Джеймс Паттерсон - NYPD Red 6

“Oh, give me a break. They got an envelope from the kidnapper. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they opened it in good faith. But once they knew what was on that flash drive, they passed it up the food chain. If there were any prints or traceable DNA on that drive, they’re gone. That’s tampering. Not to mention that they didn’t call us the minute they got it. Zach and I didn’t see the video till we tuned in with the rest of the world. And you’re telling me you can’t stop them?”

“I talked with Mick Wilson,” Harrison said. “He’s sympathetic to the issue.”

“But?”

“But he’s the district attorney, not the Gestapo. ZTV is standing behind the First Amendment.”

“You mean hiding behind it. They’re a reality-TV network. They don’t care about freedom of the press. Their stock-in-trade is exploiting the human condition. Surely you can find a judge who isn’t afraid to come down on them for that.”

“I watched a video of the show when I got back to my office. You’re right. ZTV is milking this kidnapping for all it’s worth. But I also saw the note that came with the video. ‘Air this and do not call the cops or she will die.’ That’s the bigger issue. I have no problem finding a judge who is willing to tangle with the media. But finding one who is willing to silence the network and take the fall if Erin is murdered is impossible.”

“Thanks for nothing.”

“Hey, I haven’t exactly been doing nothing,” Harrison said. “So don’t take it out on me because Brockway is making the police department look bad. I saw that FBI agent he put on camera. I’m sure that crack about the feds stepping in and taking over is going to reverb throughout One PP.”

“Well, at least Agent Dobin fired a warning shot,” Kylie said.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Harrison said.

“It means that a friend of mine works for the Southern District, and she told me that the U.S. attorney would love nothing more than to sink his teeth into a high-profile case of a kidnapped actress and a multimillionaire mother-in-law who won’t lift a finger to help her.”

“You’re telling me that the U.S. attorney thinks he can step in and take this case?”

“He didn’t go on national TV and announce it like that idiot from the FBI, but he’s talking about it behind closed doors.”

“Son of a bitch,” Harrison said.

My cell phone rang. It was Rich Koprowski.

“I need you and MacDonald at the Brooklyn Army Terminal forthwith,” he said.

“What’s going on?” I said, hitting the speaker button.

“We tailed Jamie to a fashion show at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. There was a shooting. A sniper killed Veronica Gibbs. ESU is searching the venue for the shooter, but so far we’ve got nothing.”

“What about Jamie?”

“He’s okay. Nobody heard the gunshot, but he was sitting right next to her when she dropped like a stone. He went to help her up, but she was already dead.”

“We’re on the way,” I said and hung up.

Koprowski had used the word forthwith , which is cop-speak for “immediately, without delay.” But Kylie wasn’t quite ready to leave. She turned on Harrison.

“This morning ZTV broadcast a show to millions making Veronica Gibbs the heavy—the person who wouldn’t cough up the money to save her daughter-in-law and her unborn grandchild. Somebody saw that show and decided things would work out better if Jamie inherited the money in a hurry, so that person killed her.”

“You don’t know that for a fact,” Harrison said.

“Here’s what I do know, and you can pass it on to Mick Wilson,” Kylie said. “Harris Brockway and ZTV may not have Erin’s blood on their hands, but they sure as hell have Veronica’s.”

CHAPTER 48

SINCE WHEN DO you have a friend who works at the U.S. Attorney’s Office?” I said to Kylie as we merged onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

“ Imaginary friend. I was trying to light a fire under Bill. I guarantee he went straight to his boss’s office and warned Mick Wilson that the feds are threatening to take over the case. The first thing Wilson will want to do is reassure his millionaire donors that if they ever get kidnapped, he’ll do the right thing by them. He’s probably on the phone right now trying to find a judge willing to come down hard on ZTV.” She grinned. “Win-win.”

“In what universe is flat-out lying to the district attorney a win?”

“Come on, Zach. It’s more like I was fertilizing the seed that the FBI guy already planted.”

“Fertilizing the seed sounds a lot like shoveling shit to me.”

We got to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in twenty minutes. Rich Koprowski was waiting for us.

“No sign of the shooter,” he said. “We looked at the security videos. It’s an old system, basically useless. CSU pinpointed where the shot came from. It was a fourth-floor balcony. We found a single two-twenty-three shell. Veronica has a single bullet hole through her forehead. It’s over two hundred yards. The shooter was a pro.”

And Dodd was a marksman in the Marines . I exchanged a look with Kylie. I was sure she was thinking the same thing.

“Any witnesses?” I asked.

“We have the whole show on video, but all eyes were on the girls. One of Veronica’s models saw her go down. But she said people pass out at these extravaganzas all the time—drugs, alcohol, anorexia, strobe lights—so she just kept walking, didn’t break stride once. The music was blasting, so nobody heard the shot, and it was so chaotic you couldn’t even hear Jamie yelling for help. By the time we figured out we had a murder on our hands, the shooter was probably driving home on the BQE.”

“We should talk to Jamie,” Kylie said. “Where is he?”

“There are some trailers in the parking lot where the models did their hair and changed clothes. Brooklyn Homicide is talking to him in one of those.”

He led us to the trailer and asked the two Brooklyn cops inside to step out. We didn’t have to identify ourselves. They knew who we were.

“You caught the Easton kidnapping,” the older one said.

“You guys might have caught a piece of it yourselves,” I said. “Our kidnapper may be your shooter.”

We filled them in on everything. They didn’t bat an eye until we told them we’d ID’d Bobby Dodd within hours of the abduction.

“Holy shit,” the younger one said. “I’m amazed that never leaked to the media.”

“We kept a tight lid on it. If he’d known we were looking for him, he might have panicked and cut off all communication. But this shooting changes everything. As soon as we clear it with our boss, we’ll release Dodd’s name and picture to the press.”

“Starting with every single network that competes with ZTV,” Kylie said.

“And you think Dodd is our shooter?” the older one said.

“He has the motive, and he certainly has the talent,” I said.

We traded phone numbers and agreed to stay in touch. Then Kylie and I went inside the trailer. Jamie was sitting in a makeup chair staring at himself in the mirror. “We’re sorry for your loss,” I said. “Can you tell us what you saw?”

“You know how people always say, ‘It happened so fast’? It really did. I was sitting right next to her. She was enjoying the show, and then all of a sudden she jerked back and fell from her chair to the floor. I bent down to help her, and that’s when I saw the blood. She was already dead.”

“I have to ask, Jamie,” I said. “I know you hated being cooped up with a bunch of cops watching you, but why did you come here?”

“This is one of the biggest shows of the season. Mom wanted me here. I figured it was just some more time I would have with her to try to convince her to give me the twenty-five million. She had a good heart, but people didn’t understand her. You know how many death threats she got on Twitter from Erin’s crazy fans because she wouldn’t pay the ransom money? And now one of those bastards actually killed her, thinking I’d get her money.”