Chasing the Dime

by Michael Connelly

  "An intimate moment. I thought you told me you didn't —"

  "I didn't. It was on the phone. When she told me."

  "Oh, well, phone sex is a whole other ballgame."

  "Never mind, Cody. I have to go."

  "Hey, wait a minute. How'd your thing go with the big money man today?"

  "It went fine. Charlie's ringing him up right now."

  "Cool."

  "I have to go, Cody. Thanks for trying on that."

  "Don't worry. I'll be billing you."

  Pierce clicked off and picked up one of the messages from Langwiser. He punched in the number on the phone. A secretary answered and his call was put right through.

  "Where have you been?" she began. "I told your assistant to get the message to you right away."

  "She did what she's supposed to do. I don't like to be interrupted in the lab. What's going on?"

  "Well, suffice it to say your attorney is pretty well plugged in. I still have my sources in the police department."

  "And?"

  "What I am telling you is highly confidential. It's information I shouldn't have. If it got out, there would be an investigation just on this alone."

  "Okay. What is it?"

  "A source told me that Renner spent a good part of his morning at his desk today working on a search warrant application. He then took it to a judge."

  After the urgency of her messages and her warning, Pierce was underwhelmed.

  "Okay. And what does that mean?"

  "It means he wants to search your property. Your apartment, your car, probably the home where you lived before moving because that was likely your domicile when the crime occurred."

  "You mean the disappearance and supposed murder of Lilly Quinlan."

  "Exactly. But —and this is a big but —the application was rejected. The judge told him there wasn't enough. He hadn't presented enough evidence to justify the warrant."

  "So that's good then, right? Does that mean it's over?"

  "No, he can go back in anytime he wants. Anytime he gets more. My guess is that he was relying on the tape recording —what he called your admission. So it is good to know that a judge saw through that and said it wasn't enough."

  Pierce contemplated all of this. He was out of his league, unsure what all of the legal maneuverings meant.

  "He might now choose to do a little judge shopping," Langwiser said.

  "You mean like taking the application to a different judge?"

  "Yes, somebody more accommodating. The thing is, he probably went to the softest sell he knew in the first place. Going somewhere else could cause problems. If a judge finds out a search app has already been rejected by a colleague, it could get testy."

  Trying to follow the legal nuances seemed like a waste of time. Pierce wasn't as unnerved about the news as Langwiser seemed to be. He understood that this was because she could never be completely sure he was innocent of the crime. That margin of doubt raised concerns about what the police would find if they searched his property.

  "What if we let him search without a warrant?" he asked.

  "No."

  "He wouldn't find anything. I did not do this, Janis. I never even met Lilly Quinlan."

  "It doesn't matter. We don't cooperate. You start cooperating, you start walking into traps."

  "I don't understand. If I'm innocent, what trap could there be?"

  "Henry, you want me to advise you, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Then listen and take my advice. We make no overtures to the other side. We have put Renner on notice and that is where we keep it."

  "Whatever."

  "Thank you."

  "Will you know if he goes judge shopping or re-applies to the original judge?"

  "I have an ear out. We might get a heads up. Either way, you act surprised if he ever shows up with a warrant. I have to protect my source."

  "I will."

  Pierce suddenly thought of something and it put a dagger of fear in his chest.

  "What about my office? And the lab? Will he want to search here?"

  If that happened, it would be too hard to contain. The story would leak out and into the circles where emerging technologies are discussed. It would certainly get back to Goddard and Bechy.

  "I don't know for sure but it would seem unlikely. He will be going for locations likely used in the commission of the crime. It would seem like he might have an even more difficult time if he goes in and tries to convince a judge to let him search a place of business where it was highly unlikely for the crime to have occurred."

  Pierce thought about the phone book he had hidden in the cabinet in the copy room. A direct connection to Lilly Quinlan he had not already acknowledged having. He had to get rid of it somehow.

  He then thought of something else.

  "You know," he said, "they already searched my car. I could tell when I got into it that night outside Lilly's place."

  There was a moment of silence before Langwiser spoke.

  "If they did, then it was illegal. We'll never be able to prove it without a witness, though."

  "I didn't see anybody other than cops out there."

  "I'm sure it was just a flashlight search. Quick and dirty. If he gets a warrant approved, they'll do it legally and they'll do more than a once-over. They'll go for hair and fiber evidence, things like that. Things too small to have been seen with a flashlight."

  Pierce thought of the toast he had given less than a half hour before. He realized that a speck of dust might hold his future either way.

  "Well, like I said, let them do it," he said, a note of defiance in his voice. "Maybe they'll start looking for the real killer once I come up clean."

  "Any ideas on that?"

  "Nope."

  "Well, for now, you should worry about yourself. You don't seem to understand the gravity of this situation. With the search warrant, I mean. You think that just because they won't find anything that you're free and clear."

  "Look, Janis, I'm a chemist, not a lawyer. And all I know is that I'm in the middle of this thing but I didn't do it. If I don't understand the gravity of the situation, then tell me exactly what it is you want me to understand."

  It was the first time he had vented his frustration in her direction and he immediately regretted it.

  "The reality is that a cop is on your tail and it is unlikely that he is going to be put off by this setback. To Renner, this is only temporary. He is a patient man and he will continue to work this thing until he finds or gets what he needs to get a search warrant signed. You understand?"

  "Yes."

  "And then that's only the beginning. Renner is good at what he does. Most of the cops I know that are good are good because they are relentless."

  Pierce felt his body heat rising again. He didn't know what else to say, so he didn't say anything. A long moment of silence went by before Langwiser broke it.

  "There's something else. On Saturday night you told them about Lilly Quinlan's home and gave them the address. Well, they went over there and checked it out but they did not formally search the place until Sunday afternoon after Renner got a search warrant. It wasn't clear whether she was dead or alive and it was obvious she was or had been engaged in a profession that likely involved prostitution and other illegalities."

  Pierce nodded. He was beginning to understand how Renner thought.

  "So to protect himself, he went and got a warrant," he said. "In case they came across something in regard to these other illegal activities. Or if she turned up alive and said, What the hell are you doing in my place?"

  "Exactly. But there was another reason as well."

  "To gather evidence against me."

  "Right again."

  "But how can it be evidence against me? I told him I went in there. My fingerprints are all over the place because I was looking for her and for what might have happened."

  "That's your story and I believe you. He doesn't. He believes it is a story you made up to c
over the fact that you had been in her home."

  "I can't believe this."

  "You'd better. And under the law he had to file what is called a search warrant return within forty-eight hours. It basically is a receipt for anything that was taken by police in the search."

  "Did he?"

  "Yes, he filed it and I got a copy. It wasn't sealed —he made a mistake on that. Anyway, it lists personal property that was taken, things like a hairbrush for DNA sampling, on and on. Many items were taken for fingerprint analysis. Pieces of mail, desk drawers, jewelry, perfume bottles, even sexual devices found in drawers."

  Pierce was silent. He remembered the perfume bottle he had picked up while in the house. Could such a simple thing now be used to help convict him? He felt his insides churning, his face felt flush.

  "You're not saying anything, Henry."

  "I know. I'm just thinking."

  "Don't tell me you touched these sexual devices."

  Pierce shook his head.

  "No, I didn't even see them. I did pick up a perfume bottle, though."

  He heard her exhale.

  "What?"

  "Why did you pick up a perfume bottle?"

  "I don't know. I just did. It reminded me of something, I guess. Of someone. What is the big deal? How does picking up a bottle of perfume equate with murder?"

  "It's part of a circumstantial net. You told the police you went into the house to check on her, to see if she was all right."

  "I told them that because that's what I did."

  "Well, did you tell them that you also were picking up her perfume bottles and sniffing them? Were you looking through her underwear drawer, too?"

  Pierce didn't respond. He felt like he might throw up. He leaned down and pulled the trash can from under the desk and put it on the floor next to his chair.

  "Henry, I'm acting like a prosecutor with you because I need you to see the perilous path you are on. Anything you say or do can be twisted. It can look one way to you and completely different to someone else."

  "Okay, okay. How long before they do the fingerprint stuff?"

  "Probably a few days. Without a body, this case is probably not a priority to anyone other than Renner. I heard his own partner is working on other things, that they aren't seeing eye to eye on this and Renner's going it alone."

  "Is the partner your source?"

  "I'm not talking to you about my source."

  They were both silent for a while. Pierce had nothing more to say but felt a sense of hope as long as he was connected to Langwiser.

  "I'm putting together a list of people we can talk to," she finally said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "A list of people associated in some way with the case and questions to ask them. You know, if we need to."

  "I get it."

  He knew she meant if he was arrested and charged. If he was brought to trial.

  "So let me work on things for a little while," Langwiser said. "I'll call you back if anything else comes up."

  Pierce finally said good-bye and hung up. He then sat without moving in his chair as he thought about the information he had just been given. Renner was making his move.

  Even without a body. Pierce knew he had to call Nicole and somehow explain that the police believed he was a murderer and the likelihood was that they would be coming to search the home they had shared.

  The thought of it sent another wave of sickness through him. He looked down at the trash can. He was about to get up to go get some water or a can of Coke when there was a knock on his door.

  31

  Charlie Condon poked his head into the office. He was beaming. His smile was as wide and hard as the concrete bed of the L.A. River.

  "You did it, man. You fucking did it!"

  Pierce swallowed and tried to separate himself from the feelings the phone call had left.

  "We all did it," he said. "Where is Goddard?"

  Condon stepped all the way in and closed the door. Pierce noticed he had loosened his tie after all the champagne.

  "He's in my office, talking to his lawyer on the phone."

  "I thought Just Bitchy was his lawyer."

  "She's a lawyer but not a lawyer lawyer, if you know what I mean."

  Pierce was finding it difficult to listen to Condon because thoughts about the call from Langwiser kept intruding.

  "You want to hear his opening offer?"

  Pierce looked up at Condon and nodded.

  "He wants to buy in for twenty over four years. He wants twelve points and he wants to be chairman of the board."

  Pierce forced the image of Renner out of his mind and concentrated on Condon's smiling face. The offer from Goddard was good. Not quite there, but good.

  "That's not bad, Charlie."

  "Not bad? It's great!"

  Condon sounded like Tony the Tiger, accenting the last word too loudly. He'd drunk too much champagne.

  "Well, it's only an opener. It's got to get better."

  "I know. It will. I wanted to check with you on a couple things. First, the chair. Do you care about that?"

  "Not if you don't."

  Condon was currently the chairman of the company's board of directors. But it wasn't a board with any real power, because Pierce still controlled the company. Condon held 10 percent, they had chipped out another 8 percent to prior investors —no one in the Maurice Goddard class —and employee compensation accounted for another 10. The rest —72 percent of the company —still belonged to Pierce. So giving Goddard the chair of a largely ceremonial advisory board didn't seem to be giving away much of anything.

  "I say give it to him, make him happy," Condon said. "Now, what about the points? If I can get him to go to twenty million over three years, will you give him the points?"

  Pierce shook his head.

  "No. The difference between ten and twelve points could end up being a couple hundred million dollars. I'm keeping the points. And if you get the twenty over three years, great.

  But he's got to give us a minimum of eighteen million over three, or send him back to New York."

  "It's a tall order."

  "Look, we've been over this. Our burn rate right now as we speak is three million a year.

  If we want to expand and keep ahead of the pack, we're going to need double that. Six million a year is the threshold. Go work it out."

  "You're only giving me the chair to work with."

  "No, I only gave you the invention of the decade to work with. Charlie, did you see that guy's eyes after we put the lights back on? He's not only hooked. He's gutted and already in the frying pan. You're only nailing down details now. So go close the deal and get the first check into escrow. No extra points and get the six a year. We need it to do the work.

  If he wants to ride with us, that's the price of the ticket."

  "Okay, I'll get it. But you ought to come do it yourself. You're a better closer than me."

  "Not likely."

  Condon left the room then and Pierce was alone with his thoughts again. Once more he reviewed everything Langwiser had told him. Renner was going to search his homes and car. Search the car again. Officially and legally this time. Probably to search for small evidence, evidence likely left behind during the transport of a body.

  "Jesus," he said out loud.

  He decided to analyze his situation in the same way he would analyze an experiment in the lab. From the bottom up. Look at it one way and then turn it and look at it another way. Grind it to powder and then look at it under the glass.

  Believe nothing about it at the start.

  He got out his notebook and wrote down the key elements of his conversation with Langwiser on a fresh page.

  Search: apartment Amalfi Car —second time —material evidence Office/Lab?

  Search warrant return: fingerprints Everywhere —perfume He stared at the page but no answers and no new questions came to him. Finally, he tore the page out, crumpled it and threw it toward the trash can in the
corner of the room. He missed.

  He leaned back and closed his eyes. He knew he had to call Nicole to prepare her for the inevitable. The police would come and search through everything: hers, his, it didn't matter. Nicole was a very private person. The invasion would be hugely damaging to her and the explanation for it catastrophic to his hopes of reconciliation.