Daddy's Little Killer (15 page)

Our antipasto plate arrived, but before we
could start nibbling, a breathless Charlie Haverston ran through
the dining room to our table.

"Charlie, sit down.  Join us," Maya
offered.

"Can't do it.  Dr. Eriksson, we need to
talk.  Now."

"What's wrong?"  I stared up at
him.

"We need to talk in private.  It's
important."

I looked at Maya and shrugged.  "Do you
mind?"

She started to rise.

"No, Dr. Eriksson.  What I have to say
cannot be said in a room full of strangers."

Chapter 13

"What did you learn?"

Charlie's fingers pinched into my upper
arm.  He half dragged me through the lobby toward the
elevators.  Inside, he pressed the button for the eighth
floor, but stopped the elevator before it could reach the
destination.

"You're starting to worry me, Charlie. 
What's happening?"

"Two things."  He reached into his
jacket pocket and retrieved a small listening device.  "It's
been disabled, but one of the guys who processed your room this
morning said they found three of these planted in your room. 
Someone is very interested in what you have to say, Dr.
Eriksson."

"No surprise there.  Is this why you
refused to speak in front of Dr. Winslow?"

"It wasn't her specifically, ma'am.  I
didn't want anybody to hear what I'm about to tell you."

"And I appreciate the diligence.  What
did you discover today?"

"First off, Johnny Orion is lying about
something.  We talked to a shit load of neighbors who told us
Orion has been hanging around the Foster house for the past three
months.  They spoke to the head of the neighborhood watch who
in turn had a conversation with Orion."

"Back up," I said.  "When you say
hanging around do you mean visiting or providing surveillance?"

"Surveillance.  The neighbor across the
street seemed to be the one leading the charge.  She's a real
nosy type, if you know what I mean."  He reached inside his
jacket again and procured a small notebook.  "This is from the
past month.  It details dates, times and what Orion was doing
while he was at Gwen Foster's home."

I took the notebook and thumbed through the
first few pages.  "Arrived at seven twelve.  Gwen five
minutes ahead of him.  Sitting in car in front of house. 
Car still there in morning until Gwen left for work.  Man did
not leave car."  The other entries didn't vary greatly.

"What did Orion tell the head of the
neighborhood watch?"

"He was keeping an eye on Gwen, like a body
guard."

"Interesting," I murmured.  I thought
of the guard Orion had posted outside my room and wondered which of
my early morning visitors had planted the listening devices. 
"Do you mind if I keep this, Charlie?"  I opened my palm to
reveal the bug.

"Forsythe has the other two at the crime
lab.  They already tested that one for prints.  He's
using the others to try to figure out where the signal is being
transmitted."

"A device this size is most certainly short
range.  I imagine that the listener would have to be yards
away, possibly a few stories below, to hear me.  I'd like to
have my room swept again," I said, "and it's probably a pretty good
idea if I start looking for a more secure place to stay in the
meantime."

"Chief Weber says you might be here for
awhile," Haverston said.  "We appreciate that you advocated to
keep us on the investigation, Dr. Eriksson, but –"

"No buts, Charlie.  I know this puts
you in an awkward position with Chief Lowe.  If he has
questions about the investigation, you should direct him to me or
Chief Weber."

"That's not what I meant.  Chief Lowe
just about popped his buttons when he told us we'd be continuing on
this case.  He's not upset about it at all.  It's Rogers
and Daltry that got us concerned."

In that second, I wondered what Dad would
think about a city like Darkwater Bay.  Would he, like I was
quickly learning, see that the good guys are necessary to balance
an equation?  "What did Rogers and Daltry do?"

"They reminded me that when we fail to close
this case, emphasis on our inevitable failure, that a whole ton of
shit is gonna come down on all of us.  I couldn't help
thinking about what happened to Johnny Orion, ma'am.  I'm not
rich like Orion.  I don't have other options available."

I clasped his hand.  "Charlie, you are
going to solve this murder.  I will do everything in my power
to make sure we're looking in the right direction, but you will
find the killer.  My conversation with Dr. Winslow today
revealed some information about Ms. Foster that is probably
important.  She has little doubt that the person who killed
Brighton Bennett also killed Gwen Foster."

He blew out a long sigh.  "I could've
told you all doubt was erased from our perspective too, Dr.
Eriksson."

"What did you learn?"

"Gwen Foster was born Gwen Bennett. 
Brighton was her cousin."

Even though the elevator was stationary, I
felt the bottom drop.  "I reviewed the file Myre and Orion
submitted in the Bennett case this morning.  It looked like
they had a solid case against Salvatore Masconi."

"If you want to know the truth about that
case, you're going to need a different file," Haverston's voice
dropped to barely above a whisper.  "You'll want the internal
investigation regarding evidence tampering, Dr. Eriksson. 
Bradley Hanson has that file, but I doubt he'll let you even take a
peek without a direct order from Chief Weber."

"What about Foster's next of kin?"

"Her father died ten years ago.  She
has one living relative, another cousin, Vincent Bennett who was
living with her."

"Was?"

"Before she died.  He's eighteen years
old."

"So where is he?  Although he could
hardly be a person of interest since Maya is comfortable that the
evidence demonstrates a likelihood that both Bennett women were
dismembered by the same person.  Vincent Bennett would've been
what, three years old when his other cousin died?"

"He's out of town on business, according to
the neighbor."

"Where out of town?"

"Southern California."

"That's an impressive location for a
teenager on business.  What does he do, Charlie?"

"He took a job after graduation working for
one of the local fishing companies.  It looks like Ms. Foster
got the job for him.  He's working for her former employer,
who I understand was at Central Division a couple of hours ago
filing a missing person's report on Gwen."

"Damn."

"Ma'am, they both worked for Danny
Datello."

Double damn.  The plot just thickened,
and I had a deep suspicion that the detectives tailing me were as I
first expected, hired by some arm of Sully Marcos'
organization.

"Are you familiar with Mr. Datello?"

"Yes."  Best left at that.  My
confrontation with Datello was no longer going to happen on my
terms unfortunately.  Not if I really cared about solving the
murder of Gwen Foster.  I was a little surprised to realize
how much it had begun to matter to me.

Must've been something in the fog.

"What do you want us to do?"

Focus snapped back on a rather stricken
Charlie Haverston.  "Find Vincent Bennett.  Get him back
to Darkwater Bay.  I need to talk to him, not only about
Gwen's relationships and any enemies she might've had, but also
that notebook the nosy neighbor kept.  Surely he has an idea
why his cousin would retain the services of a bodyguard."

"What about Datello?"

"I'll talk to him first thing in the
morning," I said.  In the meantime, Johnny Orion owed me a
serious conversation.  Was he on Datello's payroll too? 
Had Gwen hired him?  Clearly, she had been in mortal
danger.  Did she know who had threatened her?  Why not
let Danny Datello take care of the problem for her?  It didn't
quite link to Darkwater Bay gumshoes tailing me in D.C.  There
had to be a link.

What I needed was a history lesson.

"Do me a favor, Haverston.  Keep all of
this quiet for now.  I'll give a status report to Chief Weber,
but for the time being, the less people who know about our
progress, the better.  I'm concerned with how quickly
information filters to sources who have no right to know it in this
city."

"I agree."

"Were you out here when the Bennett case
unfolded, Charlie?"

His cheeks flushed.  "I was in middle
school, ma'am."

"Call me the instant you pinpoint where Mr.
Bennett is."  I pulled out a blank white card with my new
local cell number handwritten onto it and pressed it into his
palm.  "I don't care if its in the middle of the night. 
And you should try to get some rest.  Take shifts for rest
with Taylor, Andrews and Thieg."

"What are you gonna do?  Where will you
spend the night tonight?"

"It's safe here for the time being. 
There's a private guard outside my door.  However, I'd still
like another sweep for electronic monitoring devices before I
settle in for the night."

"I'll have Forsythe send someone over right
away."

"Pick up Datello at eight in the morning and
bring him to central.  I'll talk to him there," I said.

Haverston pushed the button for the lobby
and restarted the elevator.  "I hope this goes well.  I'd
be lying if I said I'm not a little bit nervous, what with
Datello's connection to the Bennett case years ago."

"Yeah.  I doubt it's a coincidence that
his employees keep finding their way to the center of this
mess.  The universe's sense of humor isn't quite that
ironic."

Then again, nobody would ever believe my
real relationship to Danny Datello.  At least, I hoped they
wouldn't believe it.

The elevator doors slid open, and again, a
sense of impending doom slammed through me when my eyes met those
of  Mark Seleeby and David Levine not more than fifty feet
away.  "Keep me posted, Charlie.  Tell Forsythe to send
his tech straight to my room.  I'll make sure the hotel
informs the guard at the door to expect him."

Chapter 14

Haverston swept right past David and
Seleeby.  Unlike me, his radar didn't register in the red zone
at the sight of certain attitude.  Federal agents exude
it.  I turned left and headed back to the restaurant, but I
could feel them following and hear the steady click of polished
patent leather shoes on the marble floor.

"Helen," David's fingers gripped my
shoulder.  "We need to talk."

I shrugged out of the light restraint. 
"No, I have nothing to say to either one of you."

"Then you'll listen," Seleeby chimed
in.  "Because we're not leaving until we've spoken our
piece."

"Whatever it is, I simply don't care. 
My life in Washington is behind me, permanently.  Is that
clear enough for you, Agent Seleeby?  Whatever you do,
whatever information you think you've gathered, it simply doesn't
matter to me."

"Helen, we think that Sully Marcos had Rick
assassinated."

Well hallelujah and praise Jesus. 
There was that word again.  Assassination.  Technically,
it implied the murder of an important person.  I supposed that
it signified the government's sense of loss of an important
witness, one who I knew would never turn on his master. 

"It's hardly rocket science.  Marcos
probably feared what you hoped would happen."

David's head jerked at Seleeby who, like the
obedient dog, slouched off to the corner.  David took a step
closer to me.  "Helen, you scared the life out of me.  We
had no idea what happened to you after you left the
brownstone."

"Like I would stick around to witness them
knock holes in the walls."

"They did no such thing.   Mark
told me that you accused us of sending another team to watch
you.  I wish we had.  It would've saved me a lot of
anxiety."

"Your comfort is the least of my
concerns."

"You don't mean that.  I know you
don't."  David's hand snaked out, fingers brushing lightly
against my newly coiffed hair.  "You look so different. 
It suits you."

I slapped his hand away.  "Stop it,
David.  You can't woo me back into complacency."

"Can I woo you back home where you
belong?  This thing has blown over as fast as I thought it
would.  They had to look at you, Helen.  Until we had
concrete evidence of Sully Marcos' motive, there was no choice but
to look at anyone who had a relationship with him.  When you
resigned, the way you did, it looked bad."

"I gave ten years of my life to the
bureau.  Monday was my reward.  Thanks but no
thanks.  My life is moving in a different direction now."

"To Darkwater Bay?  Helen."

"This is none of your business."

"Aren't you curious about why Marcos had
Rick murdered?"

"I really don't care."  My arms wrapped
around my waist.  Whatever path they were hurling headlong
down really wasn't my concern.  As long as they didn't
consider me a suspect, it meant less than nothing to me.

"Someone embezzled a very large sum of money
from an account managed at Rick's firm," David said.  "An
extremely large sum of money."

"Shame on Seleeby and company for not making
sure all of the assets linked to the Marcos crime family at Rick's
firm weren't frozen.  He has no one to blame but himself, yet
here I am, tainted once again.  Well I won't endure a second
round of what I went through when Rick was arrested, David."

"I understand what you're feeling, Helen, I
really do.  But running away isn't the answer.  Darkwater
Bay absolutely isn't the answer.  Nobody survives the
corruption in this city.  It's a career ender."