Too Little, Too Late (23 page)

“Yup. She’s a regular hero. Meanwhile, all that’s left of my mother is in that urn over there.”

“Are the cops still trying to find the driver of the car?” He picked up the last piece of baguette and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing loudly.

“Who knows? I keep phoning the police station every couple of days and I always get the same response. It’s still an active investigation.”

“That’s good news,” he told her. “It means they haven’t given up.”

“But there’s not much to go on,” she argued, dejection washing over her in waves. “They found the car. It belonged to some guy from Compton who had reported it stolen a few days before my mom was killed. The trail ends there.”

“So what are you going to do now?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I was thinking of quitting.”

His head shot up. “Why?”

“Because there are so many unanswered questions,” she told him.

“And you think you’re the one who’s going to find the answers by quitting your job?”

“Who else gives a damn enough to try?” she challenged him. “Do you think the cops actually give a crap about another homeless woman? The city’s full of them. Her death just makes it one less person to deal with.”

“Quitting your job isn’t the solution,” he told her gently. “Besides, you can’t afford to quit.”

“I have some savings,” she told him.

“Great! Use it on a cruise to Cabo, but not for this,” he argued.

“I haven’t made up my mind what I’m going to do yet.”

“Make sure you run it by me first.” He stood up and began collecting their dishes. “None of this was your fault, you know.”

Liz didn’t reply. In desperate need of some air, she went out on the terrace and sat down. Otis followed her a few minutes later.

“We both know it
was
my fault.”

“I’ll tell Delaney you need an extra week off,” he offered by way of response.

She gave him a sad smile. “You can’t keep looking out for me all the time.”

“Who’s looking out for you?” he scoffed. “I just don’t want to do your crappy runs.”

“Do you know the funny part, Ote?” she told him. “Even though my mom and I didn’t have a conventional relationship, I really, really miss her.” Her carefully maintained composure began cracking. “I had actually been thinking of taking some time off work to bring her home and look after her for a while.”

“I know you loved her,” he told her gruffly before guiding her into the comfort of his arms. “You don’t have to tell me that.”

Liz didn’t put up any resistance as the tears coursed down her cheeks. “What am I going to do?”

“How about living your life for once?” he suggested quietly.

“I will eventually.” She looked up at him with tear-stained eyes. “Just as soon as I find out who killed my mother.”

***

Karen Devane raced down Orange Street in her Beemer, ignoring the speed limit as she tried dodging the car that had been tailing her since she left Killenby. The passenger window of the car was rolled down and some jerk with a zoom lens was snapping pictures of her. She screeched to the right, narrowly avoiding another car that suddenly appeared in the lane beside her. Two blocks later, she was finally able to shake the car. Great! Her picture was probably going to end up in another trashy rag and her mother would find out she was cutting class again. Like she wasn’t already in enough trouble! Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about class and this time, it was legitimate. She needed to clear up some things with Laurie about the day the woman was killed. Although she had tried calling her friend several times in the past few days, Laurie had been unreachable. She was probably the only kid on the planet who didn’t own a cell phone.

Pulling into the parking lot at Hollywood High, Karen checked her watch. First period would be over in a few minutes. Laurie never went to first and second got ditched more often than not. She would either be by the bleachers or in the girls’ washroom. Karen hurried over to the athletic field. Scanning the bleachers, she recognized one of the guys from her freshman English class. Although they’d only shared the one class before she left Hollywood High, they had been tight.

“Pan!” She waved to him.

Recognizing her, Pan jumped up and came over to her, throwing his arms around Karen in a giant hug.

“What brings you back, girlfriend?” he asked. “Decided to slum?”

“I came to see Laurie,” she told him, surreptitiously taking stock of his fishnet stockings and Daisy Duke short shorts. “Have you seen her today?”

He nodded grimly. “She’s in bad shape, probably coming down off of something.”

“Where is she?”

He inspected the black polish on his fingernails before answering her. “Laurie mentioned something about going over to the parking lot at
Snowby’s
. She’s probably going to do another rail.”

“Shit!”

Taking his compact out of the long trench coat he was wearing, he freshened up the hot pink lipstick on his lips. “That girl is outta control!”

“You think so?”

“It’s not just me.
Everyone’s
talking about her and that’s saying
something
, especially in a place like this where strange is, you know, the
norm
.”

“Well, I guess I’d better go find her.” Karen gave him a quick hug before leaving.

“Don’t be a stranger!” he yelled after her.

She waved in response as she jumped back in her car and drove the two blocks to Snowby’s, Hollywood High’s official burger joint. The service sucked, the food was sub-par but the kids were allowed to loiter without too much of a hassle which made it a favorite hangout. Karen saw a group of girls she didn’t recognize hanging out in the parking lot and went over to them.

“I’m looking for a girl called Laurie. Have any of you seen her?”

“Who wants to know?” asked a tall girl with attitude.

“A friend,” Karen replied coolly.

“How do we know you’re a friend?” she countered.

Just who did this chick think she was? Laurie’s frigging bodyguard?
“Look, just tell me where she is. Pan told me she was here.”

Miraculously, the mention of Pan’s name opened the door for instant friendship. Pan had certainly come a long way. “Why didn’t you say so,” said one of the other girls. “Laurie’s in the back with Sara, behind the dumpster.”

“Shit!” Laurie behind a dumpster meant she was up to no good. Karen hurried around back.

“Laurie!” she called out.

The dumpster was located by the back door, wedged in near the fence, conveniently out of sight, unless someone was looking. Gingerly making her way behind the dumpster, Karen saw the back of a girl’s ass and could hear the sounds of giggling.

“Hey, is Laurie back there?”

“Who wants to know?” The question was followed by another eruption of giggles.

“Her friend wants to know.”

“Does her friend have a name?”

Karen bit back her impatience. “It’s Karen.”

“Hey, whatcha doin’ here?” came Laurie’s slurred question as she looked over her companion’s shoulder. Laurie looked awful, like she hadn’t slept in days.

“I came to see you,” Karen told her. “What the hell are you guys doing?”

Laurie’s companion held out a can of air freshener. “Wanna snort? There’s still a few good blasts left.”

“No thanks,” said Karen tersely before turning back to Laurie. “Come on out of there. I want to talk to you.”

“You don’t know what it’s been like today,” Laurie told her weakly. “My mom was giving me a hard time this morning because I came home late.” Laurie’s nose was running but she didn’t seem to notice. “Then I got to school and everything just went south after that. Some dyke teacher starts harassing me about a smell coming from my locker. Like everyone’s on my fuckin’ case this morning. Jesus! I just had to get a little somethin’ somethin’.”

“So you decided to burn out your brain cells by snorting that shit.”

“Excuse me for not havin’ the fuckin’ cash for an elitist rail!” she yelled.

“Look, I didn’t come here to argue with you,” Karen told her impatiently. “I just want to talk to you.”

“So talk.”

“Not here.” She nodded in the direction of the restaurant. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat.”

“Not hungry,” Laurie replied moodily.

“Then we’ll get some coffee.”

Laurie’s rheumy eyes lit up with hope. “How about spotting me some cash?”

“Maybe.” Karen knew the thought of getting her hands on some cash would make Laurie follow her anywhere.

The restaurant wasn’t busy this time of the morning and they were able to get a table without any problem. After a waitress had taken their order, Laurie didn’t waste any time in getting to the point.

“So what’dja want to talk to me about?” Her nose started running again. This time, she used the back of her arm to wipe it away.

Karen was equally direct. “The day that woman was killed.”

Laurie started fidgeting with the corner of her paper placemat. “That was bad news, man. Those pigs treated me like shit, cuffing my hands and feet to a fuckin’ bed while I crashed; a totally bad scene.”

“You could’ve waited until the cops left before getting high,” Karen pointed out.

“Don’t go blamin’ me for everything.” Laurie’s tone was sullen. “It was your asshole boyfriend who took off and left me hangin’ with the cops!”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” After his brief run from the law, Josh had turned himself into Hollywood Division the next morning with an attorney from Albatross Records. He tried calling her once, but Karen refused to return his call. He’d been a jerk for taking off on them and Karen had no immediate plans to hook up with Josh again.

“Too bad about that crazy chick,” offered Laurie, spooning five teaspoons of sugar into her coffee. “She was totally off the wall.”

“She’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Yeah?” Laurie took a sip of her coffee. Grimacing with distaste, she added a few more teaspoons of sugar.

“Are you sure that woman didn’t have anything on her when you searched her?”

“Like what?” Laurie scratched at a scab on her face.

“How should I know?” Karen asked irritably.

“Why’dya care?” Her friend drained her cup of coffee.

Karen let out a deep breath. “Because my fucking credibility is shot to hell, that’s why! The cops think I’m lying through my face, my mother doesn’t believe me and even my own grandmother’s wondering what the hell’s going on.”

“Nuthin’,” she muttered vaguely. “She didn’t have nuthin’ on her.”

Karen shoved aside her coffee cup. “What the hell was she doing there then?”

“I guess it sucks to be you,” Laurie told her.

Karen looked at Laurie closely. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nuthin’.” Laurie’s haggard features focused on Karen’s face. “So, are you gonna spot me a twenny, or what?”

***

Her mother was already home when Karen walked through the front door after school. That was unusual. She was sitting at the kitchen counter, with a copy of
Truth or Diss
in front of her. The rigid set of her mother’s shoulders had Karen’s guard up immediately.

There was no greeting or smile as her mother got straight to the point. “Where were you today?”

“At school.”

“Nice try but the school called me when you didn’t show up for first period.” Eve fixed her gaze on her daughter. “Want to try again?”

“I
was
at school,” Karen told her, “this afternoon.”

“Tell me something, Karen.” Her mother’s expression was somber. “Do you think all this is some kind of a joke?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Karen went over to the fridge and began rooting around inside.

“I’m talking about
this
!” Eve yelled, going over to her and waving the tabloid in front of Karen’s face. “The fact that your biggest concern lately is courting unwanted publicity, not to mention your hell-bent defiance of our rules!” She threw the paper down in disgust. “You had no business being at that party and now the press is doing its best to blow the whole thing out of proportion.”

“I had every right being at that party. Josh is my boyfriend.” Karen slammed the fridge door.

“He’s a twenty-year-old man. You’re not even seventeen yet.”

“I can’t believe this! First you ground me and now you’re policing who I hang out with? No fucking way, Mom!”

“You’re in no position to be calling the shots.” Eve was so riled up she didn’t even notice that Karen swore. “A woman’s dead because of the stupid choices you made. Thanks to Mark, your ass has avoided jail but instead of showing remorse like any decent human being would, here you are, splattered all over the front page of this stupid rag like some out of control brat.”

“But Mom—” Karen fought back tears as she tried to make her mother listen.

“—I’ve had enough of the buts, Karen!” Eve grabbed her daughter’s arm. “All I can say is get your shit together and start towing the line. Your grounding still stands. You go to school. You come home, no exceptions.”

“But Mom, you don’t understand!”

Her mother tilted Karen’s chin, forcing her to look directly into her eyes. “I think it’s
you
who doesn’t understand.”

With that, Karen watched through a haze of tears as her mother picked up her car keys and left the house.

***

They hadn’t spoken since the day after their aborted trip to San Francisco when Paul had called to find out if everything was okay. He had called again today, wanting to meet with her. Now, as Kate stood outside the front door of the Swanson Estate with Paul at her side, she felt ridiculous as he removed his necktie before tying it loosely around her head, effectively covering her eyes. With everything that had been going on lately, the last thing she was in the mood for was games.

“Are you sure you can’t see?” Paul asked.

“Not a thing,” Kate assured him. “You could’ve just told me what the surprise was without all the theatrics.”

“Nothing doing,” he whispered in her ear. “That would spoil all the fun, now wouldn’t it?”

Despite her bad mood, Kate’s reaction to his closeness was immediate. Something tightened in her stomach as she felt his warm breath on her ear. Although she resisted the impulse to lean against his solid body, he must have felt something too because neither one of them moved for a minute.