True Detectives (28 page)

A
aron was the shepherd, Mason Book, the sheep.

The actor stood naked and skeletal in the front room of the rocket-ship house as Aaron dressed him in the discarded robe. Docile as a pet. Spills from the protein drink Book had dumped left creamy, clotted stains on the black chair and the smooth stone floors. Aaron was careful not to step in the stuff as he steered Book to a nearby sofa, then realized that position offered a great city-lights view.

Suicide view; no sense reminding him of what he’d missed. Taking Book by the elbow, he guided the actor into an adjoining space, smaller, set up with red suede chairs, a black desk with a gray tweed swivel seat and black-lacquered bookcases, mostly empty but for a handful of DVDs on one shelf.

Recent movies, all crap, probably freebies from the studios or the Academy. None of Book’s films on display.

He put the actor in the swivel seat, aimed it at a red wall, slipped a hand into a pocket of his cargo pants, and activated the mini-recorder. Nice and silent; it always paid to have good gear.

“Tell me what happened, Mason.”

“When?”

“The night Adella Villareal got murdered.”

Book licked his lips. “I didn’t see that.”

So much for the power of guilt.
Here we go with the mind-games
. “Tell me what you did see, Mason.” Smiling reassuringly at the actor, as he tried to forget the pain that continued to course through his body. Fingers of fatigue scratching through the adrenaline rush.

Telling himself this would work out, had to work out, Book was a whack, could be opened. Hopefully no one would show up at the wrong moment.

Book sat there. Aaron’s hand glided over his nylon holster. “Mason, it’s time to be true to yourself.”

Book said, “I saw everything but not that.”

“Not what?”

“Killing her.”

“So you know she was killed.”

Book’s cadaverous face tilted up. Pale hair swooshed as Book spread his arms in a
Who-me?
gesture. Appealing boyish, despite the self-inflicted ravages.

With enough makeup, the right camera angle, the guy might be able to pull off one of his charming roles.

“I’m your angel, Mason. You need to tell me everything.”

Book sniffled, let loose more eye-water.

Self-pitying bastard. Aaron felt like smacking him.

Book turned away and dry-heaved. The actor’s rib cage expanded like bellows as cloudy amber liquid dribbled out of his mouth, flowed over his chin, plinked the floor.

Meltdown on its way. Damn. Where is Delaware when you need him?

Aaron said, “Tell me what you know, Mason. You’ll feel a lot better.”

Book retched again. Breathed loud and raspy, lost control and got sucked into a coughing fit. Aaron slapped his back until the paroxysm stopped. Book took to comfort like a wounded puppy, pressing his
head against Aaron’s thigh. Grasping Aaron’s sleeve with a filthy-nailed hand.

Was he like
that?

Aaron patted Book’s hand. Book pressed closer. “You’re here for me.”

“Of course I am, Mason. But I need to know everything.”

He peeled Book’s hand from his arm, pulled up a red chair and faced the actor. Scooting forward until his knees were an inch from the actor’s bony bumps. Memories of drab, departmental interview rooms. This place was pretty but no less oppressive.

“Go ahead, Mason.”

“He said it was just a meeting with her.”

“He, being?”

“A friend. I didn’t even know her.”

“What’s this friend’s name, Mason?”

“His real name’s Ahab.”

“But everyone calls him Ax.”

“Ax. Yeah—you know him?”

Jackpot!
Aaron could almost feel the recorder whirring in glee.

“We angels know all sorts of things.”

“He’s not famous,” said Book. “He wants to be, but he’s not.”

“One of those,” said Aaron. “Bet you know a lot of them.”

“Oh, yeah …,” said Book. “I thought he’d protect me. He’s fat-strong. Eats what he wants.”

“Lucky him … so Ax said he was meeting with Adella.”

“He said a girl from that place.”

“What place?”

“This place we used to go to.”

“A club?”

“More like a bar,” said Book.

“A bar where you and Ax went to drink and hang out?”

Book’s eyes fixed on Aaron. “You look like Denzel.”

“People say that.”

“Denzel could play an angel,” said Book. “He’s a really talented guy.”

“Yes, he is,” said Aaron. “This place where you and Ax went, it has a name.”

“Riptide.”

“Adella hung out there, too.”

“I don’t know her name,” said Book. “I never was with her there.”

“Ax was.”

“I never saw that.”

“But he told you.”

“Yeah.”

“The night it happened, Mason, what kind of meeting did Ax say it was?”

“You know.”

“I don’t unless you tell me, Mason.”

“To party. All of us.”

Aaron said, “You and Ax were going to do a threesome with Adella.”

“I didn’t know her name. He said a real piece of ass he knew from Riptide, she was wild.”

“Perfect for a threesome.”

“It never happened,” said Book. As if he still regretted that.

“What did happen, Mason?”

“We went to a hotel.”

“Which one?”

“The Hyatt.”

“Which Hyatt?” said Aaron, certain he knew the answer.

Book said, “Sunset.”

Five-minute drive from Swallowsong. “Next to the Comedy Store.”

“Yeah.”

“The party was at the hotel.”

“When we got there, Ax said no, let’s do it different, out in the open.”

“Outdoor party.”

“Sounded good to me,” said Book. “Ax went in and came out with her.” Book shivered. “You know about the baby, right?”

Aaron’s heart pinged with joy. He kept his face grave. “Like I said,
Mason, I know all kinds of things. So Adella came out of the hotel with Ax and the baby.”

Nod.

“Where were you?”

“In the truck.”

“Where was the truck?”

“Parking lot of the hotel.”

“Ax wasn’t afraid of leaving someone famous like you in a truck in a hotel parking lot?”

“He told me to lay down in the back. We do that.”

“When?”

“When we don’t want me to be seen.”

And you just obeyed because you’re a brain-damaged fool
.

Book said, “It was all wrapped up. Blue blanket. Guess it was a boy.”

“She goes to a party with a baby.”

“Pretty weird,” Book agreed. “She got in the back of the truck. I sat up and she was real happy.”

“Why?”

“Because she saw it was me.”

No brag, just stating the facts.

“You were the reason she was there.”

“Yup.”

“She thought she was hooking up for a date with just you.”

“Ax likes that,” said Book. “I meet girls, he meets girls.”

“Girls Ax couldn’t meet on his own.”

Book smiled. “He’s a little fat.”

“So he uses you as a lure.”

“Yup.”

“He did that with Adella.”

Book said, “Because he wanted to kill her.”

Aaron’s airway constricted. He forced himself to breathe easy. “He told you that.”

“I figured it out. When she didn’t come out.”

“I thought she did come out of the hotel.”

“She came out of there,” said Book. “But not the park.”

“The park,” said Aaron. “Let’s back up for a minute, Mason. You picked up Adella at the Hyatt, where you thought the date was going to be. But Ax wanted to party outdoors so you drove to a park.”

“Yup.”

Killed where she was dumped? Moe had said no. “Griffith Park.”

“Not that park,” said Book. “One near the beach. She said it was too far. I paid her some money and she was okay. Even with the baby in front and crying a little.”

“The baby was in front of the truck?”

“In a baby seat,” said Book.

“Ax brought a baby seat.”

“He told her don’t worry, we got a baby seat. Said he was a daddy himself. He had other stuff, too.”

“Like what?”

“Diapers, bottles.”

“Did you find that weird?”

Book blinked. “I guess. I wasn’t thinking about babies.”

“Is
Ax a daddy?”

“No,” said Book. “He murdered her, so I guess lying was no big deal.”

First time the idiot had expressed anything resembling insight. Maybe his head was clearing. Aaron preferred him zoned out and blabbing, decided to keep the questions minimally threatening. “I think I’ve got the scene, Mason. You and Adella are in the backseat of the truck, the baby’s in front, in a baby seat, everyone’s chilled out.”

“Not her,” said Book. “She was a little … like nervous. I gave her more money.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know … maybe five thousand?”

“Five thousand dollars?”

“Maybe two. Three, six, I don’t know, it was a bunch of hundreds, I get them in stacks for allowance.”

“You get cash delivered.”

“By Myron,” said Book. “He’s my business manager. Sometimes Ax goes to the ATM.”

“Ax has your PIN number.”

“I don’t like to go places.”

“Okay,” said Aaron. “Back to that night. Which park at what beach?” Knowing the answer.

“Way out,” said Book. “Past where his dad lives, his dad’s got a big place somewhere.”

“You’ve been to his dad’s place?”

“Nope, it’s on the land side. I like the beach side.”

“This way-out beach—”

“Leo Carrillo,” said Book. “He was an actor.”

“Who was?”

“Leo Carrillo.”

“That so.”

“Yup.” A trace of smugness had oozed into the actor’s voice. Guy was a shriveled wreck, but he could still one-up an outsider. “He played Mexicans in cowboy movies. They named a beach after him.”

Aaron said, “I know Carrillo. Pretty place.”

“Real pretty,” Book agreed. “The park’s on the land side but the water’s right across the highway, you can hear it. I like that sound, maybe I’ll move to the Colony or something, so I can sleep.”

“Did Adella think she was going to Ax’s dad’s place?”

Book gaped. “You really know stuff.”

Aaron smiled. “Then when Ax passed the turnoff for his dad’s place …”

“She said, ‘Hey, where we going.’”

“And Ax said …”

“Nothing. He just kept driving. It wasn’t that far after.”

“Then what, Mason?”

Book licked his lips. Rotated his head, like some yoga exercise. Creaked audibly.

“Ax pulls in front of some gates, gets out of the truck, she’s saying ‘What the fuck?’ He opens the door, pulls her out. Real hard.”

Book’s eyes closed. “I hate guns.”

“Ax had a gun.”

“When he brings it I always say put that away.”

“What happened next?”

“The baby cried. Ax put the gun in her back and told her to walk.”

“Into the park.”

“Yup. She said ‘Fuck you!’ and started to cuss him out. Ax twisted her arm real hard and real quick and she started screaming. The baby was
really
screaming. I put my hands over my ears.”

Demonstrating.

Gently, Aaron lowered Book’s hands. “Then what did Ax do?”

“Hit her in back of the head with the gun and when she fell he put his hands around her neck.” Another lip-lick. “Cars were driving by on PCH. It was weird.”

“Too dark for them to see anything, but you could see it.”

“I didn’t look. The baby was crying. Ax finished with her, put her back in the truck. Next to me. It smelled.”

“What did?”

“She shit herself. The baby’s
really
crying.”

“Must’ve been scary for you, seeing as you didn’t expect anything but a three-way party.”

Book went silent.

“Your feelings are important, Mason. To me.”

“I was … it was like … I was pretty wasted.”

“On what?”

“A little blow, a little ice. To get up.”

“Up from what?”

“Xanax. Restoril, Valium, Ambien … stuff.”

Unwilling to admit to sniffing heroin. Aaron had seen that before. Upscale junkies ’fessing to everything
but
H.

Book said, “We did some E, too. It wasn’t making me happy.”

“Because you’d just seen Ax murder Adella.”

“My whole head was … I was surprised.”

“By what happened.”

“She was so pretty,” said Book. “I was surprised at how she got to smelling real bad. After that…”

“After that, what, Mason?”

“We-ell… my head got real noisy. I stopped sleeping. Stopped eating, too.”

“Because you felt bad about what happened.”

“I went to the hospital,” said Book. “I wasn’t sick but my doctor said go.”

“Because you weren’t eating and sleeping.”

“They wanted to feed me in the veins,” said Book. “I said no, not there yet.”

“Not ready to be fed.”

Book’s arms shot out. Begging to be touched.

Aaron sat there. “Feeling guilty’s what
good
people do, Mason.”

“She came to meet
me
. She wanted to
be famous”

“What happened after Ax put Adella back in the truck?”

Book’s arms dropped. “He said, ‘We got to dump her somewhere.’”

“That’s when you went to Griffith Park.”

“Really long drive,” said Book. “It smelled gross and the baby was screaming. Ax told it to shutthefuckup but that didn’t help so he played Pink Floyd really loud.”

“What happened at Griffith Park?”

“We took her into where it was dark and put her on the ground.”

“You and Ax.”

“He didn’t want to carry her by himself, get her stuff all over him, so he took the feet, I took the hands. She kind of swung.” Book stared at Aaron. “He spread her legs, said that makes it look like Ted Bundy That was bad, huh? Helping him.”

“You’re doing the right thing right now, by talking, Mason. What happened to the baby?”

“Ax drove me home.”

Aaron repeated the question.

“The baby was in the truck.”

“Ax took it somewhere.”

No answer.

“What did Ax do with the baby, Mason?”

“We didn’t talk about it.”

Now Aaron did grace the fool with an angel’s touch. Standing and resting his palms on Book’s fragile shoulders. “You’re doing great, Mason, but we need to take it all the way. What did Ax do with the baby?”