statement and knew that there was no way out, Jones. He listened and he did the math. In one day everything added up to zero. Ron Harris was an asshole.”
“But Frankie said nothing was ever made public about the murder. How could anyone duplicate it?”
Grace leaned back in his chair, his eyes losing their edge as he gazed into the past. “Millie was found in one of those picnic areas off the parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl. A couple with two young children. They’d taken their lunch up there and they found her. Me and my partner got the call. Me and Leo.” He paused for a moment, staring through the window. “You saw the pictures,” he said in a quieter voice. “She’d been dead for more than twelve hours. Everyone who was there, including me, will live with that memory for the rest of their lives. Leo had nightmares for months.”
“But how could anyone duplicate it now?” Matt said.
“People talk, Jones. The way the girl was staked to the ground. The wounds to her face. She was young and beautiful and the daughter of a congressman. She came from a decent family. A wealthy family. We kept the details out for a lot of reasons, but you remember the rumors. They may have been roughed in, but they were close. Too close. The couple finally talked to one of the tabloids—and who wouldn’t? They were paid a lot of money. Other than what the deputy DA said in his opening statement, I don’t know about our side. It’s been eighteen months. You can’t keep a secret like that forever. At this point I’m not sure there’s even a reason to. That’s what I told Lane and your friend Hughes.”
As Matt thought it through, memories began to surface. He remembered the chatter that some of the rag sheets and gossip TV shows were spewing out at the time. He could remember looking at the crime-scene photos on the ride back to the station and thinking to himself that somehow the way Millie Brown and Faith Novakoff had been murdered seemed familiar to him. It was a strange feeling—spooky—and he waited for it to pass.
He watched Grace glance at the surveillance video on the laptop. The killer was racing across the parking lot toward the camera, then veering to the left and out of view. After what seemed like an eternity but only amounted to thirty seconds in real time, the first responders, Hank Andrews and Travis Green, began to enter the lot from the other side. Grace shook his head at them and turned away, like he couldn’t watch.
“What about the mirror?” Matt said. “Why do you think Harris placed the girl’s face on a sheet of glass? It has to mean something, right?”
Grace shrugged but didn’t answer.
“You just told me that her body was found at lunchtime. That means she was killed in the middle of the night.”
Grace nodded. “Within an hour or two of midnight either way.”
“So maybe the mirror was meant for whoever found her the next day.”
“Or maybe,” Grace said, “Harris was just trying to make it look as far from what it really was as he could. The guy was wrapped too tight. He killed Millie because she wanted out of the relationship and was threatening him with exposure. He may have called whatever the fuck he was doing to her consensual. He may have called it a secret affair. But he was the only one who did, and he waited until he was cornered to do it. Every one of her friends knew exactly what was going on. Harris killed Millie Brown because he had a lot to lose. His job, his wife, his two kids. He tried to make it look like it was done by some freak. He used a box cutter on her face. He made her pay. He made it hurt. And in the end we realized that the killer really was a freak. It was the girl’s science teacher, and we got him.”
CHAPTER 14
Matt tossed the murder books onto the counter and sat down at his cubicle. He could hear the sound of muffled voices, but because the partitions were six feet high he couldn’t tell who was in the room. Just Cabrera, whom he could
“But Frankie said nothing was ever made public about the murder. How could anyone duplicate it?”
Grace leaned back in his chair, his eyes losing their edge as he gazed into the past. “Millie was found in one of those picnic areas off the parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl. A couple with two young children. They’d taken their lunch up there and they found her. Me and my partner got the call. Me and Leo.” He paused for a moment, staring through the window. “You saw the pictures,” he said in a quieter voice. “She’d been dead for more than twelve hours. Everyone who was there, including me, will live with that memory for the rest of their lives. Leo had nightmares for months.”
“But how could anyone duplicate it now?” Matt said.
“People talk, Jones. The way the girl was staked to the ground. The wounds to her face. She was young and beautiful and the daughter of a congressman. She came from a decent family. A wealthy family. We kept the details out for a lot of reasons, but you remember the rumors. They may have been roughed in, but they were close. Too close. The couple finally talked to one of the tabloids—and who wouldn’t? They were paid a lot of money. Other than what the deputy DA said in his opening statement, I don’t know about our side. It’s been eighteen months. You can’t keep a secret like that forever. At this point I’m not sure there’s even a reason to. That’s what I told Lane and your friend Hughes.”
As Matt thought it through, memories began to surface. He remembered the chatter that some of the rag sheets and gossip TV shows were spewing out at the time. He could remember looking at the crime-scene photos on the ride back to the station and thinking to himself that somehow the way Millie Brown and Faith Novakoff had been murdered seemed familiar to him. It was a strange feeling—spooky—and he waited for it to pass.
He watched Grace glance at the surveillance video on the laptop. The killer was racing across the parking lot toward the camera, then veering to the left and out of view. After what seemed like an eternity but only amounted to thirty seconds in real time, the first responders, Hank Andrews and Travis Green, began to enter the lot from the other side. Grace shook his head at them and turned away, like he couldn’t watch.
“What about the mirror?” Matt said. “Why do you think Harris placed the girl’s face on a sheet of glass? It has to mean something, right?”
Grace shrugged but didn’t answer.
“You just told me that her body was found at lunchtime. That means she was killed in the middle of the night.”
Grace nodded. “Within an hour or two of midnight either way.”
“So maybe the mirror was meant for whoever found her the next day.”
“Or maybe,” Grace said, “Harris was just trying to make it look as far from what it really was as he could. The guy was wrapped too tight. He killed Millie because she wanted out of the relationship and was threatening him with exposure. He may have called whatever the fuck he was doing to her consensual. He may have called it a secret affair. But he was the only one who did, and he waited until he was cornered to do it. Every one of her friends knew exactly what was going on. Harris killed Millie Brown because he had a lot to lose. His job, his wife, his two kids. He tried to make it look like it was done by some freak. He used a box cutter on her face. He made her pay. He made it hurt. And in the end we realized that the killer really was a freak. It was the girl’s science teacher, and we got him.”
CHAPTER 14
Matt tossed the murder books onto the counter and sat down at his cubicle. He could hear the sound of muffled voices, but because the partitions were six feet high he couldn’t tell who was in the room. Just Cabrera, whom he could
Similar Books
