True Blue (30 page)

“A wonderful young man. He was planning on leaving the Navy to be closer to his sister, so I thought a job here would fit into that. She goes to George Washington and has accepted a full-time position with the World Bank in D.C.”

“That was really nice what you did for her.”

“When a poor man gives something, that is a sacrifice indeed. When a rich man gives something, it hardly rises to the same level.”

“Well, I know some rich people who never give anything.”

Altman was dressed in his usual manner, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He poured a cup of tea from a pot on the sideboard, bit into a biscuit, and sat down next to her.

“Herbert is a genius in the kitchen,” he said. “I have two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. and I can’t even crack an egg properly.”

“I know, I’m a klutz in the kitchen too. I had two croissants and a plate of eggs and had to stop myself from going back for more.”

Altman took a sip of tea, set the cup down, and said, “Psycho?”

Mace wiped her mouth. “Look, it was no big deal.”

“It was a very big deal. I heard from Carmela, who talked to Non at the apartment building. Non watched the entire confrontation from her window. You and Roy could have been killed. I feel terrible. Terrible, Mace. I had these people vetted with great depth but I had no idea of this man’s involvement with Alisha.”

“That’s probably because everyone’s scared of the guy. But we got out okay, and we also removed Alisha and Tyler from the situation. Beth helped me with that.”

“I know.”

“So you talked to her?”

“Yes. If anything had happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself.”

She put a hand on his arm. “Abe, I’m assuming you recruited me for this job because I know my way around those places. That also included knowing how to survive there. My big mistake was taking Roy with me. That was stupid on my part. That won’t happen again.”

“I don’t believe there should be a next time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t justify sending you into dangerous places, Mace. I can’t risk that. No study is worth that.”

“Well, I think this study is. Look at Alisha. She’s a good kid. She just needs a chance. And Tyler, we can’t leave him in that place. He needs some special help. And there are thousands just like them in this town.”

“It’s too risky.”

“I’m willing to take that risk. You offered me the job and I accepted. Now let me do my thing. Abe, you knew these areas were potentially dangerous. What’s the big deal now?”

“It all looked good on paper. But paper is not real life. All my calculations aren’t worth anything, it seems, when you have people like this Psycho around.”

“I can take care of that.”

“I thought when they learned you were trying to help folks in those situations, that it would protect you.”

“And it will. But for those few who think otherwise, I’ll deal with it. I don’t think you’ll win this one, Abe.”

They both looked up to see Beth standing by the door holding pudgy Tyler Rogers. Behind her was Alisha clutching a small bag.

Mace rose. “Alisha? Are you and Tyler okay?”

The young mother came forward, her eyes wide as she took in the interior of the mansion. “We’re fine. Chief Perry took real good care of us.”

Mace looked at her sister. “I really appreciated the assist, Beth. I didn’t know who else to call when Psycho showed up.”

“He’s not a guy you mess around with. Although from what I heard you pretty much held your own.” She paused. “Did Kingman really play him in one-on-one basketball?”

“And kicked his butt,” said Alisha with ill-concealed delight. “I was watching with Non at the window. Kicked his butt,” she repeated, tacking on a big smile.

“Where’s Darren?” Mace asked.

“Who’s that?” asked Beth sharply.

“My brother. He didn’t come with us. Don’t know where he is.”

“So what are you all doing here?” said Mace.

Altman rose and came forward. “Beth and I spoke this morning and Alisha and Tyler are coming to stay with us. I was hoping that they could be in the west wing of the guesthouse if it’s not an inconvenience to you.”

Mace blurted out, “Inconvenience? That place is so big I’d need a map to find them.”

“We staying here?” said Alisha looking around. “I don’t have no money for a place like this.”

“There is no charge,” said Altman, taking her arm lightly after receiving a high sign from Beth. “And I’d be honored to take you and your son to your new quarters and help you get settled in.”

Beth handed off Tyler to Alisha and the three left together. Beth turned to her sister and eyed her empty coffee cup. “You might need another jolt of caffeine, because we need to talk. Now.”

“I
don’t
have nightmares anymore.”

“You sure about that?”

“You held me when I was twelve, Beth. You don’t need to hold me anymore.” Mace handed her a full cup of black coffee and sat down with her own. Beth took a swallow and spent a moment admiring the room.

“I can see why you split from me to come here.”

“I’ve actually found the concierge service to be pretty average.”

“I guess I can leave it to you to find trouble even as a research assistant.”

“It’s a gift.”

“So you’re going back in?”

“See no reason not to. So what do we need to talk about?”

Beth hunched forward. “Andre Watkins?”

Mace barely reacted, but it was enough.

Beth said, “I thought so. A-1? Since we’re the police we had to resort to a search warrant, but the kid there said a woman and a tall man had come in previously with some story about a diseased aunt.”

“You been by Watkins’s place?”

“It’s empty.”

“It wasn’t empty when we got there.”

Mace told her about the man who’d been there pretending to be Watkins, including his description and her suspicions that the apartment had been searched.

“Nice to have known that before.”

“And it wasn’t Watkins having dinner with Tolliver on Friday night.”

“I know. The description was pretty general. We have a BOLO out on Watkins,” Beth added, referring to a “be on the lookout” order.

“The imposter said he was an escort.
Was
Watkins an escort?”

“Yes, worked for an agency in town. No one’s seen him since Friday.”

“Maybe Tolliver sensed that something bad was going to happen to her and she wanted some cover.”

“So presumably they got on to him, either eliminated him or he took off running scared and they sent some goon to roll his place looking for answers.”

“And he was doing just that when we knocked.”

“Pretty ballsy of the guy to open the door to you.”

Mace shrugged. “He peeped us, could tell we weren’t the cops, or maybe recognized us and decided to play actor and pump us for info. Unfortunately, we were pretty accommodating.” Mace eyed Beth. “Anything else?”

“Just a couple more questions. What were you and Kingman doing at the law firm last night? And which one of you pulled the fire alarm?”

Mace looked blankly at her.

Beth tapped the tabletop. “His key card access was the only one last night.”

“That can’t be right. The other guys—”

Beth snapped, “What other guys?”

“We had some visitors last night. I pulled the alarm so we could get away. I assumed they used Diane Tolliver’s key card to get in.”

“They didn’t. And again, what guys?”

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe the same ones who took a shot at me.”

“How did they know you were in the building?”

Mace explained about the webcam on Tolliver’s computer.

“We’ll check it out.” Beth leaned forward. “Remember when you asked me what I would do in your position? Would I risk everything to work the case and get back on the force?”

“You didn’t answer me.”

“No, because I didn’t have a ready answer. But now I’ve had time to think.”

“And?”

“And nothing is worth going back to that hellhole.”

“That’s you. But you’re not me.”

“Why are you really doing this?”

“We already covered this, okay? Mona torpedoed your plan, so proving my innocence won’t work. And I told you I was going to work the case. If I go down, so be it.”

“If you do, the odds are very good that you will go back to prison and you won’t walk out alive this time. Where did you even get the idea to solve a case and use that as a way back on?”

“I had a lot of time to think over the last two years.”

“Would it have anything to do with a visit you got from an FBI agent who resurrected his career after being convicted of a felony?”

“If you knew, why bother asking me?” she said angrily.

“What did Special Agent Frank Kelly tell you?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t already track him down and ask him.”

“I did. He said it was between you and him.”

“And it is, Beth. Between him and me.”

“I didn’t think we kept secrets from each other.”

“You’re the police chief. I am not going to put you in a compromising situation.”

“What happened to Kelly was a one-in-a-million shot.”

“I’ll take those odds.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“No, Beth, what’s ridiculous is me spending over a decade laying it all on the line to protect people, only to have it all crater when someone framed me for shit I don’t even remember. I lost two years of my life in prison where every day seemed like it would be my last one. Now I’m out but can’t do the one thing that I was born to do. What, did you think I was just going to forget it? Say, ‘Oh, well, shit happens’?”

The two women stared at each other, neither one seemingly willing to give in.

Beth’s phone buzzed. She didn’t move to answer it.

Mace said, “Better grab it. The law waits for no one, not even two pissed-off sisters.”

Beth finally broke off eye contact and snatched up her phone. “Chief.” She listened and then clicked off. “That was Lowell Cassell.”

“I already know. Dockery’s DNA didn’t match.”

“No, it was a perfect match. It was, without a doubt, his sperm inside Diane Tolliver.”

The slamming door had cut him off.

He clicked on his computer and started checking his e-mails. Work still had to be done and he and Diane had been in the middle of shepherding several large acquisitions through to closure. Ackerman had not yet assigned anyone to take over Diane’s work permanently, so Roy was carrying the laboring oar on the legal end. He didn’t mind that, but he missed being able to kick ideas around with her, or go to her when something didn’t make sense. He wished he could go to her right now, because he was perplexed.

Your death makes no sense to me, Diane. Can’t you tell me what happened? Who killed you?

That line of thought was clearly not going to get him anywhere. He returned some calls, opened some files, pulled up some half-finished contracts on his computer, and pored over laborious notes he’d taken at a recent client meeting. He worked for a couple more hours and then checked his e-mails again. There were lots of new ones, some from clients, some from friends, and a few from coworkers telling him to basically get his head out of his butt over defending Diane’s killer.

For some reason, he scrolled far down the list and checked one old e-mail.

It was the last one he would ever get from Diane Tolliver.

We need to focus in on A-

Okay, they’d gotten that piece and run it down for naught. Roy’s gaze next ran over the initials at the bottom of the e-mail.

DLT.

It was her initials, for Diane Louise Tolliver. He’d seen her full name on several diplomas she had hanging in her office. As he thought about it, her initials being there made sense, but it also didn’t make sense. Roy quickly checked a dozen other e-mails that Diane had sent him over the last few months. None of them had her initials at the bottom. She invariably signed her e-mails, when she bothered to do so at all, by simply typing “Diane.”

DLT?

For some reason those initials seemed familiar apart from Tolliver’s name. Was there another reason she had put those letters in the e-mail? A backup in case the A-1 reference yielded nothing? Thinking back to the highly organized and intelligent lawyer that Diane had been, Roy had to admit that the woman’s employing a second clue hidden in the same e-mail was entirely plausible.

But why direct all these clues at him? He worked with her, sure, but they weren’t really close friends. Then again, maybe she didn’t have any close friends. The woman used a paid escort, after all, when she wanted to go out. But why not go to the police? If she had learned of some criminal activity or even suspected something illegal was going on, why not just go to the cops? As far as Roy knew, Diane had never done any criminal work, but she was still a lawyer. She knew her way around the legal system better than most.

But I
was
a criminal defense attorney. Was that why she was sending me the clues?

A sudden fear gripped him. He stared at the tiny webcam mounted at the top of his computer monitor. What if they were watching him right now? But then his fears receded. Mace had been in here on the night she’d found out about the A-1 clue. They’d talked about her discovery here. If someone had been watching and listening, they would’ve gotten to the mailbox before Roy and Mace had.

Still.

He slid open his desk drawer, pulled out a Post-it note, and hastily stuck it over the webcam, pulling his fingers quickly back as though the damn thing might bite him.

His cell phone rang.

“Kingman.”

It was Mace. Her few words hit Roy harder than Psycho had. “I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes,” he said. He grabbed his jacket and sprinted out of the office. The Captain most definitely needed a lawyer now.

He’d just been formally charged with first-degree murder.