Serpent's Tooth (36 page)

“She took pity on me when I was at my lowest. Even though she was real angry, she said she’d help me. Oh, God, when she told me that, I swear I fell down and kissed her feet. She
believed
me. You couldn’t possibly realize what that meant.”

“I b’lieve I’m getting the picture,” Webster said.

Martinez said, “What’d she do for you, Sean?”

“She loaned me money to pay off Malcolm, that’s what she did. Loaned me money from her own pocket.”

“Twenty-five grand?”

“Actually ten.”

“In cash?” Martinez asked.

Sean shook his head. “A bearer bond. Know what that is?”

“Yes,” Webster answered. “Bearer bonds haven’t been issued in years. Who’d she get the bond from?”

Sean shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Jeanine Garrison gave you a bearer bond? And you gave it to Malcolm Carey?”

Sean nodded.

“And what did he say?” Martinez asked. “It wasn’t the twenty-five grand he asked for.”

“He said he’d accept it—this time. And that I should consider myself lucky.”

He stopped talking.

“And?” Martinez asked.

“That was it,” Sean said. “Jeanine never mentioned it again. And I never said anything.”

“What about the rumors?” Martinez said. “Half the school thinks you popped David Garrison.”

“Probably Mal started those. I played along. I was too scared not to. Mal wouldn’t like it if the truth came out.”

“You were never in David Garrison’s apartment?” Webster asked.

“Never!”

“What were you doing with those pictures of Wade Anthony?” Martinez asked.

Sean sighed. “Earlier in the day…God, I’m such a
jerk
…” He sighed again. “Jeanine and I got into this big fight over Wade. With the tournament…she had to spend time with him. All those pictures of them together. I know it’s her profession but it pissed me off. His attitude. Like he
owned
her! Ordering her around. Mr. Fucking Roller—Legs! I guess I was complaining about him to Malcolm.”

“And?” Martinez encouraged.

“What’s to say?” Sean said. “Next thing I know, Mal’s got pictures of Wade Anthony and this weird look on his face.
He
brought over those pictures. Not
me
. Then he starts telling me stuff…like how easy it would be to pop him. He was just starting to talk about it when the cops busted in—”

“So why did you flush the pictures down the toilet?” Martinez persisted.

“I told you, I panicked. I just grabbed whatever shit I could reach and stuffed it in the toilet.”

“Now why don’t I b’lieve that?” Webster asked.

Sean said. “Give me a lie detector test, if you don’t believe me.”

Webster said, “If you’re lying, you won’t beat the test, Sean.”

Sean smiled wryly. “Sir, believe me. It’ll be the
easiest
test I’ve ever passed.”

Closing the door
to Decker’s office, Marge said, “What is it with today’s teenagers? Are all of them psycho?”

Oliver took a chair. “You know what? I believe Sean Amos—”

“He snowed you,” Webster said.

“It’s Carey who’s doing the snowing. Kid’s giving off more flakes than a bad case of dandruff.”

Marge said, “Scott, we went into the interview charging Amos with a murder one. What was he supposed to say? I did it, yada yada yada?”

“Works in the prison movies—”

“Of course Sean’s going to try to shift the blame,” Marge went on. “The more he can pin on Carey, the better.”

“Scott, you can’t seriously believe Carey hit Garrison on his
own
.” Webster frowned. “That don’t make any sense.”

“Carey thought he could squeeze a rich boy like Sean,” Oliver said. “Plus he’s a flaming psycho who likes hurting people.”

Farrell Gaynor scanned through a thirty-page list of bearer bonds that had recently been called or redeemed. “This is going to take me a long time.”

“Why are you even bothering?” Oliver said.

“The Loo says try to verify where the bond came from.” Gaynor shrugged. “Have to start somewhere. At least we know it’s state of California.”

“Yeah, that narrows it to about thirty million—”

“Not quite that much.”

Oliver said, “Decker
blew
it when he went with Carey. He should have gone with Sean Amos.”

“Scotty, we needed Sean to get to Jeanine,” Marge reminded him.

“Yeah, well, his strategy didn’t work. We’re not any closer to Jeanine Garrison than we were before.”

“Not quite true,” Martinez said. “If we go with Sean’s story, we can hit Jeanine with aiding and abetting—accessory after the fact.”

Webster said, “That’s another thing I can’t buy.”

“What?” Martinez asked.

“That Jeanine’s sole crime was aiding and abetting. By all accounts that woman is a manipulative bitch. Now you’re telling me she’s putting her own ass on the line to help some punk kid? C’mon…she had to be in on it. Sean is talking from his butt. Amos killed David and he did it for Jeanine.”

Decker came into his office, glanced at the clock. One-thirty. “Anyone hungry? We can order in.”

Oliver said, “How’d the polygraphs go?”

Decker said, “Elaine Reuter’s still talking to Malcolm—”

“It’s been over an hour!” Webster complained.

“To Elaine, that’s a rush job,” Decker said. “She likes to talk to her examinees at least a couple of hours before she does the test. So we’ll just have to wait. Who’s hungry?”

“Tuna on rye,” Marge said.

“Times two,” Martinez said. “Actually, give me two tunas. I’m hungry.”

“Roast beef,” Oliver said.

“Turkey,” Webster said.

A pause.

Marge said, “Anything, Farrell?”

“Sounds good,” Gaynor answered.

Oliver said, “
What
sounds good, Farrell?”

“Turkey. No mayo. Fruit instead of chips. Trying to watch my fat.”

Marge picked up the phone to place the order. “Loo?”

“I’m fine.” Decker showed her his brown bag, opened it. A barbecued-beef sandwich with pasta salad. The smell made his stomach growl, but out of politeness, he waited for the others.

To Decker, Oliver said, “We were just discussing how you dealt with the wrong guy.”

“No wrong guy in this case,” Decker answered. “They’re both psycho.”

Oliver stated, “Question is which is the bigger psycho.”

Decker said, “No, the question is who’s more credible in front of a grand jury. Because Sean’s going to tell his story and Carey’ll tell his. Both tales have holes bigger than grottoes. And neither hands over Jeanine Garrison.”

Martinez said, “Sean’s story delivers Jeanine as an accessory after the fact. It’s better than nothing.”

“It’s worse than nothing,” Decker corrected. “Say we try her as an accessory. She gets on the stand, starts chucking up some sob story about not thinking it through because of the incredible stress she’s been under since losing her parents, then her brother…blah, blah, blah.”

Decker made fists.

“Let’s say we even win. And she’s convicted. Here’s a woman without a record. If anything spells probation, this does. Then she goes merrily on her way.” He paused. “Then, say six months later, we find out that she was involved in her brother’s hit. Say we try to charge her. You know what’s going to happen? Her lawyer’ll raise hell, claim we can’t retry her because of double jeopardy.”

Marge said, “Pete, the hit’s a new charge. That’s not double jeopardy.”

“It’s still the same case. The law’s not so clear-cut. It’s like retrying O. J. for breaking and entering—”

“That’s a damn good idea!” Oliver said.

Decker said, “All I’m saying is that a judge could easily rule that all the criminal charges against Jeanine should have been made at the onset of the first trial. Before we charge her with anything, I want to make sure she’s completely innocent of David Garrison’s death.”

Martinez said, “Neither one’s claiming she ordered the hit, Loo.”

Decker frowned. “I know. Problem is, if we drop our deal with Carey, we won’t be able to use
anything
he told us about David Garrison’s hit. And Sean’s confession isn’t usable because we haven’t struck an official deal with him. Besides, the idea
wasn’t
to use Sean to get to Carey. We have plenty of narcotics charges on Carey. The idea was to use Sean to get to Jeanine. And he ain’t playing that game.”

“Maybe she wasn’t involved, Loo,” Martinez said.

Decker slumped down into his desk chair. “We’re going to have to drop David Garrison until we get better evidence. Just bring the kids up on drug charges.”

“We got lots on Carey, but not much happenin’ against Sean Amos.” Webster held his anger in check. “First-time drug conviction….kid’ll probably get probation. Not bad for a cold-blooded murderer—”

“Tom—”

“David Garrison’s dead and now no one is gonna take the fall.”

Decker scowled. “So what do you suggest, Thomas?”

“Run with Carey.”

Gaynor said, “What about the gun recovered at the bust?”

“What about it?” Oliver said.

“I just think it’s interesting that it was called in stolen about two months ago—”

Decker interrupted, “Farrell,
when
did this come in?”

“About a half hour ago.” Gaynor shrugged. “Sorry. Must have slipped my mind.”

Decker held his temper. “Who reported it stolen?”

“Lily Amos.”

The room went quiet.

“So it was
Sean’s
gun?” Marge said.

“No, it was Lily’s gun,” Farrell said.

“I knew that boy was evil,” Webster gloated. “Now y’all gotta ask yourselves, why would Sean bring a gun to the party
unless
he was planning to do something with it?”

“Meaning?” Oliver probed.

“Meaning Sean was gonna give it to Malcolm to off Wade Anthony. Just like Malcolm said. Of
course
Sean has to claim that he didn’t know anything about the pictures of Wade Anthony. Yet the Loo and Marge bust in, Amos has pictures of Anthony, his daily schedule, and a gun.”

Martinez said, “We know that Amos was upset at Jeanine a few hours earlier. The Loo saw them arguing.”

Webster said, “That argument was the final straw. Amos went berserk. He planned another hit…just like Carey said—”

Oliver said, “You’re missing a crucial point, Tom. Paraffin test shows that Carey fired the gun.”

“So what? He heard police coming, he just picked up whatever weapon was handy and let it rip. Loo, before you came in, I was saying that I just couldn’t buy Sean’s story. If Sean didn’t hire Carey for the hit, why would Carey have gotten involved?”

“Money,” Oliver said. “Sean’s loaded. Mal was squeezing him.”

Decker said, “And if Sean wasn’t
hiring
Carey to pop Anthony, what was Sean doing with Anthony’s pictures, the daily schedule, and a gun?”

Oliver said, “Maybe Mal was setting up Sean for a second squeeze.”

The other detectives groaned.

Webster became frustrated. “You’re being a broken record, Scott.”

Suddenly, the light went on. Decker slapped his forehead. “Ker-rist! Scott’s right!”

“I am?” Oliver grinned. “I mean, of course I’m right.” He paused. “Why?”

Someone knocked at the door. Lunch had arrived. After five minutes of sorting out what belonged to whom, Decker spoke as everyone munched. Excitedly he said, “Who reported the gun stolen?”

“Lily Amos,” Farrell said, between bites of turkey. “Didn’t I just tell you that or is my memory that bad?”

Decker smiled. “It was a rhetorical question, Farrell. Look at this, people. Say Sean wants his mother’s gun…why would he have to
steal
it?”

Decker dug into his sandwich. Chewed rapidly, then swallowed.

“Makes much more sense for Sean to borrow the weapon, then bring it back unnoticed. Which means—”

Marge broke in, “It means the gun was stolen by someone other than Sean.”

“Malcolm Carey!” Oliver said. “Bastard stole the gun from Sean’s house.”

Decker said, “And that’s why
Carey
fired at us. Because at that point, the gun didn’t belong to Sean, it belonged to Carey.”

Martinez gulped down tepid coffee. “I’m lost. Let’s start with the basics. Wade Anthony. Who was planning his hit?”

Decker said, “Malcolm Carey—”

“C’mon, Loo!” Webster was dubious. “Why would Carey give a solitary shit about Wade Anthony?”

“He doesn’t give a shit about Anthony, Tom,” Decker said. “Carey was using him to set up Amos. Just like he did the first time with David Garrison—”

Webster broke in, “Loo, why would Carey take it upon himself to hit Garrison on his own? It just doesn’t make sense!”

Decker said, “Malcolm Carey didn’t hit Garrison on his
own
. He had a partner—”

“Jeanine!” Marge cried. “Carey was in on David Garrison’s hit
with
Jeanine from the beginning!”

“Jackpot!”

Oliver said, “And that was why Jeanine loaned Sean the money. She wasn’t helping Amos out. She was furthering the myth of being innocent. Because she had planned it with Carey from the beginning.”

Ideas poured into Marge’s brain like tumbling waves. “To save her butt, she made it seem as if the idea came from Sean’s ramblings! So if the investigation ever turned
up David’s OD as a murder, she could pin it on Sean.”

“And the ten-thousand-dollar bearer bond was the hit price from the beginning,” Oliver said. “Instead of paying Malcolm directly, she acted like she was helping out Sean. Keeping him permanently in her debt.” He grinned at Webster. “So whaddaya think, Tulane Tom?”

“Gotta admit. The scenario’s starting to sound like Jeanine.”

Decker said, “Manipulating men, Tom. You said it from the beginning. She loves to manipulate men. Just like with Harlan Manz. From the beginning, I’m sure she set Harlan up. She probably knew that Harlan had been fired from his job at Estelle’s, had been bitter over his dismissal. You want to know how I think Estelle’s went down?”

Everybody waited.

Decker said, “Jeanine’s a primo manipulator. She wants her parents out of the way, but she wants it to look like a random murder. Better than a murder, how about a mass murder using Harlan Manz as a mass murderer? Bet she knew he fit the profile.”

“That’s absolutely malevolent,” Marge said.

“It’s absolutely Jeanine,” Decker said. “So what does she do? She has an affair with Harlan Manz. We know from talking to Harlan’s girlfriend that Harlan fooled around. And we also know from talking to everyone else that Harlan loved money and big shots.”

Oliver stated, “Harlan musta thought he died and went to heaven when he met this dream girl.”

Decker said, “Schmuck must have been made delirious by his good fortune. Only snag was that he had to keep it quiet. But even that was okay. Because Harlan had a girlfriend and it made it exciting.”

Martinez said, “Okay. They have an affair. Then suddenly Harlan turns into a mass murderer?”

Decker said, “Check this out, Bert. Jeanine and Harlan have this affair. This way she can get Harlan to talk. Which is no big accomplishment. We know from our interviews that Harlan loved to talk.”

“So they talk,” Marge said. “Then what?”

“She gets him to open up about his unfair experience at Estelle’s. She works him up. She works him up until people recall Harlan talking about how bitter he was at Estelle’s for canning him so unjustly. She works him up until one day, she convinces him to go into the restaurant…man, it’s all coming down.”

Decker paused, gulped down water.

“She convinces him to go to the restaurant and confront the management. She even picks out his clothes. A noticeable
green
jacket. And the day Jeanine chose for him just happened to be a day her parents made reservations at Estelle’s. Which I bet wasn’t unusual. They probably ate at Estelle’s often. Maybe they even had a standing reservation.”

“A cold woman,” Oliver said.

Decker said, “Meanwhile, Jeanine has contracted an unknown hit man to follow Harlan. She tells the second guy what Harlan’s wearing—”

Marge said, “Remember what Tess Wetzel said about that odd man.
He
was wearing a green jacket.”

Decker said, “Exactly. Any of you think that was just a coincidence?”

No one spoke.

Decker said, “At the agreed-on moment, Mr. Unknown Hit Man makes his move and starts popping people—”

“So you’re saying we have only one shooter?” Marge asked. “So how do you explain the bullet-wound patterns on the Garrisons? The ones that led you to speculate on a second shooter in the first place?”

Decker thought a moment. “Could be the shooter had two guns. He used one to ice Harlan and left it at the scene. The other, he took with him. That’s how he could do so much damage so fast. Also, he probably shot from all sides and angles. The shooter knew Harlan was going to be the fall guy. Betcha he popped Manz and the Garrisons early on. The Garrisons he wanted dead for Jeanine. Harlan…he wanted him dead and out in the open. To take the blame.”