The Ying on Triad (4 page)

I don't know how Danny O'Banion had managed, but I
ran into no problems in seeing Robert Packard. I was
escorted into a small room with a single chair in front of
a window looking into an adjoining room, which also
contained only a single chair. On the wall beside the window, on each side, was a telephone receiver.

A few minutes later, a thin, dark-haired man with a sallow complexion entered. The door closed behind him.
When he saw me, he frowned. I picked up the receiver. He
followed my lead. "Bobby? I'm Tony Boudreaux. Your
cousin, Danny O'Banion, sent me. He wants me to do
what I can to help you"

Bobby arched an eyebrow. "Cutting the time short,
isn't he?" Resentment edged his words.

"He acted as soon as he learned your appeal had been
denied" I paused, he shrugged, and I continued, "Now,
let's start at the beginning. Did you kill Hastings?"

His eyes flashed anger. He snarled, "None of us in here
are guilty. Don't you know that?"

I held my temper. "Listen, Bobby. If you don't want any help, you just say so, and I'll leave. I'm here as a
favor to your cousin. He's a friend" I paused a moment.
-- - - - - -- -- - - -- - -

He drew a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.
Anger drained from his face as he shook his head, leaving a veneer of fear. "Hey, Man, don't pay no attention to me. It's just that-well, truth is, I'm scared"
His Adam's apple bobbed nervously. "I'm scared like
something you wouldn't believe. I'd always figured that
if a guy was innocent, nothing could happen to him. But,
I found out the hard way how wrong I was. Something
bad can happen. When the system gets it in for you,
something real bad can happen even if a guy don't
deserve it"

I looked straight into his dark eyes. "I understand. Now,
tell me your story"

Bobby eyed me warily for several moments, then
released a long breath. "Not much to tell. I was framed"
He hesitated, then hurried to add, "Look, I know a lot of
cons claim that, but I was"

Suppressing my skepticism, I said, "Go on"

"Well, it was like this. Hastings learned that Lorenethat's his wife-that Lorene and me were having an affair.
He didn't do nothing about it. Then several months later,
he jumped me at the Double Eagle-that's a bar on the
south side of Austin-but I beat him to the punch. Two
days later, I was fired. I blew up. I grabbed my gun and
threatened him. But I didn't kill him. I wanted to. Oh, how
I wanted to" He paused, then added wryly, "But he wasn't
worth the price I'd have to pay for killing him, so I left
him in his office. I was standing in front of the elevator
when I heard the shots"

"Then what?"

"I was scared. When the doors opened, I stepped into
the elevator and left" He paused, studying me.

"Did anyone see you go into his office?"

"Some secretary. She saw me go in, but it wasn't his
office. It was in the board room of his building"

`Building?"

"Yeah. Hastings' Real Estate. Ten stories. The boardroom is on the top floor."

"What about when you left? She must have seen you
leave the boardroom"

With a rueful grin, he shook his head, "Just my luck,
she wasn't at her desk"

"Danny said something about a tape proving you didn't
kill Hastings"

He nodded. "That's what I was told. About two weeks
after I was arrested, some guy named Red went to my
Uncle Liam and claimed he had a tape showing a Chink
gunning down Hastings after I left the room. For ten thousand, we could have it. My uncle said the guy claimed the
tape showed the killer's face"

"Where did this Red get the tape?"

"He said it came from the security camera. My uncle
planned to get the money from the bank."

"And?"

"And the guy didn't show up where they were supposed
to meet"

I frowned, "Your uncle-did he see the tape?"

'No"

Bobby displayed none of the giveaway traits of a liar.
He looked me straight in the eye and didn't hesitate with
his story. Either he was telling the truth, or he was an
accomplished actor delivering well-rehearsed lines. I had
a gut feeling he was telling the truth.

"So," he said, "what now?"

"So," I replied, "I have the transcript of the trial. I need
to talk to the witnesses"

He laughed bitterly. "Won't do no good. I can tell you
what they'll say"

I looked at him curiously, then nodded briefly. "I'm
listening."

"First, there's the secretary. She'll say I went in the
boardroom, and the next thing she knew, Hastings had
been shot, and she saw me get on the elevator. Then there's
Sam Bradford, the Lieutenant Governor, who swore I
started the fight with Hastings at the Double Eagle."

"But you did hit him?"

He chuckled. "As hard as I could."

"Tell me about it."

With a sigh, he began, "I'd stopped in for a after-work
drink at the Double Eagle. All of a sudden, Hastings and
Bradford popped up. Before I knew what was happening,
Hastings took a swing at me" With a shrug, he added,
"He hit me on the shoulder and knocked me to the floor.
Then he kicked me, but I got back up and swung at him.
I didn't miss."

"Go on"

"And then there was my supervisor at A. A.
Aggregates, L. D. Bryson, who testified that I told him I
wanted to kill Hastings"

I frowned, "Did you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean it like that. I was mad. It was
just a way to let off steam" He hesitated.

"Go on"

"What happened was Bryson fired me. He said I'd
messed up on an important estimate that cost us thirteen
thousand bucks. I didn't. Later, when I told Lorene, she
said Hastings was behind it. He got me fired because I
punched him out, not because Lorene was having an affair
with me or because of a mistake at work. He had laughed
about the affair."

"What happened then?"

"I went back and confronted Bryson. Naturally, he
denied Hastings was involved, and that's when I lost it."

"That's when you said you'd kill Hastings?"

He nodded slowly.

"How long had you worked at A. A. Aggregates?"

"Ten years. It was my first job when I got out of high
school"

I studied him several moments. I had asked all the
questions I could think of. I forced a grin. "That's all I
need for the time being, Bobby. I'd better get to work"

I started to hang up the receiver, but he stopped me.
"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

He dragged the tip of his tongue across his dry lips.
"What do you think?"

I studied him thoughtfully, feeling sorry for the guy.
"I've got six days. A lot can happen in that time"

Bobby forced a weak smile. "I hope so"

After Bobby left, I spent a few minutes jotting down
what I had learned on three-by-five cards, a timeworn
method I'd used for years.

After slipping the cards into my pocket, I stared at the
drab steel door that had closed behind Bobby. I hoped I
was good enough to help him.

Janice arched an eyebrow when I climbed back in the
truck. "How did it go?"

I reached for my cell phone. "I think I believe him, but
we've got a lot of legwork ahead of us"

"We don't have long. Do you think you can save him?"

"All we can do is try." I punched in Nathan Savage's
number at Blevins' Investigations and had him find the
name and address of the vendor who maintained the security video at Hastings Real Estate, "... and Nathan"

"Yeah"

"Call me back as soon as you have it. I won't be rolling
into town for about three hours" I gave him my cell phone
number and punched off.

During the drive back to Austin, Janice read the transcript aloud for me, pausing only to jot down the names
of the four witnesses who provided what appeared to be
irrefutable evidence.

The first was Sgt. Jack Carpenter, arresting officer.
When he had searched Bobby Packard's apartment, he
had discovered a Glock 21 handgun-a 9 mm, the same
caliber as the slugs dug out of Hastings. I cringed. What were the odds that another killer would use the same caliber handgun that Packard owned?

Then there were the witnesses Packard had mentioned,
Samuel Bradford, Lieutenant Governor-elect; Natalie
Romero, Hastings' secretary; and finally L. D. Bryson,
Bobby's supervisor at A. A. Aggregates and Asphalt.

"But, what can they tell you that isn't in the transcript?"
Janice asked when I explained I wanted to talk to each of
them in detail.

"They only answered the questions they were asked.
After listening to the transcript, I can think of a few other
questions"

"Like what?"

I flexed my fingers on the steering wheel, trying to
arrange my thoughts. "Well, for example, we can't argue
with the fact that Packard told his boss he wanted to kill
Hastings. But on the other hand, Packard's supervisor
said he was fired because he botched a major estimate,
costing the company thirteen thousand dollars"

Janice studied me, puzzled. "So?"

"So. Look how long Packard had worked there. He was
the estimate supervisor. It took him ten years to reach that
position. There's no mention of previous mistakes. You're
going to fire a valuable employee for one goof in ten
years? And for only thirteen thousand dollars? That
doesn't make sense. There had to be more behind it-an
ulterior motive"

"Maybe he had made more mistakes."

I shrugged. "Maybe so. And maybe he was fired
because Bradford insisted on it. That's what I mean. I just
think there should have been more questions asked. Take
the bartender, for example"

"What bartender?"

"The one working at the Double Eagle when Hastings
and Packard fought. Why wasn't he questioned?

"Wouldn't that have been up to Packard's attorney?"

"Yeah. That's another part of this that puzzles me. Why
didn't his attorney try to discredit some of the prosecution's assertions? For example, the transcript says nothing
about matching the slugs to the Glock 21. Why not?"

At that moment, my cell phone rang. It was Savage
with the name and address of Endicott Video. "Thanks,
pal," I said. "Now, grab a pencil and paper. I have four
witnesses I need addresses for."

Traffic on the highway from Huntsville to Austin was
heavy, especially west of the city of Bryan, a corridor on
Highway 21 usually filled bumper-to-bumper in both
directions with students from Texas A & M heading to or
returning from the nightlife in Austin.

I had just clicked off and handed the cell phone to
Janice when a loud pop exploded under the pickup and
the back end began gyrating wildly.

Janice screamed, "Tony!"

Blowout! I muttered a curse, firmly guiding the
Silverado off the shoulder of the road to the grassy rightof-way and pumping the brakes lightly.

Without warning, a concrete drainage ditch four feet
deep appeared in front of us.

I slammed on the brakes. "Hold on," I muttered
between clenched teeth.

Janice didn't answer. I steeled myself for the impact.

We slid to a halt inches from the edge of the ditch.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke. I just sat staring straight ahead, my fists squeezing the steering wheel
so hard my knuckles turned white.

After a few moments, her slender fingers still clutching
the safety grip on the dash with a death grip, Janice whispered hoarsely, "That was close"

One thing about Janice was her knack for understatement. "Too close," I muttered.

We looked at each other. "Are you all right," I asked.

She nodded, "What happened?"

"Blowout," I muttered, climbing out and retrieving the
jack from behind the seat.

Within minutes, I had changed the tire on the back left.
Inspecting the blown tire, I noticed a tiny blemish on the
sidewall. I touched my finger to it, and to my surprise, I
found it was a small hole that appeared to be much more
likely the result of a slug from a handgun than trash on the
highway.

"What caused it?" Janice nodded to the ragged tire on
the ground.

Shaking my head I replied, "There's no telling. Rock,
glass, who knows? I need to pick up a spare tire first
chance," I added, keeping my suspicions to myself, and
remembering the phone call from the previous night. Was
the tire truly just an accident, or was there some connection with the warning from the day before?

After a few minutes to steady our nerves and collect
our thoughts, we pulled back on the highway. This time, I
kept my eyes on the rearview and side mirrors.

"So now what?" Janice asked a few miles down the
road.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "The video company. Red
must have worked for the company to have had access to
the security cameras"

She frowned at me. "What security cameras?"

I remembered she knew nothing of the alleged videotape. I quickly explained and concluded, "So if we're
lucky, we might be able to run down the tape"