Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

went to the strip clubs. Madeline helped her out along the way and they got together, ten years now. She wasn’t a bad person, not really.’

‘OK, when was the last time you spoke to her?’ Judy asked.

‘Deanna? Not for a month or so. I was at the apartment, she was just leaving for work. But she seemed ok, she did say she was working on something that would be good for everyone.’

‘Nothing else?’

‘No, like I said, my main dealings were with Madeline.’

‘Right, and what can you tell us about her?’

‘She’s interesting. Or was, I guess I should say. She came here when she was twenty-three, basically ran out on an abusive relationship with her pimp in Colorado. She was a heroin user, got busted for soliciting, and got in a rehab programme. Cleaned up for a year or two, but still working the streets so straight back on it. Busted again, rehab or jail, she took the rehab. But this time, she made it stick. Moved up to the hotels, I think she got lucky with a concierge someplace and got her foot in the door. She’s been doing that since, but was moving around the hotels, everybody knows her, there’s always work for prostitutes in this town, and she was pretty for a whore, I know I shouldn’t say that but it’s true. Anyway, I brought her in about six, seven years ago after one of her tricks went apeshit at the Venetian making out he’s been robbed. Madeline was there with a second hooker called Marianne Glass, who is a real menace, and definitely stole the money. Nothing to do with Madeline but she ended up here. But I know Marianne all too well, so I worked it out. Me and Madeline struck a deal, and she’s given me some gold over the years. Yeah, I liked her.’

‘Is this Marianne still around, is she a friend of Madeline’s?’

‘I’d say they weren’t friends, but often there’s a guy who wants a couple of girls, so they probably worked together now and then. I don’t know where Marianne is now for sure, we’ve had dealings with her over the years but she gets away with it, complaints get dropped nine times out of ten once it looks like it could get public. Madeline was at Caesars, but she told me she just switched to the MGM Grand, not sure why, Caesars was a goldmine for her.’

It was interesting stuff.

‘Any chance we can see the apartment?’ Warner asked.

They followed Casiano in her cruiser and she drove south and west, not far at all, then pulled up in front of a squat apartment block, the end of a group of three identical buildings.

Casiano tapped in a code at the door and they followed her up some stairs to the next floor. There was a door crossed with police tape. She pulled it free, produced a key, opened up, and they walked inside.

The place was wrecked, not a complete piece of furniture anywhere.

Judy showed them around and explained.

‘So, after the call for an intruder, we got told that Carrie wasn’t allowed to visit Madeline until we had cleared it, so we came by and searched the place. When it first came in a patrol came by and did their usual, but nobody had been hurt, there was no sign anyplace of the guy. I got alerted after, so back we came. We found nothing really, a tiny bit of cocaine that Deanna admitted to, some cash. That was it.’

‘How much cash?’ John asked.

‘Getting on for five thousand, enough for us to be interested but it was Madeline’s business after all. We didn’t take it.’

‘You didn’t find any notes, letters, or anything. Any computers? Did you check their phones?’

Casiano shook her head.

‘No, look, at the time, this was a domestic, and we weren’t there responding to the intruder call. Nobody had been assaulted, the guy did not enter the apartment. There was no reason. We just did what we were asked, I didn’t agree with it at the time I guess but it’s what it was. Look, it’s always the same, you know, in hindsight I wish I’d done more and now I sure mean it but then, we just took it for what it was. Carrie was real upset.’

‘It’s not your fault, I understand,’ Judy told her.

And John did too. There was nothing more the officers could have done, they were here purely on a public safety issue and there was no crime; the guy whoever he was had disappeared days before. Nobody was to blame.

‘We got a call a couple of days ago, there was a disturbance here. Routine patrol came by, and found the place like this. No sign of anyone, and no prints anywhere. Door wasn’t forced neither.’

‘So, they had a key,’ Warner guessed.

‘Oh yeah. The super here had no idea about it, he wasn’t anywhere near the place. My guess is it came from inside the PD, I hate to say it but I can’t see no other way.’

‘Shit. So, you got yourselves an inside man,’ Judy said.

‘Or woman.’

‘Yeah, or woman.’

‘Look, I shouldn’t say this, but I would really like to help. And I got to say, LAPD weren’t real interested. I got no reply at all to the email I sent, and they got everything I had,’ Casiano spoke earnestly. ‘Now I got the FBI, CIA, and I have no real idea who the hell these two guys are asking the questions I should have been asked before, right?’

‘Aaah, right, sorry, yeah I should have explained better. So yeah, Tom here is an MP, he’s helping us with the major’s murder. Like I said, we believe it is all connected. And like I told you, John, well John was there, in the Metro when it happened. And he’s kinda worked on stuff like this before. Whatever this is,’ Judy explained apologetically.

Casiano looked at John.

‘I can’t believe you were there. Unbelievable.’

John nodded.

‘Yeah, and we are on the right track.