"Anger management," said Franck. "He didn't want to be there--at Prep, or working with Elise--and he let her know. He came in as a junior, recruited to pitch for the baseball team, he'd been a star in public school. Early in the season, he got injured, couldn't play anymore, but Prep had already contracted with him for the full two years."

"Contracted?" said Milo. "Sounds like the major leagues."

"In a sense it is, Lieutenant. When a prize athlete from the inner city fits a niche at Prep, Prep draws up a written agreement. If it works out, everyone gets their money's worth. If it doesn't and the student has significant academic issues to begin with--which is fairly typical--the problem generally fixes itself. In a Darwinian sense."

"The student drops out because he can't handle the workload."

"It's a high-pressure environment to begin with," said Franck. "Unless you're academically oriented, you're likely to be miserable."

"Blow your knee, back to Urban Sprawl High."

"Well put, Lieutenant."

"Martin Mendoza didn't oblige?"

"From what Elise told me, transferring to Prep wasn't his choice, it was his parents'. His father works as a waiter at a country club, that's where he met an alum who hooked him up. But overcoming historical deficits is tough."

"What's a historical deficit, Trey?"

"Public school," said Franck. "Martin had some monumental catching up, Prep hired Elise to help him."

"Nice of them, even though he wasn't pitching anymore."

"Guess so."

"You don't think it was altruism."

"I think by seventeen a kid should have some control over his life and when you neglect that, you're playing with fire. Martin got pretty aggressive with Elise. It upset her."

"Physically aggressive?"

"Verbally, but it bothered her enough to tell me about it."

"Did she ask you to protect her from Mendoza?"

"Nothing like that, she just wanted to talk about it. Normally, I wouldn't be thinking about it. But now that she's... I have to tell you, I'm not comfortable talking out of school."

"So to speak," said Milo.

Silence.

"So Elise was scared of Mendoza."

"More like... I guess she was, Lieutenant. She tried to do her job but he kept missing appointments and messing up her schedule, never followed through on homework assignments, went out of his way to be uncooperative. Elise finally told him he was wasting her time and Prep's money and not doing himself a favor. He got in her face, started screaming. Elise said she backed away, was ready to call 911. But he just cursed and ran out and she never saw him again."

"When did this happen?"

"A month or so ago. When's the funeral?"

"At this point, that's unclear." Milo produced his pad, flipped it open, scanned. "Arnie Joseph's."

"Pardon?"

"It's a bar on Van Nuys Boulevard. Elise used to drink there occasionally but you know that."

"I don't drink." Franck's finger worked a cuticle. A seam of blood appeared and he stanched it with a thumb.