Faye Kellerman: Blindman’s Bluff

“You’re lying,” Pine answered.

Marge moved in close to him and spoke softly. “We’re not lying, Joe. Martin Cruces is talking. It’s not right for you to take all the shit when you were just part of the plan. Now’s the time to man up. You gotta start thinking about yourself. Because you can’t explain away fingerprints and eyewitness testimony.”

“You don’t have an eyewitness,” Pine insisted. “That jackass mighta heard things, but he never saw me before in his life!”

“Which jackass is that?” Marge asked.

“The court guy.”

“The court guy whose condo you broke into?”

Pine didn’t answer.

“Joe, we know you didn’t pick his condo at random. Who sent you there?”

“Okay…” Pine took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll tell you this, okay. Martin sent me over to scare him. That’s the only thing I’ll admit to, okay?”

“Why did Martin Cruces send you over to scare the court guy?” Marge asked him.

“’Cause he overheard his cousin talking about the crime.” Under his breath, Pine uttered, “Fucking idiot!”

“Tell us about it,” Oliver said.

Pine sighed. “Can I get something to eat around here?”

Marge got up and came back with an assortment of candy.

Pine unwrapped a Snickers bar and ate half in a single bite. “Cruces said that the court guy overheard his moron cousin talking about the murders. He told me to break into the court guy’s house and scare him.”

“So why were you assigned to scare the court guy?” Oliver said. “Why didn’t the moron cousin scare him?”

“’Cause he’s an idiot and can’t do anything right. He got arrested before he could get to the court guy.”

“What’s the cousin’s name?” Oliver asked.

“Alejandro Brand.”

Strike one! Marge thought triumphantly. “The court guy overheard Brand talking about the murders?”

“Yeah.”

“What did the court guy overhear Brand say?”

“Hell if I know, but it made Cruces nervous. So he tole me to take him…to scare him.”

Marge went in for the attack. “Martin Cruces didn’t lie to you, Joe.”

Oliver said, “The court guy did hear Brand talking about the Kaffey murders.”

Marge said, “The court guy overheard Brand talking about Martin Cruces…and the court guy overheard Brand talking about you.”

“That you screwed up by not whacking Gil Kaffey,” Oliver said.

Pine finished his candy bar. “That’s a lie, man. I wasn’t there. The court guy’s lying.”

Marge said, “Since Brand had the big mouth, Martin Cruces told Brand to take out the court guy?”

“That’s the first true thing you said in the last four hours. Cruces told Brand, not me. He gave the assignment to Brand. But then Alejandro screwed up and got arrested. So Cruces asked his other cousin, Esteban Cruz, to take out the court guy.”

Marge said, “And when Cruz screwed up, he told you to get your ass back from Mexico and finish the job, or he’ll fuck you over good. That’s what’s happening right now, Joe. Martin is screwing you over. Cruces told you to break into the court guy’s condo and finish him off.”

“Why go down when it was Cruces’s order?” Oliver said.

“Yeah, it was Cruces’s order.” Pine pushed sweat from his eyes. “But all I was supposed to do was scare him.”

Strike two! They now had collusion: Cruces and Pine working together against Brett Harriman.

Marge said, “So we have the court guy’s testimony, we have your bloody fingerprints…why don’t you just tell us what happened?”

Oliver told Marge, “You forgot something.”

Marge said, “What did I forget?”

“Our eyewitness.” Oliver leaned back in his chair. “Joe, you told us a couple of hours ago that all the guards were whacked. But the truth is…not everyone died.”

Pine was quiet.

“Rondo Martin survived,” Marge said. “And he’s talking.”

Oliver said, “So we have Martin Cruces telling his side of the story, we have Rondo Martin telling his side, we have the court guy telling his side of the story.”

Marge leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell us your side?”

Oliver said, “Joe, it’s real simple. Just tell us exactly what happened.”

A few seconds passed and then Pine began to talk.

He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked.

Though she kept a straight face, inside she was grinning.

Strike three and you are so out!

THE UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS were dozens of pages long. Marge handed them to Decker and said, “These were taken off the audio portion of the tape by the computerized voice recognition system. Then Lee programmed the system to put whoever was talking in front of the statement.

There are lots of mistakes, but I think you can grab the gist of the interview.”

Decker skimmed through the paper. “What’s happening with Martin Cruces?”

“Messing and Pratt are still working on him.”

“How long have they been going?”

“About seven hours. We all figured as long as you’re here, maybe your title would make an impression on him.”

“Seven hours and he hasn’t asked for a lawyer?”

“Not yet,” Marge said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed, giving him just enough hope to think that he can weasel out of the forensics. The noose is going to tighten. Because at the end of the transcripts, Joe named names.”

Oliver let out a big yawn. “We’ll get him eventually.”

“Have you two gotten any sleep?”

“Not yet.”

“Want to go home?”

“Not on your life,” Oliver said. Marge seconded the sentiment.

Decker stifled an oncoming yawn. “Okay. Just let me review this to bring me up to speed. Then I’ll deal with Cruces.”

“Sounds good,” Oliver said. “Want some coffee? We’ve been living on caffeine.”

“That would be great.”

A few moments later, mug in hand, Decker went into his office, closed the door, and buried his attention in a stack of papers. There were tons of typos, but his brain was mostly able to correct them. The first two-thirds of the interview was Oliver and Marge cajoling Pine into confession, using everything from sympathy to lies.

In the last fifth of the interview, things got interesting. Although the dry printed words lacked emotion, maybe that was better. It was only Decker’s eyes and the text.

SCOTT OLIVER: Start from the beginning, Joe. How’d you get involved in the murders?

JOE PINE: It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.

MARGE DUNN: So how was it supposed to happen?

JOE PINE: No one was supposed to get hurt. It was supposed to be a robbery.

MARGE DUNN: How’d you get involved in the robbery?

JOE PINE: It was Martin Cruces. He had the plan.

MARGE DUNN: The plan to do what?

JOE PINE: You know. To get the money. Martin planned it for a long time.

SCOTT OLIVER: How long had Martin Cruces been planning this robbery?

JOE PINE: A long time.

SCOTT OLIVER: Weeks? Months?

JOE PINE: Maybe six months.

MARGE DUNN: That is a long time.

The same speaker in a row must indicate a pause, Decker decided.

MARGE DUNN: You mentioned money. That he planned it to get money. What kind of money? Cash? Jewelry? Valuables?

JOE PINE: Martin said that the old man kept a giganto wad of cash in a safe. I never seen the safe, but Martin said there was a safe so why should I think he was lying?

MARGE DUNN: Did you find the safe?

JOE PINE: No, things messed up pretty quickly.

MARGE DUNN: Did you take anything from the house?

JOE PINE: We found a little cash and rings and shit, but we didn’t have time. Cruces wanted us to bury Denny so we took what we seen around and got out.