“That wasn’t me, that was Robin. Are you being a good patient?”

“I’m home.”

“Rick okayed that?”

“Rick and I reached a meeting of the minds.”

Silence. “Real smart move, Alex.”

“If you listened to him, you’d be wearing better ties.”

More silence.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks for handling Hauser.”

“As much as I handled.”

“I’ve got problems ahead?”

“There’ll be some shit to deal with, but those in the know say you’ll be okay. Meanwhile, the asshole’s in the jail ward wearing yellow pajamas and looking at inkblots. What happened, he imploded?”

“He made bad decisions and projected them onto me. How badly did I wound him?”

“He won’t be playing soccer any time soon. Allison’s little shooter came in handy, huh?”

“Sure did,” I said. “Did you find any properties Nora Dowd owns in or near 805?”

“Back in the swing,” he said. “Just like that.”

“On sound advice.”

“Whose?”

“My own.”

He laughed. “As a matter of fact, Nora’s got three 805 deeds to her name. Condo in Carpinteria, couple of houses in Goleta. All of which have been leased out long term. Her tenants have never met her but they like her because she keeps the rent low.”

“BNB manages the buildings?”

“No, a Santa Barbara company does. I spoke to the manager. Nora gets checks in the mail, never visits. That’s it, Alex. No tryst-pad, no direct link to Camarillo, no Malibu getaway. Maybe she and Meserve made the calls and took off for that tropical vacation.”

I said, “Do the brothers own anything out there?”

“Why would that matter? Billy’s a mope and Brad hates Meserve. So far looking for Peaty’s hidey-holes has been a big zero. Once I finish with Armando Vasquez, I’ll look into private flights.”

“What’s to do on Vasquez?”

“Second interview. First time was last night, call from Vasquez’s D.P.D. at 11 p.m., Armando wanted to talk. Faithful public servant that I am, I trudged over. The agenda was Vasquez embellishing the phone call story. Claiming the night of the murder wasn’t the first time, same thing happened a week or so before, he can’t remember exactly when or how many times. No hang-ups, just someone whispering that Peaty was a dangerous pervert, could hurt Vasquez’s wife and kids. D.A. wants to blunt any justification defense so I’ve got to stick with it, meanwhile they’ll be pulling a month’s worth of phone records. While I was there I showed Vasquez my photo collection. He’s never seen the Gaidelases, Nora, or Meserve. The thing is, I finally got a shot of Billy, and Vasquez also doesn’t recognize him. But I’m sure Billy’s been to the apartment with Brad. Meaning Vasquez, not being there during the day, is pretty useless. Like everything else I’ve come up with.”