J is for Judgment (Kinsey Millhone 10)

“I may take a rain check,” I said. “With luck, I’ll sleep straight through.”

I let myself into my apartment and staggered up to the loft, where I pulled my shoes off and buried myself in my quilt.

My phone rang thirty minutes later and I dragged myself up from the drug-induced depths of sleep. It was Rupert Valbusa. He’d had a brief chat with Lieutenant Whiteside, who’d impressed upon him the importance of getting the composite done. He was going out of town for the next five days, but if I was free, he’d be in his studio for another hour. Inwardly I groaned, but I really had no choice. I made a note of the address, which was not far from me in an industrial/commercial area just off the beach. A former Bekins warehouse on lower Anaconda Street had been converted to a complex of artists’ studios available for lease. I put my shoes on and did what I could to make myself presentable. I grabbed my car keys, a jacket, and the photographs of Wendell.

Outside, the air was damp with the breezes coming off the ocean. As I drove along Cabana Boulevard, I could see patches of pale blue where the cloud cover was breaking up. By late afternoon we might have an hour of sunshine. I parked on a narrow tree-lined side street, locked my VW, and walked around the warehouse to the north side, entering the building through a door flanked by two impressive metal sculptures. The interior corridors had been painted stark white, hung with framed works of the artists currently in residence. The ceiling in the hallway rose three stories to the roof, where a series of slanted windows admitted broad shafts of daylight. Valbusa was on the top floor. I climbed the three flights of metal stairs at the far end of the hallway, my footsteps ringing dully against the painted cinder block walls. When I reached the landing at the top, I could hear the muffled strains of country music. I knocked on Valbusa’s door and the radio was doused.

Rupert Valbusa was Hispanic, stocky, and muscular. I put him in his mid-thirties, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. His eyes were dark under the unruly ruffle of his brows. His dark hair was thick, cut full around his face. We introduced ourselves, shaking hands at the door before I followed him in. When he turned to walk away I could see a narrow braid extending halfway down his back. He wore a white T-shirt, cutoffs, and a pair of tire-soled leather sandals. His legs were nicely shaped, the contours defined by dark, silky hairs.

His studio was vast and chilly, with a concrete floor and wide counters circling the perimeter. The air smelled of damp clay, and most surfaces seemed to be coated in the chalky residue of dried porcelain. Big blocks of malleable clay had been swaddled in plastic. He had a kick wheel and a power wheel, two kilns, and countless shelves lined with ceramic bowls that had been fired but not yet glazed. At the end of one counter he had a dry copier, an answering machine, and a light box for slides. There were also stacks of dog-eared sketchbooks, jars of drawing pens and pencils, charcoals, and watercolor brushes. Three easels had been set up, bearing abstract oil paintings in various stages of completion.

“Is there anything you don’t do?”

“Not all of this is mine. I’ve taken on a couple of students, though I don’t much like to teach. Some of this is their work. You do any art yourself?”

“I’m afraid not, but I envy those who do.”

He moved to the nearest counter, where he picked up a manila envelope with a photograph inside. “Lieutenant Whiteside sent this over for you. Looks like he included an address for the guy’s wife.” He handed me a slip of paper, which I tucked in my pocket.

“Thanks. That’s great. It’ll save me some time.”

“This the dude who interests you?” Rupert passed me the picture. I glanced at the grainy eight-by-eleven black-and-white head shot. “That’s him. His name is Wendell Jaffe. I’ve got a few more here just to give you some other views.”

I pulled out the collection of shots I’d been using for ID purposes and watched as Rupert sorted through them with care, arranging them according to some system of his own. “Good-looking fellow. What’d he do?”

“He and his partner were into real estate development, some of which was legitimate until the bottom dropped. In the end, they ripped off their investors in what’s commonly known as a Ponzi scheme, promising big returns when they were really just paying off the old investors with the new investors’ money. Jaffe must have realized the end was in sight. He disappeared off his boat in the course of a fishing trip and was never heard from again. Until now, of course. His partner served some jail time, but he’s out again.”

“This is ringing a bell. I think the Dispatch ran an article about Jaffe a couple of years ago.”