He said, “That woman’s so fragile I kept waiting to pick up shards. Wonder how she’ll cope if we find out Barnett’s a much badder guy than she imagined.”

* * *

He chose surface streets over the freeway, took Van Nuys Boulevard north and connected to Beverly Glen. As we curved through the canyon, he said, “Just like Malley’s neighborhood, huh? Except for gazillion-dollar houses, tennis courts, foreign cars, a lot more greenery, and no trailer parks.”

“Perfect match,” I said.

“Anything Balquin say illuminate Malley psychologically?”

“If she’s credible, he isolated Lara from her family, was closemouthed about his origins, used dope. We know the part about gun-hoarding is true. Toss in the way he reacted to us and there’s potential for ugly.”

“Don’t guys who isolate their wives also abuse them?”

“It’s a risk factor,” I said. “If Malley’s basic approach to life was us against the world, Kristal’s murder would’ve buttressed that.”

“The world’s a rotten, dangerous place so stay armed and vigilant.”

“And strike back. What interests me is Nina’s suspicion that Lara was negligent due to drugs. That’s a tough place to get to when it’s your own kid. No matter how much therapy you have.”

“There’s Barnett’s reason for blaming Lara. Even though he’s also a doper.”

“Lara was the mom,” I said. “Mothers always get blamed. After Troy and Rand were sent away, Lara and Barnett started examining their own lives. Here’s a couple who had trouble conceiving. Finally, they produce a child only to have her ripped away in the worst manner possible. Talk about stress on a relationship. Maybe tension escalated to unbearable, the wrong things got said. A history of isolation and drugs and abuse would’ve added more heat. Maybe Lara stopped putting up with the abuse.”

“Got too assertive with the cowboy.” He aimed a finger gun at the windshield. “Kapow.”

“Kapow, indeed.”

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19

For most of the ride back to the city, Milo waded through LAPD bureaucracy in order to get hold of the complete file on Lara Malley’s suicide.

I let my mind run, ended up in some interesting places.

He pulled up in front of my house. “Thanks. Onward. Somewhere.”

“Are you in the mood for more speculation?”

“What?”

“Nina Balquist suspects Malley was involved in the dope trade. If that’s true, he’d be likely to know unpleasant people. The kind who’d be able to get something done behind bars.”

He twisted and faced me. “The hit on Troy Turner? Where’d that come from?”

“Free association.”

“Turner was written up as a gang thing. He assaulted a Vato Loco.”

“And maybe it even happened that way,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t it be righteous, Alex?”

“Why would a thirteen-year-old kid hang in a supply closet for an hour bleeding before anyone noticed?”

“Because C.Y.A.’s a mess.”

“Okay,” I said.