Island of Bones(33)
“I haven’t lost him.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“No.”
“Then you’ve lost him.”
“Temporarily.”
Landeta rubbed the bridge of his nose and slowly put his glasses on. “How in the hell did you convince the chief to let you in on this?”
Louis was silent. Part of the reason was that Horton was worried that all the talk about Landeta was right, that the guy was, in fact, a burnout who needed help on a high-profile case.
“Frank Woods needs to be brought in alive and the chief thinks he’ll come with me,” Louis said. “His daughter is afraid he’ll cash it in if he’s surrounded and pressured.”
“Would save us a lot of paperwork, I say.”
Louis took another drink of beer. Man, what was with this guy anyway? He was tempted to just get up and leave. But he owed it to Horton to try. And to himself, for that matter. How many chances was he going to get to work a real case?
“I don’t want Frank Woods dead,” Louis said.
“Why not?”
“I want to know.”
“Know what?”
“The answer to the mystery.”
Landeta picked the lemon off the rim of his glass and squeezed the juice into the Diet Coke. “Woods probably killed both those women because he’s a sociopath with a twisted gene or two. No mystery there.”
Louis didn’t say what he was thinking, that the need to know why was what made any cop good. But then, Landeta didn’t seem like the type who had read the Hardy Boys when he was a kid. The man probably didn’t have an imaginative bone in his body.
Landeta was turning the lemon over in his long fingers, staring at it intently. He pushed the rind with his thumbs, exposing the pulp. He began to eat it. Louis drummed his fingers lightly against the beer glass, waiting. But it was clear Landeta wasn’t going to say a thing.
“Al says you’re the best detective he ever worked with,” Louis said finally.
Landeta went on slowly eating the lemon.Weird
“You need a good imagination to be a detective,” Louis said.
“Who says?”
Louis let out a sigh. “Forget it, man.”
Landeta tossed the rind down. “I suppose you thought you were Detective Rocky King or something when you were a kid.”
“Who?”
Landeta waved a hand. “Never mind.”
“Actually, I read books.”
“You must have been a lonely kid.”
“I read true crime,” Louis said. “I always tried to find the holes in the case or in the investigation. When I finally got good at it, I knew what I wanted to do.”
Landeta finished his Diet Coke in two long gulps and set the glass down hard. “Well, enjoy it while you can, Kincaid. Not a lot of opportunities in this life to do what you want to do.”
“You make your own opportunities,” Louis said.
“And fate takes them away.”
Landeta rose suddenly and went to the bar. Louis watched him, trying to remember what Horton had told him about Landeta. Something about an accident and a lawsuit.
Landeta slid back into the booth with a fresh pack of cigarettes. He lit one quickly, without asking Louis if he cared.
“I heard you had a bad break,” Louis said
“Yeah, I had a bad break.”
“Everyone has them.”
Landeta stared at him. “You don’t know what a bad break is,” he said. “You’re twenty-seven fucking years old with a college degree, and you live in a beachfront cottage on a goddamn island paradise. You’re respected and you’re healthy and you can do anything you want. Don’t tell me about bad breaks, Rocky.”
Louis sat back, as if he’d been hit. How in the hell had Landeta found out that much about him?
Landeta took a hard draw on his cigarette, looking away.
Make nice...
“So talk,” Landeta said, blowing a plume of smoke in Louis’s direction.
“You talk.”
Landeta chuckled and shook his head slowly. “How old are you?”
“You know damn well how old I am. Let’s stick to the case,” Louis said.
More silence.
“So what did the parents say about the ring?” Louis asked.
“They said they had never seen it before. It was not something she’d own. She was into silver. And Dr. Jeremy didn’t give it to her either.”
“Who saw her last?” Louis asked.
“According to the original missing person’s report, Shelly went to a night class on May second. That’s what her professor told the Lauderdale cops. That was the last time we can confirm anyone seeing her alive.”
“So this guy drove 130 miles across the state to abduct her then drove back across Alligator Alley to kill and dump her?” Louis shook his head. “Not your classic profile.”