How about extreme frustration coming to a head

“What I’m hearing is minor league complexity. What’s their motive for turninghomicidal ?”
“How about extreme frustration coming to a head? We’re talking twomiddle-aged people who’ve never achieved much on their own. They make the bigmove to L.A.,delusional like thousands of other wannabes. Their age and looks make it evenchancier but they take a methodical approach: acting lessons. Maybe they wererejected by other coaches and Nora was their last chance. What if she turnedthem away in less-than-diplomatic terms? Charlie Manson didn’t take well tohearing he wasn’t going to be a rock star.”
“This is about revenge on Nora?” he said.
“Revenge on her and the symbols of youth and beauty she surrounded herselfwith.”
“Tori Giacomo got killed before the Gaidelases disappeared.”
“That wouldn’t have stopped the Gaidelases from having contact with her. Ifnot at the PlayHouse, at work. Maybe she served them a lobster dinner andthat’s how they learned about the PlayHouse.”
“They do Tori, then wait nearly two years to do Michaela? That’s a dish goneway cold, Alex.”
“That’s assuming no other students at the PlayHouse have gone missing.”
He sighed.
I said, “The hoax could’ve served as some kind of catalyst. Nora’s name inthe paper. Michaela’s and Dylan’s, too. Not to mention Latigo Canyon.I could be totally off base, but I don’t think the 805 link can be overlooked.And neither can Armando Vasquez’s story.”
He stood, stretched, sat back down, buried his face in his hands for a whileand looked up, bleary-eyed. “Creative, Alex. Fanciful, inventive, impressivelyoutside the goddamn box. The problem it doesn’t solve is Peaty. A definite badguy with access to all of the victims and a rape kit in his van. If theGaidelases were chasing stardom, why would they have anything to do with aloser like him, let alone set him up to be shot? And how the hell would theyknow to prime the pump by phoning Vasquez?”
I thought about that. “It’s possible the Gaidelases met Peaty at thePlayHouse and some bonding took place—outsiders commiserating.”
“That’s a helluva lot going on during a failed audition. Assuming theGaidelases were ever at the PlayHouse.”
“Maybe Nora kept them waiting for a long time then dismissed them unceremoniously.If they did bond with Peaty, they could’ve had opportunity to visit hisapartment and pick up on tension in the building. Or Peaty talked about hisdislike for Vasquez.”
“Ertha Stadlbraun said Peaty never had visitors.”
“Ertha Stadlbraun goes to sleep by eleven,” I said. “Be interesting to knowif anyone at the apartment recognizes the Gaidelases’ photos.”
He stared at me.
“Peaty, Andy, and Cathy. And let’s toss in Billy Dowd, because we’re feelinggenerous. What, some kind of misfit club?”
“Look at all those schoolyard shootings committed by outsiders.”
“Oh, Lord,” he said. “Before I get sucked into this vortex of fantasy, Ineed to do some boring old police work. As in pinpointing the phone booth andtrying to pull some prints. As in keep searching for any troves Peaty might’vestashed God knows where. As in…let’s not shmooze any more, okay? My head’ssplitting like a luau coconut.”
Yanking his tie loose, he hauled himself up, crossed the tiny office, andthrew back the door. It hit the wall, chunked out a disk of plaster, bounced acouple of times.
My ears were still ringing when he stuck his head in, seconds later. “Wherecan I find one of those amino-acid concoctions that makes you smarter?”
“They don’t work,” I said.
“Thanks for your input.”