Page 44

Chapter

44

It was nearly eleven when we left.

The best way to access the Sepulveda Pass from my house is to climb up the Glen and hook westward on Mulholland. The trip winds through miles of S-curves and past high-priced housing developments unseen from the road. Beyond that, two churches and a synagogue and a couple of expensive prep schools.

Seeing the schools tensed Milo up even further. “Hope the bastard’s not planning some ugly headline thing,” but when he radioed Petra, she said, “Nope, he’s beyond any access to Mulholland, still on Sepulveda and we just crossed Ventura. There’s that stretch a few miles up where the hookers hang out so maybe this’ll turn out to just be his night for dirty fun…oops, wrong again, he swung right onto a side street called…Green Briar Lane, is hurtling east at…fourteen miles per. Now eleven.”

Milo said, “Sounds like he’s looking for something. Maybe a place he hasn’t been before.”

“Makes sense,” said Petra. “Street’s hilly and curvy and not well lit, I turned off my headlights, am going by the moon and his brake lights.”

Milo said, “All residential?”

“Nothing but. Decent houses, quiet even though Ventura’s not far. One of those places you’d have to know about—okay, he’s down to five miles per…has stopped and pulled over to the south and parked. Turned off his engine, no more brake lights, he’s basically invisible. I’m too far to see the address but it’s the eleven five hundred block of Green Briar Lane. Can someone map it and tell me if it can be approached from the opposite side?”

Alicia said, “On it, Sarge…yes it can but you’d need to exit Ventura on Haig Terrace then take two little short streets that discontinue…Escondido Drive, Ramsey Drive, Ramsey becomes Green Briar maybe a…third of a mile from where you are. You want me to take that position? I can be there in about ten.”

Moe said, “Same here.”

Sean said, “I’m closer…yeah, I see it. I can be there probably in five.”

Petra said, “All three of you do it, Raul and Milo will back me up at this end.”

Milo said, “What’s Flick doing?”

Petra said, “Still just sitting there.”

Moe said, “What Doc said, bastard likes the process.”

Petra said, “Any ideas while we wait?”

Milo handed me the radio.

I said, “You could try to find out who he’s studying.”

“I would if I knew which house interested him.”

I said, “He’s likely parked right in front of it but you could expand it to one or two neighbors on each side then figure out the address spacing and make an educated guess.”

Petra said, “Why not? We may be here for a while. Uh-oh, scratch that, he’s moving again.”