okay,” Decker said. “Triangle anyone?”

“Could be,” Marge said. “I’ll see if I can sort the relationships out. We’ve also got an appointment to interview Adrianna’s supervising nurse tomorrow. She was well liked, did her job, but several people remarked that she liked to party.”

“That’s consistent with the picture I got from her parents.”

“Her parents told you she liked to party?”

“Mostly her father did. He described her—and not kindly—as a party girl.”

“Unusual for him to admit that under the circumstances.”

“I have a feeling that he’s been miffed at her for a long time.”

“But she’s
dead
, Rabbi. For him to even hint at hostility…that’s weird.”

“People cope in all sorts of different ways. Maybe he figures if he can be mad at her, she’s really not dead. Anyway, there’s another sister in the family—Beatrice Blanc. She needs to be interviewed separately.”

“I’ll do it.”

“There are also two best friends of hers from high school: Sela Graydon and Crystal Larabee.” Decker spelled the names and gave Marge the phone numbers. “Lastly, we need to find out the name of the homeowner’s oldest son.”

“Did that. Trent Grossman. He’s twenty-six. He lives in Boston with his wife and was at a party last night. So he’s out of the picture. The two younger Grossman boys were home last night, according to the parents. For verification, they sent e-mails, IMs, and were on Facebook. I haven’t dug deeper, but I will if you want me to.”

“How old are they? Like fifteen and thirteen?”

“Yep.”

“Put them down at the bottom for now. Let’s go back to Adri
anna’s peers—Crystal and Sela. Set up interviews with them because…okay…here’s the deal.”

Decker flipped through his notes.

“Adrianna called Sela Graydon this morning right when she got off of work. Find out what that was all about. Adrianna also made another call, but we don’t know the identity of that number. Each time I’ve called it, the mailbox is full. It’s a cell, so our backward directories aren’t going to work. We may need a warrant to find out who the number belongs to. Hunt around and see if you can find out if the number belongs to one of her friends.”

“Will do.” Marge asked him, “Any luck with the canvassing of the area?”

“I haven’t heard anything so far. How about we meet up later in the evening and compare notes?”

“Sounds like a plan. Talk to you later.”

Marge hung up her cell and started to dial Sela Graydon’s number, when a crime-scene tech started walking her way. The woman came up to Marge’s stomach. Maybe a little bit higher than her stomach, but she was definitely less than five feet. She was young and Asian and as delicate as a spiderweb, except she had a smoker’s voice. Her name was Rebel Hung.

“We’re just about done with what we can do here.” Rebel snapped off her latex gloves. “I called the truck. We’ll tow it to the lab and give it a thorough going-over.”

“Doesn’t look like this is a crime scene,” Marge said.

“I agree,” Rebel said. “Who knows if she even made it to her car?”

“Footprints?”

“We’ve got some partials. We’ve got lots of latent fingerprints. Maybe something will pop.”

“Hope so.”

“What about the actual crime scene?” Rebel asked. “Where you found her dangling.”

“It’s a crime scene, but we’re not sure if it’s the murder scene. If she was killed there, she didn’t seem to put up a struggle. The coro
ner’s investigators haven’t found bullet or stab wounds—but she could have been poisoned or sedated before she was hanged. We’ll do a tox on her.”

“Sexually assaulted?”

“Doesn’t look like it, but we’ll know more once the autopsy’s done.”

Rebel pursed her lips. “Hanging’s a weird way to commit murder.”

“Yeah, someone strung her up for dramatic effect.”

“Very dramatic…like in serial killer dramatic.”

“Yes, indeed, we certainly haven’t ruled that one out.”