Share
Chapter 567
Conner didn't want to think about it, wanted to run from the room, to retreat to the safety and isolation of his apartment, but he could not stop the jumble of thoughts swirling inside his head. His brain was beyond conscious control, operating instinctively, guided by too many years of experience. Questions arose in rapid-fire fashion, new ones starting before the old ones were complete, billiard balls ricocheting off each other on a crowded pool table. The whole thing made no sense. Weber was their best, their only suspect. And yet Weber was dead, which did a pretty good job of eliminating him as a suspect. But his car was used in at least two of the murders. That was the one hard fact they had—that and a slew of dead bodies. What did it mean? Had someone borrowed the car? Twice? A roommate, a friend? Could that explain why the killer was less careful about letting the car be seen this time? But why be less careful, and why kill Weber? Had Weber unwittingly stumbled onto som
Related chapters
Leesa's Advent Chapter 568
Saturday morning, Conner was back at Santa Monica Beach, leaning against the front fender of his BMW, straining to catch his breath after a twenty minute run. The sun, pleasantly warm on his face and arms, floated in a powder blue sky flecked with puffy, cotton ball clouds. A gentle onshore breeze carried the briny marine scent across the beach. The surf was flat, and only a few surfers bobbed in the water. Conner could barely hear the stunted waves as they broke weakly against the shore, especially over the delighted screams of frolicking children who romped in the sand along the water’s edge.The run was Conner’s first since his split with Cecilia. His effort had been less than satisfying—his weeklong funk had taken its toll on his body, leaving him with leg muscles too slow to loosen and too quick to grow fatigued. His wind was not much better. He’d been back at the car for a few minutes now, but his legs still throbbed, and his breathing had not qu
Leesa's Advent Chapter 569
CONNER PRESSED THE GLOWING orange doorbell button just before seven o’clock. A triple chime echoed faintly from inside the house. While he waited, he breathed deeply of the cool evening air, relishing the fresh scent of trees and grass not often experienced in the valley below. He had found the house in the hills above Beverly Hills without trouble, in a quiet neighborhood Conner thought of as “almost there.” The homes were of moderate size, comfortable and well kept, secluded enough to provide privacy and security from the dangers of the urban jungle below. What Alexa’s neighborhood lacked, what kept it from being filled with lavish mansions peopled by those who had truly “arrived,” was favorable topography. Nestled in a small valley whose hillsides folded back upon one another, the lots provided no views, no wide-open vistas of sparkling city lights or mesmerizing blue ocean to double or triple the price of the real estate. Driving up, Conner ha
Leesa's Advent Chapter 570
“Sit, please,” she said after Conner deposited the salad bowl onto the table. “I’ll be right back.” She pivoted back into the kitchen.Conner slid into the chair on the side of the table, leaving the end seat for Alexa. From his seat, he looked out a large bay window into a grassy backyard ringed by tall hedges. A small ground light near the house threw enough pale yellow illumination onto the yard for him to see the grass was neatly trimmed and that the hedges were oleander bushes.Alexa returned with their half-filled goblets and the bottle of wine, which she emptied into their glasses before placing it on the shelf of an oak breakfront behind her. She leaned over the table and deftly lit two tall lavender candles, then twisted a switch on the wall to dim the crystal chandelier above the table before settling into her chair.“That’s better,” she said. “Why don’t you serve us some salad, Case, while I perform surgery on the lasagna.”Using a set of plastic tongs, Conner filled each o
Leesa's Advent Chapter 571
Just before nine o'clock on Sunday morning, Conner swung into the parking garage at Parker Center and followed the ramp up to the rooftop level. He pulled into an open spot near the stairway and climbed out of his car into the bright sunshine. The air was warmer than he expected for this time of year, and he wondered if the heat signaled the beginnings of a Santa Ana, when hot, dry air from the desert rushed toward the coast, compressing and heating up still more as it flowed down over the mountains into the basin. The gusty winds usually carried temperatures of ninety or one hundred degrees, and could reach forty or fifty miles per hour in L.A., much more in the outlying communities. Along with the heat, the winds carried a heightened risk of terrifying fires, which seemed to have increased in number and ferocity in recent years. Many people swore the Santa Ana winds also brought a rash of aberrant behavior with them, even more than a full moon, but the only aberrant behavior that
Leesa's Advent Chapter 572
Conner left Sloane to get the ball rolling with the task force while he headed to a meeting at Collins-Cline Productions. He hopped onto the 101, getting off at Santa Monica Boulevard, delighted by the lack of traffic on both. In less than fifteen minutes, he was pulling up to the Collins-Cline building.The group of picketers out front had grown since his previous visit. He estimated there were close to forty now, despite the fact that it was a hot Sunday afternoon, milling about in bunches in front of the entrance and the driveway to the underground parking. The demonstrators were mostly women, but there more than a few men sprinkled in the crowd. The majority carried signs. One of the signs, hoisted high by an attractive young blond in a tight red body suit, bore the rather ironic message “Death to the Purveyors of Violence.” Conner wondered where she had come up with the word “purveyors,” and whether she truly believed the missive she carried. Or,
Leesa's Advent Chapter 573
Less than two minutes later, the door swung open. The first person through was a man Conner didn’t recognize. He was short, perhaps five-nine, with a chunky build. By his face, Conner judged him to be in his early thirties, though his balding head made him look older. The top of his skull was nearly completely bald, with only a few wisps of dark brown hair lying flat against his white skin. To compensate, he’d grown the hair on the sides and back long, and gathered it into a short ponytail in the back.Behind him, Keith Stennie swept into the room, though it took Conner half a moment to recognize him. The Zorro outfit was gone. This time, Stennie had outfitted himself in a pirate costume—white shirt with billowing sleeves, loose-fitting black trousers tucked into knee-high black leather boots, a red sash around his waist, with a matching red bandanna tied like a cap around the top of his head. A rough stubble of whiskers covered the young scriptwriter’
Leesa's Advent Chapter 574
Night had clocked the city for more than an hour by the time Conner carefully guided the BMW down the steep incline to his parking spot beneath his apartment. His dinner, cashew chicken and steamed rice from a Chinese restaurant a few blocks away, sat in a white bag on the seat beside him, filling the car with a sweet, spicy aroma and causing his empty stomach to growl impatiently. He shut off the engine and sat quietly in the dark silence for a few moments, trying to gather enough energy to pull himself out of the car and trudge up to his apartment. The Santa Ana he had guessed at this morning had indeed blossomed, bringing afternoon temperatures into the mid-nineties. The searing heat and long day had drained him. Waves of fatigue lapped at his mind and his body, making him feel he was thinking and moving at a reduced version of his normal pace. Not as dramatic as slow motion; more like the air around him had thickened, requiring just a bit more effort to move through it. A simila
Leesa's Advent Chapter 575
Conner sagged against the bag of his couch, his gaze fixed on the glowing green digits of the clock on his DVR. Only minutes remained until the start of Vice Squad, and the numbers seemed to change with agonizing slowness. Though switched on, the television was silent. Annoyed by the sound and impatient with the commercials, Conner had pushed the mute button moments after turning the thing on. Through the thin walls of his living room, he heard the muffled sounds from a television in the next apartment. He glanced at his own TV—the voices from the other side of the wall seemed to match the images of the car commercial filling his screen. He shook his head grimly at the reminder of the morbid fascination sweeping the city. Like everybody else in Los Angeles, Conner’s neighbors were getting ready to watch Vice Squad.His entire day had seemed to drag by at the same pace as the last few minutes, each hour creeping by in slow motion, only to be replaced by an hour eve
Latest chapter
