The Governor's Wife (11 page)

“Truly unhinged.”

“Maybe. But if I’m right, it will all be on the security
tapes. And easy to find once you know what you’re looking for. Eddie arriving with the bag in the morning. Ray dressed as Eddie getting off on the thirteenth floor with the bag in his hand. And then the interesting part. A second ‘Eddie’ getting off somewhere else in the building. Without a bag. No one’s ever looked for that. But it won’t be hard to spot. And then it all comes back to you.”

Somewhere outside, a crack of thunder boomed and echoed. Marie Perry started to say something, then paused and took another sip of her drink. When she smiled, it gave me a quick chill.

“What do you want?”

“Tell me if I’m right.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Do your best. See if I care.”

“This can go one of two ways, Ms. Perry. I can go to the feds and let them run you down. Or I can feed you in pieces to the press. Either way it’s not gonna be fun.”

“And what if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not. And even if I am, it won’t matter. Everyone will believe it just because they want to. You’ll be fresh meat all over again, and people love that.”

The apartment had gone quiet again, save for a clock ticking away on the fireplace mantel and the steady fall of rain outside.

“I need a moment,” she said.

I nodded and she left. I settled in to watch the clock. After five minutes, I got up and walked down a carpeted hallway. To my left was a kitchen full of polish and stainless steel, then an open door that led to a bedroom. I stuck my head in and saw a tangle of sheets, but nothing else. On the other side of the hall were a bathroom and another door. I took out my gun and nudged the door with my foot.

“Come in, Mr. Kelly.”

I pushed all the way in. Marie Perry was sitting behind a large old desk, staring at the rain streaming down a dark set of double-paned windows.

“This is Ray’s desk,” she said.

I sat down opposite her.

“My God, you took out your gun.”

“It would be better if I could see your hands.”

“Is it as serious as all that?”

“You tell me, ma’am.”

She raised her hands slowly and placed them flat on the desk. “Better?”

I slipped my gun back into its holster. “Talk to me, Ms. Perry.”

“What would you like to know?”

“Why are we in here?”

“This is Ray’s room. Everything in here belongs to him.”

“I assume the FBI’s been through it all.”

“With a fine-tooth comb. I insisted they ship it all back when they were done. His car’s out in the garage. I haven’t driven it since the day of the sentencing, but I keep it anyway.”

“I’m right, aren’t I, Ms. Perry?”

“About what?”

“The elevator. Ray’s disappearance. Eddie Ward.”

“If you’re asking if I helped my husband avoid spending the best part of his life in jail, the answer is yes, I did.”

Her whiskey sat on the desk. She reached for it, but thought better. “Those charges were a sham, Mr. Kelly. A political witch hunt. Ray didn’t pressure people for donations. For Chrissakes, we had people lining up to give us cash.”

“Where is he, Ms. Perry?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I didn’t think you would.” She slipped her hands beneath the desk again. I reached for my piece, and she froze. “I’m getting
something out of my bag. It’s not a gun. And you might find it instructive.”

I nodded. “Go ahead.”

She took out a long white envelope and placed it between us. Her first name was scrawled across the front.

“What is it?” I said.

“Ray gave me this on the morning he disappeared. Step-by-step instructions. What I had to do to get him out of the courthouse. What I needed to do after.”

I reached for the envelope. Her voice stopped me. “Ray’s dead, Mr. Kelly. Been dead for a while. He said it was easier that way.”

“E
xactly how did Ray get dead?” I said.

“Read the letter. It’s all in there.”

She got up and left. I sat behind Ray’s desk and read. He didn’t give up the big picture. Just specific directions for his wife. The elevator scam worked pretty much as I thought. Eddie Ward was in the car when Marie looked in. He took the elevator back up to the third floor, then walked down to ground level and waited for the cops to find him. By that time, Ray was long gone. He didn’t give any indication in the letter where he was going. The closest he came was on the last page.

My lawyer tells me the feds are going to try and fit me with a monitoring bracelet until I report to prison. I can’t risk that. So it’s got to be the courthouse. Today. Once I’m gone, there’ll be a lot of scrutiny and threats. The government can’t touch you. Not if you follow my instructions and stick to
the script. Don’t worry about Eddie. He’ll be taken care of. As for the rest, I know you can make a life out of it. Not in Chicago, maybe, but there are other places. Other dreams. Go after them. And forget about me. As far as you’re concerned, Marie, I’m dead. At least for now. It hasn’t been a perfect marriage, so maybe this is a blessing. I wish things could have been different, but we both know that wasn’t in the cards. I’m sorry. Love, Ray.

I heard a footfall in the hall outside. She was at the door.

“Finished?”

“Why do you have your coat on?”

“I assume we’re going down to the police station.”

“Why would we do that?”

“To give my statement. There’s nothing in that letter that’s going to lead them to Ray. And I don’t know where he is, so that’s another dead end. I’m sorry to steal your thunder, but I’d rather the police hear it directly from me.”

“Sit down, Ms. Perry.”

“I suspect ‘Marie’ is fine at this point.”

“Sit down.”

She took the seat I’d been in and waited, her smile shivering in its newfound vulnerability.

“You seem almost happy,” I said.

“I’m just ready to move on.”

“That’s what your husband advises.”

“Ray could be calculating when he needed to be.”

I tapped the letter. “He says in here that Eddie’s gonna be ‘taken care of.’ You know what that means?”

“I assume he’d be paid.”

“So Ray had cash?”

She blinked. “I don’t know.”

“Why start lying now, Marie?”

“I’m not lying.”

“You helped Ray either because you still love him, in which case all this talk about a marriage of convenience is just that. Talk.”

“Or?”

“Or you helped him for some other reason.”

“And you think it’s about money?”

“Sorry, but it’s just how things usually work. Either way, you’re not telling me everything.”

“You know as much as I do, Mr. Kelly. And sitting here staring at each other isn’t going to change that.”

“Fine,” I said and got up.

“Are we going to the police?”

“We’re going to see a friend.”

“I didn’t think we had any mutual friends.”

“He’s not my friend. He’s yours. An electrician named Eddie Ward.”

B
eatrice cracked the door as I tiptoed by. I gave her my best grin. She took one look and ducked back inside. One floor up, the door to Eddie Ward’s apartment was exactly as I’d left it—broken. Marie hadn’t said a word on the ride over and didn’t seem surprised to be here. I wondered if she already knew what we’d find inside. I took out my gun and pushed the door open. The place hadn’t changed a bit. I knelt and touched a finger to the layer of gray grit on the floor. I realized now what I should have seen then. It was cement dust. In the back of the apartment, the bedroom was still empty. I checked the closets and looked under the bed. Then I stripped off the blankets and sheets, but couldn’t find any sign of the dust. Marie watched me from the doorway. Across from the bedroom was Eddie’s only bathroom. At the very back of the bathroom was a claw-foot tub closed off by a shower curtain. I’d ignored the tub on my first visit. Now, I approached it and parted the shower curtain with the barrel of my gun. Someone had turned Eddie Ward’s tub into a concrete paperweight.
I pulled out my phone and took a picture. Then I called Rodriguez.

We sat in the living room and waited for Rodriguez to show. Marie Perry’s eyes kept dancing toward the back of the apartment. For the first time since I’d met her, she seemed truly nervous.

“Who did you call?” she said.

“A detective buddy of mine. I told him I needed a half hour.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to give you time to get out of here.”

“What if I don’t want to leave?”

“The tub back there has been filled with concrete, Marie. When they break it open, they’re gonna find Eddie Ward inside.”

“You think so?”

“I’m sure of it. What I don’t know is how he got there. And whether you had anything to do with it.”

“I didn’t even know the man.”

“He helped you engineer Ray’s escape. That made him a liability.”

“If you believe that, then I’m a murderer. Setting aside the question of how I would maneuver a man into a tub full of concrete and why I would select that method to kill anyone, what’s the motive behind letting me go?”

“Honestly?”

“Isn’t honesty and trust the basis of this wonderful relationship we seem to have struck?”

“I don’t believe you’re a killer. Not yet anyway.” I looked at my watch. “My friend’s gonna be here soon. Head out the back and catch a cab. I’ll call you once we crack open the tub.”

I walked her through Eddie’s kitchen to the back porch. She slipped down the stairs and moved quickly across a patch-work
of Chicago alleys. The rain had tapered to a fine mist, and her hair glowed under the damp steam of the streetlights. I watched until she disappeared. Then I went back inside and waited. Rodriguez showed up ten minutes later.

“You clean up whatever you didn’t want me to see?”

“You’re better off not knowing.”

“You think I’m complaining? Where is it?”

“In here.” I led him to the bathroom and leaned up against the door frame. Rodriguez crouched close to the tub and studied it.

“How heavy is this thing?”

I shrugged. “You worried it’s gonna go through the floor?”

“That’s all I need.”

“It’ll be all right.”

“This building’s a piece of crap. What makes you think the floor can handle a tub full of concrete?”

I studied the gray surface. Smooth, flat, and hard. A professional job in more ways than one.

“We’re gonna find Eddie in there,” I said.

“Your electrician, I know. And you think it somehow connects back to Ray Perry?”

“There’s a bigger picture here, Vince.”

“Do me a favor and keep it to yourself.”

“The boulder that crushed Paul Goggin’s car wasn’t a boulder at all. It was a slab of concrete.” I crouched down and rapped the top of the tub. “Just like this one here.”

“You already gave me that theory.”

“It had to be at least a couple of guys who did Goggin. With some serious muscle and a plan.”

“What kind of plan?”

“Someone follows Goggin in his car. Coordinates with the guys on the overpass so they get the timing right.”

“You’re reaching.”

“You don’t think that kid killed Goggin. You’re too good a cop for that.”

“What would you like me to do?”

“Let’s go outside.”

We walked out to the porch, wiped down a couple of chairs Eddie had stashed out there, and sat down. Rodriguez lit a cigarette. I’d grabbed a Coke out of the fridge.

“Someone’s tying up loose ends,” I said and popped open the soft drink.

“Chicago. City of loose ends.” Rodriguez took a drag and blew smoke into the night.

“They also wanted to send a message. That’s why they used the cement. First on Goggin. Then on Eddie.”

“And who, exactly, are ‘they’?”

“The guys who make a living in cement. Beacon Limited.”

Rodriguez stared up at a starless sky and chuckled. “You’re crazy.”

“They donated four million dollars to Ray during his last year in office. More than fifteen million total. Spread out over four or five companies.”

“So what. Beacon’s been doing highway jobs in this state for thirty years.”

“Yeah, but they hit the jackpot once Ray moved into the mansion.”

“Hence, the fifteen mil.” Rodriguez took another drag and flicked the butt over the railing. We both watched the trail of red sparks flare and die as they fell. Then I told the detective about my trip to the job site on the Eisenhower Expressway.

“So you’re telling me you shot one of Beacon’s security goons?”

“If he hasn’t filed a report, maybe not. The point is they came after me. And there has to be a reason.”

“Beyond the fact you were trespassing?”

“You don’t see it?”

“I see it. You think Beacon was involved somehow in Ray Perry’s disappearance. Why? You have no idea. And now they’re burying people in bathtubs full of concrete and dropping
hunks of the stuff on cars, presumably to cover their tracks. Sorry, Kelly, but I’m not buying. Now, answer me a question. Who did you hustle out of here before I came in?”

“Why would you think that?”

Rodriguez shook his head.

“What are you gonna do about the tub?” I said.

“I’m gonna call in a team. Break it open and see what we see. Pleasant way to spend the rest of my night.”

“Here’s something else to pass the time.” I unfolded the police report Elena Ramirez had given me and handed it over.

“What’s this?” the detective said.

“The guy in this report is a Chicago cop. I met his daughter the other day. Not the one listed in the report. His youngest, Elena.”

Rodriguez glanced up, then kept reading.

“Elena says her father put a gun to her oldest sister’s head after she told him she was gonna have a baby. Police whitewashed it as an accidental discharge of a weapon.”

“This was four years ago. What do you want me to do?”

“Elena’s sixteen and pregnant. She believes the old man might go ahead and pull the trigger this time around.”

“And you think she’s right?”

“I think I don’t want to find out.”

Rodriguez held up the report. “Can I keep this?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Clear out of here. I’ve got to call in a team and dig out Eddie.”

“So you think it’s Eddie, too?”

“It’s Eddie. Probably owed the wrong guy some money. Now, take off. And next time you find a tub full of concrete, do me a favor and lose my number. And Kelly?”

“What?”

“If you’re serious about Beacon, bring me some evidence. A motive wouldn’t hurt either.”