Kiss The Girls Part 18

I guess I wasn't in a great mood after the failed bust. "Unfortunately, nothing happened." I told her the bottom line.

Kate nodded, waiting for more. She had on a light blue tank top, khaki shorts, and yellow flip-flops. She was wide awake and revved up. I was glad to see her, even at half-past two on a s.h.i.tty morning.

I finally came in and we talked about the FBI stakeout on Melrose Avenue. I told Kate how close we might have come to getting Dr. Will Rudolph. I remembered everything he'd said, every gesture. "He sounded like a gentleman. He acted like a gentleman, too... right up until the blond woman made him angry."

"What does he look like?" Kate asked. She was eager to help. I couldn't blame her. The FBI had flown her to Los Angeles, then stuck her in a hotel room for most of the day and night.

"I know how you feel, Kate. I've talked to the FBI, and you're going to ride with me tomorrow. You're going to see him, probably in the morning. I don't want to set up any bias in your mind. Is that okay?"

Kate nodded, but I could tell her feelings were hurt. She definitely wasn't happy about her level of involvement so far.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to act like a tough detective, a controlling b.a.s.t.a.r.d," I finally said. "Let's not fight about it."

"Well, you were distant. Anyway, you're forgiven. I guess we better get some sleep. Tomorrow's another day. Big day maybe?"

"Yeah, tomorrow could be a big day. I really am sorry, Kate."

"I know you are." She finally smiled. "You really are forgiven. Sweet dreams. Tomorrow we nail Beavis. Then we get b.u.t.t-Head."

I finally went off to my room. I hit the bed and thought about Kyle Craig for a while. He'd been able to sell my unorthodox style to his confreres for one reason: it had worked before. I already had one monster's scalp on my belt. I hadn't played according to the rules to get it. Kyle understood and respected results. In general, so did the Bureau. They were certainly playing according to their own rules here in Los Angeles.

My last semiconscious thought was of Kate in those khaki shorts. Take your breath away. I had a pa.s.sing thought that she might come down the hall and knock, knock, knock knock, knock, knock on my door. We were in Hollywood, after all. Wasn't that the way it happened in the movies? on my door. We were in Hollywood, after all. Wasn't that the way it happened in the movies?

But Kate didn't come knocking on my hotel door. So much for Clint Eastwood and Rene Russo fantasies.

Chapter 63.

THIS WAS going to be a big day in Tinseltown. The manhunt of manhunts was playing in Beverly Hills. Just like the day they finally caught the killer-strangler Richard Ramirez out here.

Today we get Beavis.

It was a few minutes past eight in the morning. Kate and I were sitting in an arctic-blue Taurus parked half a block from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. There was an electrical sound in the air, as if the city were being run on a single, huge generator. A play on an old line ran through my head: h.e.l.l is a city much like Los Angeles. h.e.l.l is a city much like Los Angeles.

I was nervous and tense; my body felt numb, and my stomach was queasy. The burnout factor. Not enough sleep. Too much stress for too long a stretch. Chasing monsters from sea to shining sea.

"That's Dr. Will Rudolph climbing out of the BMW," I said to Kate. I was so wound up, I felt as if strong hands were squeezing me.

"Good-looking," Kate muttered. "Real sure of himself, too. The way he moves. Doctor Doctor Rudolph." Rudolph."

Kate didn't say another word as she intently watched Rudolph. Was he the Gentleman Caller? Was he also Casanova? Or were we being set up for some sick, psychopathic reason that I did't understand yet?

The morning's temperature hovered in the low sixties. The air had a crisp snap, like fall in the Northeast. Kate had on an old college sweatsuit, high-topped running shoes, dimestore sungla.s.ses. Her long brown hair was bunched back in a ponytail. Sensible stakeout attire and grooming.

"Alex, the FBI's all around him now?" she asked me without looking away from the binoculars. "They're here right now? That sc.u.m can't possibly get away?"

I nodded. "If he does anything, anything anything that shows us he's the Gentleman, they'll grab him. They want this arrest for themselves." that shows us he's the Gentleman, they'll grab him. They want this arrest for themselves."

But the FBI was also giving me whatever rope I needed. Kyle Craig had kept his promise. So far, anyway.

Kate and I watched as Dr. Will Rudolph slid out of the BMW coupe, which he'd just parked in a private lot on the west side of the hospital. He wore a European-style charcoal-gray suit. It was cut well and looked expensive. It probably cost as much as my house in D.C. His brown hair was held back in a fashionable ponytail. He had on dark gla.s.ses with round tortoisesh.e.l.l frames.

A doctor in an exclusive Beverly Hills hospital. Smug as h.e.l.l. The G.o.dd.a.m.n Gentleman Caller who was setting this city on fire? The G.o.dd.a.m.n Gentleman Caller who was setting this city on fire?

I ached to run across the parking lot and hit him, take him down right now. I ground my teeth until my jaw was stiff. Kate wouldn't take her eyes away from Dr. Will Rudolph. Was he Casanova, too? Were they one and the same monster? Was that it?

We both watched Rudolph as he crossed the hospital lot. His stride was long and quick and buoyant. Nothing bothering him today. Finally, he disappeared inside a gray metal side door of the hospital.

"A doctor, doctor," Kate said and shook her head back and forth. "This is so weird, Alex. I'm shaking on the inside. inside."

The static on the car radio startled us, but we could hear agent John Asaro's deep, raspy voice.

"Alex, did you guys see him? Get a good look? What does Ms. McTiernan think? What's the verdict on our Dr. Squirrel?"

I looked across the front seat at Kate. She looked all of her thirty-one years right now. Not quite so confident and a.s.sured, a little gray around the gills. The prime witness. She understood the deadly seriousness of the moment perfectly.

"I don't think he's Casanova," Kate finally said. She shook her head. "He's not the same physical type. He's thinner... carries carries himself differently. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I don't think it's him, G.o.ddammit." She sounded a little disappointed. himself differently. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I don't think it's him, G.o.ddammit." She sounded a little disappointed.

Kate continued to shake her head. "I'm almost sure he isn't Casanova, Alex. There must be two of them. Two Mr. Squirrels." Her brown eyes were intense, as she looked at me.

So there were were two of them. Were they competing? What the h.e.l.l was their coast-to-coast game all about? two of them. Were they competing? What the h.e.l.l was their coast-to-coast game all about?

Chapter 64.

SMALL TALK, surveillance talk; it was familiar territory for me. Sampson and I had a saying about surveillance back in D.C.: They They do the crime; do the crime; we we do the time. do the time.

"How much could he make with a successful Beverly Hills medical practice? Ballpark number, Kate," I asked my partner. We were still watching the doctors' private parking lot of Cedars-Sinai. There was nothing to do but eyeball Rudolph's spiffy new BMW and wait, and talk like old friends on a front stoop in D.C.

"He probably charges about a hundred and fifty to two a visit. He could gross five or six hundred thousand a year. Then there are surgery fees, Alex. That's if he has a conscience about the prices he charges, and we know know he doesn't have a conscience." he doesn't have a conscience."

I shook my head in disbelief as I rubbed my palm over my chin. "I have to get back into private practice. Baby needs new shoes."

Kate smiled. "You miss them, don't you, Alex? You talk about your kids a lot. Damon and Jannie. Poolball-head and Velcro."

I smiled back. Kate knew my nicknames for the kids by now. "Yeah, I do. They're my babies, my little pals."

Kate laughed some more. I liked to make her laugh. I thought of the bittersweet stories she'd told me about her sisters, especially her twin, Kristin. Laughter is good medicine.

The black BMW coupe just sat there, shining brightly and expensively in the California sunlight. Surveillance sucks, Surveillance sucks, I thought, I thought, no matter where you have to do it. Even in sunny L.A. no matter where you have to do it. Even in sunny L.A.

Kyle Craig had gotten me a lot of rope here in Los Angeles. Certainly much more than I'd had in the South. He'd gotten rope for Kate, too. There was something in it for him, though. The old quid pro quo. Kyle wanted me to interview the Gentleman Caller once he was caught, and he expected me to report everything to him. I suspected that Kyle himself hoped to bag Casanova.

"Do you really think the two of them are competing?" Kate asked me after a while.

"It makes psychological sense out of some things for me," I told her. "They might feel a need to 'one up' each other. The Gentleman's diaries could be his way of saying: See, I'm better than you. I'm more famous. Anyway, I haven't decided yet. Sharing their exploits is probably more for thrill purposes than intimacy, though. They both both like to get turned on." like to get turned on."

Kate stared into my eyes. "Alex, doesn't it make you feel creepy as h.e.l.l trying to figure this out?"

I smiled. "That's why I want to catch b.u.t.t-Head and Beavis. So the creepiness will finally stop."

Kate and I waited at the hospital until Rudolph finally reappeared. It was nearly two in the afternoon. He drove straight to his office on North Bedford, west of Rodeo Drive. Rudolph saw patients there. Mostly women patients. Dr. Rudolph was a plastic surgeon. As such, he could create create and and sculpt. sculpt. Women Women depended depended on him. And... his patients all on him. And... his patients all chose chose him. him.

We followed Rudolph home at around seven. Five or six hundred thousand a year, I was thinking. It was more than I could make in a decade. Was it the money he needed to be the Gentleman Caller? Was Casanova wealthy, too? Was he a doctor also? Was that how they committed their perfect crimes?

These questions were rolling around in my head.

I fingered an index card in my trouser pocket. I had begun to keep a "shortlist" on both Casanova and the Gentleman. I would add or subtract what I considered key attributes to the profile. I carried the card with me at all times.

CASANOVA.

Collector harem artist, organized different masks... to represent moods or personas? doctor?

claims to "love" victims gaining a taste for violence knows about me competing with Gary Soneji?

competing with the L.A. Gentleman?

GENTLEMAN.

gives out flowers-s.e.xual?

extremely violent and dangerous takes beautiful young women of all types extremely organized not artistic in terms of his killing doctor cold and impersonal as a killer... a butcher craves recognition and fame- possibly wealthy-penthouse apartment graduated Duke Medical School, 1986 raised in North Carolina I thought some more about the connection between Rudolph and Casanova as Kate and I twiddled our thumbs outside the apartment. A relevant psychological condition had occurred to me. It was called twinning, and it could be a key. Twinning just might explain the bizarre relationship between the monsters. Twinning was caused by an urge to bond, usually between two lonely people. Once they "twin," the two become a "whole"; they become dependent on each other, often obsessively so. Sometimes the "twins" become highly compet.i.tive.

Twinning was like an addiction to couple. couple. To belong to a To belong to a secret club. secret club. Just two people and no pa.s.swords. In its negative form, it was the fusing of two people for their own individual needs, which weren't mutually healthy. Just two people and no pa.s.swords. In its negative form, it was the fusing of two people for their own individual needs, which weren't mutually healthy.

I ran it by Kate. She was a twin, too.

"Quite often, there's a dominant figure in a twinning relationship," I said. "Was that true of you and your sister?"

"I probably was with Kristin," Kate said. "I got the good grades in school. I was a little pushy sometimes. She even called me 'Push' in high school. Worse names than that, too."

"The dominant twin can act in a male role-model behavior structure," I said to Kate. The two of us were talking doctor to doctor. "The dominant figure might not not be the more skillful at manipulation, though." be the more skillful at manipulation, though."

"As you could imagine, I've read a little about the phenomenon," Kate said and smiled. "Twinning creates a uniquely powerful structure within which the bonded pair can operate in complex ways. Something like that?"

"That's correct, Dr. McTiernan. In the case of Casanova and the Gentleman, each would have his own bodyguard-c.u.m-supportive person. That could be why they achieve achieve so well. Perfect crimes. They each have a built-in, and very effective, emotional support system." so well. Perfect crimes. They each have a built-in, and very effective, emotional support system."

The question ringing loudly in my mind was-how had they originally met? Was it at Duke? Had Casanova been a student there, too? It made some sense. It also reminded me of the Leopold-Loeb case in Chicago. Was it at Duke? Had Casanova been a student there, too? It made some sense. It also reminded me of the Leopold-Loeb case in Chicago. Two very smart boys, special boys, committing forbidden acts together. Sharing evil thoughts and dirty secrets because they were lonely and had no one else to talk to... twinning at its most destructive. Two very smart boys, special boys, committing forbidden acts together. Sharing evil thoughts and dirty secrets because they were lonely and had no one else to talk to... twinning at its most destructive.

Was that the beginning of the solution to this puzzle? I wondered. Were the Gentleman and Casanova twinning? Were they actually working together? What was their nasty little game all about? What game were they playing?

"Let's go smash in his picture window with a tire iron," Kate said. She was feeling it, too. We were both ready to rumble.

We wanted to take down this grown-up Leopold and Loeb.

Chapter 65.

EIGHT O'CLOCK came and went on the surveillance watch. Maybe Dr. Will Rudolph wasn't the Gentleman Caller. The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times reporter Beth Lieberman could have been wrong. There was no way to ask her about it now. reporter Beth Lieberman could have been wrong. There was no way to ask her about it now.

Kate and I had been gabbing about the Lakers without Magic Johnson and Kareem, about Aaron Neville's latest alb.u.m, Hillary and Bill Clinton's life together, the merits of Johns Hopkins versus University of North Carolina medical school.

Strange sparks were still flying between us. I'd had some unofficial therapy sessions with Kate McTiernan and I had hypnotized her once. I also understood that I was afraid of any kind of fire starting between us. What was wrong with me? It was time to start my life again, to get over the loss of my wife, Maria. I thought I had something good with a woman named Jezzie Flanagan, but she had left an emptiness in me that I could barely get over.

Kate and I finally began to cover subjects a little closer to the heart. She asked why I was shying away from relationships (because my wife had died; because my last relationship had imploded; because of my two kids). (because my wife had died; because my last relationship had imploded; because of my two kids). I asked her why she was wary of meaningful relationships I asked her why she was wary of meaningful relationships (she was afraid she was going to die of ovarian or breast cancer like her sisters; she was afraid her lovers might die, or leave her-that she would keep on losing people). (she was afraid she was going to die of ovarian or breast cancer like her sisters; she was afraid her lovers might die, or leave her-that she would keep on losing people).

"We're quite the pair." I finally shook my head and smiled.

"Maybe we're both terrified of losing someone again," Kate said. "Maybe it's better to love and lose than be afraid."

Before we could really get into that th.o.r.n.y subject, Dr. Will Rudolph finally appeared. I looked at the time on the dashboard clock. It was 10:20.

Rudolph was decked out in all-black party clothes. Form-fitting blazer, turtleneck, clinging slacks, snazzy cowboy boots. He got into a white Range Rover this time instead of the BMW sedan. He looked freshly showered. Probably had taken a nap. I envied him that.

"Black on black for the good doctor," Kate said with a tight smile. "Dressed to kill?"

"Maybe he has a dinner date," I said. "Now there's a scary idea. He sups with the women, then kills them."

"That could get him inside their apartments at least. What a terrible creep. Two Two unbelievable creeps on the loose." unbelievable creeps on the loose."

I started up our car and we followed Rudolph. I didn't see any FBI coverage, but I was sure they were there.

The Bureau still hadn't brought in the LAPD on this. It was a dangerous game, but not an unusual one for the FBI. They considered themselves the best policemen for any job, and the ultimate authority. They had decided this was an interstate crime spree, so it was theirs to solve. Somebody at the Bureau had a hard-on for this case.

"Vampires always hunt at night, huh," Kate said as we headed south through L.A. "That's what this feels like, Alex. Bram Stoker's The Gentleman Caller. The Gentleman Caller. A real-life horror story." A real-life horror story."

I knew what Kate was feeling. I felt it too. "He is a monster. Only he's created himself. So has Casanova. It's another similarity they share. Bram Stoker, Mary Sh.e.l.ley, they wrote only about human monsters roaming the earth. Now we have sickos living out their elaborate fantasies. What a country."

"Love it or leave it, bub," Kate said with a drawl and a wink.

I had done enough surveillance early in my career to get reasonably good at it. I figured I had earned a graduate degree in tracking during the Soneji/Murphy manhunt. So far, I'd noticed that the West Coast FBI was good, too.

Agents Asaro and Cosgrove checked in on the radio as soon as we started to move again. They were in charge of the tracking unit on Will Rudolph. We still didn't know if he was the Gentleman. We still didn't know if he was the Gentleman. We had no proof. We couldn't move on Dr. Rudolph yet. We had no proof. We couldn't move on Dr. Rudolph yet.