‘That’s how it was done,’ I said to Sherwood in the copter.
‘That letter was a message. About Zorn. Evan. How they got back at people. It was how she let him know it was all going to begin.’
On the surface, the letter Hutchins had found seemed to be perfectly benign. ‘These kooks are always trying to contact him,’ he explained. As a celebrity killer, Houvnanian attracted his share of loonies and admirers. On his view of life. On how he had been misjudged. Or on music.
Hutchins wouldn’t let us as much as touch the letter. Or even take a copy. That would require a judge’s decree. But he laid it on the table for us to have a look.
It was written in a straightforward block print on lined notebook paper:
‘I watched you on TV,’ it began, possibly referring to a Dateline interview a year ago. ‘I know you like Guns N’ Roses. Axl Rose was a kind of apostle for me too. I know the song you mentioned – “Estranged”. There’s a line from that song that I sing to myself when I think I’m going out of my head: I knew the storm was getting closer …
‘The storm is here’ the letter went on. ‘It never has to die!’
‘The storm has never died,’ it ended.
It was signed, ‘Yours always, Mags.’
The postmark on the envelope was from Richmond, California, just across the bay from San Francisco. Only an hour and a half from Jenner.
I was sure ‘Mags’ was Susan Pollack.
‘“The storm is here. It never has to die.” Don’t you see, Sherwood? Zorn. Greenway. He’s using his people to get back at the people who brought him down.’
‘And Evan?’ Sherwood asked, buckling himself in..
‘Evan is somehow directed at my brother.’ I didn’t have the answer yet, but there was no more hiding it. ‘Maybe there were fingerprints on it. Maybe we can match the handwriting. We prove that letter was from Susan Pollack …’
‘We prove the letter was from Susan and what?’ The detective looked at me skeptically. ‘It’s just song lyrics. There’s nothing there. Besides, there’s not a judge in the country who would grant us a court order based on that note or what we have.
‘Not to mention you’re forgetting one thing …’ He kicked his briefcase under the seat. ‘If Greenway and Cooley were murdered, it all happened when Susan Pollack was behind bars. That surely wasn’t her.’
He was right there. I flashed to the person who had called me in the motel room. The voice was male.
‘So what’s the next step?’ I pushed him. The propellers started to whir. In a second we’d be heading back to Pismo. ‘Just let it go? The guy is orchestrating murder, Sherwood. He’s in jail, in chains, and he’s got the upper hand. You know as well as I do what’s going on here.’
‘I can’t play this out forever, Doc. I tried … The next step.’ He sighed as the copter started to rise. ‘Other than getting the truth out of your brother …’ He turned his head toward the window. ‘I don’t know.’