A Killing in China Basin - By Kirk Russell Page 0,33

the phone still in her left hand she reached up on a shelf and pulled down three empty purses they’d previously checked. In a burgundy-colored leather purse she followed Julie’s directions and found a seam near the bottom bound by Velcro. When she pulled the Velcro apart it exposed a pocket sewed behind the lining. In it were six driver’s licenses, all with Alex’s face but none with her name or true driver’s license number. For each license there was a credit card. When she hung up with the cousin she looked at Raveneau and said, ‘Looks like Gloria was right about credit fraud. So is that what got her killed?’

TWENTY-FOUR

Not long after Stoltz started his five year prison sentence, his new cellmate, a pug-faced guy who went by the name of Chulie, suggested with a good-natured grin that since they were trapped with each other and without women, they should service each other sexually. When Stoltz declined, Chulie turned sullen.

Then came the night Stoltz was lying on his back trying to go to sleep, trying not to obsess about what had happened, and breathing the rank prison air while listening to the animal howls of some crazy asshole down the cell block, when something inside him snapped. The lights, noise, loss of reputation, the narrowing of his existence down to this locked building full of losers caused a tightening in his chest that felt like a hand crushing his heart. He could barely breathe and croaked Chulie’s name.

But Chulie thought he was calling for a different reason and when he’d realized it was medical help he’d wanted, decided to watch rather than yell for a guard. In seconds Stoltz became drenched in sweat and overwhelmed by fear. Four hours later a disdainful prison doctor told him his heart was fine and that his head was the problem. An anxiety attack was not uncommon for those just starting their sentence.

‘Let me give you some advice,’ he said. ‘Your life has changed irrevocably. Nothing will ever be the same. People will never accept you in the same way, and those who tell you later that the fact you went to prison doesn’t matter to them will all be liars. You’ll be an ex-con for the rest of your life and that means you’ll always be a lesser human being. It does mean you’ll never again have the life you had before. Accept that and acknowledge you took another man’s life, and then you can move on. There’s a price for what you’ve done. Fight it and it’s going to eat you from the inside out. The claw marks in your chest today came from your head. Think about that.’

He didn’t take that advice and got through five years of prison by vowing to get his old life back. Now, he almost had it. Not quite, but almost. In prison he had part-time access to a computer and gave away his best ideas to those that could help him get back on his feet later. Some of that paid off. He was ready to fight and win again, and a hatred of Raveneau was growing in him. The hatred he nurtured for Whitacre and Bates was for all of them now, but he needed to keep that in balance. Still, he was sure Raveneau would be back. Raveneau would be the one. Raveneau was the locus, the center, the eye, the one to watch.

TWENTY-FIVE

‘Let’s play a little basketball,’ la Rosa said as they got back from Jurika’s apartment near dusk. ‘I keep thinking about Heilbron and need to clean the smell of him out of my pores.’

‘You and me, one on one?’

‘Sure, why not, unless I’m too intimidating.’

‘You’re not.’

‘You sure?’

‘Where would we play?’

‘I belong to a club. They’ve got pretty good indoor courts and there’s usually one open. It’s in South San Francisco but you could go down Third and avoid the traffic.’ She touched his arm. ‘But honestly, not if it scares you, and it’s only fair to tell you I played point guard at San Jose State for two years. Most of that was on the bench, but I’m sure I can still embarrass an old man. Come out and play with me.’

‘I haven’t played in years.’

‘I believe you but you’re all that’s available and we can keep talking about the case on the court.’

At his last physical Raveneau’s doctor told him, ‘Buy a blood pressure monitor. Go to Longs or Walgreens, plenty of places sell them, and start taking