He drummed his fingers on his knees. “Burns and Caroline as a killing couple.”

“With or without additional friends. Burns participating in a murder could also explain his skipping out on Nemerov. The city was clamping down on dope dealers, and he knew he was likely to serve time. That would’ve made him a captive audience if Janie Ingalls’s murder came to light.”

“Then why’d he call Nemerov and offer to turn himself in?”

“To accomplish exactly what he did: ambush Nemerov, rob him, take his car—it was stripped. For all we know, Burns fenced the stereo and the phone. And that half-baked attempt at hiding it is pure hype. Also, Caroline’s disappearance could be Willie taking no chances. Figuring she was high risk to talk.”

“If Burns or anyone else disappeared Caroline, you don’t think her family would’ve reacted? Leaned on the department to solve it?”

“Maybe not. Caroline had been an embarrassment to them all through childhood—the weird sib—and if they knew she’d been an accomplice to murder, they’d have wanted to keep it quiet. It’s consistent with sequestering her at Achievement House.”

“With a pink tab,” he said.

“Burns found her anyway. Maybe she contacted him. For all we know, she was with him when he ambushed Boris Nemerov. When exactly was Nemerov executed?”

“December, right before Christmas. I remember Mrs. Nemerov talking about it. How they were Russian Orthodox, celebrated in January, there’d be nothing to celebrate.”

“Caroline was at Achievement House in August,” I said. “Four months later, she could’ve been out of there. Willie could’ve broken her out. Perhaps they were planning to cut town all along, and that’s why Burns was trying to sell dope in Venice.”

“My, my, so many possibilities,” he said. “Ah.”

He had me drive in the direction of the station, then turn onto Purdue and park in front of an old redbrick building just south of Santa Monica Boulevard.

The entrance to Kwik ’n’ Ready Bail Bonds was a glass-fronted storefront heralded by neon above the door and gold leaf on the glass. Unlike Achievement House, this placed welcomed attention.

I pointed to the No Stopping, Tow Away warning.

Milo said, “I’ll watch out for the parking Nazis. Failing that, I’ll go your bail.”