“He insisted on telling me how he did it. How he’d followed that little boy for days. ‘Hunted the dude like a rabbit.’ He learned Troy Turner’s routine, finally cornered him in a supply room off the gym.”

Her face crumpled. “Talking about it now makes me sick. Nestor said he hit him in the face to subdue him. Then, he . . .” She gulped again. “That night, after Jim fell asleep, I got out of bed and went on the computer and plugged in Troy Turner’s name. Found a short article in the Times and a longer one from a paper near Chaderjian. What they both said matched everything Nestor told me. Maybe Nestor didn’t do it, maybe he just heard about it and got that badge somehow.”

I said, “Knowing Nestor, you believe he could’ve done it.”

“He was proud of it!”

“Nestor said he’d been paid to kill other boys,” said Milo. “Did he mention any other names?”

She shook her head. “Troy Turner was the only one he wanted to talk about. Like that had been a real big accomplishment for him.”

“Because Troy was notorious?” I said.

She nodded. “He said that. ‘Dude thought he was a stone killer but I killed his ass.’ ”

“Did he say how much he’d been paid?”

Anita Moss shook her head. Lowered her eyes. “I came to hate Nestor, but talking about him like this . . .”

“Did Nestor ever talk about who paid him, ma’am?”

She kept her head down, spoke softly. “All he said was that it was a white guy and the reason was Turner had killed a baby.”

“Did he give you any details about this white guy?” said Milo.

“No, just that. I told the exact same thing to that counselor. When he didn’t call back, I phoned the police. No one cared.”

Her lips folded inward. She shook her head back and forth.

“That boy,” she said. “That picture. He looked so young.”

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 23

Milo and I sat in a rear booth of a coffee shop on Vermont just north of Wilshire, drinking Cokes, waiting for Ramparts Detective Philip Krug. Krug had been in his car when we reached him and he welcomed the opportunity for lunchtime company.

The locale was his choice, a big, bright, half-empty place with puce-colored vinyl booths, cloudy windows, and the outward profile of a toy rocket ship.

He was twenty minutes late and I used the time to raise the issues Allison had brought up.

Milo said, “The premeditation thing’s interesting, but I don’t see where it takes us. Rand wanting to feel less guilty by blaming Lara could be important. If he tried it on Malley. What do you think about Nestor’s bragging?”

“Sounds authentic. He knew all the details,” I said.

“I was thinking about the white guy hiring him.”

“Revenge hit. It fits.”

He looked at his Timex.