A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [20]
But, hey, no worries, everything went fine. He parked under the freeway among the empty warehouses in drug city and moved quickly, emptying five gallons of gas inside the truck cab, coughing blindly at the surge of fumes as he backed away. He was in the car, engine on, headlights off, when the flash of light came and the faint tinkling sound of windows breaking came from well down the street. Warehouse windows caught the light and made the fireball bigger. So big that as he drove away the street radiated a cheerful orange-yellow light.
FIFTEEN
‘It was a hit-and-run. Bates is at home right now. Some neighbors are with him and his daughter is on her way,’ Becker said. ‘I want you and la Rosa to go to the scene. We can’t ignore the possibility of connection.’
Raveneau stepped out into the street to wave la Rosa down before she drove away and asked, ‘What do we know so far?’
‘White pickup truck, male driver, and that Oakland PD is treating it as a hit-and-run.’
‘We’ll have to tell them why we’re there, and level with them. That may put it out to the media.’
‘I know, but ask them to hold tight.’
Jacie Bates’s body lay on the street under a blanket. Raveneau saw Oakland PD collecting debris and it wasn’t hard to spot the detectives. He and la Rosa introduced themselves to a detective named Hendricks, a tall, thin, taciturn man, and a second detective, Pete Stalos, who questioned them and took notes after Hendricks returned to the gash in the slope.
‘Does this Stoltz drive a pickup?’
‘If he does, we don’t know about it. We know about a white Lexus and we know he’s got other cars registered to the same corporation, but I’ve also got to say we don’t have anything at all on him. This all comes from the inspector who died, Whitacre, believing that he was being tailed by Stoltz.’
‘So you literally have nothing?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Yet you’re here, so I gather you’re not telling me what you do have.’
‘What we have is an improbable series of events.’
‘What is an improbable series of events? What we have here is an apparent hit-and-run and I’m not sure what an improbable series of events is. Your inspector probably ate his gun because he was given a fatal diagnosis and was distraught and in pain. That’s probable, right? What’s improbable? Fill in the gaps for me.’
Raveneau understood where Stalos was coming from, but was unfazed.
‘Nothing connects to anything yet, but it was Whitacre and Bates who took Stoltz down. Stoltz wrote a number of angry letters from prison and Whitacre believed Stoltz was following him in the days before he either shot himself or was murdered. That was last Thursday night. The victim here was the wife of Inspector Charles Bates.’
Stalos looked down the street at his partner and then back at Raveneau.
‘What else?’
‘I’m working on an alibi that Stoltz gave me.’
‘So you believe he followed your inspector?’
‘I’m not one way or the other yet.’
‘You’re here and you want cooperation, and so do we. Where do we find this Stoltz so we can talk to him?’
‘Why don’t you let us help you with that?’
‘Right, except that this is an Oakland investigation and whereas Stoltz may have stalked Whitacre, there’s no proof. Isn’t that what you’re saying? Whitacre believed he was being followed, but it was never determined.’
‘Something like that.’
‘Whereas this, at a minimum, is manslaughter, that is to say, it’s an active investigation and it doesn’t sound like you have one, unless there is more you haven’t told me.’
Raveneau glanced at la Rosa. He was going to leave her with Stalos, guessing she’d have better luck with him.
‘Is it OK if I take a look first and then we can talk about how to work together on this?’
‘Go ahead, but watch out for my partner. He doesn’t like people and he hasn’t had any good inter-departmental experiences.’
Raveneau walked up to the gash in the hillside where she was hit. Under the lights the grasses on the