David Baldacci - True Blue

“Who’s that?” asked Beth sharply.

“My brother. He didn’t come with us. Don’t know where he is.”

“So what are you all doing here?” said Mace.

Altman rose and came forward. “Beth and I spoke this morning and Alisha and Tyler are coming to stay with us. I was hoping that they could be in the west wing of the guesthouse if it’s not an inconvenience to you.”

Mace blurted out, “Inconvenience? That place is so big I’d need a map to find them.”

“We staying here?” said Alisha looking around. “I don’t have no money for a place like this.”

“There is no charge,” said Altman, taking her arm lightly after receiving a high sign from Beth. “And I’d be honored to take you and your son to your new quarters and help you get settled in.”

Beth handed off Tyler to Alisha and the three left together. Beth turned to her sister and eyed her empty coffee cup. “You might need another jolt of caffeine, because we need to talk. Now.”

I HAD my police scanner on last night. Heard about the homicide in Nine. Knew you’d be there. You look beat.”

Beth took off her hat and sat down. “You look spent, too. Can’t be the accommodations. Having nightmares again?”

“I don’t have nightmares anymore.”

“You sure about that?”

“You held me when I was twelve, Beth. You don’t need to hold me anymore.” Mace handed her a full cup of black coffee and sat down with her own. Beth took a swallow and spent a moment admiring the room.

“I can see why you split from me to come here.”

“I’ve actually found the concierge service to be pretty average.”

“I guess I can leave it to you to find trouble even as a research assistant.”

“It’s a gift.”

“So you’re going back in?”

“See no reason not to. So what do we need to talk about?”

Beth hunched forward. “Andre Watkins?”

Mace barely reacted, but it was enough.

Beth said, “I thought so. A-1? Since we’re the police we had to resort to a search warrant, but the kid there said a woman and a tall man had come in previously with some story about a diseased aunt.”

“You been by Watkins’s place?”

“It’s empty.”

“It wasn’t empty when we got there.”

Mace told her about the man who’d been there pretending to be Watkins, including his description and her suspicions that the apartment had been searched.

“Nice to have known that before.”

“And it wasn’t Watkins having dinner with Tolliver on Friday night.”

“I know. The description was pretty general. We have a BOLO out on Watkins,” Beth added, referring to a “be on the lookout” order.

“The imposter said he was an escort. Was Watkins an escort?”

“Yes, worked for an agency in town. No one’s seen him since Friday.”

“Maybe Tolliver sensed that something bad was going to happen to her and she wanted some cover.”

“So presumably they got on to him, either eliminated him or he took off running scared and they sent some goon to roll his place looking for answers.”

“And he was doing just that when we knocked.”

“Pretty ballsy of the guy to open the door to you.”

Mace shrugged. “He peeped us, could tell we weren’t the cops, or maybe recognized us and decided to play actor and pump us for info. Unfortunately, we were pretty accommodating.” Mace eyed Beth. “Anything else?”

“Just a couple more questions. What were you and Kingman doing at the law firm last night? And which one of you pulled the fire alarm?”

Mace looked blankly at her.

Beth tapped the tabletop. “His key card access was the only one last night.”

“That can’t be right. The other guys-”

Beth snapped, “What other guys?”

“We had some visitors last night. I pulled the alarm so we could get away. I assumed they used Diane Tolliver’s key card to get in.”

“They didn’t. And again, what guys?”

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe the same ones who took a shot at me.”

“How did they know you were in the building?”

Mace explained about the webcam on Tolliver’s computer.

“We’ll check it out.” Beth leaned forward. “Remember when you asked me what I would do in your position? Would I risk everything to work the case and get back on the force?”

“You didn’t answer me.”

“No, because I didn’t have a ready answer. But now I’ve had time to think.”

“And?”

“And nothing is worth going back to that hellhole.”

“That’s you. But you’re not me.”

“Why are you really doing this?”

“We already covered this, okay? Mona torpedoed your plan, so proving my innocence won’t work. And I told you I was going to work the case. If I go down, so be it.”

“If you do, the odds are very good that you will go back to prison and you won’t walk out alive this time. Where did you even get the idea to solve a case and use that as a way back on?”

“I had a lot of time to think over the last two years.”

“Would it have anything to do with a visit you got from an FBI agent who resurrected his career after being convicted of a felony?”

“If you knew, why bother asking me?” she said angrily.

“What did Special Agent Frank Kelly tell you?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t already track him down and ask him.”

“I did. He said it was between you and him.”

“And it is, Beth. Between him and me.”

“I didn’t think we kept secrets from each other.”

“You’re the police chief. I am not going to put you in a compromising situation.”

“What happened to Kelly was a one-in-a-million shot.”

“I’ll take those odds.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“No, Beth, what’s ridiculous is me spending over a decade laying it all on the line to protect people, only to have it all crater when someone framed me for shit I don’t even remember. I lost two years of my life in prison where every day seemed like it would be my last one. Now I’m out but can’t do the one thing that I was born to do. What, did you think I was just going to forget it? Say, ‘Oh, well, shit happens’?”

The two women stared at each other, neither one seemingly willing to give in.

Beth’s phone buzzed. She didn’t move to answer it.

Mace said, “Better grab it. The law waits for no one, not even two pissed-off sisters.”

Beth finally broke off eye contact and snatched up her phone. “Chief.” She listened and then clicked off. “That was Lowell Cassell.”

“I already know. Dockery’s DNA didn’t match.”

“No, it was a perfect match. It was, without a doubt, his sperm inside Diane Tolliver.”

ROY SAT at his desk vigorously squeezing his miniature basketball in his right hand. His anxiety was justified. His secretary Janice had popped in to tell him that the entire firm had been sent an e-mail from Chester Ackerman about his connection with Diane’s alleged murderer. She’d gone on to say that right now Roy was about as popular with his coworkers as Osama bin Laden would be.

He’d tried to defend himself. “Janice, will you hear me out. I-”

The slamming door had cut him off.

He clicked on his computer and started checking his e-mails. Work still had to be done and he and Diane had been in the middle of shepherding several large acquisitions through to closure. Ackerman had not yet assigned anyone to take over Diane’s work permanently, so Roy was carrying the laboring oar on the legal end. He didn’t mind that, but he missed being able to kick ideas around with her, or go to her when something didn’t make sense. He wished he could go to her right now, because he was perplexed.