Milo talked to Susan Palmer for another tenminutes, easing into open-ended questions, putting pauses and silences to work.
Good technique but it didn’t produce. She talked about how much she missedher sister, lapsed into exclusive past tense. When she shot to her feet, hereyes looked bruised. “Got an office full of malocclusions. Please stay intouch.”
We watched her cross the parking lot and get into a silver BMW740. Thelicense plate read: I STR8 10.
Milo said, “Her office is two blocks awaybut she drove.”
“Californiagirl,” I said. “Something her sister wanted to be.”
“Acting lessons and a hike above Kanan Dume. Can’t be coincidence. Thequestion is how do the Gaidelases figure in with a couple of pretty-face femalevictims?”
“That girl we spoke to—Briana—said Nora rejected applicants for reasonsother than talent.”
“Wanting ’em young and pretty,” he said. “Cathy and Andy were both too oldand Cathy was too fat. So what, they got turned away from the Playhouse andkilled? Talk about flunking an audition.”
“Maybe their obvious vulnerability got a predator sniffing.”
“Someone at the school spots ’em and stalks ’em?” He gazed out the windowand back at me.
I said, “Could be the same way Tori Giacomo was spotted. If her ex is rightabout her dating someone, you’d think that person would’ve surfaced when shewent missing. Unless he had something to do with her death.”
“A good-looking predator. As in Meserve. What, he proposed a three-way tothe Gaidelases and the party went bad?”
“Or he just offered to help them with their careers.”
“Yeah,” he said, “that would work.”
“On the other hand,” I said, “Reynold Peaty had plenty of opportunity tocheck out the flock at the PlayHouse.”
“Him…let’s see if Sean’s seen anything.” He tried Binchy’s number, scowled,clicked off. “No connection. Maybe the cell waves are upset by environmentallyconscious mochalicious fumes.”
I said, “Nora’s attachment to youth is interesting.”
“Why? That just makes her like everyone else in showbiz.”
“But she has no profit motive. The school’s a make-work project, so why getpicky? Unless what she really wanted was a personal dating pool.”
“Sample the studs,” he said.
“And when they get too close, Brother Brad chases them off. Or thinks hedoes.”
“Okay, she’s a middle-aged horn-dog. How do the Gaidelases figure in withthat?”
“I don’t know, but when Susan Palmer was describing her family situation, Iwas struck by parallels between Cathy and Nora. Both floundered well intoadulthood. Family connections got Cathy a runway gig that she couldn’t hold onto. Nora’s got her a single sitcom walk-on that went nowhere. Cathy hadlong-standing drug problems. Nora smokes dope to get her day going. Eventually,both women were set up in business. Cathy’s salon had been making a profitrecently. Meaning it lost money for years. The Dowd family fortune has relievedNora from any financial pressure, but bottom line, we’ve got a couple ofprodigal daughters. Maybe Cathy showing up at the PlayHouse evoked something inNora that Nora didn’t want to see.”
“Cathy’s too much like her, so she kills her? That’s a little abstract,Alex. Why would Nora even know about Cathy’s history if she turned her away?”
“What if Cathy did have a chance to audition?” I said. “Nora’s a big one foropening the soul.”
“Cathy emoted and it made Nora squirm? Fine, but I don’t see flashpointepiphany as a motive for murder. All Nora has to do is send her and Andy awayand move on to the next stud. And if uncomfortable memories are the issue, howdoes Michaela fit in? Or Tori Giacomo who disappeared before the Gaidelases?This feels more like a sexual thing, Alex. Just what you said: Some psychopathscopes out the herd and picks off the weak ones. Cathy may have been over thehill for a starlet, but she wasn’t a bad-looking woman. To a guy like Peaty shecoulda looked downright sexy, no?”
“Peaty was caught peeping at college girls. Michaela and Tori would fit,but—”
“Cathy wouldn’t. So maybe he’s not as limited as that oafish demeanorsuggests. Or Cathy set something off—fond memories of a barroom floozy whorejected him back in Reno.Hell, maybe Cathy reminded him of his mother and he snapped. You guys stillbelieve in the Oedipal thing?”
“It has its place.”
“No telling what goes on in the old cranio, right?” He got up and paced. “Ifit’s a sexual thing, there could be more victims out there. But let’sconcentrate on the victims we know about. What they have in common is actingschool and/or the Malibuhills.”
“One person with links to both is Meserve,” I said. “He picked Latigo forhis hoax............