Blowout (23 page)

“I see what you mean. Well, you'd expect that, wouldn't you? It would be like Bitsy and me being married to the same man. We'd both experience him as very different men.”

“I never thought of it like that. Do we change our behaviors so much with each different person we know?”

“I'd rather eat pizza than think about that,” Janette said.

T
HE DOORBELL RANG
, and the delivery boy stood grinning from ear to ear with seven pizza boxes piled up to his nose. Callie, charmed by that grin, gave him a big tip.

Bitsy St. Pierre said between mouthfuls of her anchovy pizza, “This is delicious. Eat, Margaret, I don't want to have to tell you again.” The other three women nodded. Ben watched them, his head cocked to the side. He was eating with six women, five of them his mother's age, something he couldn't remember ever doing before in his life. He decided he liked it.

Margaret took a small bite, chewed on it forever before finally swallowing it. Bitsy said matter-of-factly, “We buried Stewart today. It was a grand send-off. The President spoke, the Vice President spoke. You dealt magnificently with the media, Margaret. We've given Stewart a wonderful toast with his favorite champagne. He would have made one of his decision matrixes and concluded he was proud of you. Now, eat.”

He'd heard them say such things to Margaret at least three or
four times that evening. Did it help? Evidently so. Margaret Califano took a bigger bite of pizza and actually looked like she might be enjoying it.

Janette Weaverton appeared to be the quietest of the five women, although he hadn't found her reticent or shy at all. It was just that the others seemed more forceful in their opinions, bigger in their laughter. She seemed preoccupied. Yes, that was it.

Ben said, “Will you ladies be staying here tonight?”

Five sets of eyes turned to him. “Oh no,” said Anna Clifford. “Our families are patient, they understand, but they want us back home. Since Callie's here now, we'll leave when it's time for Margaret to go to bed.”

“Your husband, Mrs. Clifford, what does he do?”

“He used to be a banker, but now he's a venture capitalist.” She paused a moment, chewed some pizza. “Most people don't really understand what that means, exactly, but to me it sounds mysterious, maybe dangerous, like laundering Mafia money.”

That drew a round of laughter, but Margaret said, in a serious voice, “There's nothing illegal in what Clayton does, Anna. He simply invests his own and other people's money in individual entrepreneurs or start-up companies that interest him. He's good at analyzing their growth potential, their planning skills, and deciding if they're worth the risk.”

Anna smiled as she said, “Come on, Margaret, you know very well Clayton says it's like deciding whether or not to buy Boardwalk in Monopoly.”

Bitsy said, “Eat more pizza, Margaret. Those chunks of pepper will bring back your sense of humor.”

Margaret dropped her slice of pizza back on her paper plate. She
looked like she was about to burst into tears. “You don't know what I did!”

“Mom, whatever it was—”

“Stewart wanted to be cremated. I didn't follow his wishes. It was the President, you see, and all the protocol experts. Everyone expected a big church service, Stewart in a coffin in front of celebrity mourners. I ignored his wishes and buried him.” Margaret put her face in her hands and wept. “I buried him.”

“Oh, Mom, don't.” Callie put her arms around her mother and rocked her. The women gathered around, patting her hair, her shoulders, her arms. “It doesn't matter, Mom. Stewart wasn't there. That magnificent service was for all his friends, for the President, for all those people who admired him. It was for everyone there to say their farewells to him. And the burial itself was so beautifully done. He wouldn't have minded, truly.”

Ben had never felt so useless in his life. If he could have disappeared in that instant, he would have.

Then the storm of tears was over. Margaret gave a small laugh. “Poor Detective Raven. I'm sorry for that. You poor boy, stuck among all us women, but you're doing very well, isn't he, Juliette?”

“Very well indeed.”

Ben said, “You said that we hadn't gotten much done, ma'am. Well, actually that's not true. The FBI think they know who the assassin is. He calls himself Günter Grass, or just Günter.”

Margaret said, puzzled, “The writer? The man who murdered Stewart is a German?”

“We don't know what nationality he is. Günter Grass is the name he uses. He's been inactive, supposedly for at least fifteen
years now, until this. He's known to speak four languages fluently, including English. He could very well live among us. He could even be living locally, and the person who wanted Justice Califano murdered very possibly knew about Günter and his profession.

“This man killed twenty people in Europe in the seventies and eighties. We don't know why he stopped.” Ben pulled two photos out of his shirt pocket. “Here's a grainy photo, digitally enhanced—Interpol is about ninety percent sure it's him—and here's one that's been aged to show how he'd probably look today, unless, of course, he's taken pains to change his appearance, which is possible.” He handed both photos to the women and waited until each one had looked at them.

“Does this man look familiar to any of you?”

Juliette said, “He looks like a contractor my neighbor hired to gut her house.”

Margaret said, “Detective Raven, if this Günter Grass hasn't killed anyone for at least fifteen years, doesn't that mean he made enough money to retire in style?”

“One could assume that, yes.”

“Then why would he kill my husband and poor Danny O'Malley?”

“I don't know, Mrs. Califano.”

Bitsy St. Pierre said, “Maybe the person who hired him found out about him, blackmailed him into doing this.”

Janette said, “That's stupid, Bitsy. Look what he did to Danny O'Malley—killed him within twenty-four hours of a blackmail attempt.”

“Yes,” Margaret said. “It must be something else. Maybe there's a tie between this Günter and the person who wanted Stewart dead.”

“It's possible.” Ben had watched each woman study the photos, watched for any sign of recognition on their faces. He hadn't seen any.

“Callie,” Margaret said. “Does he look at all familiar to you?”

“Actually,” Callie said, “I thought he looked a bit like one of our investigative reporters. No, no, just kidding.”

Ben said, “If Günter's not an American, chances are he came here maybe fifteen years ago. He's physically strong, and he seems to like taking risks. Since he's well into his fifties, maybe even sixties, I doubt he's into any extreme sports, but he's still very strong and fit.”

“But if he is an American,” Anna Clifford said, “he could have lived here all his life and who would be the wiser for it?”

“That's true,” Callie said. “And the thing with Danny, that was a big risk, right in the middle of the morning, anyone could have seen him go into Danny's apartment, heard him.”

“But no one did, apparently,” said Juliette Trevor.

Ben's eyes swung to her. She said, “There would have been some news about that, wouldn't there? A witness saying something, right? But there's been nothing reported at all.”

“You're right. No one saw anything, and you can believe that everyone within a several block radius has been interviewed by experts.” Ben put the photos in his pocket, and finished off his last slice of pizza. He looked from one woman to the next. All of them seemed to blur together, forming one image in his mind. They seemed united, and in that moment, he had no doubt they would pull Margaret Califano through this tragedy by sheer force of will.

He looked at his watch, saw that it was after ten o'clock. He rose, nodded to all the women. “Callie, I believe you and I are
going to be having dinner with Savich and Sherlock tomorrow evening.”

She rose to stand beside him. “Yes. I understand Savich is a great cook. Is that okay with you, Mom?” In her question she included all her mother's friends as well.

“Certainly,” said Janette. “We'll all be here tomorrow night. We're going to have a potluck dinner; our families will be here as well. We're very pleased that you're working with the FBI and the local police, Callie.” She patted her arm. “It also helps keep your mind occupied, doesn't it?”

“Actually, it helps me focus on who killed my stepfather and Danny. If it's Günter, I want him caught as badly as all of you do. Ben, I'll walk you out.”

He shrugged on his black leather jacket, pulled on his black leather gloves. His hand was on the doorknob when he turned back. “My mom has only one close woman friend. This is new to me. They're quite a unit, aren't they?”

“A unit—yes, that's a good word for them. All of them are incredible women.”

“I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. Savich wants us to see Fleurette. He said four other agents have already spoken with her, but he wants us to focus on her lunch with Danny on Friday. He says his gut is dancing, and tells him there's got to be something more there. He wants us to take a crack at it.” Ben paused, grinned. “He wants to know exactly where they sat in the sandwich shop, what they ate, and the color of Fleurette's toenail polish, everything about that lunch until they got back to the Supreme Court.”

“Sure, we can give it a shot. Do you know, it feels weird to be sleeping here. I never did very much since they bought the house
after I went to college. I'd like to go back to my apartment, but I can't yet.”

“Be patient, Callie. Now, tomorrow evening, dinner will be about six. Savich said he'll have Sean fed by then. I think his sister and her fiancé will be there too. Savich doesn't want to talk shop, but I'll just bet you we will.” He reached out and lightly cupped her cheek in his gloved hand. “You okay?”

Callie didn't think, leaned into his hand, and stared up at him. “Sonya said you wanted to sleep with me.”

He didn't move his hand. “That's what you two were talking about in the kitchen?”

“For just a couple of minutes.”

“Sonya really said that?”

“Yes. She said you never looked below her face. She couldn't believe it.”

Ben grinned at that. “The woman's built, but I wouldn't know anything about that.”

“She said I was blind, she said you were interested.”

“Is this a roundabout way to ask me if I am?”

“Truth is, I've never been very good at the man-woman thing. Yeah, tell me, I'd like to know.”

“The answer's yes.” Slowly, he moved his hand from her cheek. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

“It'll be Friday. A week anniversary.”

“Yes.”

“Does Savich want to hypnotize Fleurette like he did Annie Harper?”

“He hasn't said. Let's take a crack at her first.”

She smiled up at him. “Isn't it odd, Detective Raven? Here you are with this bird name, and you're not such a bad guy after all.
You haven't bitched about taking me along with you in at least forty-eight hours.”

“That long? Hmm. Well, the thing is,” he said simply, “you've got a good brain.”

Callie flushed. “I—thank you. Yes, thank you, Ben.”

G
EORGETOWN
W
ASHINGTON
, D.C. T
HURSDAY EVENING

“I'
M COMING
.”

A few minutes later, Savich walked into their shared office, holding Sean over his shoulder, lightly rubbing his boy's back in light soothing circles. “He had a nightmare. What's going on?”

“I've got a surprise for you.” She was grinning even as she patted Sean's cheek. “He okay now?”

“I think so. What are you up to? What surprise?”

“I know you wanted to get to work on Samantha Barrister, but you've been too busy to do much, so I contacted both the Boston and the Pittsburgh field offices on Tuesday. I massaged a few egos, and when that didn't work, I called in a couple of favors, convinced them this was important and required immediate attention.”

“Why the Boston field office?”

“I'll tell you in a few minutes. I've had MAX working on everything too, but so far he hasn't found much since all this happened in the early seventies.” Sherlock waved a nice thick folder at him. “But no matter, we're in business. Sit down, Dillon, just you listen, my man, to what I've found out.”

Savich stared down at his wife. “Have I told you lately that my Porsche isn't in the same ballpark with you? You're amazing.”

She stood up and hugged him and Sean to her. “I like hearing that. After you chew over what I've got, I'll bet you'll even agree to give me the Porsche if I ask you.”

“That could be pushing it, sweetheart, but I'm open.” He sat down next to her and settled Sean against his chest.

Sherlock sat next to him and opened the folder. “Let's begin with Blessed Creek, Pennsylvania, 1973, population of about three thousand seven hundred and eighty-five souls. The Barristers were the big cheeses, no one else remotely close to them in influence and wealth. They owned the only tourist facilities around Lake Klister, the six gas stations in the area, and Mr. Barrister was the mayor, had been for twenty years. He also owned the local bank and the two biggest grocery stores. It was the senior Barrister who built the big house on that knoll outside Blessed Creek.