A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [53]
He listened to a branch scraping the roof and tried to think it through. The growing media presence was a factor that he needed to adjust to. If the media stayed with this story she might become aware. She might figure it out. She might know he was coming for her.
THIRTY-EIGHT
The next morning a partial toxicology report on Alex Jurika came in. Full screen would take another four to six weeks. Raveneau read through it and then handed the report to la Rosa. Jurika had a common date-rape drug, a horse tranquilizer, Ketamine, in her system. That was the most significant finding.
La Rosa read and stated flatly, ‘Heilbron,’ and Raveneau didn’t respond. Ketamine was in her system but she wasn’t raped. Was a sexual assault interrupted? Did she asphyxiate too soon and Heilbron lost interest in sex as he’d described, or was it a mistake to connect Ketamine to its usual companion, rape?
‘Here’s a different angle,’ Raveneau said. ‘Let’s say there’s no sexual element and the Ketamine was for a different purpose entirely.’
‘For what, then?’
‘To loosen her up and get her to talk about the credit fraud and identity theft businesses. Suppose someone wanted to gain control over her and in a drugged state get her to answer questions. So they brought her there, drugged her, and questioned her before killing her. Money as a motive.’
‘There are all kinds of other places easier than that building.’
‘True, but what if whoever wanted the information also planned to kill her afterwards? Then the building works well, or well enough. A filthy mattress used by junkies and whores puts a different spin on it.’
‘I like Heilbron,’ she answered. ‘I see him masturbating rather than raping her, and not leaving DNA evidence behind. He’s a voyeur. We know that about him already. It’s not hard to picture him getting aroused watching, same as he probably does driving around and filming. And he’s weirdly fixated on that building. I’m back to believing it could be him and he purposely misled us with the wrong room and wire instead of rope. He’s played us.’
They continued the debate on the drive over to Jurika’s apartment. Gloria was out front when they arrived. Her sister’s body was released to her this morning and she had asked to meet at the apartment. Raveneau wasn’t sure what that was about, but once they got inside she confessed, ‘I knew more than I told you last time. The cousin I told you about, Julie, she told me that she and Alex have used other people’s credit cards for years. She bragged about it when I confronted her in Phoenix. She said she didn’t think it was wrong since the cardholder doesn’t get stuck with the bill. She thought it was OK to cheat the credit card company.’
‘You more or less did tell us that,’ Raveneau said, ‘and we figured out the rest.’
‘Last January, Julie showed up in Los Angeles in a new full length leather coat, and I mean a really nice coat, light, high quality leather, a really pretty black – a five thousand dollar coat. I threatened her with all kinds of things and that’s when she told me her part was to keep an apartment rented where the credit card bills came and to pay them online under an account opened in a false name. She also told me the cards all came from older people with money. They had some way of getting them. If you want me to, I’ll call her right now.’
Now she had their attention. Raveneau was quiet waiting for more when la Rosa said, ‘Why don’t I call her? I’ve talked to her already. She knows me.’
She pulled her phone out and sat down on a kitchen chair. Raveneau watched her punch the numbers in, heard a faint ringing and la Rosa asked, ‘Is this Julie? It is, good, because this is Inspector la Rosa