“Clean record,” said Milo. “A goddamn beginner like you said… Let's see how this asshole lives- unless you want to go home.”

My heart was pounding and my mouth was dry. “Not a chance.”

The east side of Fairfax, a dark, relatively untraveled section of the avenue, was filled with one shabby storefront after another. Every store closed, except for an Ethiopian restaurant with no drapes over the window. Inside, three people sat concentrating on heaping plates.

The sign atop P. L. Almoni's address read NOTARY PUBLIC, PHOTOCOPY SERVICES, MAILBOXES FOR RENT. We got out and looked through the window. Three walls of lockboxes, a service counter in back.

“Goddamn mail drop,” said Milo. “Onward to his business.”

We got back in the car, where he phoned Valley Information, waited, said, “You're sure?” and wrote something down.

Hanging up, he gave a sour smile. “It's a Valley exchange all right, but the address is in 310 territory. Holloway Drive in West Hollywood. Welcome to the maze, fellow rats.”

Holloway was a ten-minute drive from the mail drop, nice and convenient for the convoluted Mr. Almoni. West to La Cienega, then north just past Santa Monica Boulevard, and a left turn onto a quiet street filled with apartment buildings. Well-designed buildings, many of them prewar, some concealed behind tall hedges. I guessed Almoni's would be one of them.

Only a short walk to Sunset Strip but insulated from the din and the lights. I noticed a woman walking a huge dog, its gait and hers long and confident. Tucked among the apartments was an old Mediterranean mansion turned into a private school.

So dark it was hard to read addresses. As Milo searched for the right number, I composed news copy in my head:

Not much is known about Almoni. He was a quiet man, residents in this comfortable neighborhood said.

Suddenly, he pulled to the curb.

Bad guess: Hermes Electric's home base was a newer, well-lit three-story structure with an unshielded brick face and glass doors leading into a bright, mirrored lobby.

A short walk, also, to Milo and Rick's West Hollywood house.

He was thinking the same thing, clenched his jaw and said, “Evening, neighbor.”

Out of the car, he studied a collection of parking signs on a lamppost. Bottom line: permit parking only.

Placing an LAPD sticker on the dash, he said, “Not that it'll help. West Hollywood's county territory, the meter-leeches they contract with could give a shit.”

We walked up to the glass doors. Ten mailbox slots, each with a call button.

Number 6 said I. BUDZHYSHYN. HERMES LANGUAGE SCHOOL, INC.

“Multitalented,” Milo said, squinting at his Timex. “Almost midnight… no jurisdiction, no warrant… wonder if there's an in-house manager- here we go, Number 2, hope he's not a morning person.”

He finger-stabbed Unit 2's button. No answer for several moments, then a thick, male voice said, “Yes?”

“Police, sir. Sorry to bother you but could you come down to the lobby, please.”

“What?”

Milo repeated the greeting.

The thick voice said, “How do I know you're the police?”

“If you come down to the lobby, I'll be happy to show you identification, sir.”

“If this is some kind of joke-”

“It's not, sir.”

“What's this all about?”

“One of your tenants-”

“Trouble?”

“Please come down, sir.”

“… hold on.”

Five minutes later a man in his late twenties came into the lobby rubbing his eyes. Young, but bald, with a light brown mustache and clipped goatee, he had on a baggy gray T-shirt, blue shorts, and house slippers. His legs were pale, coated with blond hair.

Blinking and rubbing his eyes again, he stared out at us through the glass. Milo held out his badge and the goateed man studied it, frowned, mouthed, “Show me something else.”

“Great,” muttered Milo, “a picky one.” Smiling, he produced his LAPD business card. If the goateed man realized the department had no jurisdiction in West Hollywood, he didn't show it. Nodding sleepily, he unlocked the door and let us in.

“I don't understand why you couldn't come at a decent hour.”

“Sorry, sir, but this just came up.”

“What did? Who's in trouble?”

“No real trouble yet, sir, but we have some questions to ask you about Mr. Budzhyshyn.”

“Mister Budzhyshyn?”

“Yes-”

The young man smiled. “No such animal, here.”

“Unit 6-”

“Is the home of Ms. Budzhyshyn. Irina. And she lives alone.”

“Is there a boyfriend, Mr.-”

“Laurel. Phil Laurel. Yeah, yeah, as in “and Hardy.' Never saw a boyfriend, don't know if she dates. She's gone most of the time. Nice, quiet tenant, no problems.”

“Where does she go when she's gone, Mr. Laurel?”

“Work, I assume.”

“What kind of work does she do?”

“Insurance company, some type of supervisor. She makes a good living and pays her rent on time, that's all I care about. What's this all about?”

“It says language school.”

“She does that on the side,” said Laurel.

“Budzhyshyn,” said Milo. “That Russian?”

“Yeah. She said in Russia she'd been a mathematician, taught college.”

“So the school's a moonlighting thing.”

Laurel looked uncomfortable. “Strictly speaking we don't allow tenants to conduct business out of their units but hers isn't any big deal, she maybe sees a couple of guys a week and she's very quiet. Very nice. Which is why I'm sure you have the wrong information-”

“Guys? All her students are men?”

Laurel touched his beard. “I guess they have been… oh, no.” He laughed. His teeth were stained brown from nicotine. “No, not Irina, that's ridiculous.”

“What is?”

“You're implying she's some kind of call girl. No, not her. We wouldn't allow that, believe me.”

“You've had problems with call girls?”

“Not in this building, but others, farther east, sure… anyway, Irina's not like that.”

“You own the building?”

“Co-own.” Brief glance at the floor. “With my parents. They retired to Palm Springs and I took over to help them out.” He yawned. “Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Does she also operate a company called Hermes Electric?” said Milo.

“Not that I know- what's this about?”

“Where's this insurance company she works for?”

“Somewhere on Wilshire. I'd have to go check her file.”

“Could you, please?”

Laurel stifled another yawn. “It's really that important? Come on, what is it she supposedly did?”

“Her name came up in an investigation.”

“About electricians? Some kind of construction fraud? I could tell you stories about construction. Everyone in construction is a sleaze, the work ethic is totally gone from American civilization.”

He stopped. Milo smiled. Laurel rubbed his goatee and exhaled. “All right, hold on, I'll get the file- want to come in?”

“Thanks, sir,” said Milo. “Thanks for your time.”

Laurel shuffled off, slippers flapping, and came back with a yellow Post-it stuck to his thumb like a tiny flag.

“Here you go. I was wrong, it's an escrow company, Metropolitan Title. On Wilshire, like I said. On her application she put data manager. I'm not comfortable giving information to you without her permission but this you could get anywhere.”

Milo took the yellow paper and I read the address. The 5500 block of Wilshire put it somewhere near La Brea.

“Thank you, sir. Now we're going to pay Ms. Budzhyshyn a visit.”

“At this hour?”

“We'll be sure to keep things quiet.”

Laurel blinked. “No… excitement or anything?”

“No, sir. Just talking.”

A tiny, mirrored elevator took us creakily up to the third floor and we stepped into a yellow hallway.

Two units per floor. Number 6 was on the left.

Milo knocked. Nothing happened for several moments and he was about to knock again when the peephole brightened. He showed his badge. “Police, Ms. Budzhyshyn.”