False Front (23 page)

‘His age?’

‘Thirty-four.’

‘That makes him too young to be in the same graduating class with the others,’ Lucinda mused.

‘Excuse me?’ Beth asked.

‘Never mind. Just trying to fit him into the current cast of characters,’ she said. ‘You’re sure about this ID?’

‘Oh, yes. Absolutely. It’s a statistically perfect match for one of the DNA profiles.’

‘There’s another?’ Lucinda asked.

‘Two others, actually. Three in all: Trappatino, the victim and an unknown.’

‘Unknown?’

‘Male is the best we can do. Any luck on getting a sample from the husband?’

‘No. Would you like to call him to schedule an appointment with serology?’

Beth Ann gave her a puzzled look and then said, ‘Oh, right. You have to go through his attorney now.’

‘Don’t let him know that you know about that when you call.’

‘You got it.’

‘Thanks. Later,’ Lucinda said as she went back down the hall and evaded another conversation with Audrey Ringo.

When she arrived at her desk there was already a message from Lara containing news story attachments. She read them through with a mounting frustration – a litany of dropped charges, compromised evidence and crafty evasion. She would need as much help as she could get to bring Julius Trappatino to heel. She could hardly believe she was thinking it, but she knew she needed the resources of the FBI.

She called the field office and asked for Jake even though she knew he wasn’t there. ‘This is Lieutenant Pierce.’

‘Oh, Lieutenant, Special Agent Lovett is on a leave of absence.’

‘I need his assistance on an investigation.’

‘Didn’t he tell you he’s desk-bound now?’

‘Yes. But I need him to be reactivated.’

‘That’s way above my pay grade, Lieutenant. In fact, no one here in this office can make that happen.’

‘Give me a phone number for the wicked witch of the north, then.’

Lucinda was rewarded with a chuckle and the number to Sandra Goodman’s direct line. She introduced herself when Goodman answered.

‘And what can I do for you today, Lieutenant?’

‘I need FBI assistance and I want to work with Special Agent in Charge Jake Lovett.’

‘That is not possible at this time, but I can connect with another agent from that field office.’

‘I do not want another agent. I want Agent Lovett.’

‘Special Agent in Charge Lovett is not engaging in field work at this time. I can strongly recommend . . .’

‘I don’t care who you might recommend. I’ve worked with Lovett in the past and I trust his judgment and his analysis.’

‘It is simply not possible at this time. The same resources and commitment are available to you with any agent.’

‘Listen, Director Goodman. That does not matter. I am sitting here with a homicide case that appears to be connected to a hit man whom I believe you have had under investigation.’

‘His name?’

‘I’ll tell that to Special Agent Lovett.’

‘I do not understand your attitude.’

‘Let’s just say I have trust issues.’

‘I’m sorry. That’s not good enough.’

‘How about this, Goodman? I’ll call my mayor and tell him to go ahead and contact his friend at the Justice Department and schedule the news conference about Julius Trappatino.’ Each word of Lucinda’s bluff bit into her tongue as she spoke it.

‘The mayor has friends at the Justice Department?’

‘Who doesn’t?’ Lucinda quipped. She loathed the politics of inter-agency dancing even though she played it well.

‘It may take me some time to locate Special Agent in Charge Lovett. But when I do, I’ll give him your number and have him call. In the meantime, can someone else help you?’

‘No. But please bear in mind, with every passing moment my lead grows colder.’

‘Of course, Lieutenant,’ she said and slammed down the receiver.

Lucinda smiled. She didn’t like the lies or game-playing but still could not help feeling smug and satisfied when she won. Maybe Coynes will have luck with that phone call to Eagleton.

FORTY-THREE

J
ake walked back to the on-duty room, hoping to find Deputy Childress in the house. He spotted him at a keyboard working on a report. ‘Deputy Childress, have you got a moment?’

‘Sure. You still got my boy?’

‘Yes, I do, Deputy. I’d like you to come with me to talk something over with him.’

In the interrogation room Todd wouldn’t look his father in the eye. ‘Can you look at me, son?’

Todd just shook his head.

‘What’s the matter with you, boy?’

‘We’ll get to that in due time, Deputy,’ Jake said. ‘Todd, I know you were assaulted and threatened by Mr O’Hara. I know it was a very frightening experience. The question that remains is: do you want to press charges?’

‘Damned right we’ll press charges,’ the deputy bellowed.

‘No. No, Dad, I don’t want to press charges.’

‘Don’t want to press charges? That man held a gun to your head. I know he’s grieving but for cripe’s sake, that is no excuse.’

‘Agent Lovett,’ Todd said. ‘Since I’m eighteen years old, doesn’t that mean that the decision is all mine to make?’

‘I can’t believe you’re saying that, boy. After all I’ve done for—’

‘Deputy Childress, please,’ Jake said, holding up a hand. ‘Yes, Todd, it is your decision. I do think, though, it would be a good idea if you’d share with your father what happened the afternoon Dylan took his life.’

‘You tell him.’

Jake shook his head. ‘No, Todd, it should come from you.’

Todd sighed.

The deputy was now on his feet, pacing the room. He threw his hands up in the air and said, ‘Well, somebody tell me.’

‘Todd . . .’ Jake said.

Todd kept his eyes focused on the surface of the table as he told his dad about the incident in the locker room. He ended by pleading his case. ‘Dad, I swear to God Almighty – I had no idea he’d commit suicide. I was going to make it easy for him. Just get him to give me something to keep quiet.’

‘Give you something? Son, you crept right close to blackmail – extortion. And that’s a crime – a felony. I can understand why you got a little prickly with the O’Hara boy but Lord have mercy, boy, what were you thinking? You shoulda just told him to cut it out, you weren’t interested. Since when did you become a holy crusader?’

‘Dad, I just didn’t think . . .’

‘That’s right, Todd. You just didn’t think. Agent, can he go home now?’

‘If the matter of pressing charges is settled,’ Jake answered.

The deputy turned to his son. ‘Go on. Get out of here. You might want to talk to your mother before I get home from work. If I have to explain all this to her, you might not like what I say.’

Todd rose, slump-shouldered from the table and plodded across the room. At the doorway, he turned back and began, ‘Dad . . .’

‘Later, son. We’ll talk about this at home.’ Once Todd disappeared from view, the deputy turned his attention to Jake. ‘No, Agent. We won’t be pressing any charges against Seth O’Hara. You just tell him to stay away from Todd.’

‘I don’t think you’ll have a problem with Mr O’Hara, Deputy.’

‘Good. I’ve got my hands full with my boy.’

FORTY-FOUR

‘
L
ieutenant.’

Lucinda looked up to find Lara Quivey in her doorway with papers in both hands. ‘Whatcha got?’ she asked.

‘Tracked down Bonnie Louise Upchurch of Livingston High School to Texas where she legally changed her name to “Olivia Louise Cartwright” nineteen years ago.’

‘Is she still in Texas?’

‘No. Tracked her to Reno, then to San Diego and finally to Seattle. I’m still looking for where she went from there.’

‘What’s in the other hand?’

Lara looked down as if she’d forgotten she was holding that sheaf of papers. ‘Oh, right. I found six possible crimes that met the parameters you described. The one that really stood out was the discovery of a body buried just inside the Thomas Jefferson National Forest off an old logging road.’

‘How does a body found in the woods in Virginia connect to Livingston High School in New Jersey?’

‘Amazing, isn’t it? The body was that of seventeen-year-old Lindsey Barnaby, Class of ’78, Livingston High School, Trenton, New Jersey. No one could ever figure out how she got from there to Virginia. The state guys thought that a serial killer operating in the area was responsible. It looked like his work – death by a blow to the head and found buried in the same five-mile radius of where his other victims were found. But if it was, it had to have been his first killing and she doesn’t match the profile of all of his other victims. They were runaways and prostitutes. He pled guilty to many of the murders but insisted that Lindsey was not his victim. So the case is still cold – as in liquid nitrogen cold.’

Lucinda opened up the yearbook and flipped through the pages until she found a photograph of Lindsey Barnaby. She was a cheerleader and in the same choral group as Candace Eagleton. ‘Lara, can you find out where she lived when she was in high school – see if, by chance, it was in the same neighborhood as any of the others?’

‘I’ll get right on it,’ she said.

Lucinda watched her dart away and wondered again how she ever could have made headway in many of her cases without Lara’s assistance. She thought she probably should polish up her own computer research skills and do some of the work herself. But when would she find the time? And how long would it take her to have as much faith in her own abilities as she did in Lara’s?

She only had a moment to contemplate that thought before she was jerked out of her reverie by the bark-like voice of Captain Holland. ‘My office, Pierce. Now.’

What now? she wondered as she followed him down the hall.

Inside his office, Holland pointed to a chair and said, ‘Sit.’

Lucinda knew from his tone that soon she’d have to beg – with or with out his command.

Holland stared at her. The red bristles of his close-cut hair seemed to undulate on his head. The veins in both of his temples throbbed. Hard knots rose at the locus of his jaw joints. ‘Here’s the chain of command in action. A campaign contributor calls the mayor and chews on his ass. The mayor calls the police chief and gnaws on his butt. The police chief calls me and kicks my ass to Kingdom Come. Now it’s your turn.’

Oh, shit, Lucinda thought. Whose toes have I stepped on now?

‘Any pleas for mercy? Any wild excuses?’

‘No, sir.’

The captain shot to his feet and placed both palms flat on his desk as he leaned forward. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

‘Sir?’ Give me a clue, Lucinda thought.

As if on cue, Holland picked up a document and slapped it on the desk in front of her. ‘A restraining order, Pierce? A restraining order? You’re not a rookie. You should know when someone says that you need to communicate through their attorney that you leave that damned person alone.’

Lucinda scanned the document. Frank Eagleton. Oh, shit. Bad news travels way too fast.

‘Not only did you violate that policy, you embroiled someone else in your little plot. Not satisfied with adding black marks to your record, you have to drag someone else down with you.’

‘That was not my intent, sir.’

‘Intent be damned. To make matters worse, I had to call Doctor Ringo and explain it all to her. You know how I don’t like to talk to that woman. She chewed on the tattered remains of my ass for ten minutes before she took a breath. You’ve ruined my day – hell, my week – maybe my month. What do you have to say for yourself, Pierce?’

‘Beth Ann Coynes is blameless. This is all on me.’

‘Oh, really. Interesting. That’s not what Miss Coynes told Doctor Ringo.’

‘Honestly, Captain, Coynes is not responsible. I am.’

‘Really? Well, she told Doctor Ringo that she was aware of your frustration in not being able to get a DNA sample from Frank Eagleton. She thought she could alleviate it by calling him herself. She said that you were unaware of her actions.’

‘I don’t know why she would do that, sir. It is not what happened.’

‘I agree with you on that, Pierce. But I think you were both complicit in this conspiracy to violate policy. Doctor Ringo, however, has chosen to place all the blame on you and view Coynes as a victim of your manipulation.’

‘Glad to hear it, sir. I wouldn’t want to compromise Coynes’ employment.’

‘Glad to hear you say that, Pierce. ’Cause right now, you are going to haul your defaced ass down to the lab. You are going to apologize to Doctor Ringo for dragging one of her staff into your irresponsible mess.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And for God’s sake, do not call her “Audrey.” It’s Doctor Ringo and ma’am and nothing else.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘And if she calls and tells me otherwise or that your apology was not abject, your ass is mine.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Well, don’t just sit there. Go!’

Lucinda rose and stepped toward the door, coming to a dead stop when Captain Holland said, ‘One more thing, Pierce.’

She turned around and said, ‘Yes, sir?’

‘Cut this shit out.’

Lucinda nodded, turned and went out the door. She took the stairs down to the lab where she asked for Dr Ringo at the front desk.

Audrey Ringo stalked down the hall towards her, leaning forward as if fighting a headwind. ‘What do you want now?’ she shouted.

‘I’d like a few minutes of your time, Doctor Ringo.’

‘Don’t you think you’ve already wasted enough of it?’

Behind Audrey, Beth Ann poked her head out of a doorway. Her face was pained. Her arms bent at the elbows with her palms facing upward. She mouthed,
Sorry
.

Lucinda’s eye darted back to Audrey. ‘I want to apologize, Doctor Ringo.’

‘And offer up some lame excuse?’

‘No, ma’am. I want to accept full responsibility. I was irresponsible, reckless and untrustworthy.’

‘Let’s not forget arrogant.’

‘Yes, ma’am. I was arrogant and I truly regret my behavior.’

‘Do you realize you could have destroyed the promising career of a young forensic scientist?’

‘Yes, ma’am, I do.’