City of the Dead (Alex Delaware, #37)(24)

Milo blinked. “A house she rented in Westwood.”

“A house,” she said. “Well, that’s an upgrade. What part of Westwood?”

“Just east of campus.”

“The good part of Westwood,” said Renata Blanding. “That’s a super upgrade. Last I heard, she was renting a pretty ratty two-bedroom in the Granada Hills. Using the second bedroom for her little movies.”

Blue eyes widened. “Did they have something to do with it? Her movies? Putting herself out there, trying to be famous?”

“We don’t know much of anything, yet.”

“Yet,” said Renata Blanding. “You’re saying you’re optimistic.”

“We like to think positive.”

“That’s kind of weird, no? Seeing as you’re all about negativity. Don’t you feel…inconsistent?”

Milo smiled. “That’s why we make an effort, ma’am. Do you know of any problems Carrie had due to her online postings?”

“Lieutenant,” said Renata Blanding, as if explaining to a dull child, “Carrie and I haven’t spoken in a while. I had no idea she’d gotten herself a house, let alone in Westwood.”

“How long have—”

“Two years,” she said. “Even before that our contacts were few and far between. She doesn’t like my family.”

“Your extended family?”

“I have no extended family. This family, the one that lives here.”

“Carrie didn’t—”

“I’m not saying she outwardly rejected us. She just stopped having contact. No mystery, Lieutenant. We have a wonderful life and I’m sure Carrie resented that. Like changing her name. Why do that? The name I gave her was lovely. So why? The answer? It was a rejection. Of me. Of us.”

Milo said, “Us, being…”

“The three of us,” said Renata Blanding. “My husband, Dr. Gregory Blanding, and my wonderful, wonderful son Aaron. He’s fifteen, skipped a grade. He loves Carrie.” Three swift blinks. “They used to have fun together, then she cut off contact. He was devastated.”

I said, “Must’ve been tough on all three of you.”

“Greg was a rock,” she said. “Never lost his cool. And let me tell you, there were times when…I don’t want to talk about my daughter as if I didn’t love her. I do. I did. She was gorgeous, could have…now you’re telling me someone murdered her? Who would do that?”

The furled fingers began shaking. She opened and laced her hands together but within seconds the trembling had dipped to her torso, then her legs. She breathed in and out several times and forced her body still.

Another long whoosh of exhalation.

“Who would do that to someone so gorgeous? With so much potential, and Carrie had plenty of that. Potential. A monster is who. You need to find them, Lieutenant, and they need to be punished. I need justice. They need to suffer.”

She gave a start. “Did Carrie suffer?”

Milo said, “It was quick, ma’am.”

“It.” Renata Blanding closed her eyes and moaned. “Like it’s a thing, a reality of life. But it’s not. Not for normal people. You come in here and…my world changes.”

“So sorry, Ms. Blanding. If you don’t want to do this now, we totally understand. But at some point, learning as much as we can about your daughter’s life will be helpful.”

“No, no, I’ll do it right now, Lieutenant. My head is just—I need to do something. With my mind. My body…activity is nourishing. I always tell Aaron that, he just likes to sit and read…because he’s brilliant. Carrie was pretty smart…where should I start?”

“The beginning’s always a good place, ma’am.”

She fooled with her hair. “I like all the ma’ams. You’re doing it to respect me. I’m feeling respected. I like that feeling.”

She drank, put the glass down, prodded the oversized ice cube with a turquoise nail. “The big ones diffuse more slowly, you get a subtler chill.”

Milo and I waited.

Renata Blanding said, “The beginning. Okay. I’m going to spare nothing. Including myself. I got pregnant with her when I was a seventeen-year-old idiot living in Sacramento and doing everything I could to torment my adoptive parents. Not because they were adoptive, I’m sure I would’ve done the same if they were bio, that’s the way I was back then. Stupid and insolent and stubborn. I mean it’s not like birth control wasn’t available, right? I know exactly when I got pregnant. At a party. What I don’t know is from who I got pregnant.”

She forced herself higher.

“Get the picture?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re saying that but you don’t. It’s one of those…you had to be there. Dope, alcohol. There was more than one of them and, frankly, I don’t want to know. But don’t go thinking I’m one of those people telling everyone they got victimized. Yes, I was drunk. No, I wasn’t forced. It was a party.”

She put the glass down hard.

“Stupid and stubborn,” she said. “That’s the long and short of me, back then. You’re probably wondering, why is she so cool with telling us all this. The reason is because confronting reality on a regular basis is emotionally nourishing, that’s what my ther— whatever, back on track. Carrie…”