Sweet Dreams Boxed Set (24 page)

“Where is this evidence?”

“I have a safe deposit box with everything on Hart. It was the best way to keep him under our thumb. He was well aware that we had incriminating evidence on him, but he didn’t know specifically what.”

“And did you dump her body in the Sacramento River?”

“No. I collected the evidence and her manager took care of the body, cleaned up the motel room, paid off the staff, took care of the situation.”

Jim drank more water, but he didn’t appear to be at all remorseful or nervous. “He’s a sociopath,” Alex said, then realized she’d spoken out loud.

“I’ve faced men like him before,” Matt said, “but not with his level of ... I don’t know. Professionalism? Arrogance?”

It made Alex sick. Matt rubbed her shoulders. “Alex,” he whispered. He didn’t have to say anything else. Just having him here, with her, while they listened to Jim Perry’s interview, calmed her. Comforted her. Matt was solid. Her rock when she needed someone to lean on.

Dean prompted Jim. “And the other victims?”

“As it is with sexual predators, Hart couldn’t stop his perversion from controlling him. I saw the pattern—when he had a set-back professionally, he took it out on whores. The first time, five years ago with Daphne, I don’t know specifically what happened to him, but it must have been serious. But three years ago—he’d just lost the race for D.A. Elsa paid the price. Even though he was panicked that he would be caught, he couldn’t help himself. Two prostitutes disappeared the next year after being sent to meet with him. It took me awhile, but I discovered he took them to a cabin in Camino, above Placerville. I have documentation of his trips, evidence that the girls were in the cabin, but I never found their bodies.

“The organization cut him off after Mariska because I determined he was unreliable and unpredictable.”

“And you can provide proof for everything that you’re saying,” the AUSA interjected.

Jim gave her a blank stare. “That’s the agreement.”

Dean said, “Continue, please.”

“The last girl he killed was six weeks ago. He strangled her to death during sex.”

“You just said you’d cut him off. What changed?” Dean asked.

“It wasn’t my decision. Some people felt he was too valuable to the operation, and he’d promised to behave. For awhile, he did. A few bruises, but nothing serious. But I was tracking him closely. I wanted to cut him off permanently. Hell, I wanted to put a bullet in his head for being a dick. But truly, he was instrumental in some legal matters over the years, and he helped legitimize many of the businesses. Unfortunately, one of his staff members had seen him with the girl the day before she disappeared. I didn’t think anything would come to it—it’s not like the whore would be reported missing, and the staffer didn’t really know what he saw. But Hart panicked.” Jim rolled his eyes. “It was suggested that he take care of his staff himself if he was concerned.”

“By whom?” the AUSA asked.

“According to our agreement, I do not have to provide that information,” Jim said. He continued. “Hart wanted someone else to clean up his mess, like always. He came up with this insane plan to stage an assassination attempt. He told Vlad Genkin—the kid we found dead in Discovery Park—where Eric Huang would be and when. I wanted to quash the plan, but Hart was adamant.”

“And Hart didn’t know about your involvement,” Dean confirmed. “Nothing.”

Jim shook his head. “No one knew about me. The whore’s manager knew—only because of Hart’s screw ups. Which pissed me off, but the guy is old school, very trustworthy. So Hart set Mr. Huang up. Vlad was given the same gun that Hart use to kill Elsa, which of course Hart didn’t know anything about. I wanted to make sure he understood exactly what his role was in the organization, and how easy it would be for us to destroy him. I knew that when ballistics came out, he would panic. Which he did, by demanding that the organization kill Alexandra Morgan.”

Matt’s hands tightened on her shoulders. This was the first that they’d heard that Alex had been a target. Why would Hart have suspected her? What was his reason for wanting her dead if no one knew she was working undercover? She’d had dinner with him, had never even gotten the vibe that he wanted to kill her.

“Did Hart know that Ms. Morgan had been working undercover for the FBI while she was a Sac PD detective?”

“No, but he was suspicious about what happened between Detective Cordell and Alex. So was I—I couldn’t prove she was working undercover. I even wondered if I was wrong, because I could find nothing. She was a good liar.” He paused and stared at the one-way glass. He couldn’t see her, Alex knew, but it seemed he was looking right at her.

Jim continued.

“Through the network, Tommy Cordell was ordered to beat up a drug dealer as a test. The Alex I knew wouldn’t have let that stand—she would have gone to her lieutenant and reported it. I had bought into her turning her back on skimming, because privately, she’d indicated that it bothered her but she knew the score. It happened, it wasn’t going to stop, and she didn’t want to be a snitch. But I also knew that Alex would never let Cordell get away with abuse under the color of authority. When she didn’t report, I had her followed. Saw that she was meeting with the District Attorney. Then, I didn’t know she was covered by the FBI, but suspected she was working with the D.A.’s investigative unit—assuming that her father had hooked her up with Elliott. But once I learned that the D.A. had a sister who was a fed, I wondered if there was something more going on. But by that time, she’d moved out, and then she and Cordell had the shoot-out.”

Dean pressed. “What really happened with the shooting that left Detectives Morgan and Cordell injured.”

“That wasn’t me. Cordell was told to cool off for awhile. He wasn’t told about Alex’s possible investigation. I was working behind the scenes to get her transferred to another division. Truthfully, I didn’t want her killed. But Cordell, like most sex addicts, couldn’t stop. I wanted to castrate him myself. I don’t think he expected Alex to walk into the motel. I’m not even sure why she did it, or if her official report—that she thought her partner was in trouble—was accurate. Cordell panicked, and I think suddenly put two and two together and was expecting a sting operation. He shot her, and the only thing I regret about that day was that Alex didn’t kill him.”

Jim leaned forward. “For the record, I care about Alex Morgan. I did everything in my power to keep her out of the line of fire. When she stopped the assassination that Hart set up—to kill Eric Huang—Hart was convinced that she’d somehow known about it. He remembered her connection to Cordell, that Cordell was in prison and she was still out. He knew everything about her, her father, and resented that her father supported Matt Elliott for D.A.—and got other judges to support Elliott as well. Hart not only had a God complex—that he thought he was better than everyone else and above the law—but a persecution complex, that everyone was out to get him, particularly the D.A. Matt Elliott.

“I bugged Alex’s apartment the night Hart took her to dinner. Hart’s driver was one of my men, and was told that if Hart attempted to hurt her, he was to be stopped. I didn’t want to believe that Alex was still working for the feds, but she’d lied to me when I showed her the picture of Vlad. I
knew
she’d seen him, because I knew Tommy Cordell had taken her to the boat house where Vlad lived, in the apartment above the repair shop. Yet she denied it. I needed to know what she knew and who else knew it.

“I was too late.” Jim hesitated and for a split second seemed to consider something else. “Not only did Alex know too much about our operation, but she’d been talking to Selena Black, who had confided to her brother Detective John Black, and it was only a matter of time before they connected the dots. I had to cut our losses and disband the organization.”

“He’s lying,” Alex said as the truth washed over her. She was shaking.

“About what?” Matt asked.

“I didn’t talk to Selena until the morning after he bugged my apartment. I think--”

He hadn’t come over that night to kill her. Had he?

“You’re safe now,” Matt whispered in her ear.

Maybe Jim did care about her in his own twisted way. Or maybe he knew that if he killed her, it would fall back on Rykov. Either way, he had gone out of his way to keep her safe.

She didn’t know how to feel about that. She would have to think on it for a long time.

Dean Hooper said, “Where is the evidence of Hart’s involvement in those murders?”

Jim nodded to his attorney, who slid over a small envelop. “The key and location of my safe deposit box. As an added bonus, the box includes all the payments made between the organization and Tommy Cordell, and an accounting of all the money Hart laundered through his properties. You know about the boat house on River Road. There were more. High priced rents that were paid by organization operatives to the management company, which was cleaned through the holding companies. Hart’s hand-written notes on how to set it up. Oh, and a video of him strangling Mariska. After the incident with Elsa, I had the manager record Hart’s liaison’s, when possible.”

Jim leaned back. “I think we’re through, aren’t we?”

“For now. We may have follow-up questions, and I will remind you that you will need to testify against Travis Hart.”

“My pleasure,” he said. He looked again at the one-way glass. “You did good, Alex. I always suspected that you would be the one to put it all together. If you hadn’t ruined my operation, I might even be proud.”

Alex had no idea what to think of that.

She was extremely relieved that it was over.

***

Dean Hooper let Alex and Matt join him when he went to arrest Travis Hart at his office in the Capitol later that afternoon. “You’ve both earned it,” Dean said.

The U.S. Marshals were with them, as well as a group of FBI agents who had a search warrant for Hart’s legislative offices, home, and campaign. Jim Perry hadn’t given up Sergei Rykov, but in giving up Travis Hart he must have known that Travis had information on Rykov that he might attempt to use for a deal.

Except, Dean already told Alex there would be no deal. “When it was bribery and political corruption, I would consider it. Not for murder.”

Dean led the way into Hart’s office. Hart was on the phone and first looked surprised, then angry, at being interrupted.

The anger quickly turned to fear.

“Travis Hart, you are under arrest for one count of murder in the first degree, two counts of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder, multiple counts of racketeering and abuse of power.” Dean slapped the arrest warrant on his desk. “All charges are listed in this warrant.”

“Murder?
Murder?
I’ve never killed anyone!”

Dean read him his rights.

“I know my rights, I was a prosecutor!” Hart spotted Matt standing near the doors. All color drained from his face. “You.”

“I knew this day would come,” Matt said.

Hart went from pale to beet red. “This whole case is tainted! Matt Elliott is a liar!”

Dean leaned over his desk and said, “We not only have a witness who told us that you habitually abused prostitutes, but we have a video of you strangling a prostitute to death while raping her. Did you think that the people you were in business with wouldn’t protect themselves?” He smiled. “We have it all on tape. You are going down hard, Mr. Hart.”

“It’s a lie. It’s all made up.” But he looked scared.

Served him right.

Dean cuffed him. That’s when Travis Hart saw Alex standing partly behind Matt. At first he didn’t register what it meant, then he shook his head. “This is all because of you, isn’t it? If you weren’t at the hotel, no one would have figured out anything. I told them you should have been shot!”

“I can’t take all the credit,” Alex said, “but I’m happy to take part of it.”

“They’ll come for you,” Hart said. “You’re as good as dead, Alex Morgan.”

Matt stepped forward and raised his fist. Dean stepped between them. “We’ll add threatening a federal agent to the long list of charges,” Dean said.

“What? No fucking way,” Hart said.

Alex just smiled. She’d accepted a position in the FBI, and would be heading to Quantico as soon as her ankle healed, likely by the start of the summer session. Dean called in a favor to ensure that she would be assigned to Sacramento, because he knew how important family was to her. With what she’d sacrificed to help them take down Travis Hart and disband Rykov’s operation, Dean had told her she deserved something good to happen.

“You’ll all pay for this!” Hart shouted as Dean walked him out of the office. “You think anything will stick? I’ll be out faster than you can blink.” He sneered at Matt. “You won’t see me coming, Elliott. I will never forget this.”

Matt glared at him and watched as Hart was escorted from the building. Alex took his hand and they followed. As soon as they stepped out, they saw the press congregating right outside the main doors.

“How’d they get here so fast?” Alex asked.

“A little birdie must have told them,” Matt said. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll miss you when you’re in Virginia.”

“They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

“That’s bullshit. I’ll visit as often as I can.”

“You have an important and demanding job.”

“I’ll make time. And starting today, I’m on vacation—my first vacation since I was elected. A whole week.”

She smiled. “You’re serious.”

“Yes, I am. It might have been presumptuous of me, but I asked your brothers to move your stuff into my house.”

That surprised her. “You did?”

“I can call them and cancel.”

She smiled. “Don’t you dare. Let’s go home.” They walked out of the building, using a different exit than the one that Hooper used for Hart. Or, rather, Alex waddled out of the building on her crutches. “Are you really going to take the week off?”

“Yes. I have a terrific staff. They are perfectly capable of steering the ship so I can spoil you. Unless you’d rather go somewhere, like Tahoe? Hawaii? Anywhere you want.”