No One Left to Tell (71 page)

‘I got here as fast as I could.’ She and Holly had just emerged from the counselor’s office when Grayson texted her to get down to the precinct asap. ‘Your mother and Katherine dropped me off, then took Holly home.’

‘How is she?’

‘Still scared. She will be for a while. But I think the counselor helped. She goes back on Wednesday. I’ll go with her.’

‘Excuse me for interrupting your conversation with something as mundane as a questioning,’ Hyatt said sarcastically. He stood on the observation side of the two-way mirror, along with Stevie who looked drawn, but alert.

This closure should be good for her
, thought Paige. Daphne and Lucy Trask stood next to Stevie, flanking her on either side.

Detectives Bashears and Perkins waited to one side while Jeff Yates, the executive assistant state’s attorney leaned against the far wall.

On the other side of the mirror a man in a suit sat next to an irate former senator.

It made Paige smile. ‘Sorry.’

‘He’s pickin’ at you, Paige,’ Daphne said. ‘We all just got here. His royal pervertedness was just brought up from Holding. I say we let him stew a little longer.’

‘We have someone else you’ll want to see,’ Bashears said.

‘Brittany Jones?’ Paige asked.

‘None other,’ Bashears said. ‘We followed her boyfriend Mal to a hotel up on Lake Erie. She was there along with her son.’

‘And a bag full of cash,’ Perkins added. ‘She’d closed out her checking account into which had been wired twenty-five grand right before your car blew.’

‘She’s in interview room two,’ Grayson said. ‘Lawyered up already, unfortunately. We’ll question her after we’re done with the McClouds.’

‘And the DNA from the dress?’ Paige asked.

Slow smiles spread across the faces of everyone in the room.

‘It’s a match, then,’ Paige said.

‘It is,’ Hyatt said. ‘It’s showtime, people. Grayson?’

‘I have to go,’ Grayson said. ‘Wish me luck.’ He and Hyatt left the room, entering the interview room through a hall door.

‘Senator,’ Hyatt said.

‘This is outrageous,’ McCloud declared.

‘Senator,’ the suit cautioned. ‘Say nothing.’

‘I don’t have to “say nothing”. I’m innocent of all these charges.’

‘Then this should be quick,’ Grayson said. ‘Tell me about MAC.’

‘It was a charity run by my wife. One of her pet projects.’ The senator waved his good hand dismissively. ‘Low-income schools and poor kids got money. End of story.’

Grayson nodded. ‘And they came to your estate for ice cream.’

‘Once a year. Took forever to get all the ice-cream stains out of the upholstery.’

Hyatt shook his head. ‘Kids are messy.’

‘Adele Shaffer was one of those kids,’ Grayson said.

‘She’s a deluded young woman. She needs help.’

Grayson’s brows lifted. ‘Your wife stabbed her.’

‘No. The young woman is mistaken.’

‘I’m afraid not,’ Hyatt said. ‘We have video of your wife driving Mrs Shaffer’s car. We found a pearl-handled knife in Mrs McCloud’s trunk. The blood on it belongs to Adele.’

McCloud looked shocked. ‘You’re lying.’

‘No.’ Hyatt showed him a plastic evidence bag holding the knife. ‘Dianna’s fingerprints are on the knife, in the blood. She did it.’

‘She . . .’ McCloud shook his head again, bewildered. ‘I don’t know what to say. She needs help.’

‘I’d say so,’ Hyatt said. ‘So back to Crystal Jones. How did you meet her?’

‘I never met her.’

‘Really?’ Grayson asked. ‘She was one of the charity kids who came to your estate.’

‘My wife handled the children. I didn’t get involved.’

‘That’s not what Adele Shaffer says,’ Grayson said quietly.

‘And I told you that she’s delusional.’

‘So you didn’t rape Adele in your daughter Claire’s old bedroom?’ Hyatt asked.

‘No!’ The senator’s face grew florid and his lawyer tried to calm him.

‘What about Crystal Jones?’ Hyatt asked.

‘I didn’t rape anybody! I’ll have your job, Lieutenant.’

‘Most days I’d tell you to take it,’ Hyatt said. ‘Today, I’m enjoying it. We recovered Crystal’s phone from the purse she carried that night.’ He tossed the purse, in a clear evidence bag, on the table. ‘We found her purse in your desk, Senator.’

McCloud faltered. ‘I didn’t put it there.’

Hyatt shrugged. ‘Your fingerprints are on it. And on the canister of pepper spray we found inside.’

‘Senator,’ his lawyer murmured, but the senator waved him away.

‘No. I can explain. I did meet her that night. She’d come to my grandson’s party and was found wandering through the house, very drunk. I had security escort her out. Later I found her purse and put it aside, intending to ask my grandson to give it back to her. My fingerprints are on the contents because I opened the purse, looking for her ID. I’m afraid the purse simply slipped my mind.’

‘Really?’ Grayson asked seriously. ‘Interesting, because Crystal’s blood alcohol was almost zero. She wasn’t drunk.’

‘She behaved like she was,’ the senator insisted.

‘We recovered the texts she sent right before she died,’ Hyatt said, bluntly now. ‘To your cell-phone number. It’s been your number since before the murder. I checked. We didn’t find Crystal’s phone records because it was a disposable phone. And of course, we didn’t check yours because we thought she’d come as Rex’s date. We didn’t know she’d really come to see
you
.’

McCloud blustered, ‘Not true. I didn’t know that woman. I’d never seen her before that night.’

Grayson picked up the paper in front of him. ‘The day before the party she texts that she wants to meet you, that your power is an “
aphrodisiac
”. You tell her, “
Not with my wife around
”. Then the night of the party she texts, “
Knock knock, I’m here. Rex thinks I came for him but you’re the one I want
”. You text back, “
Meet me at the gardener’s shed at midnight
”.’

McCloud’s face had gone stony. ‘I didn’t send those texts.’

‘So you didn’t meet Crystal in the gardener’s shed that night?’ Hyatt asked.

‘No!’

‘And you didn’t have sex with her that night?’ Grayson pressed.

‘No! I did not have sex with that woman,’ he declared.

Famous last words
, Paige thought and held her breath.
This is it. They have him
.

‘Never?’ Hyatt asked calmly.

‘No,
never
.’

‘I see,’ Grayson said. ‘So, what is this?’ He unrolled the blue dress, protected in a large plastic bag.

‘I have no idea. This is ludicrous. I’m leaving.’ He got up and Hyatt was out of his chair in a split-second, pushing him back down.

‘I don’t think so, Senator,’ Hyatt said.

‘I actually think you’ll be staying for a very long time,’ Grayson added. ‘This dress belonged to Crystal Jones. We found it in her safe-deposit box. It has skin cells that match her DNA on the underside of the fabric.’

‘So?’ McCloud asked belligerently. ‘It’s a dress.’

‘It’s a special dress,’ Grayson said, then pointed. ‘See this stain? That’s semen.’

McCloud paled. ‘That’s disgusting.’

‘Yes, it is.’ Grayson put a picture of twelve-year-old Crystal on top of the dress. His expression darkened. ‘It
is
disgusting. It’s also yours. You
raped
this
child
.’

McCloud’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

Hyatt leaned over McCloud’s shoulder, murmuring in a menacing tone, ‘And then you killed her when she threatened to blackmail you.’

‘I didn’t kill her.’

‘You
strangled
her,’ Hyatt said. ‘Then you
stabbed
her.’

‘No! I didn’t stab her,’ McCloud blurted. ‘I strangled her. But I didn’t stab her.’

His lawyer closed his eyes. ‘Jim. Please. Shut up.’

‘There were sixteen girls in the MAC program,’ Hyatt pushed. ‘You raped them all.’

‘Then you killed them,’ Grayson finished coldly. ‘You killed them all except Adele Shaffer.’

McCloud’s eyes widened. ‘No. I did not kill any others. I didn’t.’

Grayson leaned forward. ‘Then why are they dead?’

Panic filled McCloud’s eyes. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. Keith, get me out of here.’

‘I can’t,’ his lawyer said. ‘I told you to be quiet. You never listen.’

‘Why?’ Grayson asked. ‘Why did you do it? Why did you rape all those girls?’

McCloud shook his head, finally mute.

Grayson stood up, gathered the evidence. ‘That’s okay. We got enough.’

Questioning Dianna McCloud was a great deal easier. Hyatt and Grayson teamed up again, but this time they took a different approach. They’d found photographs among Mrs McCloud’s things that explained quite a lot. The first was a MAC group photo taken in 1984.

Stuart Lippman stood on the back row. There were other pictures – Stuart at his high-school graduation, college graduation, sitting at the defense table in a courtroom. He’d been her project.

And she’d taken his death very hard.

They’d found a lot of interesting things in Stuart’s condo. One was a laptop, owned by Denny Sandoval. On it were the original files that Elena had stolen. It appeared that Stuart Lippman had killed Sandoval. Assuming he’d killed Bob Bond as well wasn’t a big leap. Many of the dead MAC women had been hung in a similar fashion. That Lippman had also killed them made sense, especially given the close relationship he shared with Mrs McCloud.

Now they had to prove it.

When Grayson and Hyatt entered interview room four, she looked up, her eyes red and swollen. ‘Go away,’ she said hoarsely.

She’d waived her right to counsel, saying the only lawyer she trusted was dead. In her bloodshot eyes Grayson saw raw grief and the knowledge that Adele’s survival and accusation spelled her own fate. He also saw that Dianna didn’t care anymore.

‘Sorry, ma’am,’ Hyatt said. ‘We need to talk.’

‘I don’t want to talk to you.’

‘You loved Stuart,’ Grayson said, ignoring her.

She began to cry anew.

Grayson ignored that too. ‘He was the only person outside your family to have a condo in the penthouse suites.’

She looked up, surprised. ‘He was part of the family. My part.’

‘He was a MAC kid.’

She nodded unsteadily. ‘He was such a little gentleman the day he came to the estate. So much better behaved than that brat of Claire’s. Stuart loved me. I was a better mother than that whore he lived with.’ She dabbed at her eyes. ‘I took care of him. And he took care of me.’

‘So tell me about the MAC kids,’ Grayson said. ‘Why did you start the charity?’

‘I wanted to help children.’

‘But your husband didn’t.’ Grayson dropped his voice confidentially. ‘He liked little girls. You don’t have to worry about sharing his secrets. He told us so. He told us he loved Reba.’

She looked uncomfortable. ‘Of course he does. He’s her father.’

‘No. He didn’t love her the way he was supposed to. He wanted Reba. Just like he’d wanted Claire.’ It was a guess, but Grayson hoped to see how she’d react. He wasn’t disappointed.

Her face twisted into a grimace. ‘Yes, he did. I hated that about him.’

‘You knew he molested Claire?’ Grayson asked and Dianna nodded, reluctantly.

‘Did you try to stop him?’ Hyatt asked and she looked confused.

‘She wasn’t my daughter. It wasn’t my place.’

Grayson wanted to grimace too, but kept his expression straight. ‘But Reba
is
your daughter.’

‘Yes. I had to protect her. That’s what you do for your children.’

‘Claire moved out,’ Grayson said, remembering Paige’s theory. ‘And your husband started looking at Reba.’

‘I had to protect her,’ Dianna said defensively.

‘So you gave him the other girls? The MAC girls.’

‘Yes,’ Dianna said, as if it made perfect sense. ‘It wasn’t as if they . . .’

‘They what, Mrs McCloud?’ Grayson asked. ‘It wasn’t as if they
what
?’

Dianna shrugged. ‘Mattered. It was only a question of time before
somebody
did it to them, coming from those kinds of homes. I had to protect my daughter.’

Hyatt drew a breath and Grayson knew the lieutenant was fighting to keep his anger in control. ‘Why did you kill Crystal Jones?’ Hyatt asked.

‘She tried to hurt us. Would have blackmailed us.’

‘So your husband met her in the shed and strangled her,’ Grayson said. ‘But he didn’t kill her.’

‘It’s okay,’ Hyatt said. ‘He already confessed. He said he only strangled her.’

Dianna rolled her eyes. ‘He did a sloppy job. After he came out of the shed, I went in. The girl was still alive.’

‘So you stabbed her?’ Hyatt asked.

She said nothing, but her face spoke volumes. She’d done it, all right.

‘How did you know she was Crystal?’ Grayson asked. ‘She told Rex she was Amber so she could sneak into the party.’

Dianna looked scornful. ‘She also told my husband she was Amber, every time she tried to seduce him. My husband is an idiot who thinks with his . . . you know.’

‘So your husband knew Crystal before the night of the party?’ Hyatt asked.

‘Yes. She attended a guest lecture he did for one of Rex’s college classes. She somehow got Jim’s cell-phone number, probably from Rex. She started texting him. Sending naked pictures of herself. Telling him how turned on she got by politicians. I saw the texts – I always check his phone. I wanted to know who this bimbo was. So I called the university, checked the class list. The students had to show ID to get into the guest lectures, heightened security and all. There was no Amber on the list. I got suspicious and talked to the professor. He remembered her getting cozy with Jim, but later sidling up to Rex. The professor told me her name was Crystal Jones.’

‘You recognized the name?’ Grayson asked.

‘Of course. I have a photographic memory. I knew who she was and I warned Jim. The next thing I know, she’s lied her way onto our property. I followed Jim that night when he went to the shed. He knew who she was and what she wanted. He killed her, or thought he did. I tried to stab her, but I didn’t know where to put the knife.’