strange. It’s usually easy to identify
hit-and-run victims.”
“Jade was contacted by two uniformed officers from
the Mission Hills Division the evening she returned. They informed her that
sometimes this type of accident is never solved.”
“Did she get their names and badge numbers?”
“Uh-huh. Jim Fishburne and Stanley Koncak. They
stayed in touch with her, daily reports at first, but it’s dwindled as there’s
nothing new to report.”
“Should be easy to trace, if they exist.”
“Nick, are you saying that Cicero was not killed
in a hit-and-run?”
“I have no reason to believe he wasn’t, but I just
had an interesting conversation with a witness who shed some new light on the
situation.”
“So what do you think happened?”
“I don’t think. I just collect evidence. Once I
have enough evidence, then I start thinking.”
“Okay, asshole. I just don’t believe it’s at all
surprising that Cicero would get whacked. He was a major narcotics dealer and undoubtedly had enemies. Could be he
got popped first, and then they made it look like a hit-and-run.”
“Was there a coroner’s report?”
“I didn’t ask for it, but there has to be.”
“I’ll check on it.”
“What is suspect is that everyone waited to inform
her that her father was dead.”
“Correct.”
“When do you sleep?” Brad yawned.
I shrugged. “Gets pretty hectic sometimes,
especially at the beginning of a case, but it sure beats a real job.”
“Such as?”
“I dunno. Never had one.”
“In any event, you don’t happen to have a bed
around here, do you?”
We pulled an air mattress and a couple of blankets
out of the closet behind my desk, and Brad sacked out on the floor.
I called Tony, leaving a message that I was in the
office and available to meet, and then extracted a 24” by 36” inch piece of
white poster board from the closet. Clearing some desk space, I went to work
creating a red ink time line.
Late summer
2006: Ron Cera meets Richard and Jade Lamont.
Summer 2006
to July 2007: Ron and Jade engage in sexual relationship.
July 2007:
Jade disengages from Ron. Ron remains friends with Richard.
August 2007:
Ron spurns Richard’s advances.
August 16,
2007: Cicero Lamont killed in hit-and-run on Sepulveda Boulevard in Mission
Hills.
August 28,
2007: Dominique Dominguez Lamont commits suicide in San Francisco.
Late September/October
2007: Richard vanishes out of Jade’s life.
October 24,
2007: Richard and Arnold Clipper confront Ron. Jade contacts N.C.
I had just finished the dates when the phone rang.
It was Tony. “Nick, meet me at Philippe’s.”
“When?”
“In 30.”
“Okay.”
Brad was stretched out on the air mattress with
the blankets pulled over him but was apparently awake. “Where are we going?”
“I thought you were sleeping?”
“I was until the phone rang.”
For the next 25 minutes I wrote notes below each
date and connected them with arrows.
August 16,
2007: Cicero Lamont…
Obvious
Perps:
1)
Unconnected bad driver who panicked or didn’t want to be caught.
2) Rival
narcotics crew.
3)
Traitorous member(s) of Cicero’s crew.
4) Enemy
unconnected to drug trade.
Question:
Why was Jade not notified until three days after Cicero’s death? Why was Jade
contacted by Halladay, rather than by her mother or Richard?
There were lots of possible explanations but I
didn’t like any of them. A strong woman like Dominique would certainly have
contacted her daughter. Furthermore, someone had located Richard or he couldn’t
have been at Cicero’s memorial. I made a mental note to talk to James Halladay.
If it pointed at a cover-up, the question would be why? Arnold Clipper could
easily be involved with Richard, for any number of bad reasons, but might have
had nothing to do with Cicero’s death. The extreme mangling of the body,
though, was weird and could be the work of a psychotic.
I moved on to Dominique’s death.
August 28,
2007: Dominique: