‘Kate?’ said Gloria.
‘Sorry. I wasn’t just thinking about the past, about the case.’
‘Just as well I didn’t get my hands on that sick fuck,’ said Gloria. ‘I swear I would have been had up for first degree. But as sure as anything, that creep is burning in hell as we speak.’
‘Let’s hope so,’ said Cassie, chewing a fingernail.
‘Cassie,’ said Kate. ‘We know that Gleason is dead. It’s a fact.’
‘So who’s out there then? If it’s not the Gleason we knew then it’s somebody who wants to be him. To be honest, I don’t know which is the worst, which one I’m scared of more.’
‘I know, I know,’ said Kate. ‘But Cassie? I guarantee that this is going to stop soon. We’re going to bring his little games to and end. Isn’t that right, Gloria? Tell us what you’ve got. The sooner we’ve got that information the sooner all this is over.’
‘I sure as hell hope this is going to help,’ she said looking down at her notes. ‘Okay - I discovered that there are only three men in the whole of the US who have changed their names to Robert Gleason since the date of the arrest.’
‘Only three?’ said Kate. She felt a sense of anticipation rise within her. They were getting close. Soon he would feel what it was like to be hunted, to be prey.
‘That’s what the records say.’
‘Where are they?’
‘There is one – a man born Saul David Coben in 1989 who was adopted as a teenager by a married couple, a Jane and Harvey Gleason, in Pennsylvania.’
‘Not our guy,’ said Kate. ‘Who else?’
‘A gay guy who used to be called Robert Olson who lives in Portland.’
‘What’s his story?’ asked Cassie.
‘Don’t know much. But it seems that he “married” his boyfriend, a Charlie Gleason last fall. I’m not sure of two guys getting together like that and in fact –‘
‘Okay,’ said Kate, eager for Gloria to move on. ‘And the last one?’
‘The last one is interesting because I’ve hardly got anything on him. No credit card details, no car loan, no telephone records, no mortgage, no bank account. Nada.’
Kate felt the hairs prick on the back of her neck.
‘All I know is that his birth name was Gideon Walsh and that he was born in Vegas to a single mother.’
‘Did you find any reason why he wanted to change his name?’ asked Kate.
‘No. No reason.’
‘And where does he live now. Still in Vegas?’
Gloria looked down at the piece of paper in front of her. ‘No. According to the most recent record I could find – his court application for a name change – he now lives here, in LA. Listed as 5520 West 104th street, right next to LAX, I guess.’
Kate tapped the address into the search engine on her computer. At the top of the results list was the name of the Aviation Motel with advertised rates in the region of twenty five bucks a night.
‘It’s a low rent hotel.’ said Kate. ‘The perfect place for some psycho to hang out who never wants to be found. Ladies, I think we’ve got our guy.’
33
Kate thought up the plan in minutes. Gloria was enlisted to reverse her car up to the side entrance to the house, a spot sheltered by an enormous siempre verde tree. Then she was despatched down to the front gate where Naylor sat in his car. Gloria prided herself on the use of her feminine charm – an ex-boyfriend had once called it the lethal combo of her fuck-me eyes and her double-Gs – and she didn’t have any trouble convincing Naylor that she was helping her friends shift some old stuff. She might even have to call upon him to help if she needed to move a couple of heavy boxes of books. ‘No problem, ma’am,’ he replied. ‘Just give me a shout when you’re ready.’
While Naylor was distracted, Kate checked on her mother, who still hadn’t woken up from her after-lunch nap. She blew a kiss in her direction, picked up a couple of cashmere blankets and headed back downstairs to her father’s study. She took down a couple of the larger paintings and carried them to the side door. Then she grabbed her notes and her purse and led Cassie by the hand towards the back seat of the car, where the two women lay down. When Gloria returned from talking to Naylor she simply spread out the blankets over her friends and then lay the paintings on top of them. Then she sashayed back down the drive to Naylor and asked him to help her lift a couple of crates full of books.
‘It’s one of the problems of being a generously proportioned woman,’ said Gloria, pushing her breasts forward towards him, mischief playing in her eyes. ‘Really has fucked my back something bad.’
Naylor laughed as he walked back with her up the driveway, occasionally stealing a glimpse at Gloria’s ass.
‘By the way, where are your friends?’ he asked, lifting up the first of the two boxes of books and carrying them into the trunk.
‘They’re taking a nap right now,’ said Gloria. ‘I guess it’s a hard time for them just at the moment.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ he said.
‘Should I just give them a call?’
‘I wouldn’t. They’re tired as shit. They were both up all night. I came over to try and lighten the mood, so to speak. Kate has been hassling me to help her clear out her spare room for months now. I thought that might help take her mind off her troubles. Clearing out all this junk has sure done her in. Sleeping like a baby now. Best give it a couple of hours.’
‘Okay,’ said Naylor, putting them second crate into the trunk and slamming the back. ‘You have a good day now.’
Gloria got into the car and steered it out of the driveway, maintaining her composure until she turned the corner and was out of sight.
‘Fuck, that was close,’ she said.
Nervous laughter erupted from the back seat.
‘You sound like a couple of hysterical schoolgirls,’ said Gloria.
‘Well, you’re one damned good liar,’ said Kate, peeling the blanket away from her face and taking hold of one of the paintings that had been placed on top of her.
‘Gloria Smith, I’m never going to believe anything you tell me ever again,’ said Cassie, trying to sit up. ‘And to think that you’re a Bible-reading woman.’