“Her I never saw. She part of the scam gang? Looks kinda shady.” His hand gathered up several clumps of hair. “More I think about it, more I’m pretty sure she was pissed at him—the black chick. Walking fast, like she couldn’t wait to get away from him. Maybe it was hormones, you know? Baby hormones. That happened to my girlfriend when she was with child. The bigger she got, the grumpier she turned, kind of hellish.”

“You have a kid?”

“Nope, she terminated. Her decision, she’d rather go to law school.” Sommers shrugged. “I thought it might be cool. Being a daddy. But she had to do what she had to do.”

CHAPTER
27

Milo gave his card to Sommers, asked him to call if Wedd showed up.

Sommer said, “Sure, but like I said, he’s not here too much.”

We tried the remaining four apartments in Wedd’s building. No answers at the first three units. A woman came to the fourth door towing an I.V. line on wheels. Something clear and viscous dripped into her veins. Her hair was a gray tangle, one shade darker than her face.

“Sorry …” She paused for breath. “I never leave … don’t know anyone.”

“He lives downstairs in Three,” said Milo. “Had his car stolen a while back.”

“Oh … that.” Her jaws worked. She could’ve been any age from fifty to eighty. “People were … surprised.”

“Why’s that, ma’am?”

She inhaled twice, braced herself in the doorway. “At nights … the lights are … super-bright.”

“Anyone trying to break into a car would be conspicuous.”

“Yes … funny.”

She labored to smile. Succeeded and hinted at the beautiful woman she’d once been. “It … happens.”

We returned to the unmarked. Milo put the key in the ignition but didn’t start up.

“Groot’s instincts were good, the Bimmer’s a likely scam and Clark Kent’s shaping up like a bad boy with a second pad. Think he’s the daddy?”

I said, “He’s got women coming in and out constantly, but Qeesha’s the only one seen more than once or twice. That says beyond casual and the last time Sommers saw her, she was conspicuously pregnant and looked angry. Maybe because Wedd wanted her to terminate? If she was pressing Wedd for money, it could’ve motivated the car scam: He finds her wheels, gets her temporarily out of his hair, uses the insurance money for his own new drive. A pimped-up SUV just like Heather saw at the park that night.”

“At the park ’cause he’s doing advance work, taking care of business. Qeesha hassled him, he killed her and the baby. Ditto Adriana, because she knew too much. Clark’s sounding like a real bad boy.” He frowned. “With no criminal record.”