Hounded (23 page)

“How much money are we talking about?”

“Well, take Reynolds as an example. He’s worth 500 million dollars. If he were to get a divorce, it would cost him 250 million. You think he’d pay five to keep 250?”

“Yeah,” says Agent Akers. “I think a lot of people would.”

“But I think Reynolds may have been paying the money to himself, or maybe his partners. I think he’s the source.”

“You could be right,” Akers says.

“So we have a deal?”

He nods. “I believe we do.”

“Good. And to get the ball rolling, I need you to make that phone call.”

It’s crucial that we mount an attack on Reynolds, and there’s very little time.

Richard’s case will be coming to a close in a couple of days, and if I can’t find a way to get my theory admitted, the defense case will last about twenty minutes, including intermission.

But at the moment I’m stuck in court, trying to pierce holes in witnesses, who as a group are trying to imprison Pete for the rest of his life.

The court day starts off on a relatively high note, as a woman named Jane Michael shows up to comply with the subpoena Hike sent out. Ms. Michael works at the phone company, and she is delivering the requested documents twelve hours ahead of schedule.

Even though the material is part of the defense case, Judge Matthews holds a brief session with the jury not present. To vouch for the legitimacy of the documents, Ms. Michael would technically have to come back when we start our case to testify.

In order to prevent that inconvenience, Judge Matthews asks Richard if he will stipulate to that legitimacy, therefore preventing Michael from having to return.

“We will so stipulate, Your Honor,” Richard says, preventing an unnecessary hassle.

“Very well. Ms. Michael, you are free to go. Thank you.”

With the phone records admitted, Richard and his team will go over them and digest them. Diaz’s records will make sense to him, and he will understand why we wanted them. He will take particular note of Diaz’s phone being in Pete’s house the day of the murder.

But Parker’s phone records, and those of Reynolds, will make absolutely no sense to him. He might even think we’re leading him on a wild-goose chase, though the truth is the goose isn’t wild at all; this particular goose represents our entire case.

The reason for all the phone records won’t be a mystery to Richard for long; at some point in the near future I’m going to have to reveal everything to both him and the judge, in an effort to get it admitted. Richard will object and we will fight it out. If we lose, then we lose the case; that much is certain.

Richard’s first witness today is an important one. Sergeant Daniel Sproles is going to testify that he found a pair of gloves in Pete’s car—not a particularly heroic act, but one that has large implications.

Richard doesn’t beat around the bush, or drag this one out. He brings Sproles to the night of the murder immediately, and asks him if he saw Pete’s car that night.

“I did,” Sproles says. “It was right out in front of the house.”

“Was the defendant in the car?”

“Not when I saw it.”

“When did the car leave that street?”

“I assume when Pete … Captain Stanton … left.”

“When did you next see the car?” Richard asks.

“About twenty-four hours later. We impounded it when we made the arrest, pursuant to a search warrant.”

Richard gets around to asking about the gloves, and Sproles says that they were hidden under the passenger’s seat in Pete’s car. I object to the use of the word “hidden,” and the judge sustains. Big deal.

“Were the gloves tested for gunpowder residue?” Richard asks.

“Yes. The results were positive.”

“Is there any way to tell when the gloves received that residue?”

“Not precisely,” says Sproles. “But based on the tests, it was recent, within the previous week or maybe two.”

Richard introduces the gloves as evidence, and holds them up for the jury to see. “Do you see many people wearing gloves like this in the summer?” he asks, and I object before Sproles can answer.

Judge Matthews sustains, but the point is made. Even so, Richard drives it home. “Are these police-issued gloves?”

“I’ve never seen any like them in the department, no,” says Sproles.

“Are there gloves issued for target practice in winter?”

“Yes.”

“But not like these?”

“That is correct,” Sproles says.

Richard turns the witness over to me, and I ask, “Sergeant Sproles, when were the gloves placed in that car?”

“I couldn’t say.”

“Speculate with me for a moment. Can you think of a reason why someone would wear gloves in the summer to fire a weapon?”

“Well, just speculating, I would assume it was to keep residue off the shooter’s hands, or to avoid leaving fingerprints.”

I nod. “Makes sense. Does residue wash off?”

“Sure. Careful washing would get rid of it.”

“If you had residue on your hands, and you had twenty-four hours, could you wash it off?”

“Yes, certainly.”

“Were Captain Stanton’s hands tested for gun residue?”

“No, I don’t believe so. Too much time had passed since the shooting when he was arrested.”

“Twenty-four hours?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“Why wasn’t he tested at the scene?”

“I don’t believe he was a suspect at that point,” Sproles says.

“So if he could have just used his bare hands to fire the weapon, and then washed the residue off, then why use the gloves?”

Richard objects, but since the witness has already agreed to speculate, the judge lets him answer. “I really couldn’t say.”

“And since we’re still speculating,” I say, “if the idea was to avoid the presence of residue, why not get rid of the gloves?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know Captain Stanton?”

He nods. “Yes.”

“Have you always considered him a smart cop?”

Another nod. “I have.”

“Then why would he do something so stupid?”

This time the judge sustains Richard’s objection, and the witness doesn’t have to answer. Which is okay, because the jury should know the answer on their own.

We have to find a vulnerable spot in Reynolds’s armor, and I’m hoping that I have. Sharon Dalton told me that Daniel Mathis worked closely with the company CEO, Mitchell Blackman, on the study involving the euthanasia pills. It was Blackman, according to Sharon, who initially dissuaded Daniel from reporting the theft of the pills to the police, warning that it would be bad for the company.

Blackman was installed as CEO of Blaine when Reynolds’s company took control, and I’m hoping that Reynolds was pulling the strings on him regarding Mathis. If so, maybe Blackman can be shaken.

I had requested that Agent Akers call Blackman and tell him that the FBI wants to interview him regarding the Daniel Mathis disappearance, and “other related issues.” I check my phone during the lunch recess, and there’s a message from Akers saying that he made the call.

Next I place a call to Blackman, and in an effort to get past his assistant, I say that I need to speak with him urgently, “about his meeting with the FBI.” This does the trick, and he picks up the phone.

“Mr. Blackman, I know you received a call from Agent Akers of the FBI,” I say. “I know why he is calling, and it goes much further than Daniel Mathis.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Then you need to have a conversation with me about this to find out, because you need to play this just right, or you could find yourself in serious difficulty.”

It doesn’t take much more cajoling to get him to meet with me after court adjourns for the day. It’s a meeting I’m looking forward to, because he sounds scared already.

“Mr. Blackman,” I say, “I would strongly advise you not to consult with Reynolds on this. He is the reason the FBI is after you; he is not your friend. If you talk to him, I can’t help you.”

He agrees, but I’m not sure if he’ll call Reynolds or not. My hope is that he’ll wait to see what I have to say.

I catch a break when Richard says that his next witness got food poisoning that morning. The judge asks me if I will agree to an early adjournment; if not she’ll make Richard call a different witness.

I’m fine with getting out of here early, and when I agree, Richard thinks I’m being gracious. I’m trying to remember the last time I was gracious, but I can’t think back that far.

I head home to discuss the latest developments with Laurie. She thinks that Marcus should go with me to meet with Blackman. “A lot of people have died, Andy. Diaz, Parker, Reese, Juanita Diaz, and probably Mathis. If you’re viewed as a threat, and Blackman is involved, they could want you out of the way.”

I ordinarily want Marcus around whenever there is a chance that someone might inflict pain on me; I’ve even considered bringing him to the dentist. But in this case I’m afraid having Marcus there will send the wrong message. Besides, since I have made it obvious to Blackman that I know the FBI is involved, he’d have to assume it’s a two-way street, and that the FBI would be aware of my own involvement.

That gives me some immunity, at least at this point. “Killing me would cause them problems,” I say. I don’t like sentences that come out of my mouth with the phrase “Killing me” in them, and I’m starting to change my mind as Laurie responds.

“Killing you would cause you some problems as well,” she points out.

I decide to bring Marcus along, but have him wait in the reception area. I will set my cell to text message him, so that all I have to do is press Send if I need him.

It’s only a twenty-minute ride to Blackman’s office at Blaine Pharmaceuticals, but that’s the equivalent of four hours in “Marcus minutes.” Even after all this time, being alone with Marcus makes me extremely uncomfortable, and it’s fair to say that the time does not exactly fly by when we are in a car together.

We’re there at six-thirty, and the place is basically empty; people do not seem to work overtime here at Blaine. Blackman actually comes out to the modern reception area himself to greet me. I introduce him to Marcus, who gives him the Marcus stare. Based on Blackman’s face when he sees Marcus, I think he might confess right here in the lobby.

When we get back to his office, I get right to it. “I’m going to be straight with you,” I say, a sure tipoff that I have no intention of being close to straight with him. “What you do in the next twenty-four hours will determine whether you spend the rest of your life in prison.”

“I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“You sound like an inmate already,” I say. “Here’s what the FBI knows. They know that people are dying from the pills that Daniel Mathis created. They know that those pills were stolen, and they know that you prevented Mathis from reporting that theft.”

“That’s not true,” he says. “I—”

“I’ve got to be honest with you,” I say. “You’re starting to bore me. I’m not telling you what the FBI thinks. I’m telling you what they know. So if you’re just going to keep with the bullshit denials, we can stop talking now.”

He thinks for a moment, then, “Go on.”

“What they don’t know, but what I do know, is that Reynolds put you up to it. But you need to say that, and say it fast, because if you try and protect Reynolds, even one time, even for a moment, then you’re part of the conspiracy, and part of the cover-up. And then you’ll spend the next forty years talking to your wife through a glass window, if she bothers to show up at all.”

“I didn’t know why the pills were stolen, or who took them. I still don’t.”

“Fascinating, but that’s not enough,” I say. “You have to give them Reynolds.”

“What is your role in this?”

“I have a client who will go to jail if the truth does not come out. So I’m going to see that it does, one way or the other. If you’re smart, it will be through you.”

“I need to think about this,” he says.

“You better think quick. The FBI is going to move on you tomorrow. You’re a hell of a lot better off if you go to them.”

“I understand,” he says. “I understand.”

He said it twice, I suppose in an effort to make me think that I really believe him. Which I really do. Which I really do.

I leave and go back to the lobby, where Marcus is waiting for me. I say. “It’s set up.… So you’re on him twenty-four/seven, okay?”

“Yunh,” says Marcus, and I couldn’t have said it any better.

Blackman has a few choices now, none of which will be appealing to him.

He can take me at face value and tell the FBI everything he knows. I doubt that will happen, because the last time someone took me at face value, there were pay phones on every corner and people were buying encyclopedias.

He can do nothing, and hope it will all go away. This would be predicated on his seeing me as an outsider, with my own agenda, that he has no reason to further. I don’t think this is likely; he is no doubt a smart guy, and I suspect one who has been a pawn in this whole thing. One way or the other, he’s got to make a move.

His third option is the most likely. He’ll probably turn to Reynolds, both to find out what he knows about this, and to receive advice on what to do. Whether or not he ultimately takes that advice, chances are he’ll want to hear it.

If he chooses door number three, I think it likely that he will be killed. The conspirators have shown an inclination to eliminate those with knowledge of their operation. Laurie was right when she suggested Marcus should come with me because I was in danger: people who know what is going on are in fact dying.

I could have warned him about this, but I didn’t because I need him to make his own decision. That’s the only way I can place his role in the conspiracy. And he certainly should be aware by now of whom he is dealing with in Reynolds.

But I’m still feeling a little guilty that there is a chance I’ve set Blackman up to be killed, so I’ve taken steps to prevent it from actually happening. Marcus is going to watch him and intervene if he is in danger. Marcus is a really good intervener.

So I put Blackman in danger, and now I’m saving him. Andy Carpenter has the power to giveth life, and taketh life away.