A Death In Beverly Hills by David Grace

seconds later he was on the highway heading back to LA. Ten miles down the road the bat, wiped free of prints, disappeared in the brush along with Monroe's keys. Steve kept the driver's license with Monroe's address on it, just in case.

Chapter Fifteen

    Steve started making lists, organizing what he knew and didn't know and what he wanted to find out. He only did that when things were going down the dumper and he couldn't figure out what else to do. Lynn's shrink friend, Irwin Shapiro, had told him once that it was a manifestation of his need to feel as if he were in control of his environment instead of the other way around. Physician, heal thyself , Steve thought.
    Steve got a fresh sheet of paper and drew an inverted "V" on it. At the bottom of one leg he drew a box and inside printed "Travis Did It" and then a second box with "Travis Innocent" inside. From this second choice he drew four lines, whose ends he labeled "Travis Real Target - Wife Killed By Mistake - Travis Framed"; "Wife Real Target - Travis Framed"; "Wife Killed Specifically To Frame Travis"; and "Random Killing." Steve considered the "Travis Framed" sections then put down the pencil. It was impossible that by pure coincidence the body was found two miles from where Travis had been driving his dune buggy.
    Was there anybody other than Tom Travis who might have wanted Marian Travis dead? Steve made a note to review the police interviews with her family and friends to see if any of them had let slip some clue.
    Did anyone hate Tom Travis enough to want him dead or framed for murder? The guy was a jerk but this was Hollywood. If having a bloated ego was a sufficient motive for murder the town would have more dead people than 1983 Cambodia. Could Terry Monroe or some other drug dealer have been after him? It didn't feel right. Those guys were about as subtle as a pair of brass knuckles. If they had wanted Travis hurt or dead he'd have been found floating face down in his pool with is balls cut off. Which didn't mean that Travis hadn't pissed off somebody badly enough for them to want to ruin his life.
    Steve tapped his pencil on the "Random Killing" box, Tom Travis's favorite explanation next to a kidnap plot gone wrong. The idea of a serial killer happening to pick a movie star's house, getting past the alarm systems, doing the crime and then framing Travis for it was almost laughable. A kidnap plot gone wrong? Please! Where was the ransom note for Sarah? Even if she was dead, the location of her body would still be worth big money to the tabloids.
    Assuming Travis was innocent that left only three meaningful possibilities: Someone else wanted Marian dead; Someone wanted Travis dead, was surprised by Marian and settled for killing her and framing Tom, or someone wanted Travis locked up for the rest of his life and decided that murdering a pregnant woman was a good way to get that done. Yeah, that must be it.
    Could Marian Travis have been the target all along? What kind of person was she? Steve checked the file index and found an interview the cops' had done with Delfina Angelinez three days after Marian's disappearance. Katz and Furley had concentrated on strangers in the house, hang up phone calls, unknown cars in the neighborhood, and other suspicious behavior. At the end of the interview Delfina had slipped a bit off track and described a shopping trip she, Marian and Sarah had taken a few days before Christmas.

    * * *

    "I'm getting too fat for this," Marian said, struggling reach the petals with the seat retracted far enough for her stomach to clear the wheel.
    "I could drive for you, Missy Marian," Delfina volunteered from the back seat.
    "If I let you drive and we had an accident, Tom would have a heart attack."
    "I am a good driver."
    "I know you are, Delfina, but Mr. Travis doesn't want anyone but me driving the car."
    An empty space appeared but at the last instant a Boxster chirped its tires and dove in ahead of them.
    "He take your space!"