A Killing in China Basin - By Kirk Russell Page 0,80
alive.’
‘We’re glad you’re alive and I’m sure it was very frightening.’
‘Why don’t you find him first and then we’ll talk about the emails.’
They talked another twenty minutes with her and then left unsure if kidnapping could be filed today. As they passed Lafayette on the drive back, Raveneau looked at the field of white crosses on the face of a hill to his right. There were many crosses bright in sunlight on the hillside.
‘What’s that about?’ la Rosa asked.
‘They’re a reminder and a memorial for soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s a cross for each one.’
They lost the sun as they came back through the Caldecott Tunnel to the bay side. Gray clouds sat at horizon.
‘Looks like rain,’ Raveneau said, and then took a call from the office.
‘Inspector, a woman called for you a few minutes ago and said she had new information on the John Reinert murder. Do you want her phone number?’
‘The John Reinert murder?’ La Rosa turned her head immediately. ‘Yes, give me the number.’
When he hung up, la Rosa said, ‘That’s probably another kook, another nut feeding on all this. Why is it the kooks all come here?’
‘Goes back to the Gold Rush, I think. San Francisco was where you went to start all over again. I’m going to call the number.’
He did and a woman answered. She said softly but with some irony, ‘I thought that would get your attention.’
‘John Reinert died thirteen years ago,’ Raveneau said. ‘What can you tell me?’
‘Thirteen years, two months, and sixteen days, but I don’t really keep track like that any more.’
Then he knew. He reached for a pen and something to write on.
‘In those days I was Erin Reinert.’
‘Where are you now, Erin?’
‘In San Francisco, here to talk to you and your partner.’
‘And we’d very much like to talk to you. Can you meet us at the Hall of Justice on Bryant Street?’
‘No, I want to meet you in China Basin. I want you to show me where Alex Jurika died.’
‘Did you know Alex Jurika?’
‘Once, I knew her very well.’
‘We’ll meet you in China Basin. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’
He gave her the address and hung up.
FIFTY-SEVEN
Erin Quinn wore a black leather coat and jeans. Her face was fuller, her hands chapped, hair streaked with gray, eyes distant, haunted. She looked away as she talked. She looked through the chain link at the bay as Raveneau unlocked the gate. Inside, the interior still smelled strongly of new paint and carpet.
‘She was killed upstairs,’ la Rosa said, talking as she led the way up. ‘Tell us about yourself. Where are you living?’
‘In the Sierras, but I don’t want to say where until after you arrest Cody. I don’t want any publicity. I don’t want anyone to know about me, especially him.’
‘Do you live alone?’
‘I’ve never thought I had the right to remarry. I had my chance and I ruined it.’
‘Do you believe Cody Stoltz has kept looking for you all these years?’
‘Yes, and he blames me.’
‘Why does he blame you?’
‘Show me where Alex was killed.’
They had reached the room anyway, but it was nothing like that night. A row of cheap new fluorescent lights hung on pendants from the ceiling. The floor had a low-grade commercial carpet and the walls new white paint. La Rosa resumed her soft questioning.
‘Tell us more about you and Alex.’
‘I was with Alex when I met my husband. I met Cody the same night.’ She looked down at the floor, asked, ‘How did Alex die?’
‘She was strangled,’ la Rosa said. ‘She was bound and strangled.’
‘In this room?’
La Rosa glanced at Raveneau, then described the murder scene before asking, ‘Did you keep in touch with Alex?’
‘Yes, but we didn’t talk often.’
‘What about email?’ Raveneau asked, thinking about the [email protected] emails.
‘Never, because I was afraid of him hacking into her computer, and then finding me.’ She turned to la Rosa. ‘Who do you think killed her?’
‘Who would kill her?’ Quinn asked. ‘Who do you think killed her?’
La Rosa glanced at Raveneau again before answering, ‘We don’t know yet. We’re hoping you can help us.’
When Quinn was silent Raveneau asked, ‘Could Cody have gone to Alex to try to find you?’
She exhaled hard and said, ‘Anything is possible with him. He wouldn’t know unless he figured some things out, but he might have done that.’
‘What things?’ La Rosa asked.
‘How does revenge sound?’
Raveneau caught his partner’s eye. This is where it got tricky. She was about to give them motive.