False Front (24 page)

‘Well, there’s someone else who deserves an apology,’ Audrey said, pinching the fabric of Lucinda’s sleeve and tugging her towards the back. She led Lucinda to Beth Ann Coynes’ work station. ‘There. Do it.’

‘Miss Coynes, I apologize for dragging you into a mess of my making. I regret involving you and hope that it will have no negative impact on your career.’

‘But . . .’ Beth Ann began.

Lucinda gave her a tight shake of her head.

Beth Ann bit her lower lip, darted her eyes over to Audrey and back to Lucinda. She closed her eyes and inhaled. When she opened them, she said, ‘Thank you, Lieutenant. I forgive you completely. I hope this won’t happen again.’

‘Thank you for accepting my apology, Ms Coynes.’

Released by Dr Ringo, Lucinda scurried back to her desk. An email from Beth Ann was waiting in her inbox. ‘Just in case we aren’t clear: when I said I hope this won’t happen again, I meant I hope we never get caught again.’

Lucinda smiled. Would she do it again? Damned right. If she thought there was even a modest possibility of success, she’d do it without hesitation. Now how would she get that DNA sample? Maybe Sergeant Colter would be willing to follow Frank Eagleton around. Maybe she could snatch up a discarded cup or soda can. She’d tell Colter the whole story and let her decide if she wanted to help. If she did and got reprimanded, Lucinda would shoulder that blame, too. Captain Holland’s words – ‘Cut this shit out’ – reverberated in her head. She knew she would – just as soon as she had Candace’s killer behind bars.

FORTY-FIVE

J
ake pulled his phone out of his pocket to call Lucinda and give her a rundown on how it all ended. He saw several missed calls and vaguely remembered the vibrations on his thigh as he shuttled from one interrogation room to the other.

He was not surprised to see more than one from Lucinda. He hadn’t gotten back to her in too long. The messages from the regional director and the one from the office took him by surprise. He thought they were ignoring him.

The office call came from the agent acting in his position during his absence. ‘Jake, the wicked witch of the north wants you back in the field. Have no idea why. But call me.’

The acerbic sound of the regional director’s voice made him wince. ‘You just got lucky. Something bigger than you has intervened. You need to contact a Lieutenant Lucinda Pierce in the local PD. She has a lead on Julius Trappatino. Nail the bastard. Don’t screw this up.’

Lucinda’s message made him smile. ‘I need you. I told the wicked witch I need you. I hope she’s contacted you. If she calls my bluff, I’m screwed.’

Jake called Lucinda first. ‘You know every man likes to be needed. Your place or mine?’

‘Very funny, Jake. But seriously, I’ve stumbled across a suspect who apparently is in the FBI’s gunsights.’

‘Julius Trappatino.’

‘You knew?’

‘Got a message from the old wicked witch herself. I’ll call my office and have them email you everything we have about him. And I’ll be back just as soon as I can pick up my stuff at your brother’s house and get down the highway.’

‘Are things still up in the air?’

‘Nope. It’s suicide. Dylan killed himself rather than come out of the closet.’

‘You’re kidding me.’

‘Wish I were. He didn’t want to face his dad and thought that Todd was going to expose him.’

‘What a waste – what a horrible waste,’ Lucinda said with a sigh.

‘Amen to that. The funeral will be soon. I feel as if I should come back up here for that.’

‘Me, too.’

‘You want to go up together if my murder investigation doesn’t get in the way?’

‘Let’s do that. I need to find out if Frank Eagleton knows Trappatino but Eagleton took out a restraining order on me.’

‘He doesn’t have one on me,’ Jake said. ‘And this is now FBI business. I’ll swing by and talk to him before I meet you in the office – you’ll be there?’

‘If I have to leave, I’ll give you a call.’

‘If you get any information on a possible location for Trappatino, give me a call right away – no matter where it is. I can get an agent on it right away.’

She disconnected the call and pondered the whereabouts of Julius Trappatino. What if he was also looking for Bonnie Upchurch? If he was not as far along in his search as they were, perhaps he was in one of the cities along her continental progress. She punched Jake’s number in her cell.

‘Something already?’ he said as he answered.

‘Nothing solid. But remember the Bonnie on Rowland’s list?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I think it’s Bonnie Upchurch. She was a year behind the others at Livingston High. We tracked her to Dallas where she changed her name to Olivia Cartwright. We then trailed her to Reno, San Diego and Seattle. If Trappatino is following that trail, he might be in any of those cities.’

‘I’ll alert those field offices to be on the look-out for him. Do you know where Bonnie or Olivia is now?’

‘No. We do know that she left Seattle.’

‘Can you email all her addresses over to my office to Special Agent Cameron Harper?’

‘Sure, that’s not a problem.’

‘Harper can attach them to the alert so that the agents in those cities have a place to start looking for Trappatino.’

‘Later, Jake.’

‘Hey, Lucy, when this is wrapped up, you want to run away from home together?’

Lucinda grimaced. He made it so hard to compartmentalize her relationship with him. She wanted professional in one box and possible personal entanglements in another. Jake did not make that easy. ‘No time for this now, Jake.’

‘Aw, Lucy . . .’

‘Goodbye, Jake.’ She wanted to pack that personal side up in a box and set it on the shelf – or maybe behind the shelf – for the time being. That thought brought an Emily Dickinson poem to mind:

Damn, she thought. Why is literature a required college course? And why does that useless crap lodge so firmly in my brain?

FORTY-SIX

S
he snatched up her disposable cell on the first ring. ‘Where have you been? I thought I would have heard from you before now.’

‘I’m sitting across the street and down three doors from Bonnie’s rowhouse,’ Julius Trappatino said.

‘Does that mean she’s reverted to her original name?’

‘It doesn’t mean anything. Bonnie or Olivia, does it really matter once she’s dead?’

‘Is it time?’

‘Not yet. I need to know more about her habits and patterns first.’

‘Don’t dawdle. The cops are looking at me now. I need this over,’ she said.

‘Dawdle? You think I dawdle?’

‘Bad choice of word.’

‘No kidding. My price just went up.’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘Oh, yes I can. If you want the job done, I can.’

‘Whatever. I told you cost was not an issue. But we did have an agreement.’

‘Yes. And you violated our unwritten contract. Respect at all times.’

‘What contract?’

‘See, the benefit of my contract being unwritten is that I can say it contains whatever I want it to contain. And you just violated a key provision. That calls for a contract penalty.’

‘Just do the job. I’ll pay you. And do it quick.’

‘I can do quick. I can run her down on the road without any trouble – but we’ve done that before and we don’t want links, do we?’

‘No. We don’t. You know that.’

‘Quick could be a suicide . . .’

‘Stop jerking me around,’ she said. ‘How are you planning to do it?’

‘Do you really want to know?’

‘Yes.’

‘What about credible deniability?’ Julius asked.

‘You let me worry about that.’

‘I was thinking of a gas leak leading to an explosion in the middle of the night.’

‘Can you contain that to her unit?’

‘Do you really care? What’s a little collateral damage in comparison to the damage Bonnie can do?’

The woman didn’t respond.

‘Well, come on. If you don’t have the stomach for this, tell me now and I’ll pack up and go home. You’ll still owe me, though, if you pull the plug.’

‘I’m not pulling the plug. Go for it. Call me when it’s done.’

FORTY-SEVEN

L
ucinda smiled as she looked down at the screen. Charley was calling. ‘Hello, girlfriend. How are you today?’

‘Are you at work?’ Charley asked.

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘You shouldn’t have to work on the weekend.’

‘Bad guys don’t take time off, Charley. Now, you didn’t call to give me a hard time about that, did you?’

‘No, Lucy. I called to ask you a favor.’

‘What kind of favor?’

‘Mr Bryson’s funeral is on Tuesday. I want to go. But Kara can’t go with me because Ruby is too young to go. And Daddy isn’t here.’

‘I don’t know if your dad would want you to go, sweetie.’

‘He said he’d take me if he was here but he’s not coming home until Wednesday or Thursday. But he did say if I found a responsible adult to take me, I could go.’

‘Do I qualify?’ Lucinda asked.

‘Lucy, you are more responsible than Daddy.’

‘I doubt that.’

‘You never give yourself enough credit, Lucy. And besides, I asked him and he said you would be his first choice.’

‘Charley, I can’t promise right now. I’m in the middle of a fast-moving murder investigation. If I can get away, I do promise that I will. Pick out what you plan to wear so you’ll be able to get ready quickly.’

‘I already know what to wear, Lucy,’ Charley said.

Lucinda heard the pain in her voice and felt certain she knew what the young girl was thinking. She said nothing, waiting to hear what Charley would add.

‘I’ll wear the black dress I wore to my mom’s funeral.’

Tears came to Lucinda’s eyes. She wanted to wrap her arms around Charley and hold her tight. She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, ‘That would be very appropriate, Charley.’

‘I know Mr Bryson wasn’t murdered like my mom but I don’t think she’d mind.’

‘I’m sure she won’t.’

‘Do you think she can look down and see me, Lucy?’

‘Do you want your mom to be able to look down on you?’ Lucinda responded.

‘Yes, I do. When I think she is, I feel safe. When I doubt it, I’m scared.’

Lucinda closed her eyes and let the tears flow down her cheeks. ‘Yes, Charley. I am certain she looks down on you and keeps you safe.’ Lucinda wished she really was sure. If she were certain, then she’d know her own mother was watching over her. It would be such a comfort.

The computer on her desk dinged to indicate incoming email. It was from Jake’s office. She clicked on the attachment and perused the FBI file on Julius Trappatino. She was midway through her review of the details of his suspected crimes when she heard a rustle of paper at her doorway. She looked up to see Lara Quivey quivering with excitement. ‘Yes, you found something?’

‘Yes. I located Bonnie Upchurch, aka Olivia Cartwright.’

‘Where?’

‘In a rowhouse on Taylor Street in the Mill Hill Section of Trenton, New Jersey.’

‘She went back home?’

‘Yes, indeed.’

‘One moment,’ Lucinda said, raising an index finger in the air. She jerked her cell out of her pocket and called Jake. Before he could say a word, she said, ‘I’ve got an address for our Bonnie. Here’s Ms Quivey.’ She handed her phone to Lara, who read off the address to Jake and then handed the cell back to Lucinda.

‘She needs protection,’ Lucinda said.

‘I’ll call the field office up there immediately. I’ll be at Eagleton’s place in ten minutes or so,’ Jake said and ended the call.

‘Now, Ms Quivey, it’s the weekend. What are you doing here?’

‘Well, on Friday, I had hold of this small thread and I just had to keep tugging on it. I had to know if it led somewhere and it did.’

‘You’re the best. I won’t forget this. You may have saved a woman’s life – at the very least, you’ve given us an opportunity to make that happen. Now, go home. Have a life.’

Lara smiled. ‘I’ll poke around a bit more and see if any more threads pop up before calling it a day. Can’t leave while I’m on a roll, can I?’

FORTY-EIGHT

T
rappatino spent a quiet afternoon in his car watching the old neighborhood. The block began with brick and ended with brick – typical post-World War Two construction. One rowhouse up against the other, people packed tightly together. It was a nice way to live, he thought, if you liked being surrounded by people. He didn’t.

He definitely preferred his hideaway out near the cranberry bogs. His cabin set well off the road on a long, straight drive. He could see cars coming even before they took the turn. He had a telescope trained on the road where it passed his home. No one would take him by surprise.

Where he sat now was a far more dangerous place. He felt exposed and vulnerable. In his world, there were only two types of people: those who paid him to kill and those whom he killed. All others were irrelevant and a constant source of irritation and often an inadvertent threat.

He watched the dog walkers, the joggers, the postman and a flock of casual strollers moving up and down the street. The sun was starting to set when he saw a light flash on inside the target home. He realized he was at a real disadvantage parked here in front of the house but there was no way he could park in the alley without blocking the traffic.

He got out of his car and went around the block. Counting, he located Olivia’s driveway. She hadn’t closed the gate after pulling onto the property. Like every other house, the backyard was surrounded by a tall fence. He peered into the backyard. Old landscaping was now full of weeds. A barbecue grill rusted from the weather and lack of use. A broken lawn chair sat in the grass beside it. It didn’t appear as if she spent any time at all out there. A steep set of wooden stairs led to a small platform by the back door.