We Can See You

by Simon Kernick

  Brook watched as Angie got into her black Tesla and drove quickly out of the lot. She’d known Angie for three years and had considered her a friend but, since she’d split up with her boyfriend, Bruce, Brook had hardly seen or heard from her.

  And now, sitting here, she asked herself why it was that things had tailed off. Had Logan and Angie been having an affair? If so, who’d finished it? If it was Angie, then no problem – Logan would have accepted it and moved on to his next victim, as he clearly had. But if Logan had been the one who’d broken it off, that put a different slant on things. Angie was a hard woman, a ball-breaker, some men would call her. Brook had always admired that about her character. She was the kind of woman who could take on men at their own game and win. She was aggressive and almost impossible to intimidate – both essential traits for a successful criminal lawyer – but she was also pretty damned scary, and Brook couldn’t imagine her taking rejection very well at all. In a rare candid moment, Angie had once told Brook that she had a hard exterior but was soft inside, and Brook remembered looking into her eyes and thinking she really didn’t believe that.

  But was she capable of killing Logan and setting Brook up for the rap? To do that required a ruthlessness that sat far better with a cartel gangster like Tony Reyes and, in the end, what was in it for Angie? It didn’t make sense. But then nothing did any more.

  Brook was just trying to work out exactly how many enemies she might have when Maria Reyes walked out of the restaurant and headed towards her car, looking round a little too furtively as she did so.

  This was it. Brook’s one chance for answers and, now that it came to it, she was scared stiff. But as she’d learned a long time ago, the longer you think about taking an important step, the harder it becomes, and the easier it is to convince yourself you can’t do it. Sometimes everything in life comes down to one important lesson. Don’t think. Act.

  Taking a deep breath, Brook got out of the Mercedes and started to follow Maria, pretending to look for something in her purse. It was almost dark now and, although there were still people in the parking lot and cars driving past on the coastal road, no one was paying her any heed.

  Two girls in their early twenties walked past her without a second glance. Both were talking and looking at their cellphones at the same time, like so many people these days. No one notices anything any more, thought Brook. It was an insidious development that she’d covered in her new book, but right then it suited her just fine because, as Maria unlocked the Porsche, she too removed her cell to check it and was staring at the screen as she got inside.

  Brook was still five yards away from the car, so she moved rapidly, keeping her head down, and, already going for the gun in her jeans as she yanked open the Porsche’s passenger door before Maria had a chance to start the engine and reactivate the central locking.

  ‘What’s going on? Get the fuck out of my car!’ demanded Maria as Brook sat down beside her and pulled the door shut. There was a look of utter fury on her face, as if she couldn’t believe someone would have the temerity to confront her like this, but she stopped dead when she saw Brook’s gun pointed straight at her midriff.

  ‘Start the car and drive out of here as if you’re going home,’ Brook told her, surprised both at the coldness in her own voice and at the intense excitement she was feeling.

  ‘Do you not know who I am? Or who my husband is?’ Maria’s accent was pure California, which for some reason surprised Brook.

  ‘Of course I do,’ she answered. ‘Now I’m not going to ask you a second time. Start the engine and drive the car or I will shoot you.’

  ‘You wouldn’t dare. There are too many people around.’ Maria made a play of looking in her rear-view mirror.

  ‘Do you want to try me? This is a small gun. It won’t make much noise. And if I shoot you in the right spot, you’ll still be able to answer my questions. Now drive. I’m not going to ask again.’

  Maria Reyes actually snarled and her nostrils flared, but she started the engine and reversed out of the parking spot, before driving out of the lot and turning back towards Monterey. ‘I recognize you now,’ she said. ‘You’re that woman who’s on the run.’

  ‘You know exactly who I am,’ said Brook. ‘You knew the second I got in this car. And that’s because you’re the woman who’s been having an affair with my husband.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Maria, staring straight ahead.

  ‘Don’t give me that shit. I know. That’s why I’m here.’

  There was a silence in the car. Brook let it linger. Maria’s expression tightened, revealing a faint frown line between her eyes. She took a deep breath, let it out. Then finally she spoke. ‘Is that what’s this is about? Logan? If it is, then I’m sorry.’

  ‘Sorry for what?’ demanded Brook, still keeping the gun trained on Maria’s stomach.

  ‘For everything that’s happened. How did you find out about us? Did Logan tell you?’

  Brook suddenly got the gist of what she was saying. ‘Jesus! You think I killed Logan, don’t you?’

  Maria looked at her, confused. ‘Didn’t you? That’s what they’re saying all over the TV. That they’re looking for you in connection with his murder.’

  ‘No,’ Brook said firmly. ‘I didn’t kill him.’

  ‘Well, I didn’t do it, either. You may not believe this, but I loved Logan.’

  ‘You don’t look especially upset that he’s dead.’

  ‘Why? Because I’m not sitting here, crying about it to his wife?’ Maria paused for a moment and took a deep breath. ‘I’ve been torn up ever since I heard the news. It’s like I’ve lost a limb. But I’m trying to keep my emotions under control. You, of all people, should understand that, being the celebrity life-coach. Isn’t that what you say in your book? That it’s essential to keep a lid on your emotions and not let them overcome you?’

  It was exactly what Brook had said and she was almost flattered that this woman might have read one of her books, but she didn’t need a lecture from her about it now. ‘What were you doing in the restaurant with Angie Southby?’

  The question surprised Maria. She opened her mouth to say something, possibly thought better of it and turned her gaze back towards the road. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t say.’

  ‘That’s not going to wash, Maria. I want answers, and you’re going to give them to me. Because if you don’t, I swear to God I will put a bullet in you. I want to know who killed my husband; who cut off my daughter’s nanny’s finger; and, most importantly of all, I want to know what they’ve done with my daughter, who is only five years old and has been missing for the past three days. So bear this in mind. I have nothing left to lose. I have a gun. And it’s pointed at you. So it’s very much in your interests to tell me what I want to know. Now I repeat: why were you meeting Angie Southby?’

  Maria’s knuckles went white as she gripped the steering wheel. ‘Please don’t make me say this.’

  ‘I have to.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said at last. ‘I was in love with your husband. I’m not proud to say it, but I think he was in love with me, too.’

  Hearing the words felt like a punch to the gut, because Brook knew Maria was right. In the photos they’d looked like two people in love.

  ‘We were going to run away together,’ continued Maria. ‘Logan knew what a good mother you were – are – to Paige, so our plan was to disappear and leave the two of you together.’

  ‘Logan would never have deserted Paige.’

  ‘But he wouldn’t have been deserting her, would he? He was leaving Paige in the care of someone who loved her more than anything else. And he believed that she’d be better off with you than with him.’ She sighed. ‘But we couldn’t just run away. You know who my husband is, right?’

  Brook nodded. ‘I do.’

  ‘Then you know that he would have hunted us down, whatever it took, because I’d always be a threat to him and his business partners. I’ve been married for ov
er twenty-five years to a man who’s a monster. Do you have any idea what that’s like? I’ll tell you – it’s like a continuous death sentence, knowing that Tony has the power to kill me at any time, if I displease him; and then having to watch my two sons, as they’ve been growing up, for any sign that they might take after him. And do you know what really hurts? They do. They’re bullies. Just like he is.’

  Maria took a deep breath. ‘So when I met Logan and fell in love with him, I knew there was only one way out. We had to disappear completely, and the only people who could guarantee that happening were the authorities. I was planning to go to the FBI and testify against my husband, but I wanted legal advice first. Logan knew of Angie Southby and spoke very highly of her as a lawyer. Our plan was to meet her and discuss our options. But then, before we had a chance to …’ She paused. ‘All this happened, and now Logan’s … he’s gone. The one fucking good thing that ever happened to me.’ Her face crumpled with emotion and Brook thought she might cry.

  ‘So why meet Angie today? And why at the Lovers Beach, right on your own doorstep? Isn’t that a tad stupid, if you’re so scared of your husband?’

  Maria gave Brook a withering look. ‘Logan might be gone, but I still want to leave my husband, and the authorities are still my only option. But you want to know why I chose to meet her on my own doorstep? Since Logan’s death I’ve been out of my mind with worry, because I wasn’t sure if Tony had anything to do with it or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if he killed Logan without saying a word about it, just to torment me. It’s the sort of thing he likes doing. But then, when I heard you were on the run, I thought you’d killed him. Even so, I’m not taking any chances. If my husband’s got anyone tailing me, then all they would have seen is me driving to meet a friend at a restaurant. What does look suspicious is someone like you appearing out of nowhere and jumping into my car. So if there was someone following me, they’re going to be wondering what’s happening now.’

  ‘No one was following you,’ said Brook, hoping she was right. ‘I was watching. So has your husband acted any differently since the murder?’

  ‘No. He’s been exactly the same as he always is. Distant. Cold. He’s not the jealous type. The only reason he would have killed Logan would be out of male pride. I don’t think it’s him, because he wouldn’t have done it that way. He would have made Logan disappear, so it didn’t rebound on him.’

  ‘But that’s the thing,’ Brook said. ‘It hasn’t rebounded on him. Someone’s set me up to take the rap. And as far as I’m concerned, your husband is the prime suspect.’

  ‘Even if he is, there’s nothing you can do about it. He’s got security everywhere. You won’t be able to get within a hundred feet of him.’

  Brook took a deep breath. This was it – the moment she’d been waiting for. ‘That’s where you come in,’ she said. ‘You’re going to get me inside your home.’

  Maria shook her head emphatically. ‘No way. If I help you, I’ll be signing my own death warrant. All I want to do is start a new life, and you’re not going to deny me that.’

  She pulled over to the side of the road, ignoring the blast of a horn from the car behind.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ snapped Brook.

  Maria gave her a defiant look. ‘I’m sorry about your husband. And I’m sorry about your daughter, I really am. But I’m not prepared to die at the hands of a sadistic monster like my husband, for either you or her. So either shoot me now or get out.’

  Brook had had plenty of time to think and she’d planned for exactly this reaction. Still keeping the gun trained on Maria, she reached into her purse, pulling out an envelope containing two of the photos of Maria and Logan that she’d got from Chris Cervantes’s file and threw it onto her lap.

  Maria looked at Brook, then at the envelope. Finally, reluctantly, she slipped out the first photo, saw herself in an embrace with Logan and took a sharp intake of breath.

  Brook didn’t like doing this to her. Against all her instincts, she actually had some sympathy for Maria’s plight. Here was a woman who, like Brook, was being backed into an ever smaller corner. ‘Those are copies,’ she said quietly. ‘The originals are even better-quality. And there are plenty more of them.’

  ‘You bitch,’ whispered Maria, still staring at the photos. She looked shell-shocked.

  ‘I won’t shoot you, Maria, but if you make me get out of this car, your husband will be getting these photos in the mail tomorrow, along with a letter telling him about your plan to turn state’s evidence against him. And don’t think you can go running to Angie tonight. I know how she works. She’ll be reviewing her options, working out if helping you is too big a risk or not. You know as well as I do that, if she was that keen, she’d have taken you with her tonight.’

  Maria stared at her, the hatred, hurt and frustration written all over her smooth, beautifully made-up face. ‘Please,’ she said, changing tack. ‘Don’t sentence me to death.’

  Brook looked her straight in the eye and laid her cards on the table. ‘If you do what I say, I guarantee I’ll get both of us through this unscathed. But if you try to double-cross me, we’ll both be going down together. Now start driving again.’

  Maria took a deep breath, then pulled the Porsche back out onto the road, and Brook felt a looming sense of dread as they headed towards the lion’s den.

  31

  The Lovers Beach restaurant was the kind of place reserved for rich tourists and the beautiful people of Monterey, where if you were someone like Giant – not so beautiful, twenty pounds overweight and wearing a suit that cost less than one round of the famously overpriced cocktails – the young, cool staff would give you that down-their-nose look that said: this isn’t your kind of place. And they’d be right. Giant wouldn’t have eaten there if they’d paid him, and if he wanted a view out over the Pacific Ocean he’d go to the beach.

  There was a patrol car already there when they pulled into the parking lot, and two officers – a male and a female – were questioning a young blonde woman near the front entrance, while a staff member hovered nearby.

  The male officer peeled away as Giant and Jenna walked over. Giant recognized him by face, but not by name.

  ‘The young lady here thinks she witnessed some kind of carjacking,’ the male officer said, not sounding too convinced.

  ‘What’s “some kind of carjacking”?’ asked Jenna. ‘Either there was one or there wasn’t.’

  ‘Why don’t you talk to her? You’ll see what I mean.’

  They both went over and introduced themselves, and Giant asked the girl if she could tell them what she’d seen. She was only young – probably no more than twenty-one – and worryingly underdressed for the chill in the air and the wind coming off the ocean, although that wasn’t his business.

  However, she’d hardly even opened her mouth when the staff member who was hanging around butted in. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Detective, but I’m the manager here, Klaus Wilding. Would it be possible to conduct this interview a little bit away from the restaurant? I don’t want to scare our customers.’

  It was hard for Giant to take seriously a man named Klaus who wasn’t German, especially when he was dressed in a burgundy waistcoat and a miniature matching bow tie, but he made an effort. ‘We’ll be finished as soon as we can, sir, and can you stay here, please? We may need you.’

  Klaus didn’t look too happy, but he didn’t argue, either, and Giant turned back to the girl. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Look, it may be nothing, but I was getting out my car earlier, just as this older woman was getting into hers a few yards away, and I saw this other woman in a hat and sunglasses come out of nowhere, walking real fast and reaching for something in the back of her jeans. She pulled open the door on the passenger side – but real fast, you know – and it looked, you know …’ She paused for a couple of seconds. ‘It looked like she was pulling out a gun.’

  Giant nodded slowly. ‘Okay. Then what happened?’

  ‘
The other woman yelled something like “What the fuck are you doing?” and then the door shut and I couldn’t hear any more. They looked like they were talking in there for a bit, then the car reversed out and I moved out of the way, because I wasn’t sure what was going on, and I watched them as they drove out. The driver looked pretty scared.’

  ‘Could you be mistaken about the gun?’ Jenna asked her gently. ‘I mean, the light’s not that good, is it?’

  The girl nodded. ‘Yeah, I’m not totally sure it was a gun, but the whole thing looked weird. And the woman in the hat looked really intense, like she was worked up about something. I called you guys because it didn’t look right.’

  ‘I have to say, we’ve never had a carjacking – or anything remotely similar – at this restaurant in all the five years I’ve been here,’ said Klaus.

  Giant ignored him. ‘You did the right thing,’ he told the girl. ‘Can you describe the car’s driver?’

  ‘She was black-haired, quite a bit older, Hispanic-looking.’

  ‘And what car was she driving?’

  ‘A blue Porsche nine-eleven. It looked brand new.’

  Maria Reyes was older, black-haired and Hispanic-looking, and she drove a brand-new blue Porsche 911. It wasn’t likely to be a coincidence, especially if she’d been carjacked by a woman. Giant looked at Jenna and she raised her eyebrows, obviously thinking what he was thinking. That Brook Connor, rather than making a run for it, was hell-bent on taking revenge for Maria having an affair with her husband.

  Giant turned to the maître d’. ‘We need to see the security-camera footage from seven-thirty till eight p.m. tonight. I’m assuming you’ve got the parking lot covered.’

  Klaus nodded. ‘I can get it for you in the next hour. We’ve got a full house in there right now, but we’ll be easing off soon.’

  All his life Giant had been the kind of man who wasn’t taken that seriously by people when they met him, even when they knew he was a cop. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t that tall, and carried too much weight, by California standards; or maybe it was because he’d got what his mom had always described as a non-cop face (which she meant as being too kindly-looking for law enforcement). Whatever it was, it never failed to piss him off. He glared at Klaus, irritatingly conscious that he wanted to appear a tough guy in front of Jenna. ‘This is an abduction, sir. Not someone leaving without paying their bar bill. We want to see the footage right now.’