"I didn't think of him-I thought of you. Look, it's not a big deal if you're too busy or can't or whatever. I'll call Poitras. That's a good idea."
"I'm not saying to call Poitras. Look, I'll run the goddamned name and call you later. Forget I said anything."
"What's wrong?"
"Forget it."
She hung up, and I thought maybe I should call her back, but I didn't. I locked the house and drove down the hill.
Victoria was the last.
Victoria had been the last of the three escorts to see Faustina, so I wanted to talk to her first. She was also the most reluctant to see me, Golden had said. She was married, and had children. She wouldn't agree to see me at her home, and didn't want me to call, but she agreed to meet me at Greenblatt's Delicatessen on Sunset after she dropped her kids at school. Great.
I eased into the morning chain of commuters creeping down Laurel to Sunset, then hooked a tight left, and parked behind Greenblatt's. Lucy and I had often gone there for bagels because it -was close to my house, but when the memories of her came I pushed them away. I told myself it was important to stay focused, but the truth was I was tired of hurting.
The deli was crowded with people buying bagels and coffee to go. I strolled to the front of the store, then along the wine aisles, but no one looked like a potential murderer or a soccer-mom escort with her eye out for a private detective.
I bought a cup of coffee, then carried it upstairs to a small dining area. It was crowded, too, but I knew Victoria as soon as I saw her. She didn't look away when our eyes met. She had black hair cut to frame her face, and pale skin, and was wearing an unzipped burgundy sweat jacket over a black tee and sweat pants. She watched with remote detachment as I approached.
I said, " Victoria?"
"Let's do this in my car. We'll have more privacy."
I followed her outside to a gleaming S-class Mercedes sedan. It was an eighty-thousand-dollar car. She pointed her key, and the Mercedes chirped. She hadn't bought the car by working as a prostitute; her money came from somewhere else. Probably her husband.
"Get in. We can talk in the car."
Her Mercedes was parked facing out so we would be in open view of everyone entering and leaving the deli. She had probably planned it that way. When we closed the doors, the sounds of the city vanished with the heavy thump of sealing gaskets. Victoria folded her hands in her lap, and twisted a platinum wedding band on her left hand.
I identified myself, then asked to see her driver's license. She shook her head.
"I didn't bring it. Stephen said you aren't a policeman-"
I didn't see a purse, so she was probably telling the truth about her license. I slipped a digital camera from my pocket, and snapped her picture before she realized what I was doing. She covered her face after the flash, when it was too late.
"You bastard. You sonofabitch-"
"That one is for the night clerk at the motel. I'll also run the license plate on your car. You want to stop fooling around?"
She glared at me, but she didn't try to run, and she didn't make a scene. I took out the morgue shot of Faustina.
"Do you recognize this man?"
"Yes. Stephen said he's dead."
"When and where did you last see him?"
"The night before last at the Home Away Suites. There wasn't any before or after-just the once. At about ten. Five minutes before ten."
"Did you leave the motel with him?"
"It was an outcall date. I went to his room, I left-that's how it works."
"So you didn't leave with him?"
"No. I don't know what he did after I left. I don't know anything about this. I don't want to be involved-"
She twisted the band harder, and shook her head, not as a negative, but to swing the hair from her eyes. Her calm expression and frantic fingers didn't go together, as if they belonged to different people.
" Victoria- "
"My name is Margaret Keyes."
"Margaret. If you had to prove you weren't with him later that night, could you?"
She studied me for another moment with the same detachment she had shown earlier, then glanced past me at something she wanted me to see.
"See over there-the other Mercedes."
A black Mercedes AMG sat at the far end of the parking lot. I couldn't