Undead L.A. 1 (10 page)

“
Mitzi sure seemed to love you,” Gary said, watching Randy's eyebrows rise at the contradiction. “So did Beth from what she described. Maybe you were just too far gone by that point to recognize it, but they loved you. I didn't have the heart to tell her how you've turned out.”

“
Like I said, I guess we were just raised differently, Gary.” Randy turned and spit at the two-way window. “Can I have my lawyer now or do you want to continue to violate my rights?”

Gary laughed.

“You're lucky you weren't raised like me. My mother would whip your ass just to teach you some fucking manners.”

“
That explains a lot about you actually, the fact that you had an abusive mama. Was it always hard to win her love or did you screw up somehow and have it taken away? Do you even know what it was that you did to make her turn against you? It must drive you crazy night after sleepless night to not be sure.”

Gary stared at Randy without speaking for a moment. This time, Randy never broke eye contact. A loud rapping at the door brought Gary back out of his spell.

“We'll continue this in a moment,” Gary said, getting up quickly and moving to the door. “Be right back.”

Gary slid through the partially open door and shut it behind him. His partner Arnold looked visibly upset.

“Arnold, what the hell? I'm in the middle of working over a suspect. What the fuck did you interrupt me for?”

Gary could barely hold back his agitation with his partner.

He's making it easy for me to ask for the switch, that’s for sure.

“
We've got a problem…” Arnold said, but Gary cut him off.

“
Is it about his lawyer waiting for him? Because I want to keep him at bay as long as possible. We were really close to a confession in there before you pulled me out.”

“
Yeah, that too,” Arnold said. “Greeley is in talking to the lieutenant right now.”

“
Greeley? How did he get in the building?”

Aiden Greeley had built a reputation for himself filing cases against the LAPD. He'd grown famous over the years for getting civil judgments against officers involved in killings in the line of duty. He was an opportunistic cockroach who lived to fuck over cops. The fact that Randy had brought him along only underscored his guilt as far as Gary was concerned. There would be nothing Greeley could do if Randy accidentally slipped up and confessed though. Gary just hoped he could get him back on track before Greeley got in the room.

I'm so close now,
Gary thought.
The sooner I get back in there the better
.

“
One of the IA guys walked him in,” Arnold said, looking flustered. “That's not what I called you out here for. We got a report of another one of Randy's students going missing. Parents just called in. Elena Maria Padilla. Sixteen years old. Missing since this morning, right before our boy came waltzing in. Last seen a few blocks from where Randy lives.”

“
She's probably at his apartment now,” Gary said, anger rising up in him. “He left her there to come do the interview. He's fucking with us, man. The prick is just dicking us around and getting off on it.”

“
I don't know,” Arnold argued. “Seems like the dude knew he was being investigated. He brought a lawyer, man. Guys like that don't leave loose ends.”

“
He knew we'd make a play,” Gary said, the anger making his hands shake. He could feel it taking over. He imagined that poor girl tied up and crying in the shitty apartment, not knowing if she would live or die. It was enough to push him over the edge.

“
You finish the warrant?”

“
All typed up and ready to go, but it's pretty flimsy,” Arnold admitted. “Without something from him all you have is circumstantial.”

“
He knew all the victims,” Gary fired back. “That ought to be enough.”

“
We don't have anything connecting him and the other victims, Wendell. Think about it.”

“
We don't need anything on them,” Gary countered, “not yet. All we need to do is charge him with the first murder. Then we start tacking on the rest. Hopefully, we'll get that out of him in an attempt to bargain for his life. Don't you see that?”

“
What's his motive?”

“
He's a sick bastard! These aren't crimes of passion, Arnold. They're premeditated acts of cold-blooded murder, most likely stemming from his history of abuse.”

“
Which you can't use because most of what you got is from sealed juvenile records.”

“
I've got plenty from his fosters. Not to mention his flimsy alibi. He said he was at home all night practicing for an upcoming concert, but no one can verify actually seeing him.”

“
The landlord said she heard music all night.”

“
He could have used a recording,” Gary shouted. “You think he didn't think of that? This guy is a pro, like Bundy. He's already thought of all the angles.”

“
Come on, man,” Arnold said. “You of all people should know better than that. It's not going to hold up unless he admits to something.”

“
Just have it ready to go.”

Gary turned back to the interview room.

“Hey, man,” Arnold pleaded. “Don't do anything stupid. You got eyes on you. We all do.”

Gary ignored the taunt and walked back in, closing the door behind him. It was a different ball game now. Time was a factor and he needed something out of Randy
now
. Without a confession it would be hard to get a warrant to enter Randy's apartment. They just didn't have enough. And having Greeley involved only cemented that.

Randy looked up and smiled. By now Gary would know about his lawyer being present. It was still just a game to him.

“You back to talk some more about your mommy?”
“You're in deep shit now, Randy,” Gary said, feeling his anger surge once more. “Way up over your head.”

“
Your threats don't scare me, mama's boy. I know my rights. Bring me my fucking lawyer.”

“
I'm done fucking around with you.”

“
Good!”

“
I'm gonna give you one last chance, and then I'm gonna break your fucking neck. Where is she?”

“
I don't know what you're talking about, Gary.”

“
Last time I'm going to ask. Where is Elena?”

Randy smiled as a malicious glint gleamed in his eyes.

“Poor Elena,” he said. “She is such a sweet girl. It's really a shame how things turned out. I had such high hopes for her, but she just didn't have the stamina. You know what they say, right? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Gary could feel himself slipping over the edge as he lost control. The dark pit of rage buried inside him rose up like black bile, clouding his reason. He saw the hands raised up in front of him before he realized they were his own. His legs were carrying him forward, and before he knew it he had knocked Randy out of his chair and was on top of him. He brought his fists down into Randy's face over and over again. Randy squealed in pain like a girl. Whatever he'd been expecting to do, this wasn't it.

Gary thought of all the victims he'd seen over the years as he continued to pummel Randy. Randy brought his arms up to his face and Gary shifted his punches to Randy's chest. He could feel one of the ribs crack as he drove down hard into him, and it brought him a deep sense of satisfaction. Randy brought his arms down as he cried out and Gary hit him square in the jaw in response. He thought of all the shattered lives he'd born witness to over the years, all the unresolved cases with sick fucks like Randy taunting them over crimes they'd never pay for in this lifetime, and he let his righteous anger pour through him like unleashed vengeance. It felt good to cross the line. It felt good to take matters into his own hands. This was real justice, raw and pure and unfiltered. No courts, no trials, no sentencing; just the unyielding reality of being called to pay for his crimes.

Gary heard the door of the interview room open and heard loud voices shouting behind him. His partner Arnold was dragging him off Randy. His lieutenant was there with Greeley, as well. They were all shouting at once, but all Gary could hear was the whimpering coming from Randy. His right eye was black and his nose was broken and bleeding. They locked eyes once more as Arnold dragged Gary out of the room. Randy flashed a bloody smile that took the wind out of Gary's sails. The deep feeling of satisfaction that had coursed through his veins now soured as Gary realized what was happening. He'd been played. He'd been right all along. It was all a game, and Gary had just lost.

*** *** ***

Gary got the call from his lieutenant, Jack Peterson, while on his way to work from his studio apartment in Culver City. He was jammed in traffic on the 10 Freeway heading into the PAB downtown when it came in. Most cops he worked with lived either down in South Los Angeles or out in Simi Valley. Gary had taken a liking to Culver City after living there for several years as a kid, and decided he would move there after his suspension ended and he was transferred to Downtown. He settled into a spot that was walking distance from both Joxer Daly's, a cop-friendly Irish bar on Washington, and Johnnie's Pastrami on Sepulveda, since he spent a fair amount of time off work at either place.

Mehaul O’Leary, the owner of Joxer Daly's and former mayor of Culver City, had poured him a free shot of Powers Irish whiskey when he learned Gary was a cop. After that it had become his home away from home. The bar had images of NYC, both before and after 9/11, with tributes to fallen heroes. They did a raffle every Tuesday night as well. It wasn't like the other trendy bars in the area. It was run by real folk and real folk drank there. There usually had several screens going at once playing different games – or if you weren't interested in those, one of the cute bartenders was always good for a little harmless flirting.

The apartment was old and run down and cost way too much, but he'd grown to love it. It didn't hurt either that he was less than ten minutes from the beach on a good day. One thing he could live without was the long commute. He knew that originally the 10 Freeway had been built as a means for people living and working in downtown Los Angeles to get out to the beach and back at lunchtime. The whole drive was supposed to take less than thirty minutes. On a good day it took about an hour to go one way or the other. All bets were off if it rained.

Even though he was still lucky to have a job, Gary didn't feel like any kind of winner. Three years had passed since he'd assaulted Randall Whitmore in an interview room in Hollywood, nearly ending his career. Gary had pleaded with Avery, his lieutenant at the time, to book Randy on what they had and let him fill in the puzzle pieces. He'd done everything short of getting down on his knees and offering to blow his LT.

Then he'd sent his partner, Arnold Burns, to a sympathetic judge with the warrant, but he knew he couldn't wait with another young girl's life on the line. That's when he'd talked Randy's landlord into letting him into the apartment. To his surprise the search turned up nothing. Gary had been so concerned that Randy might have a victim tied up in his apartment that he'd jumped the warrant, tainting any evidence he might have discovered. Later, after being coached by Greeley, the landlord claimed Gary had forced her to open the apartment door by claiming it was official police business, despite her protests about invading his tenants privacy.

Wonder how much of my money they ended up giving that Armenian bitch to lie under oath
, Gary questioned. Not that it mattered all that much anymore. It was like a scar from an old wound that he had grown fond of running his fingers over again and again.

The missing young girl, Elena Padilla, had turned up later that night, having spent the day at Disneyland with her best friend's family. She testified under oath that she had told Randy about her plans to sneak off, but that she begged him not to betray her trust. It had been her final music lesson with him because her condition, cystic fibrosis, left her too weak to play her favorite instrument, the flute. Her ‘best friend’ admitted to lying about Elena having permission to go to the amusement park so they could jump the long lines since Elena always had an oxygen tank with her.

That's what Randy meant when he said, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” – or at least that's what Greeley had said in court to counter Gary's testimony. It was like fighting off a great white shark underwater while wearing heavy winter clothing. The more Gary had attempted to defend himself, the further down he sank while the predators endlessly circled him, never showing the slightest signs of growing tired.

He played me good,
Gary bitterly admitted.
The whole time I thought I had him he was actually manipulating me into making one mistake after another.

Greeley had all the charges dropped against his client after threatening to sue the City of Los Angeles and the police department. He filed a civil suit against Gary, alleging that he was obsessed with Randy and that he had targeted him with malicious intent. Gary's old partner, Arnold Burns, even testified against him in court, in exchange for not having his name added to the lawsuit. The jury, having spent years hearing about police corruption and abuse, sided with Randy almost immediately, awarding him a judgment that forced Gary to sell his house and wiped out his entire life’s savings. Internal Affairs had investigated him over the incident, portraying him as a ‘rogue cop gone bad’ to the newspapers. His defense attorney argued that work-related stress had brought on the incident, and that his history with the department outweighed one incident of bad judgment. In the end Gary was suspended without pay for one month, ordered to do a full psych evaluation along with therapy and anger management, then was quietly transferred downtown where he worked cold cases for a year before being put back on normal rotation. The murders of those young girls were never solved. Not a day went by that he didn't think about Randy, or the young women that were tortured and killed. Their faces haunted his sleepless nights.