ZERO HERO (The Kate Huntington Mystery series) (29 page)

            “Hey Liz, you got a minute?”

            “Got a whole bunch of them. I’m just sitting here staring at this website.”

            “Nothing happening yet?”

            “Oh, there’s some activity now and then, but nothing related to our fake plastic yet.”

            “Uh, I was calling to let you know that I’ve rented two hotel rooms for Pete and his guards.”

            “It’s okay for them to stay here. Hopefully it’ll only be for another day or two.”

            “I know, but I kinda sprang all that on you, and I never intended it to be more than temporary. He’s my client so I want to take responsibility for this.”

            “If I recall correctly, he was Rob’s client first.”

           
Damn!
She should’ve thought this through better ahead of time. Now she’d said too much.

            “True, but I’m a little worried about that. It isn’t healthy for either therapists or lawyers to get too close to a case.”

            Liz chuckled. “Okay, Ms. Pot. I’ll tell Mr. Kettle when he gets home that you moved the boy and his guards elsewhere.”

            Kate stuck out her tongue at the phone, then said into it, “Thanks, Liz. Can I speak to Manny for a minute?”

            “He’s sleeping. You want the other guard?”

            “Um, no, it needs to be Manny, for reasons I can’t explain. Tell him I’m sorry to disturb him.”

            It was several minutes before Manny’s voice, slightly rough from sleep, came on the line. “What’s up, Kate?”

            She told him about the hotel rooms. “I know that’s going to make your job harder, but I don’t want to be imposing on Rob and Liz any longer.”

            A moment of silence, then Manny said in a low voice, “Rob hasn’t been looking so good lately.”

            This time she smiled at the phone. The more she got to know Manny Ortiz, the more impressed she was. “Yeah,” was all she said.

            “Some things’ll be easier. The actual physical guarding. What floor we on?”

            “Third. Inside corridors.”

            “Good. I’ll keep him safe from bad guys,” Manny said. “Can’t promise ’bout the rest.”

            “I know. It’s going to be harder for him cooped up in a small room. Just do the best you can. Get him to a meeting whenever it’s safe.”

            “Okay.”

            “And Manny, if he crashes and burns, it’s not your responsibility. It’s his.”

            “I know that, but thanks for the reminder. Uh, Kate, that goes for you too.”

            Again, she smiled at the phone. “Thanks. I probably need the reminder more than you do.”

~~~~~~~~

            Manny disconnected and handed the cell phone back to Liz. It immediately rang again.

            “Ms. Franklin,” Tyrell Cooper said in a tight voice, “I sure hope you’re still on that site.”

            “I am. And it’s Liz. What happened?”

            “The feds’ geek got shut down. Keeps getting an error message that it’s an invalid password. They may shut you out too.”

            “Don’t give up yet,” Liz said. “They may assume it’s just some random hacker.” She scrolled down the page on the screen in front of her. She’d been timed out once for inactivity and had to re-enter her password. She didn’t want that happening now.

            The page jumped. “Hold on. There’s some activity. Hmm, ninth new identity they’ve added today. Wonder why they’re so slow. They must get several wallets from Frederico’s operation every day, and he’s not their only supplier.”

            “They may be checking them out before they put them up. At least to make sure they’re not felons.”

            “Makes sense.” Liz grabbed her pen and wrote down the new code: M58CbSFcBM-SR5. “This one may be ours, but I don’t dare jump on it right away.”

            “Can you click on a couple of the older ones? Make it look like you’re shopping.”

            “Oughta work. Hang on.” She put the phone on speaker and laid it on the table. Then she clicked on one code, read through the information, paused, then went back and clicked on another. After another pause, she went back to the main page of codes. By this time, another new one had come up, so the one she wanted was no longer the top of the list.

            “Okay, here we go,” Liz said to the phone. “Caucasian male, fifty-eight, born San Francisco, currently residing in Baltimore, Maryland. And I have just successfully taken a screen shoot of this page, complete with blurry picture of some nerd who looks vaguely like Dolph.”

            “Woot! I owe you a bottle of champagne, Liz. Off to catch me a slime ball.”

~~~~~~~~

            It was standing room only inside the stuffy observation area next to the interrogation room downtown. Skip wiped the sweat off his forehead with his fingers, then rubbed them on his jeans.

            In the interrogation room, Frederico was trying to look cool and uninterested while Tyrell Cooper identified himself and his prisoner, for the sake of the recording devices, then repeated the Miranda warning.

            “So what have you got to say for yourself, Frederico?” Tyrell asked.

            “You ain’t pinnin’ dat white boy’s murder on me.” No fake Spanish accent–a sign that he was not as calm as he was pretending to be.

            “That isn’t what this is about. We’ve got a lot on you. You’re going away for a real long time.” The detective outlined the list of charges and the evidence they had on him.

            Then Tyrell sat back in his chair and examined his fingernails, a bored expression on his face. “And we know you’ve got ties to some Mafia-types up in Pennsylvania. Guess they won’t be too happy that you got yourself caught.”

            The beads of sweat on Freddie’s forehead were visible even in the observation room, but he was silent.

            “The feds want you too,” Tyrell said. “Can’t decide whether or not I’m gonna let them have you.”

            Skip leaned past Dolph to whisper to Judith. “Tyrell didn’t tell the Feebies yet that the fish swallowed the hook?”

            “He probably did. But Freddie doesn’t know that,” she whispered back.

            Tyrell’s lieutenant, a beefy guy with milk chocolate skin and a shaved head, frowned at them over his shoulder. They fell silent.

            Meanwhile Tyrell and his prisoner were having a staring contest. Frederico was losing.

            “So say I got somethin’ to tell ya. Wha’d I get in return?”

            Tyrell shrugged. “Depends on what you’ve got.”

            “I kin give ya the dumbfuck dat went after the big guy an’ his lady.”

            Tyrell shook his head. He glanced down at his fingernails again. “Got plenty on him already.” After a long pause, he added, without looking up, “Guess I might as well turn you over to the FBI up in Pennsylvania. They put you in jail up there, you’ll be a lot closer to your friend, Mr. Donati.” Left unsaid was the distinct possibility that Donati would put a hit out on him to make sure he didn’t talk, and Freddie would be a sitting duck in jail with no homeboys for protection.

            Frederico’s mustard-colored face took on an unbecoming green tinge. After a long pause, he said, “I can turn state’s evidence. Go in dat witness protection thing.”

            “Maybe. Or we could keep you down here awhile. Give you some extra security until they finish rounding up Donati’s people.”

            Frederico nodded and sat back in his chair. “I might have somethin’ for ya.”

            Tyrell looked up from examining his hands. “What I want is Matthews’ killer.”

            “I ain’t coppin’ to dat.”

            “Fine, then tell me who did it.”

            “Don’t know.”

            Tyrell suddenly leaned forward and got in Frederico’s face. “I don’t believe that! You either killed Matthews or you know who did, and you’re letting an innocent man go down for it. A 9/11 hero no less. You’re not only a dumb motherfucker, you’re unpatriotic.”

            “One last time, De-tec-tive. I din’t kill dat white boy an’ I don’t know who did.”

            “Who shot Mac Reilly?”

            It took a second for Frederico to wipe the surprise from his face.

           
Nice move, Detective!
Skip silently cheered Tyrell on.

            Now Freddie’s expression was calculating. Skip figured the man would tap dance around who Mac was for awhile.

            But Frederico didn’t waste time with that. “What I get if I give you dat?”

            Tyrell flashed him a grin. “Let’s just say it would establish good will.”

            “You keep me outta de federal system. I do my time here in Mar’land.”

            “Can’t promise the first. Should be able to swing the second.”

            “And you no be slappin’ me wid no accomplice rap on dat shootin’?”

            “Not unless you ordered him shot.”

            “No way. I jes wanted dem white boys to get lost. But that dumbfuck had to go and shoot at dem.”

            “Which dumbfuck we talking about, Frederico?”

            “De white guy dat
mysteriously
ended up in de harbor. He was Donati’s man.”

            Skip nodded inside the observation room.

            “Okay, you’re halfway home,” Tyrell said. “But I still want Matthews’ killer.”

            “Can’t give ya what I ain’t got.”

            Tyrell stood up.

            Frederico was now examining his own fingernails, mimicking the detective’s earlier nonchalance. “Guess I’ll jes hafta cut me a deal with de FBI.”

            “I don’t think so,” Tyrell bluffed. “You got nothing they want.” He left the room.

            The others spilled out of the observation room. Tyrell’s lieu just nodded at his man and walked away.

            “How long can you fend off the feds?” Judith asked Tyrell.

            “They’re a little busy right now in PA. Said they’d send somebody down to fetch Freddie tomorrow.” Tyrell shook his head. “I’ll go at him again in a little bit, and let you know if I get anything.”

~~~~~~~~

            The family was sitting down to dinner when Skip frowned and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Kate could hear the low purr as it vibrated in his hand.

            “Sorry, darlin’. It’s Tyrell.” He got up and walked away from two curious pairs of little ears.

            “Go ahead and say the blessing, Billy, and you all start eating. Daddy and I’ll be right back.” Kate got up and followed Skip into the living room.

            He disconnected and then blew out a long breath. “No dice. Frederico’s not going to confess to Matthews’ murder and he claims he doesn’t know who did it. Tyrell thinks he’s telling the truth.”

            “Crap. Where does that leave us?”

            “Back at square one, I’m afraid. Dolph and I’ll go see Judith tomorrow. See if she thinks she has a shot at officially re-opening the police investigation.”

            Kate wanted to scream. Deciding she should quell that urge before returning to the kitchen, she walked over and flopped down on the sofa.

            Skip joined her, dropping an arm around her shoulders. “At least it’s safe for Pete to go home now. No doubt it was Donati’s people who were trying to kill him, to make the investigation go away.”

            Kate winced.

            He cocked his head at her. “I thought that would be good news.”

            “Pete doesn’t have a home to go to, remember. He got evicted.” She chewed on her lip, thinking. Part of her was quite resistant to taking on any more responsibility for Pete. But if he slipped back into addiction she wasn’t sure what impact that would have on Rob’s psyche at this point.

            And she hadn’t thought this far ahead. She’d been so focused on the hope that the sting operation would result in something that would clear Pete, so he could get on with his life.

            “Can we leave things as they are for a couple days?” she asked. “You could take the other guard off. Just leave Manny with him.”

            “Why? He’s not in danger anymore.”

            “Well, yeah, he is, from himself. He’s still shaky right now. If we turn him loose in the world, homeless.” She shook her head. “Who knows what’ll happen.”

            Skip sighed. “Darlin’, don’t you think we’ve already done enough? If he uses again, that’s not our problem.”

            “Well, yes and no.” She turned toward him and took his hand in hers. “As his therapist, it is my concern, but no, it’s not my job to house him. I have some other... concerns though, and I’m not totally comfortable talking about them.” Let him think she was referring to Pete’s confidences, not Rob’s. “I’ll make some calls tomorrow, start the wheels turning for emergency housing for him. In the meantime, I’ll pay Manny’s wages.”

            Skip sighed again. “Okay.”

            It was a sign of how frustrated he was that he didn’t argue with her about the money.

~~~~~~~~

            Skip and Dolph were once again treating Judith Anderson to lunch. She started shaking her head before Skip had even finished asking his question.

            “Already talked to my lieutenant this morning. I really only had two suspects, Jamieson and Frederico. Lieu’s viewing these recent developments as more evidence that Freddie Boy didn’t do Matthews. He came to the same conclusion we did, that Freddie wouldn’t want to draw attention to himself.”

            “Who else did you interview about the case?” Dolph asked.

            “Besides Freddie’s people and Matthews’ girls, just the guy who found the body.”

            “Who’s that?” Skip asked.

            This time Judith had brought the file with her. She rummaged through it and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Paul Polinski. Said he’d been working late. Drove past Jamieson’s building. Saw a guy running away and got curious. So he stopped his car and investigated. Found Matthews and called it in.”