A Killing in China Basin - By Kirk Russell Page 0,17
her out of police work, arguing that she could do better for herself.
Raveneau spoke decent Spanish but la Rosa was fluent and hip to the language the kid used. Forty minutes into the interview Fuentes gave up a name, H Man, Hector Jimenez, a gangbanger, and told them where to look for him.
They picked Jimenez up off the street in the mid afternoon and brought him in. He was a big man, coffee-colored, half-Puerto Rican, half-Mexican and muscled, wearing a canary-yellow shirt that came down to mid thigh. Jimenez knew to say nothing and lawyer up but inexplicably did the opposite: confessed to the shooting, saying he was high and the victim had come on to the girl he was with so he had no choice. They were hours with him in the small interview room and after he signed a confession they booked him.
Then they went to see Heilbron who was hostile and unwilling to talk to them at all. The thrill of confessing had passed and he made no attempt to answer Raveneau’s questions. Instead, he said, ‘I made up the whole thing, I didn’t kill her. I got everything from one of the cops outside. He’ll remember me. Ask him.’
Raveneau and la Rosa knew they’d have to kick him loose, but that didn’t mean they weren’t conflicted about it. Then, as they were leaving, Heilbron called to la Rosa. She glanced at Raveneau and then went back, demanding as she got close, ‘What is it?’
‘I know you’re not married. I want to ask you out. I’d like to spend time with you.’
‘Would you?’
‘Last night I kept waking up thinking about you. We should get together.’
‘Let’s do that. Let’s do it in an interview room tomorrow morning and we’ll talk about San Jose. How does that sound?’
She didn’t wait for his answer. Outside, Raveneau turned and said, ‘Let’s get a drink and celebrate our first week on-call together and you getting the Jimenez confession today.’
In the old days Raveneau drank Scotch and when somebody wanted to buy the homicide inspector a drink he usually accepted. He’d get warmed up and entertain a small crowd with stories as Angie waited at home. That was back when he thought it meant something to appear on TV answering questions about a homicide investigation at a press conference. It was also when he thought an eighteen-year-old Scotch meant the whiskey had been in a barrel for eighteen years, as opposed to the truth, which was that just a fraction of the barrel had. He hadn’t known anything more about Scotch than he’d known about homicide investigations. Now he ordered a glass of wine, la Rosa a margarita.
‘The homicide dick who drinks white wine,’ la Rosa said after the waitress left.
‘When I was the Great Inspector I drank Scotch. In those days I couldn’t find a hat big enough to fit my head.’
‘How do they fit nowadays? They must be tight still.’
‘Not as tight.’ He studied her a moment and said, ‘I should have asked you this weeks ago. Everyone calls you Liz, but what do you prefer?’
‘Oh, I don’t care.’
‘No, I’m asking, I mean it.’
‘I like Elizabeth but no one uses my full name.’ She smiled a warm smile. ‘I’m OK if you just call me Inspector. I’m still getting used to it and I love the sound of it.’
‘I’m going to call you Elizabeth.’
Raveneau finished his wine and as la Rosa downed her margarita they ordered another round. It felt like they got somewhere today and maybe also crossed a generational gap. Getting the Jimenez confession made it a lucky day, but that was before they knew what had happened across the bay in Oakland.
FOURTEEN
Charles Bates’s wife, Jacie, routinely took an evening walk, mostly when there was still light and often with CD, the D for Charles’s middle name, Douglas. Tonight she was walking alone. Not even their old dog, Chief, was with her. With his back legs Chief was too slow. She left the house a little after five, knowing it would get to dusk as she came through the end of the walk. Even so, she stopped to chat with a neighbor before starting for the dead-end street that turned into the park.
She picked up her pace. Jacie heard that she could lose weight at her hips by walking faster and she wanted to be down five pounds before she and CD went to Hawaii. They had a condo rented on Maui, same one they went to last year