by Rose, Karen
‘What’s that?’ Stevie asked.
‘The driver’s seat of the Chevy was missing. The frame remained, but the seat cover and all the stuffing had been removed.’
Clay’s eyes glinted. ‘Then I got him.’
‘I’d say you did,’ JD said, satisfied.
‘Because the only reason he’d remove the seat was if he left evidence behind on it,’ Stevie said thoughtfully. ‘Like blood. Did we check the street a few houses up from mine? His arm was hanging out the window. Maybe he dripped some as he sped away.’
‘More likely I hit his shoulder and most of his blood spilled in the car,’ Clay said. ‘But it’s worth a try. I take it that no GSWs have checked into area hospitals.’
‘Only the one I just sent. Rossi was bullet-free when he arrived at the safe house. Hyatt and IA are at the hospital, waiting for him to come out of surgery. As soon as he’s conscious, they’ll grill him for details.’
Stevie frowned. ‘But didn’t Rossi expect me to have backup at the safe house?’
‘No. Hyatt let it drop to a few people that you’d be alone because you were “too damn stubborn” to let them guard you.’ Anybody who knows you didn’t doubt him.’
Stevie wanted to be offended, but couldn’t. ‘It’s a fair cop, I guess.’
‘He was dropping bread crumbs and wanted them to be believable. Now he has some leads on the leak.’
‘How is he?’ Stevie asked quietly. She’d worked for Peter Hyatt for a long time. He was gruff and sometimes a pain in the ass, but deep down he cared. That he’d put an officer in a situation that had gotten her killed would weigh him down.
‘Angry as hell. He’d hoped you were wrong, you know. That there weren’t any more cops involved. Now he knows there are and one of the good guys is dead.’
For a long moment no one said anything.
‘That makes three today,’ Stevie said, breaking the silence. ‘Three dead and we still have at least one gunman out there, walking free. Until we catch him, I’m a target and I’ve made Cordelia one, too. And Emma.’ Her voice trembled and she cleared her throat harshly. ‘It could be anyone.’
‘Not just anyone,’ JD said. ‘Someone who’s connected to Stuart Lippman and Silas. Or to one of the crimes they perpetrated. I do see one benefit in all this, though.’
Stevie desperately needed a bright side. ‘What’s that?’
‘The murder of a cop in a safe house by another cop blows this whole thing wide open. Whoever targeted you to keep you from investigating the crimes that didn’t make it to Lippman’s list now knows it’s not just you looking. They can’t silence all of us.’
Stevie’s heart stuttered in her chest. All she could see in her mind was more bloodshed. ‘That’s not a bright side, JD,’ she said hoarsely.
‘It takes the spotlight off of you,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘Hyatt and IA should have made this public right away. The damn veil of secrecy put you in danger.’
‘You’re right,’ she said, pushing away the dread. ‘Now we – all of us together – have to rout this rot out of the department before anyone else gets hurt.’ She thought of Justine Cleary, the undercover policewoman who’d died in her place. ‘Or worse.’
‘The answer is somewhere in those files you brought with you,’ Clay said to Stevie. ‘My bet is that we’re looking for a case you hadn’t uncovered yet. If it was one of the cases on Lippman’s list, IA would have eventually gotten to it, so it would have made more sense to kill one of them. It’s got to be one of the cases that didn’t make it to the list.’
‘You were hunting off the list,’ JD agreed. ‘It was only a matter of time before you exposed them.’
‘So let’s expose them now.’ Clay caught Stevie’s eye, his gaze sharp. ‘How long ago did Silas start working for Lippman?’
‘Nine years ago,’ she said.
‘And the other cops you know were dirty? How far back does that activity go?’
‘The tell-all file that Lippman left behind recorded the first frame-job eleven years ago. He started with two cops on his payroll – homicide detectives Riddick and Payne. They were partners at the time. Riddick retired about five years ago, but died soon after. Payne’s been in custody for the last six months. He was one of the first arrested.’
‘And after that?’ Clay asked. ‘Who did Lippman recruit after that?’
‘That would have been Elizabeth Morton, also Homicide. Lippman had one of his people hit her little boy with a car ten years ago. Ensured her cooperation by threatening to make it more painful for the boy “the next time”. He wasn’t even three years old then.’
‘Sonofabitch,’ Tanner muttered from behind her. ‘Who does that? Who cripples toddlers? Who shoots at beds, hoping to kill little girls? My God. I was a cop for twenty-five years and I thought nothing could surprise me, but . . . Hell. Makes me sick that these guys wore a badge. The mother of the boy I might be able to understand, but still.’
‘Don’t waste too much understanding on her,’ Stevie said. ‘Elizabeth made it worse for herself. She killed Silas to keep him from giving Lippman’s identity to us. In my living room, no less.’ She still remembered the way her old partner dropped after Elizabeth Morton shot him.
‘Why?’ Tanner asked, confused.
‘Because,’ she said, ‘Lippman made sure all of his operatives knew that if he was captured or killed, they’d all be exposed. We had Silas surrounded and he had excellent incentive to give Lippman up – Lippman had made good on his long-standing threat and abducted Silas’s child.’
‘That was the case where Paige met Grayson,’ Clay said to his father. ‘Remember, she told you about it the time she brought Grayson out here to meet you. Paige and Grayson had gotten too close to Lippman and the bastard had ordered Silas to kill them. Kidnapping Silas’s child was Lippman’s leverage, but then Paige’s dog took Silas down and he found himself staring at a bunch of guns. He knew then that he was going to jail and that Stevie, Grayson, and Paige were his only hope of getting his little girl back.’
Tanner nodded. ‘I remember now. Paige mentioned that another cop killed Silas.’
Stevie frowned a little, the thought of Grayson and Paige visiting with Clay’s father mildly unsettling. Grayson had been Stevie’s friend for years, yet he’d never mentioned this relationship. Maybe because it involved Clay and Grayson knew I’d turned him away?
Or . . . Maybe because I’ve cut myself off from my friends. She thought about that moment that they’d all rallied around her, there on the road. Supporting her. She’d been stunned, but she shouldn’t have been. They’d always been there. When did I shut them out?
Her friends . . . Cordelia’s pain . . . What else have I been missing?
‘Elizabeth knew if Silas gave Lippman up, she’d go to jail,’ she said to Tanner, ‘and she didn’t want that. She did earn a few brownie points, at the end. She killed Lippman to save other lives. She’ll spend the rest of her life in prison, but the State’s Attorney arranged for her to serve her time locally so her son can visit.’
‘I remember Elizabeth Morton clearly,’ Clay said. He and Joseph Carter had been responsible for her capture. ‘Being in prison gives her a damn good alibi, though. She’s obviously not the drive-by shooter. Nor did she leak the safe house location. So we’re back to Rossi. JD, can you get your hands on Rossi’s personnel file? Go back at least eleven years, back to the start of Lippman’s crimes. We’ll see if Rossi connects to any of Silas’s cases that Stevie’s been reviewing. It has to be one of those cases, otherwise there’d be no reason to try to kill her.’
‘I requested Rossi’s file on my way back from the scene,’ JD said. ‘I should have it in an hour, tops.’
There was a moment of quiet, then. Stevie was mentally processing, making lists, trying to think of what else to ask. She figured JD was, too.
But Clay was frowning, drumming his fingers on the table broodingly. ‘What?’ she asked him softly.
Clay’s chest rose and fell with the deep breath he drew. ‘Fine. I’m going to say what we haven’t yet said, but what I’m sure we’re all thinking because none of us are stupid. You told Hyatt about your suspicions of more dirty cops and you get attacked. Twice. You tell IA a few days later and the shooting starts. Hyatt arranges for a safe house and now a cop is dead. For sure there is an internal BPD leak. But how do we know Hyatt’s trustworthy? How do we know that IA’s not dirty, too?’
Stevie met Clay’s eyes straight on. ‘I don’t. That’s why I’ve been searching myself.’
JD’s heavy sigh came through the speaker. ‘IA I can buy. But Hyatt, too?’
‘I don’t want to think it,’ Stevie said quietly. ‘I didn’t want to believe Silas was guilty either. But to save my child? Yeah, I’ll entertain the notion that Hyatt’s involved. I’ll at least be careful of what I tell him.’ She looked at the speaker. ‘I trust you, JD. With my life. With Cordelia’s life.’ He’d put his life on the line for her more than once, something Silas had never done. Something Hyatt had never done.
But something Clay had also done. Once again she met his eyes. He deserved to hear her say the words aloud. ‘And you, Clay. With my life and with the life of my child.’
His expression hardened, his eyes gone dark. For a moment he didn’t seem to breathe at all. ‘Thank you,’ he said, his voice nearly inaudible.
Stevie gave him a hard nod as JD sighed again, drawing them back to the matter at hand. ‘Stevie, who knew the scope of your personal investigation? Other than IA?’
‘Hyatt, of course. The records department, because I requested copies of the reports. The evidence room. The guy in the copy room. A lot of people,’ she realized. ‘Damn.’
‘That’s what I was afraid of,’ JD said grimly. ‘We’ll figure this out, Stevie. Until we do, I need you to keep your head low and stay alive.’
‘You can count on that,’ Stevie promised. ‘Thanks, JD.’
Clay disconnected, then shot her a wry look. ‘Which thing can he count on? That you’ll keep your head low or that you’ll stay alive?’
‘The second one. Until this is settled, my child is in danger. I’m not going to sit by, chewing my fingernails as I wait. But I won’t take stupid chances. That I promise.’
He nodded. ‘All right then. Let’s get to work.’
‘You’re going to need something stronger than cocoa,’ Tanner said from behind them and there was something different in his voice. All his previous censure was gone.
Stevie looked over her shoulder. ‘Bourbon?’
He shook his head. ‘Coffee. Extra strong.’
Clay pushed away from the table. ‘I’ll go get the suitcase with your files. Dad, you’d better make an extra large pot. This is going to take a while.’
Baltimore, Maryland, Sunday, March 16, 4.15 A.M.
Robinette was awoken once again by the soft beep of his cell phone. This time Lisa didn’t stir. He’d worn her out and maybe even left a few bruises. He rolled over and checked the text. Then stared at Westmoreland’s message in disbelief. SNAFU. 411. ASAP.
Westmoreland had failed, too? Jesus God, was the Mazzetti woman a goddamn cat?
He went down to his office to make the call, a concession Westmoreland had demanded, reasoning that if Henderson had been allowed to check in after the first failure, the second might not have happened. Whatever.
‘What the fuck, Wes?’ Robinette hissed.
‘It was a trap. She wasn’t in the safe house. The cops set up a decoy – a lady cop who looked like her along with Mazzetti’s partner, Fitzpatrick. A cop named Tony Rossi took the bait. Now the lady cop’s dead. Fitzpatrick shot Rossi, who’s now in ICU. The cops knew they had a mole and were cleaning house.’
‘How the hell did Rossi know where to find her?’ Robinette demanded. Tony Rossi was not his BPD source.
‘You said yourself that a lot of people wanted her dead. I guess Rossi’s source knew before yours did. Rossi must be a dirty cop who wanted to shut her up.’
Robinette drew a breath, forced himself to think. ‘What tipped you off that it was a trap?’
‘Nothing. I would have been the one caught, but Rossi beat me to it. I got there a minute after he did and when the bullets started flying, I ran. The area was fuckin’ crawlin’ with cops.’
‘Shit.’
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought when the bullets started flying. Is it possible that your source also tipped off Rossi? He gets paid by you and another cop?’
‘Double dipping? Or double-crossing,’ Robinette added darkly. ‘It’s possible. Once a cop goes bad, you can never really trust him. If he did double dip, and if Rossi lives to tell, then my source will be a suspect. The cops must have given out the false info, hoping to trap him.’
‘Can your source be traced to you?’
‘Not directly, but if they get any evidence from Henderson’s botched attempts they may get enough for a circumstantial case. I don’t want to risk it. Take care of him. I’ll send you his contact info.’
‘Okay. What about her?’
‘I still want you to take care of her, too.’
A slight hesitation. ‘Fine by me. Do you have any idea where Mazzetti’s hiding?’
‘No, but it’s likely she’s with friends. SA Grayson Smith has a place in Fell’s Point. His family has a compound outside of the city. If she’s there, you won’t get her until she comes out.’
‘Good security?’
‘Top of the line. Designed by a Fed with a knack for systems. Special Agent Carter is shacked up with ASA Daphne Montgomery. Both are friends of Mazzetti. Both are richer than God. If Mazzetti needed a place to hide or money to run, she’d go to them.’
‘I’ll check them out.’
‘Good. According to my source, the shooting at her house was witnessed by four people. One was Dr Townsend, the shrink she meets every March 15. One was Mazzetti’s partner, Fitzpatrick. The other two were males, not ID’d. Find out who they were. It’s likely she’s with one of the other friends here locally, but those two might have an angle. Townsend lives in Florida. There’s a chance Mazzetti may be hiding with her.’
‘If she has rich friends, one of whom is FBI, she could be out of the country by now. If she’s outside our borders, do you want me to follow her?’
‘Not until we know her long-term plans. If she runs, she’ll run someplace civilized. Just keep tabs on her. Especially on the kid. If we get the kid, Mazzetti will come to us.’
Chapter Nine
Wight’s Landing, Maryland, Sunday, March 16, 5.45 A.M.
‘Is she okay?’ Tanner murmured.
Standing in the kitchen doorway, Clay looked over his shoulder to where Stevie huddled under a blanket on the living room sofa. ‘She’s asleep.’ He tapped the kitchen table where Emma had dozed off, a stack of folders her pillow. ‘Emma, wake up.’
Emma’s chin jerked up, her eyes wide and groggy. She blinked hard, then pushed her hair away from her face and sat up, her expression disgusted. ‘Hell. I fell asleep.’ She’d come down two hours before, lured by the smell of fresh coffee. Taking one look at the table covered with police reports, she’d rolled up her sleeves and pitched in – until her eyes had grown too heavy to hold open. ‘I only got through five reports before I conked out on you.’
‘It’s okay,’ Tanner said, pointing toward the living room. ‘Stevie didn’t last much longer.’
‘Poor Stevie. She must have been completely worn out to actually let herself sleep.’
Clay pulled the folders Stevie had been reviewing to his side of the table and sat down. ‘She didn’t “let” herself sleep. She just collapsed face forward.’ He’d tried to rouse her enough to get h
er back to bed, but she’d been unresponsive. ‘For a minute I thought she was unconscious.’
‘Well, if she could wake up enough to walk to the sofa,’ Emma said, ‘I’m sure she’s okay.’
‘She didn’t walk to the sofa,’ Tanner told her in a stage whisper. ‘Clay carried her.’
Clay shot his father a warning look. Tanner returned a clueless blink, making Emma smile. Clay wasn’t smiling, though, his chest still so tight he could barely breathe. He’d started to carry Stevie upstairs, but she’d cuddled into him in her sleep, making him want so much more than to hold her. Putting her in an actual bed? He couldn’t do it. So he’d settled for the sofa, trembling as he’d laid her down. He’d still be trembling if he hadn’t locked down every one of his muscles.
‘That was so sweet of you, Clay,’ Emma said, then frowned. ‘Wait. How do you know she wasn’t unconscious if she didn’t wake up?’
‘She opened her eyes long enough to look up at me when I covered her with a blanket, mumbled something about resting “for just a sec”, then rolled over and started snoring.’
But before she’d rolled over, he’d seen something in her gaze. A moment of unguarded acceptance. A flicker of heat. It was enough for now. Enough to let him know that when he managed to break down her barriers, he’d find her willing. Please God, maybe even eager.
‘All right,’ Emma said with a yawn. ‘How many more reports do we need to summarize?’
‘Stevie did most of them over the past few weeks,’ Clay said. ‘We got through several more before she fell asleep and probably have another five hours ahead of us. So far, no mention of Rossi. We need to search all of the notes from the cases for links. The link may be secondary, but Rossi is implicated somewhere. He’d have no reason to attack the safe house otherwise.’
Emma bit her lip. ‘You’re assuming Rossi worked one of these cases in an official capacity. He may not be called out by name in any of these reports. He might be protecting someone else.’