Alafair Burke - Long Gone

“They wouldn’t have the balls to monitor his phone.”

“Then that’s who I think we should call.”

“Alice. Where are you? I’ve been trying to cover for you with the police, but what the hell is going on?” Based on his secretary’s urgency in transferring the call, Alice could tell Art had been waiting to hear from her.

“My friend Lily warned me the police were coming. I just couldn’t let them take me. You know that I’m innocent.”

“You don’t look innocent to them right now. We need to negotiate your turning yourself in. Their case is probably shit.”

“How are Mom and Dad holding up?” She wished she could make herself not care about her father. He was the one who’d created this predicament. But even though she knew he was a cheat and a liar, she had to believe that he had beaten whatever part of him had been with Christie Kinley that night when he had finally stopped drinking.

“I’ve got a public relations firm putting together a damage-control campaign about these old photographs, but he’s more worried about you.”

She noticed he was not denying that the man in the pictures was her father.

“I know about Christie Kinley, Art. I know she wasn’t a former employee. That lawsuit had nothing to do with plagiarism.”

“I’m sorry, Alice. I was the one who told your father I could get this mess straightened out without having to rehash these ugly details.”

“A fourteen-year-old girl accused my father of raping her. It’s more than just an ugly detail.”

“It wasn’t rape. The girl was drunk. Your father even more so. She was enamored with your father’s celebrity. She set him up.”

“I don’t want to hear any of that right now.”

“We should have been up-front with you, but your father wants to rectify it. He was absolutely convinced that the church protesting the gallery was behind this. He has given me a full waiver to discuss these matters not only with you but with the police or anyone else, if doing so would finally get you out of this jam. He’s willing to let the chips fall as they may.”

“Did you two know that Christie Kinley had a child nine months after that night in Bedford?”

“What? Where did you hear that?”

“Did you know or not?”

“Of course not! That was never an issue in the settlement. No one ever made such an allegation.”

She explained the timing of Gloria’s supposed pregnancy while Christie was sent away to boarding school. “It would explain why a red-haired woman who looks like me was spotted with Travis Larson. Can you please call the detectives and convince them they need to talk to this woman? Her name is Mia Louise Andrews. If they can prove a connection between her and Larson, that should be enough to convince them I was set up.”

“The only thing those detectives want to hear from me right now is that I can bring you in on the warrant.”

“Tell them I’ll turn myself in if they interview Mia.”

“The NYPD doesn’t usually take well to blackmail.”

“With your talents, Art, I’m sure you can get them to see it as a fair compromise.”

“I suppose if they arrested you without following up on this angle, someone like me might use it to excoriate them in the media. A rush to judgment. Shoddy investigation tactics.”

“See? I knew you’d come up with something.”

“All right. Let me give these schmucks a call and see what I can do. Where do I call you back?”

She mouthed the request to Hank, who gave her approval to recite the number of her disposable cell.

“I’ll call you back in twenty.”

She looked at her watch. Twenty minutes before she’d know whether she was going to jail or-well, she didn’t know the alternative.

Twenty minutes came and went in silence. After thirty, she tried Art, and then continued dialing every five minutes.

When her cell rang shortly before the one-hour mark, she picked up immediately, continuing her ritualized pacing of the narrow path between the foot of the hotel bed and the fake mahogany television stand. Art’s voice sounded hoarse when he apologized for the delay.

“Jesus. I hope a screaming match wasn’t involved.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Your voice sounds like you’ve been yelling.”

“No, but there’s something I need to tell you.”

“That does not sound good. The police wouldn’t listen about Mia? Hello?” She looked at the signal bars on her cell. The call hadn’t dropped. “Can you hear me? Art?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Seriously, you sound weird. If there’s bad news, go ahead and give it to me. I can take it.”

When he finally spoke, he was all business. “Okay, you need to pay very close attention. I want to talk to you first about where we stand with the police. And you have to promise me that you’re going to follow through on whatever course of action we decide is best, no matter what. Can you promise me that?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t-”

“So here’s the deal. I talked to Danes. He sounded put out. And very skeptical. But I got him to agree to a knock and talk with Mia Andrews-check her out, see what she might have to say about this matter.”

“Thank God-”

“Not so fast. It was obvious he’s only shining us on, which means he might believe any story this gal hands to him. It’s always possible she’s going to say something that actually hurts you.”

“I’m willing to take that risk.”

“Plus his agreement to check out Mia was conditional. He’ll only question her if I produce you on the warrant.”

“I don’t want to turn myself in on the warrant until after they see Mia. What if I turn myself in, and Mia’s off in Mexico with a fake name, never to be seen again?”

“Which leaves us in a standoff. Here’s what I was able to negotiate: you agree to return from wherever you’ve been hiding. Once we’re together in the city, Danes and his partner will reach out to Mia. Once the interview is over, he calls me, and I deliver you to them.”

“What if they can’t find Mia?”

“Then I made no promises. They’ll have to keep looking for you themselves. What do you think?”

“What other choice do I have?”

“I can get one of my own investigators on it. We could put together what would eventually be our defense case, and present it to the DA’s office to try to preempt an indictment. In the meantime, the longer you go without turning yourself in, the less likely it is they’ll be willing to help you out. And to be honest, police pressure can be a lot more effective in getting a response than a private investigator.”

“So basically I should turn myself in anyway, and if we go with Danes’s deal, the police will at least be the ones asking Mia questions?”

“That’s how I see it.”

“All right. Let’s do it.” She swallowed, realizing that tonight she would probably be sleeping in a jail cell. “What’s the next step?”

“Can you be in Williamsburg by six o’clock?”

That would give her nearly four hours.

“No problem.”

“I didn’t know how far away you were, so I asked for some time to make you available. Danes wants you near Mia’s house so you can turn yourself in as soon as the interview’s over.”

“That quickly, huh?”

“They’re worried you’ll renege. I’ll meet you down there. I think it’s good for us to be close by. Hopefully, something will come of their talks with Mia, in which case we might be able to help tie up some loose ends. I’m looking at a map now. There’s an intersection about a block from Mia’s address. Rutledge and Lee. I’ll meet you there a little before six. Now are you sure this is what you want to do?”