Cross Cut (30 page)

“Who the hell is it?” Gibbs said. The candidates had been whittled down, but given Ryder’s commentary, it had become clear to me.

“The person who, by her own words, used to have a rapport with Guy Lynch. An almost maternal one—to the extent where a colleague assumed he had helped her get over a ‘nasty break up,’ when in reality, he helped her cover up her crime of passion.

“The person who was most likely to meet Jake Segal, when his mail route was several blocks away from Gillham and Mane… which would include the diner she frequented often—” Ryder tilted her head to her right. “It is you, Miss Harles.”

37

All eyes in the room turned to Laura Harles, who turned even paler than Ryder. She said nothing.

“You can’t know what you’re talking about,” Doreen Sharp said. “This is outrageous, we came to you for help, and you’re trying to convict us all!”

Ryder gave a grimace. “Trust me, Mrs Sharp, I am not yet done with your company.”

Agent Gibbs looked over Laura Harles and then said, “Where’s the proof?”

Ryder sank back in her chair and placed her free hand under her chin. “As much as I would like to prove she killed Jake Segal, it would be easier to convict her for something else—the murder of Guy Lynch.”

“What?” Mantle said.

“Why?” Gibbs said. “Why would she murder Guy Lynch after all that, and why would she frame Melissa? That makes no sense. Andonian was the one after you, not her.”

Ryder nodded. “Loyalties change, Agent Gibbs. I cannot possibly begin to extrapolate the entire story. All I can do is assure Miss Harles’ position is grave, and hope she will tell you herself.”

“Did you kill him?” Gibbs asked her.

“No, I didn’t, you can’t prove anything,” Laura said. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

Ryder said, “I am sure there is ample proof now that the attention is firmly on you. It would only take reexamination of the evidence at the restroom to get something on you—a fingerprint unaccounted for, the lack of an alibi, etcetera. As careful as you were, there is also your confederate, Andonian, whom I assume is the very man set to ruin me. My assistant, Ader, swears blind that he saw a certain female in Andonian’s car the other day. He needs to think again, as it was you.”

I rubbed my chin. I originally assumed it was Kacie Cordell—but her hair is remarkably similar to Laura Harles.

Ryder continued, “Right now, you know where the man known as Andonian is. What you don’t know is that he will be arrested before the night is out. Seen as he is the only alternative for the murder of Guy Lynch, don’t think for a second he will shield you. Such people are renowned for having expensive lawyers and cutting deals. He would hand you over without a thought.”

Laura remained still. She showed no signs of giving in.

“Of course—” Ryder took her hand from her chin and raised a finger. “You can make a deal of your own. Andonian will betray you, there is no doubt. Adhere to my advice, and betray him back. You may be able to gain something, by testifying he was the one who killed Robert Ulrich, a struggling actor from Hollywood who impersonated Guy Lynch Monday morning in my office, hours before his death.”

This caught the members of Gillham and Mane by surprise. They had no idea about the impostor Lynch. They interrupted with many questions, but Ryder was too busy trying to force her own version of prisoner’s dilemma on Laura Harles.

“Either way, you are done for, Miss Harles. You are trapped in at various angles and cannot possibly hope to escape. It would make events much easier if you would just admit defeat.”

At first she didn’t move. But then I saw her clench her fists and her face began to redden. Her teeth were showing.

Beside me, Cassandra tried to help things along by saying, “It’s okay, tell them,” in a calm voice.

Silence. Laura passed a hesitant glance at Cassandra, looked to the floor and then mumbled, “Yes. I killed him, but he killed the actor.”

Ryder nodded. “Go on.”

“Wait a minute,” Bromme said. “What’s all this about someone impersonating Guy?”

Ryder sighed. “The person I saw Monday was not Guy Lynch. In fact, I never saw Guy Lynch alive.”

I saw the agents getting impatient. I could tell Johns and Mantle just wanted to put the cuffs on Laura, but Gibbs wasn’t through.

“Why did they hire an actor?” she initially asked Ryder, but then asked the same thing to Laura, and got no answer.

Ryder cleared her throat and held up her free hand casually. “Ask her all you like, she can’t answer that.”

Gibbs squinted at her. “They didn’t hire the actor?”

“No,” Ryder said.

“Well, who did?”

“Guy Lynch did, obviously.”

“What?” Gibbs said, startled. “Why?”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly explain that before the night is out. That said, I suspect Guy Lynch had predicted his demise. How about it, Miss Harles, will you explain what happened that day, or do I have to continue to ad-lib?”

“I don’t care,” she said.

“Very well. I suspect you do not wish to recall it because you know by now that you were duped—not by your partner, or even myself—but by Guy Lynch. How long was it before you changed your allegiance from him to Andonian, and his gang?”

“I didn’t have a choice. Guy wanted to come clean—I don’t care about the money Andonian makes, but if Guy did come clean—it would’ve been the end. He didn’t care that I’d go to prison. Who thinks like that? I’m not sorry.”

“So you say.” Ryder nodded lazily. “But what you didn’t realize was that he played you both. He wanted to come clean, but not to the police. Not directly. Instead, he gave you a chance. He threatened to lay bare your crimes, past and present, knowing that if you reacted negatively, it would lead to his death.”

This was met with a lot of confused faces, especially Mantle, who had a hard time taking in anything that wasn’t straight.

“You’re saying he wanted them to kill him? Why not just tell the police everything and—I don’t know—hang himself?” Mantle said.

Ryder looked up at the ceiling. “What could he go to the police with? Anything he told them was liable to interpretation, and he probably didn’t want to expose Andonian’s operation while he was alive. He was still loyal to Gillham and Mane, and likely didn’t wish to physically see the company disgraced. And I doubt he would’ve been able to prove much else. Miss Harles wouldn’t have known that, though, so she feared his threat legitimately. It was an ultimatum, pure and simple. Perhaps if she had chosen differently, Guy Lynch would have had a change of heart.”

“Wait a minute,” Johns said. “So he pushes them into killing him—what for? Some ridiculous way to prove to himself that he was right? Who on earth does that?”

“Not quite,” Ryder said, pulling at her sling. “He had the added satisfaction in knowing it was likely they would be caught for the crime.”

“How?”

Ryder peered forward in a somewhat arrogant manner. “As you stand here now—isn’t that rather obvious?”

A laugh came from the back of the room. It was Mantle. “Oh please, you’re seriously suggesting Guy Lynch led them to you? We’ve all heard of your ego, but this is pretty insane.”

Ryder sighed. “I cannot be blamed for the faith Guy Lynch had in my abilities. That is my assessment of matters, take it or leave it.”

I’d remained quiet for everything up until this point. I wasn’t going to let her leave certain bits out. “What about Melissa’s bracelet?” I asked.

“Nothing to do with either Andonian or Miss Harles.” She looked at her. “Am I correct?”

Laura kept her head down and said nothing.

“All along, I and my assistant feared we were being targeted to certain degrees. This was and still is true, but we never really considered that someone else wanted to provoke me. Someone who wanted to push me into urgency, and further point a finger toward the gang that had used him—Guy Lynch himself, from beyond the grave.”

“I’m still struggling to see this,” Johns said. “How do you account for how he died? The ladies’ restroom—how the bracelet was put there. Not to mention if it was Guy Lynch who planned ahead, how was it this—Andonian, or whatever, managed to kill the actor
before
Guy Lynch had actually died?”

“This is where we come to guessing,” Ryder said. “The only way I can explain it is that Guy Lynch’s plan was far too haphazard for its own good. Also worthy of note is that although he expected to be killed, he didn’t count on Miss Harles staging it as one of the serial killings, which clearly made everything far more complex. As for the murder itself, it was the progression of events that made it all the more likely Miss Harles was the one responsible. It isn’t hard to imagine Lynch making his case to her. That halfway through she storms off. Fully committed to his cause, he follows her into the ladies’ restroom, without concern. Inside, he gets the reaction he expected. She doesn’t strike him on the back of the head. Rather, she pushes him backwards into the wash basin, and against the faucet, which accounts for the injury to the back of his head, and the flooding afterward.

“Then we come to how she hanged Lynch the way she did. Anyone with strength wouldn’t have had a problem. Which is why I knew Andonian or Melissa didn’t do it, as they have the strength not to struggle. Miss Harles, however, had to improvise. After Lynch was incapacitated by the injury to the back of his head, she put his belt around his neck, and then used something—let’s say rope or a cord from the janitor’s closet—to hoist the body upward from the other side of the stall. But it took several tries. The injuries to Lynch’s rib cage—neck joints, and finally, the blow that killed him, was his body falling downward onto the porcelain toilet bowl, as the belt failed to catch the hook.

“Then there’s the knife. Given the impromptu nature of events, it’s unlikely she had one with her, so she used something from the janitor’s closet. A small blade from the only thing she could find in such a place, perhaps a multi-tool, penknife, scissors, etcetera. Which could explain the weak nature of the cuts. Also, another question no one thought to ask: why was Guy Lynch’s tweed jacket covered with blood on the outside? Surely an unlikely scenario if she had cut him on the hook with his shirt unbuttoned. I would suggest it’s because she wore that jacket to shield herself from the blood as she cut into him. It was a necessary hardship, as she would have to leave that place looking relatively clean. If there is a likely place to find any evidence, look
inside
the jacket, and there might just be the slightest piece of skin tissue belonging to her.

“As for why she did it this way, that’s quite simple; she knew that it would be safer for her. If Lynch had merely been murdered, there was every chance, somewhere along the line, that his identity as the Cutter could be exposed. That the police may eventually track past events relating to Jake Segal to their original root. Dressing up the murder not only diverted attention away from her to a serial killer, but it would crush any chance Lynch would be identified as the Cutter

“As for how Andonian managed to catch the impersonator hours beforehand, I can only surmise it was complete happenstance. Perhaps Lynch had alluded somehow to his intentions before he acted. In either case, Andonian had Lynch under surveillance to some degree. Little did he realize he was following the wrong man. He confronted the actor, who can’t possibly satisfy the reasons as to why he was at a private detective’s office, so Andonian killed him. Only hours later does he realize the queer and baffling nature of what the real Guy Lynch had orchestrated. And naturally, Andonian was curious as to what information the actor may have told us, hence the further harassment.”

Gibbs retreated to a bookcase at the back and leaned against it. Mantle resorted to sitting on my desk. It was a speech hard to take standing up.

“To say that’s the most—what the hell did I get into,” Bromme said.

“I’m not buying it,” Mantle said. “Something’s missing—I don’t fully get Lynch’s motive. Like, why he started killing before.”

Quite perceptive, I thought. Ryder ignored it and waved a hand.

“I’ve said my peace. Make what you will of my assessment. Miss Harles has already confessed to her guilt.”

The Gillham and Mane members looked lost and deflated. Had I been Ryder, I’d have probably taken one look at Bromme, and decided it would be wrong to even ask for payment. Bromme rose, and Doreen Sharp followed his lead.

“If you don’t mind, I think I will be going now,” Bromme said.

Ryder shook her head. “If you please, I expect authorities here will wish to speak to all of you.” She looked beyond them to Johns and Mantle. “I realize I said other investigators can figure this out, but I would like to suggest Mrs Sharp was also aware of the goings on at Gillham and Mane.”

“What!” Doreen Sharp objected. “How dare you suggest such a thing.”

Ryder grunted. “You may recall earlier I asked Mr Rudd whether he realized the identity of Jake Segal’s murderer, after I had explained the candidate was inside my office, and that he most likely took this to mean that the candidate was likely a part of Andonian’s operation. He looked to his left, yet still, he couldn’t answer. He looked at both Miss Harles and Mrs Sharp.”

“Nonsense!” Doreen Sharp said. “Absolute nonsense.”