Hotline to Murder

up.”

    CHAPTER 27
    The meeting with Detective Croyden proceeded badly, as far as Tony was concerned. Croyden met Tony and Shahla in the conference room just off the waiting room of the police station. Tony reluctantly gave him the panties and told him how he had found them. In answer to Croyden’s questions, he tried to explain why Josh might be a suspect. His arguments sounded weak to himself, and he wondered whether he was accusing his roommate for no reason.
    Croyden took notes with his Mont Blanc pen and said that he would investigate Josh. In answer to Tony’s sudden plea, he promised that he wouldn’t use Tony’s name unless he had to.
    Next, Tony and Shahla told about the call from the Chameleon. When they got to the part where he agreed to meet Shahla at 11:30, Croyden asked Shahla how she had elicited this information. She told him about the discussion of tattoos.
    “I thought you weren’t supposed to give personal information,” Croyden said.
    “I did it to try to get his address,” Shahla said. “I don’t have a tattoo.”
    “It worked,” Tony pointed out.
    “That remains to be seen,” Croyden said. “He’s a pretty tricky guy.”
    “It’s still worth a try,” Tony said. “Zook is only a couple of blocks from where I saw him before. He must live nearby. You are going to follow up, aren’t you?”
    “That address is in the jurisdiction of the El Segundo Police Department,” Croyden said. “We’ll have to coordinate with them.”
    There was no sense of urgency in his voice.
    “You’re not going to do anything tonight?” Shahla asked.
    “Don’t worry; we’ll check it out. If he is the night guard there, we’ll find him. That w ll be easy enough.”
    “But not tonight ,” Tony said.
    “There’s no hurry. If he’s working there tonight, he’ll be working there tomorrow night. We’ll check with the management at Zook and get all the information on him.” Croyden looked at his notes. “His story doesn’t ring true. If he’s working nights as a security guard, how could he be looking out his window at the tattoos of the girl who lives next door?”
    “That’s a fantasy,” Shahla said. “A real girl probably won’t even talk to him, let alone show him her tattoo. Our callers fantasize a lot.”
    “You shouldn’t be talking to weirdoes like that,” Croyden said.
    “It’s part of the job.”
    “That’s what I mean. This whole concept of the Hotline is a bad one. Putting teenage girls on the phone with these guys who are the scum of society. I don’t like it at all.”
    “Not all the callers are like that,” Shahla said hotly. “We help a lot of people.”
    “If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t let her work in a place like that. If this…Chameleon calls again, I want you to hang up on him. I’m going to talk to your boss, Nancy, about this. I want all the girls to hang up on him.”
    ***
    “I feel so frustrated. I wanted to take one of those old hatpins and stick it up Croyden’s ass to get him to do something.”
    Shahla must feel frustrated. This was one of the few times Tony could remember her using language that was even slightly off-color. He had followed her home to make sure she got there safely. He had even pulled into the driveway behind her to make sure she went into the house and didn’t take off for El Segundo. It was too late, anyway. His watch said 11:30.
    She stuck her head through the window of his SUV and said, “Croyden doesn’t appreciate that I got evidence for him. He doesn’t want girls working on the Hotline. I read a book that talks about men who want their women barefoot and pregnant. I’ll bet he’s one of them. And I don’t think he’s going to find Joy’s murderer, whoever he is. Croyden is incompetent, and I suspect the rest of the Bonita Beach police are the same way.”
    “They’ll get him,” Tony said with more confidence than he felt. “They know what they’re doing.” He lifted his hand to give her a reassuring pat, but she turned quickly away and walked toward the front door of the house. He watched until she went inside and shut the door. An upstairs light told him that Rasa was awake.
    Tony backed out of the driveway, intending to drive home. But instead of going directly home, he went to Pacific Coast Highway and turned north. North toward El Segundo. He didn’t know what he was going to do there, but he did remember the Chameleon saying previously that he got off work at midnight. Traffic was light.