Mona Lisa Eyes (Danny Logan Mystery #4) (24 page)

Bannister looked at him for a second, then he shrugged
again. “Once a week or so.”

“When’s the last
time?”

Bannister leaned back, thinking. “Last week, I think.”

“Haven
’t heard from him this week?”

“Nope.”

“You’re certain
of that?”

“Fuck you, man,” he said in a calm
voice. “You asked, I told you.” He jerked his head
toward a video camera and shrugged. “You can check it
out with these guys. They got everything on tape, you
know. After that lady guard got strangled last year, you
can’t take a crap in this place without being
on camera now.” In the summer of 2011, an inmate
strangled a female guard in the chapel of the same
unit where Bannister now served his time.

“Relax,” Ron said
. “No offense meant. I just wanted to make sure.”

“Well
, I’m sure.” He looked at the clock and started
to stand up. “You know, I’m not happy about
where this is going, and I sure as hell don
’t need this shit. I just remembered I got an
appointment. If that’ll be all . . .”

I looked up at
him. “Hold on there,” I said. He stopped, turning to
look at me. “You can leave if you want. You
don’t have to help us. For that matter, you
don’t have to do anything at all, here. You
can walk on out of here and go back to
the laundry, and that’ll be that. But you strike
me as someone who’s pretty smart.

“You’re smart
enough to know you got nothing to lose by sitting
down and listening to what these guys have to say
. Might piss you off, but who knows? There might something
you like—something that might help you or your brother
.”

“Doesn’t sound like it’s going that way,” he
said.

I shrugged. “They just got started. I don’t
think they’re done yet.” I turned to Ron. “You
done?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

I turned back to
Gabriel. “There. See? What’ve you got to lose?”

He
looked at me for a second, then he nodded and
sat back down. “Alright. You’re right. Nothin’ to lose
.” He leaned forward. “Just don’t expect too much from
me, understand?”

I nodded. “Deal.”

He turned to Ron. “So
just jump over all the bullshit and get to the
point, man. What do you want from me?”

“We’re
trying to find your brother.” Ron said. “We were hoping
you’d help us out.”

Bannister laughed. “No sense fuckin
’ staying for that shit. Help you out? Help you what
? Help you find my little brother so you can bust
him? Why the fuck would I want to do that
?”

“We didn’t say we were going to bust him
,” Ron said.

Bannister was about to say something, but apparently
what Ron said surprised him. He froze for a second
or two, his mouth open. Then he relaxed and leaned
back.

“We want to talk to your brother, hear what
he has to say,” Ron continued. “We’re looking for
answers. With that in mind, let’s look at the
possibilities. Basically, he either killed her or he didn’t
. You agree with that?”

Bannister just looked at him.

“I
’ll take that as a yes. So let’s look
at each of the possibilities in turn. First, think about
this. If your brother killed Judie Lawton, eventually we’re
going to find him, probably sooner rather than later. We
already have his ID—we know who he is. The
only ones who ever get away from us are the
anonymous ones. Once we ID a guy, we always get
him—it’s just a matter of time. And we
’re on the hunt right now. Meanwhile, what I’ve
already learned from people I’ve talked to, Josh seems
like a likable guy. But one thing I haven’t
seen is anything to show me he’s got any
particular skills that will help him evade us.” Ron shook
his head. “Nothin’. So, keeping all that in mind, here
’s a question for you. You ever have reason to
believe that your standard-issue, garden-variety cop might get
a little amped up sometime? Maybe even a little what
you’d call overzealous?”

Bannister leaned back and laughed. “You
think?”

“That’s right. And when’s that likely to
happen?” Before Bannister could answer, Ron continued, “I’ll tell
you when. It mostly happens in high-stress situations. Like
when you’re confronting a murder suspect.” Ron paused and
let this sink in before he continued. “So let’s
put it together, then. One: We got a likable guy
—your brother—who fucks up, makes a bad mistake and
finds himself on the run from the cops. He’s
got no tradecraft, no kind of skills that would keep
him one step out in front of us. Two: We
got overzealous, amped-up cops all over the state hunting
for him. They’ve all been trained, they’re all
good guys, but, God love ’em, they do get excited
when they think they’re about to capture a murderer
. Makes sense, right? Put these two things together, and I
ask you, does this little combination of things sound like
a recipe for a mistake? Maybe a tragic one? A
pointless one?”

Bannister didn’t answer, just kept looking at
Ron.

“I’ll give you the other reason,” I said
. Bannister turned to me. “It’s the race.”

He looked
at me, confused. “Race? What race?”

“Exactly. The race. Think
about this. Let’s say your theory is right, and
your brother didn’t have anything to do with the
murder, but he’s scared and he bails. At that
point, it’s a simple race, isn’t it?”

He
looked at me. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a
race. A race to find him. The cops are already
looking. If they win the race and find him first
, and if your brother’s lucky, they’ll arrest him
. ’Course if he’s not so lucky, why, then he
’ll fuck up and get shot when they close in
.”

“Yeah,” Bannister said, “but what happens if Josh wins the
race?”

I smiled. “Dude, the cops aren’t racing against
Josh—that’s not the race.”

He looked at me
, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Your little brother took off
, right? He didn’t take off because of the cops
. If your theory is right, he took off because he
was scared. The cops aren’t racing Josh. If you
’re right, they’re racing the guy who killed Judie
Lawton to see who can get to Josh first. If
your theory is right, that guy’s after Josh too
. Right now. You better
hope
that the cops get to
Josh first, because I got news for ya—that other
dude’s not looking to arrest your brother. He’s
gonna kill him.”

Bannister was quiet for a moment. He
leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Finally, he took
a deep breath and looked at Ron. “You really think
he killed Judie, don’t you?” He sounded halfway amazed
, like the very notion was about as likely as Brooklyn
Decker walking through the door and saying hello.

Ron waited
a second, then he shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what I
think. I gotta go by what the evidence says. Right
now, the evidence we have points to your brother. That
means I gotta bring him in. He can tell his
story then.”

“You know, I never knew Judie Lawton. I
was in here when Josh met her. But when he
’d come see me, he talked about her all the
damn time: ‘Judie did this’ and ‘Judie said that.’ He
was really into her. Apparently, she was really something.” He
looked down for a second, thinking, and then he looked
at Ron again. “First time in his life he ever
hooked up with someone like that.” He shook his head
. “You guys are after the wrong guy. He’d never
do anything to hurt her.” He looked back at Ron
, a determined look on his face. “And I hear what
you’re saying about running from Judie Lawton’s murderer
—the
real
murderer. But if my little brother wants to
turn himself in, that’s up to him. If he
wants to stay out, that’s up to him too
. I would never rat him out. You must think I
’m the lowest son of a bitch in the world
if you think I’d turn in my own brother
.”

For a couple of minutes there, I thought that the
logic of our argument might have been sinking into Bannister
’s thick skull. Apparently, I was wrong.

Ron looked at
him for a few seconds, then said, “Alright. One other
thing before we go—a completely different subject.” He turned
to Yoshi. “Give me that date, Yosh.”

Yoshi referred to
a file. “December twelfth.”

“December twelve,” Ron said. “You got
a parole hearing coming up, right?”

Bannister leaned back and
laughed. “Oh, yeah! I been wonderin’ when you were going
to bring this up. Here it comes.” He leaned forward
. “You slimy son of a bitch. Now comes the part
where you threaten my parole hearing, right? That’s fuckin
’ blackmail. I’m surprised you waited so long to mention
it.”

“Blackmail?” Ron said. “Threats? I’m offended. We’re
not talking blackmail, are we Yosh?”

Yoshi shook his head
. “No way, man.”

Ron shook his head too. “No, I
didn’t think so. See, we would never do anything
to get in the way at your hearing. That’s
between you and the fine folks who run this place
.”

“Then what—?”

“It’s just that an
endorsement
by the
Seattle Police Department at your parole hearing could make a
big difference, you know? In your favor. I mean, think
about it. Don’t help us at all? No problem
; we won’t be against you. But on the other
hand, having us on your side? In your corner at
your parole hearing?”

“Oh, hell,” Bannister said, “why didn’t
you say so. An endorsement?” He glared at Ron. “Then
you guys will stand in my corner. Great. And for
that little stamp of approval, all I have to do
is rat out my little brother.”

“Help us talk to
him,” Ron said. “Help us get the opportunity to hear
his side of the story before he does something stupid
and gets himself killed.”

Bannister nodded. He leaned forward and
put his head in his hands, clearly thinking about his
options. Besides an occasional muffled
clank
of a metal door
closing somewhere beyond the room, the ticking of the clock
on the wall was the only sound.

After a couple
of minutes like this, he sat up. “Okay. You want
an answer? Here’s what I think.” We sat up
straight in anticipation, and leaned forward slightly. “You want to
know where Josh is, right?”

Ron nodded.

“And in exchange
, you’ll help me at my parole hearing.”

Ron nodded
. “We’ll put in a good word.”

Gabriel nodded. “Good
word. Okay. Here’s a word for ya.” He leaned
forward. “Go fuck yourself. I don’t know shit. And
as to my parole,” he shrugged, “I’m almost done
anyway. I don’t need your fuckin’ endorsement. I’ll
take my chances.”

Ron stared hard at Bannister, who stared
right back. They looked like a couple of prizefighters in
the center of the ring before the bout begins. Finally
, still staring at Gabriel, Ron waved his hand in the
air.

Immediately, the intercom light glowed red and the overhead
speaker crackled to life. “Yessir. Something you want?”