Beneath The Surface (24 page)

“Oh,” Carmen said quietly, and thought about Black and the advice he gave Mrs. Winters.

“So, you wanna tell me what you talked about?” Mitchell asked as Carmen’s cell beeped to let her know that she had a message.

Carmen reached in her purse and took out her phone. “It’s from Margaret. It says: Valerie Hudson. Now I’ve got one with a picture.” Carmen looked at the picture and showed it to Mitchell.

“That’s her, Valerie Hudson,” Mitchell said and wrote the name down. “Now tell me what Mrs. Winters told you, Carmen.”

Carmen knew that she would have to tell the detective something; just exactly what that would be, was another matter. At this point, she was worried that the officer that saw her leaving the building recognized Black.

“I went to her apartment, but if she was there, she wouldn’t open the door,” Carmen said calmly.

“Why didn’t you mention that you went there?”

“I didn’t see any reason to. What was I gonna say; I went by there and didn’t talk to her?”

“Yes.” Mitchell looked frustrated. “How did you find her?”

“After we got our footage back,
me
and Max reviewed it and we didn’t see anything; so I talked to the security chief at the gallery. He showed me their footage and he recognized her; called her ‘a real patron of the arts.’ I asked him if you had been there, and he said that you had talked to Aneisha Perry.”

“And even with all that, you still didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”

“Like you said, I saw the same thing in the video that you saw,” Carmen said and her cell phone rang. She looked at the display but did recognize the number. “I need to take this, detective.” It didn’t matter who was calling, Carmen needed to get the detective off of her, if only for a minute. “This is Carmen.”

“Hello Carmen.” It was Black. “How are you?”

Carmen got up and walked to the room. “I’m fine. Glad you called,” Carmen said quietly. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting here with Michelle; looking at the Caribbean Sea.”

“You’re in Nassau?” Carmen asked and sounded dejected.

“Yes. I left early this morning. I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. I just missed Michelle.”

“I missed you too, Daddy,” Michelle said, and Carmen melted.

“I’m taking her out on the boat fishing in the morning.”

“You hate fishing,” Carmen said.

“Yeah, but she loves it,” Black said, and left out the fact that CeCe loves fishing, too, and it was her that got Michelle into it. “What are you doing?” Black asked to get off the subject.

“I’m at the police station talking to Detective Mitchell.”

“Then I’ll let you go.”

“When are you coming back?”

“Soon,” Black said and ended the call.

Carmen put her phone away and rejoined the detective. Mitchell looked at Carmen when she sat down.

“Sorry, I had to take that,” Carmen said.

“That’s another thing. How long have you known him?”

“Who?”

“Mike Black,” Mitchell said and leaned forward. “That was him on the phone, wasn’t it?” Carmen didn’t answer. “And that was definitely him my officer saw coming out of Jeannette Winters’s building with you.”

Carmen smiled. “I’ve known Mike Black for a long time. We used to date,” she paused, “before I became a model.”

“What are you doing with him now?”

“I hadn’t seen him in seventeen years, until a few days ago. We just ran into each other at a restaurant.”

“What was he doing at the
Winters’s
?”

“He helped me find her. But considering that they might be murderers, he didn’t want me going there by myself. ”

“How did he know where to find her?”

“He made a phone call. I didn’t ask him who he was calling.”

Mitchell had only heard some stories about Mike Black, but she was concerned about Carmen hanging around with a man like him. Mitchell knew that her new partner, Detective Harmon had just transferred in from the Bronx, so she asked him about Black.

“Whether those stories were true or not, as far as I know, right now, Mike Black is a legitimate businessman,” Harmon told her. “But if you really wanna know about Mike Black, there’s a detective named Kirk that you need to talk to.”

“You think he’s involved in your case?” Kirk had asked when they had talked.

“No,” Mitchell told him. She had told the stakeout officer not to mention his seeing Mike Black with Carmen to anybody. “Just curious.”

What Harmon didn’t tell her, was about his association to Mike Black. Harmon wasn’t on the payroll but he did do favors for Nick, for which he was well paid. He’d prided himself on the fact that he hadn’t done anything illegal for Nick, and that was how he intended to keep it. But his explanation seemed to satisfy his partner.

“All I gotta say about it is, be careful with him, Carmen.”

“I’m always careful, detective.”

“Now,” Mitchell got up and took her gun out of the drawer, “you wanna go with me to Staten Island to see if you can get your friend Margaret to talk to me?”

“Sure,” Carmen said and grabbed her bag.

 
After taking another ride to Staten Island, Carmen and Mitchell arrived at Margaret’s apartment. Since she hadn’t told Carmen where she lived, Margaret was surprised when she looked out and saw her standing there with another woman. She started to be quiet; let Carmen knock on the door, and hoped that she would go away. When Mitchell started banging and identified herself as a cop, Margaret opened the door. “Margaret Fortini.”

“Yes.”

“I’m Detective Mitchell. And you know Carmen Taylor. I need to ask you some questions about Valerie Hudson and Cecelia Cunningham. Can I come in?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really,” Mitchell said.

“Then come on in,” Margaret said and led them into her living room. “What you wanna ask me?”

“Did you see Valerie Hudson on the same day that you saw Cecelia Cunningham with Finch?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have talked to you,” Margaret said and looked at Carmen. “Finch is gonna kill me.”

“Talk to me,” Mitchell demanded. “Did you see Valerie Hudson that day?”

“No, I didn’t see Vallie that day.”

“Is there any way she could have been there, and you not have known she was there?” Mitchell pressed.

“Sure, it’s possible. I could have been away from my desk, or somebody coulda let her in another door.”

“You told Carmen that Finch was very upset that night before you left.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember what he was mad about?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I talked to a customer that was real mad because he didn’t get what he paid for. He was yellin’ and screamin’ at me about how he was gonna cause trouble, if he didn’t get what he paid for. When I told Finch who I was fussin’ with, he got on the phone with him. He was pissed and cussin’ after that.”

“Do you remember what the customer’s name was, Miss Fortini?”

“It was something common, like Smith or Jones. We had a lot of customers named Smith and Jones; especially the ones that got special orders.”

“What time did you take that call from alias Smith or Jones?”

“I know it was after six.”

“You can’t be more specific then that?”

“No. I was supposed to be outta there by six; otherwise, I’ll miss my train, which I did that night.”

“So Finch takes the call; gets mad. How long after that did Cecelia Cunningham come in?”

“’Bout ten minutes,” Margaret said, and Mitchell got up. Carmen followed her to the door. “Thank you, Miss Fortini. You’ve been a big help.”

“What about Finch? Suppose he come after me again?”

“He can’t hurt you when he’s in jail,” Mitchell said and let
herself
out.

During the ride back to Manhattan, Mitchell gave Carmen some more details about Crème and Vallie. She explained that Crème’s body had been in the dumpster for at least a week before it was found; so the coroner could only estimate the time of death. According to the eyewitness, Vallie was hit by the car at 11:15; the same night that Crème went off with Finch.

“So what happens now?” Carmen asked.

“I’ll get a court order and pull the LUDs for that number; see if I can narrow down who this Mr. Smith, or Jones, that made that call.”

“I don’t mean to sound stupid, but what are LUDs. I mean, I hear the term in every cop show on TV, but I never knew what it meant.”

“LUD stands for local usage details. It’s a detailed record of local calls made and received from a particular phone number. If you want some history, review Title III of the 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. It says that law enforcement officials can obtain these records with a court order, provided there is enough reasonable cause to suspect that the communication equipment was material to a specific crime; and were traditionally subject to the same restrictions as telephone tapping. LUDs may be legally used by the police without first obtaining a warrant, as determined by Smith v. Maryland in 1979. But I like to have all my ducks in a row, so I’ll get a court order. I know a judge I can wake up,” Mitchell said. The next day, Mitchell had the information she wanted. And then she called Carmen on her cell.

“There was only one call made to that number after six. The number is registered to a Thaddeus Jones,” Mitchell said. “I’m going by there now. You wanna ride?”

“Of course I do,” Carmen said.

“Where are you?”

“At the station.”

“I’m on my way,” Mitchell said as she drove. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

As promised, the detective picked up Carmen and they headed out to Long Island. On the way, Carmen asked Mitchell why she was bringing her along. Carmen knew the detective could have just gone out there and not even mentioned it to her.

“Two reasons: one I already told you. Remember, I told you that I understood what it was like to have the men you work with and for, not to take you seriously because you’re a woman.”

“You said two reasons. What’s the second?”

When they arrived at the Jones’s residence, a very nice home in Glen Cove, Mitchell rang the bell. An older woman in her late sixties answered the door.

“Can I help you, ladies?”

“Yes,” Mitchell began. “We’re looking for Thaddeus Jones. Is he here?”

The woman looked at Mitchell and Carmen and began to cry. This seemed to annoy the detective. “Stop that damn cryin’ and answer my question.”

Carmen touched Mitchell on the shoulder and stepped in front of her. “Are you all right, honey?” she said in a comforting voice.