CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sun had already started to set by the time Lou Goodman arrived at Avenue of the Stars. The towers of Century City looked dreamlike, bathed in the pinkish-orange light of a perfect LA evening, and the palm trees along the avenue swayed drunkenly in the warm breeze.
Badge in hand, he approached the front desk.
‘Detective Louis Goodman, homicide. I need access to suit 706,’ he told the Latina receptionist, in the firm-but-friendly tone he always employed when winging it without a search warrant. ‘I assume you have a key?’
The girl smiled back helpfully. This cop was handsome, not like the usual Columbo lookalikes. ‘I do have a key, but you won’t need it,’ she told him. ‘Dr Roberts came in about an hour ago. I’m pretty sure she’s still up there. Second bank of elevators, on your left.’
‘Thank you,’ said Goodman, hiding his momentary sting of disappointment. He’d hoped to snoop around Nikki’s office alone. What’s she doing here, this time of day? But he quickly regrouped. Perhaps, after all, Nikki being here was an opportunity? Johnson had been so rude to her at the station this morning, he’d shut her down before she’d been able to tell them anything really useful. Now might be the time to rectify that.
Taking the elevator up to the seventh floor, he padded along the hallway to Nikki’s suite. The door to her waiting room was ajar. Goodman slipped in, unheard, his footsteps muffled by the sound of a shredder.
Nikki stood with her back to him, utterly engrossed in what she was doing. A large, almost empty cardboard box sat at her feet. Reaching into it, Nikki began feeding the remaining documents into the greedy mouth of the machine. Goodman watched as it spat out confetti at the other end, into a tray already full to overflowing.
‘Hey there.’
Nikki spun around with a gasp, her face flooding with color.
‘Oh my God! You scared the life out of me!’
‘Sorry.’ Goodman raised a curious eyebrow at the sheaf of papers still in her hand. ‘What have you got there?’
‘Oh, nothing exciting,’ said Nikki. ‘I’m just tidying up.’
Regaining her composure, she slipped the remaining papers into the machine. ‘Long overdue housekeeping. Don’t worry,’ she added. ‘It’s not vital patient records or anything like that. Before your partner comes up with yet another reason to distrust me.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ Goodman smiled. It was easy to play good cop with a woman as attractive as Dr Nikki Roberts.
‘So what brings you here on a Saturday night, Detective?’ Nikki asked, switching off the machine.
‘Actually, I came to apologize. About this morning.’ The lie tripped off Goodman’s tongue. ‘Detective Johnson had no right to talk to you the way that he did.’
‘I agree,’ said Nikki. ‘Although I think that’s his apology to make, not yours. Don’t you?’
Goodman shrugged. ‘We’re partners. And honestly, apologies are not Mick’s strong point.’
Nikki laughed. ‘Now why am I not surprised?’ She liked Detective Goodman and found him remarkably easy to talk to. ‘I’m not lying, you know,’ she added, more seriously. ‘Someone really did try to run me down the other night. Someone who knows where I live.’
‘I believe you,’ said Goodman, truthfully. ‘For what it’s worth, I think Johnson believes you too. Our techs found plenty of evidence to back up your story.’
‘Really?’ Nikki frowned, perplexed. ‘Then why was he accusing me of being a fantasist? What has he got against me?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Goodman, seizing the moment. ‘But I’m hoping maybe together we can figure it out. Can I buy you a drink, Dr Roberts?’
He took her to the bar at Dan Tana’s, possibly the least private place in the whole of Los Angeles. Nikki ordered a Jack Daniels, straight up, which she downed in one gulp. Encouraged, Goodman gestured to the barman to leave them the bottle.
‘Do you think whoever tried to kill me the other night was th
e same person who killed Lisa and Trey?’ Nikki got straight to the point.
‘Either the same person or someone connected to them. Yes, I do.’ Goodman sipped his drink. ‘I actually believe you may have been the target all along.’
He explained his theory about the raincoat Nikki had loaned Lisa Flannagan the night she died potentially leading to a case of mistaken identity. Combined with Tuesday night’s overt attempt on her own life, as well as the fact that Nikki was the only known link between Trey and Lisa, the evidence was mounting.
‘Let’s say you’re right,’ Nikki responded calmly. ‘Let’s say this person has been after me all along. What do you think their motive could be for wanting me killed?’
‘Right now, I don’t know,’ Goodman admitted. ‘But the fact that whoever killed Lisa and Trey tortured both of them first suggests maybe it has something to do with information. People torture victims to get them to talk, right?’