Our second drinking hole tonight, this one a dank, would-be Irish tavern onPico.
Lou Giacomo took in the décor. “This could be Queens.”
The three of us settled in a stiff-backed booth with Naugahyde cushions. Milo asked for a Diet Coke and I had coffee.
Giacomo said, “Bud, not Light, regular.”
This barmaid was young, with a lip-pierce. “I’d never take you for a Lightguy.”
Giacomo ignored her. She shot him a sharp look and left.
He said, “You guys reformed drunks or something?”
Milo spread his shoulders and took up morespace in the booth.
Giacomo massaged a thick wrist. “No offense intended, I’m not at my best,okay?”
“Sorry about Tori,” said Milo. “I meanthat.”
“Like I told you the first time, I already knew. Now the wife claims sheknew, too.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She wants me home a-sap. Probably gonna greet me with another nervousbreakdown. I ain’t going back until I’m sure Tori gets a proper burial.”
His eyes watered. “What a stupid thing to say, it’s a fuckin’ skull, how thefuck can it get a proper burial ? I went over there, to your coroner. Theydidn’t wanna show it to me, gave me all this bullshit, it ain’t like TV, youdon’t have to see it. I made ’em show it to me.”
Spade-shaped hands shaped a shaky oval in the air. “Fuckin’ thing. Onlyreason they even had it was some lady was working with it, some fuckin’ scienceproject, she’s putting holes in it, digging out the…”
His loss of composure was sudden as a stroke. Pale and sweating, he pressedhimself against the seat, gasping as if he’d been sucker punched.
Milo said, “Mr. Giacomo?”
Giacomo clenched his eyes shut and waved him off.
When the young barmaid brought the drinks, he was still sobbing and she wasmature enough to look the other way.
 
“Sorry about that faggy shit.”
“Don’t be,” said Milo.
“Well I fuckin’ am. ” Giacomo rubbed his eyes, ran his jacket sleeve overthe lids. The tweed left red trails across his cheeks. “What they told me is Igotta fill out forms so I can take it with me. After that, I’m outta here.”
He gazed at his beer as if it were a urine sample. Drank anyway.
“I got this to tell you: The few times Tori called, her mother buggedher—getting any parts, sleeping enough, dating anyone. I try to tell Arlene.Don’t bug her. She says ‘I do it ’cause I care. ’ Meaning I don’t. ”
Giacomo swallowed more beer. “Now all of a sudden, she’s telling me Tori wasmaybe dating someone. How does she know? Tori didn’t say so but she didn’t denyit.”
“Any details?”
Giacomo’s lip curled. “Mother’s intuition.” He rotated his mug. “That placestinks. Your coroner’s. Smells like garbage left out for a month. Any way youcan use what I just told you?”
“Not without some kind of evidence.”
“Figures—I’m not trying to bust your balls, but what I got to look forwardto when I get home ain’t no picnic. Dealing with the church, who knows what thepope’s position is on burying—my sister’s gonna talk to the monsignor, we’llsee.”
Milo sipped his Diet Coke.
Lou Giacomo said, “I keep telling myself Tori’s in a better place. If Ican’t convince myself of that, I might as well…”
Milo said, “If I call your wife, is itpossible she can tell me more?”
Giacomo shook his head. “But suit yourself. She was always bugging Tori—areyou eating, are you exercising, how’re your teeth. What she never got was Torifinally wanted to grow up. So what do you think, is Tori connected to thatother girl?”
Milo’s lie was smooth. “I can’t say that,Mr. Giacomo.”
“But you’re not not saying it.”
“Everything’s an open issue at this point.”
“Meaning you don’t know shit.”
“That’s a pretty accurate appraisal.”
Giacomo’s smile was queasy. “You’re probably gonna get pissed but I didsomething.”
“What’s that?”
“I went over there. To Tori’s apartment. Knocked on all the doors and askedif they remembered Tori, or seen any guy hanging around. What a dump. Mostlyyou got Mexicans living there, I’m gettin’ all these confused looks, no speakyEnglish. You could get hold of the landlords and ask ’em to pull their rentalrecords.”
“Seeing as you already tried and they said no?”
“Hey—”
Milo said, “Don’t worry about it, just tellme what they said.”
“They said diddly.” Giacomo handed over a scrap of paper. Holiday Inn stationery.A name and a 323 number.
Milo said, “Home-Rite Management.”
Giacomo said, “Bunch of Chinese, I talked to some woman with an accent. Sheclaimed they didn’t own the building two years ago. I try to explain to herthis is important but I got nowhere.” He ran his hands along the sides of hishead. “Stupid bitch—it’s like my brain’s gonna explode. I’m bringing Tori backhome in a fuckin’ carry-on. ”
 
We drove him back to the Holiday Inn, let the engine idle, and walked him tothe hotel’s glass doors.
“I’m sorry about that alkie crack, okay? That other time, that Indian place,you guys had tea, I was just…” He shrugged. “Out of line, none of my business.”
Milo placed a hand on his shoulder. “Noapologies necessary. What you’ve gone through, I couldn’t hope to understand.”
Giacomo didn’t repel the contact. “Be straight with me: Would you considerthis a bad one? Compared to most of them that you get?”
“They’re all bad.”
“Yeah, of course, sure. Like someone else’s kid ain’t as important as mine.But my kid’s what I’m thinking about—think I’ll ever be able to not think aboutit?”
Milo said, “People tell me it gets easier.”
“Hope so. You find anything, you’ll let me know?”
“Of course.”
Giacomo nodded and shook Milo’s hand. “Youguys are all right.”
We watched him enter the hotel lobby, pass the desk without word, and standfidgeting in front of the elevator without touching the button. Thirty secondslater, he slapped his temple and pushed. Turned around, saw us, and mouthed theword “stooopid.”
Milo smiled. We got back in the car anddrove off.
“‘People tell me it gets easier’,” said Milo.“Pretty therapeutic, huh? Speaking of lies, I need to get to the office, chartall that stuff Little Brie thought was off the record. Don’t wanna bore you.”
“Want me to meet you at Michaela’s apartment tomorrow morning?”
“Nah, that could be boring, too. But how about you phone Tori’s mom, see ifa Ph.D. helps. The ex-husband, too. Here’s the numbers.”
 
I made the calls the following morning. Arlene Giacomo was a thoughtful, sanewoman.
She said, “Lou drive you nuts?”
“Not yet.”
“He needs me,” she said. “I want him home.”
I let her talk for a while. Eulogizing Tori but providing nothing new. WhenI brought up the dating issue, she said, “A mother can tell, believe me. ButI’ve got no details, Tori was really into being free, no more girl talk withMama. That was something her father couldn’t grasp, he always bugged her.”
I thanked her and punched in Michael Caravanza’s number. A woman answered.
“Hold on—Mii-keee!”
Moments later a slurred, “Yeah?”
I explained why I was calling. He said, “Hold on—one second, babe. This isabout Tori? You found her?”
“Her remains were identified yesterday.”
“Remains—oh, shit, I don’t wanna tell Sandy,she knew Tori.”
“Did she know her well?”
“Nah,” said Caravanza, “just from church. What happened?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Did you have contact with her aftershe moved to L.A.?”
“We were divorced, but we were getting along, you know? Like they say,amicable. She called me a coupla times, maybe the first month. Then itstopped.”
“No more loneliness.”
“I figured she hooked up with someone.”
“She say that?”
“Nah, but I know—knew Tori. When she had that voice it meant she was excitedabout something. And it sure wasn’t her acting career, she wasn’t getting shit.That she told me.”
“No idea who she was seeing?”
“You think he did it to her?”
“Any lead would be helpful.”
“Well,” said Michael Caravanza, “if she did what she said she was gonna do,she hooked up with some movie star. That was the plan. Go to Hollywood, the right clubs, whatever, meetsome movie star and show him she could be a star, too.”
“Ambitious.”
“Ambitious is what split us up. I’m a working guy, Tori thought her shitwas—she thought she was gonna be Angelina Jolie or something—what’s that—holdon, babe, just a sec—sorry, Sandy’smy fiancée.”
“Congratulations,” I said.
“Yeah, I’m gonna try the marriage thing again............