CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Lena had Harris call the Kensingtons posing as campaign managers offering to help him with his upcoming run for city council. Julian enthusiastically agreed to meet them at his home as soon as he returned at three that afternoon.

That gave them about two hours. Lena spent fifty minutes of that driving back to the Flats precinct. As soon as she was there, she and Harris strategized.

"We still only have Barry's word against his. Barry has a lot of dirt on him, but in terms of what's provable, Julian has a lot more dirt on Barry. He can make this look like they had a falling out and Barry's trying to throw dirt on him."

"Will people believe that?"

"It doesn"t matter. Against someone like Julian Kensington, we need to be airtight. That's where this conversation comes in."

"You're trying to get him to confess?"

"Not him. Clara."

"We think she's involved?"

"I think she helped cover it up. If not, then he threatened her to keep it quiet. If we can scare her and convince her that the safest thing for her to do is be honest, she might go for it."

"You think she's that stupid?"

"I think she's a drug addict. On her best days, she's paranoid. On her worst days, she's borderline delusional. If we push her the right way, she'll crack."

"And if we push both of them the wrong way, we lose the case and our jobs."

"No one said this came without risk."

Harris sighed. "Sometimes I really wish I'd been Shawna's partner instead of yours."

"You only wish that because you think she's hot."

"I think you're hot. I also think you're crazy. I was taught from a very young age not to stick it in crazy."

"Were you planning to stick it in me?"

"No, but I'm beginning to think that working with you is just as dangerous?"

She grinned at him. "Embrace the danger, Damien. That's how you get Detective III."

"You know, the pension for Detective II isn't that bad."

The two of them ceased the banter as they drove toward Autumn Downs. It was a lot harder to joke around when the risk was in the future. Now that they were driving straight toward the potential end of their careers, laughter seemed a lot less appropriate.

But Lila deserved justice, and this was their best chance at finding it.

They reached the neighborhood to find a lot of people out and about, walking through the carefully manicured parks and chatting across their driveways with neighbors. All eyes turned toward the police cruiser as it headed toward the Kensington House.

That was fine with Lena. The more people watching this, the better. If word got out that Julian was under investigation, it could turn public opinion in favor of bringing him to justice, and maybe they could convince the department to back them even if they didn't get a confession.

"Oh, hell," Harris said.

"What?"

Harris pointed to the sidewalk three houses down from the Kensingtons and Lena saw the one person she didn't want here walking purposefully ahead. "Son of a bitch."

She pulled the car in front of him, coming up on the curb three yards in front. Nathan Harlow flinched and stared wide-eyed at her as she rolled down the window.

"No."

He blinked. "What?"

"Don't play stupid. It's not cute on you."

He grinned. "You're not the first woman who's told me that."

"Listen to the first woman. Turn around and go home."

"I'm not going home."

"Then go anywhere else. We're handling the Kensington."

Nate frowned. "You weren't at the office earlier. I went to talk to you there, and you weren't there. I was going to tell you that I read Lila Kensington's diary. It has evidence in there of Julian's illegal activities. She talked about arguing with her dad the week before her murder and telling him that she knew he'd killed a man."

Lena blinked. "How did you get her diary?"

"The same way I'm about to get it now. They won't be home for a while. I know it's wrong to break into someone's house, and if I have to go to jail for it, I will. But he took it, and unless he got rid of it, it's still in his house."

"He almost certainly got rid of it," Lena said, "but this is good. Listen to me. You already told me about this diary."

"What? No I did—"

"Oh for God's… Listen, Nate. You already told me about this diary. We know all about Julian's illegal activities with his business partners. Now, when we tell Julian, we'll tell him it's because you showed us the diary."

"They won't believe it if I'm not there."

"Go repeat that in a mirror somewhere and ask yourself if it sounds as stupid to you as it does to me. But find that mirror in a different neighborhood."

Nate looked past her at the Kensington house. "But if I can get—"

"Stop." Lena looked around at the neighbors, straining to hear. A few of them were close enough that they might pick up a stray word or two. She turned her eyes back to Nate. "Do not follow us. We will handle it. You can only make it worse. Trust me."

Nate looked at her for a long moment. Then he sighed and nodded. "All right."

"All right."

She backed out and finished driving to the Kensingtons.

Julian and Clara showed up five minutes after Lena parked. Julian flinched when he saw them, and looked like he was thinking about driving away for a moment. Then he sighed and got out of the car.

"Officers, this is a bad time. I'm here to meet with people about my upcoming campaign."

Harris smiled at him. "Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm Mick Hunley."

Julian paled. Then he reddened. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Julian…" Clara whispered, clinging to his shoulder.

"Go inside, Clara," Julian commanded.

"Good idea," Lena interjected. "Let's all go inside."

"No," Julian replied. "You're not welcome in my house."

"You don't want to talk about the diary?"

Clara gave a little cry. The color that had just come to Julian's face vanished. He swallowed and looked nervously around at the neighbors, staring at the scene as it unfolded.

"We can talk out here if you want," Harris offered.

Julian shook his head. "No. Come inside."

Lena smiled. "Wonderful. I sure do appreciate it."

Julian fixed a look on her that drove away any doubt in Lena's mind that he was capable of murder.

The officers followed the couple inside. Clara immediately said, "Lila didn't know what she was talking about. She—"

"Clara, go upstairs," Julian interrupted.

"Oh no," Lena corrected. "Both of you stay right where you are."

"You're here to interrogate me," Julian insisted. "My wife has nothing to do with this."

"I'm here to interrogate both of you. And what exactly does your wife have nothing to do with?"

Julian realized his mistake and paled again. "Your suspicions."

"Ah. Well, that's where you're wrong. I very much suspect both of you."

Clara protested again. "She was just angry at us. We caught her using, and—"

"Clara, enough!" Julian interrupted. To the officers, he said, "This is ridiculous. Your department ruled her death an accident. Did LAPD reopen the case?"

"Why don't we focus on the diary in which your daughter revealed her knowledge of your illegal activities with Barry Feingold?"

"No. Answer my question."

Harris replied to that one. "Or maybe you can tell us why Barry might have had a change of heart and told us that he lied about the beach party after you told him you had an emergency and needed proof that you were at his house the day of your daughter's death."

Clara gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Oh my God."

"Clara, go upstairs!"

"No one's leaving this room," Lena said, "not until we have some answers."

"This is an outrage," Julian said. "We're not answering any more questions. I'm calling my lawyer and charging the LAPD and both of you for harassment. As for the diary, that was stolen properly illegally handed to you and is nothing more than the delusions of a young woman under the influence of prescription drugs. If the information in that diary gets out to anyone, I'll sue you for defamation. You can tell your pool boyfriend the same thing."

"You can tell me yourself."

Lena's blood froze.

Oh God, please let me be imagining things.

Clara gasped again and said, "Oh God. Julian, he's here."

"I see him, Clara," Julian snapped.

God damn it. Nate, you fucking idiot.

"Go ahead, Julian," Nate the world"s dumbest superhero said. "Tell me that Lila was wrong about everything. Tell me your wife isn"t a coke-sniffing junkie, and you"re not killing people for getting in the way of your illegal business dealings.

"Nathan, shut up!" Lena snapped.

Might as well look at the schmuck now. He's not going to go away just because you really wish he would. She turned toward him to see him standing in the close-fisted defiance of the righteously angry young. She wished with every fiber of her being that she could go back in time ten minutes and find a reason to arrest him and lock him in the back of her car.

"You're deluded," Julian said, "All of you. I presume you don't have an arrest warrant, so you can leave my house. My lawyer will be contacting your department. As for you, Nathan, you've just made the worst enemy you could possibly have."

"What? You're going to kill me too?"

"Damien, get him out of here!" Lena snapped. "Mr. and Mrs. Kensington, I apologize." She glared at Nate. "Mr. Harlow is clearly extraordinarily stupid. This conversation has nothing to do with him, and he'll be arrested for obstruction of justice."

Nathan stared at her in shock. Then his face flamed in anger. "I knew it. I was right all along. I should never have listened to Marco."

Lena frowned. "Who's Marco?"

"You don't care! You're not here to find justice for Lila! These assholes killed her!" He jabbed his finger at the Kensington. "Her own parents! Her own mother and father who are supposed to love her and take care of her, and they fucking killed her, but you don't care because they're rich, and—"

"Damien, get him out of here!"

Just then, Clara burst into sobs and collapsed to the floor. Julian"s trembling worsened, and he said in a strained voice. "You"ve made my wife cry. Leave my house now."

"No," Clara said.

"Clara—"

"I killed her. Nate's right. I'm supposed to be her mommy and love her, and I killed her!"