Carlos nodded. “I understand. I’ll have Tico drive you to your car. Please have a safe journey, and I hope we do not have to meet again. Truly, I do.”
Chapter 35
Interview with Snider
Patrick gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Despite that, he occasionally strayed into other lanes.
“Watch where you’re going, Patrick. Do you want me to drive?”
“I’m fine. I just…”
“Just what?” Cathy screamed. “Did you do something to bring this on? How did that man get your name?” She burst into tears. “What have you gotten us into?”
Snider hit the steering wheel several times with the palm of his hand. “I didn’t do anything, goddamnit. I already told you that.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We have no choice,” Patrick said.
“No choice? We have to call the police. You can’t get involved with that man.”
Patrick looked at Cathy as if she were nuts. “Are you crazy? We can’t call the police. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. These people are lunatics.”
“I know what they’re like, Patrick. I was the one who paid the price back there. Or did you forget?”
“Look, Cathy, this isn’t like Pittsburgh, where the mob might threaten you, maybe even burn down your building or break a few bones. These goddamn people are nuts. They’ll do things to our children. You heard what that man said. For God’s sake, I’m not risking our kids.”
“But I’m okay to sacrifice? Is that it?” Venom filled her words.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. I tried stopping them. I—”
Cathy started crying again. She reached over and touched Patrick’s hand. “I know. I’m sorry I said that.”
Patrick turned into the right lane and took the next exit.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To pick up the girls,” he said. “I’m not leaving them at school.”
“You don’t think—”
“I have no idea what to think,” he said. “Until we figure this out, the girls will be safer with us.”
“We should leave them in school,” Cathy said. “Those men won’t do anything today, and the girls would wonder why we’re bringing them home. Let’s wait until we figure something out.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he said, and then called his office. “Janet, I’m not feeling well. I’m going home for the day. If anything urgent comes up, call my cell; otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After he hung up, Cathy said, “What about the FBI? Can’t we call them? Don’t they have witness protection or something like that?”
Snider beeped the horn at the car in front of him and then stepped hard on the gas, running a yellow light. “They’d probably find us in witness protection. Even if they didn’t, what kind of life would that be? We’d be living in a small hick town in Iowa or someplace like that, and I’d be selling farm implements.”
The rest of the ride home was in silence. When she got to the house, Cathy raced to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth half a dozen times, threw her toothbrush across the room, and then rinsed with mouthwash over and over. Afterward, she took two showers, scrubbing the filth of that man from her body. She wrapped herself in the thickest robe she had and tied the sash tight. Then she put on her slippers and went downstairs. Patrick had tea brewing when she walked into the kitchen.
“I thought you might like a cup of tea,” he said.
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Thanks. It might help me relax.”
Patrick paced the kitchen floor. After a moment, Cathy said, “I know I’ve asked this before, but what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to act as if nothing has happened. We’ll get up tomorrow and take the girls to school. I’ll go to work. You will do whatever you have on your calendar…”
“And?”
“And I will do what that man wants, including laundering his money. And someday, this nightmare will end.”
“Will it?” Cathy said.
The doorbell rang. Cathy jumped. “Oh my God! Who is it?”
Patrick headed for the foyer. “Shut up. Do you hear me? Act as if nothing has happened.”
***
After pressing the doorbell, I looked around the yard. The sidewalk meandered through a garden filled with native Texas plants, and an artificial stream circulated from a small pond off to the side. It was a nice effect. The house was a two-story English Tudor boasting a huge double door with etched glass.
“I guess banking pays off,” Tip said.
I nodded, and a few seconds later, the door opened. A man in a suit greeted us. “What can I do for you?” he said.
I showed my badge. “I’m Detective Gianelli. This is Detective Denton. Are you Patrick Snider?”
“What’s this about?” he asked. His brow wrinkled and his eyes had narrowed.
“Are you Mr. Snider?” Tip asked.
The suspicion on his face turned to a smile. “I’m sorry. Yes, I’m Patrick Snider. May I ask what this is about?”
“May we come in?” I said.
“Certainly,” he said and stepped aside.
Just then a woman came into the foyer. She was thin, with blonde hair. “Patrick, who is it?”
“It’s the police,” he said.
She extended her hand and said, “I’m Cathy Snider. Is something wrong? Has there been a break-in?”
“Nothing like that, ma’am,” I said. “But we’d like to talk with you and your husband for a moment. Is there someplace we can sit?”
“Of course.” She led the way to a small room off the foyer with a sofa and several chairs.
Her husband took a seat on the sofa, and she sat next to him and held his hand. She sat very close. Tip and I took seats in the chairs.
“We’ve been investigating a few homicides,” Tip said. “The case has drug connections. In fact, one of your colleagues has turned up as a victim—Brent Davids.”
“Brent Davids?” Cathy said. “I thought that was an accident.”
“It was made to look like an accident,” I said. “But we’re pretty sure he was murdered, although we haven’t released that to the public yet, so we don’t want it known.”
“Murdered? Good Lord!”
Cathy seemed genuinely shocked by the news, but Snider didn’t. He pretended to be, but it was obvious he already knew, which meant that Carlos had already made contact. It was time to find out for sure. I tapped Tip on the arm.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why we’re here,” Tip said. “We have reason to believe that the same man who had Mr. Davids killed will be contacting you. His name is Carlos Cortes.”
Cathy Snider tensed. She squeezed her husband’s hand.
“Who is Carlos Cortes and why would he contact me?” Snider said.
“Has he made contact?” Tip asked again.
Snider looked away, then turned quickly back to Tip. “What? No, I haven’t heard from anyone named Carlos.”
Mrs. Snider stood. “Would anyone like a drink?”
“Tea,” Tip said.
“Nothing for me,” I said.
She left the room as if she was in a hurry. “I’ll be right back.”
I waited for a minute, and while Tip was engaged with Snider, I followed her to the kitchen. She stood by the refrigerator, leaning on the counter. She was trembling. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
She spun toward me. “Yes. I’m fine. I just got a little chill, that’s all. The news about Brent shook me up.”
I walked over and stood close to her. She didn’t seem to be able to control her shaking. “Did you know Mr. Davids well?”
She nodded. “He played golf with my husband almost every weekend. And sometimes they played poker together. I felt so bad when I heard of his accident, but now…to hear this…” She shook her head a few times. “It’s hard to believe he was involved in something like drugs.”
“Mrs. Snider, we don�
��t know if Mr. Davids was involved with drugs. All we know is that the man selling these drugs needs someone to launder his money, and we know he’ll stop at nothing until he gets someone to cooperate.”
She lifted the teapot to pour, but her hand shook so much, I thought she’d spill the tea. I reached for the pot. “Let me get that, Mrs. Snider. And if you don’t mind, I think I will have some tea after all.”
“Certainly,” she said, and went to a cabinet for a teacup and saucer.
When we returned to the front room, Tip was questioning Mr. Snider. Cathy handed Tip the tea.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, and then to her husband, “How well did you know Mr. Davids?”
“I knew Brent for more than twelve years. We played golf almost every weekend, and we got together for social events.”
“Did he seem different in the last few weeks? Or did he mention anything about problems he was having?”
Snider shook his head. “We played golf the week before he died. Brent acted as he always did. Happy, easygoing. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world.” Snider looked to his wife and smiled. “With all apologies to my wife, Brent said he was so happy because he was single.”
“And he never said anything about being approached by anyone to launder money?”
“Not a word, Detective. And I believe he’d have told me. We were good friends.”
I watched both Snider and his wife as I sipped my tea. He had control of himself; she didn’t. “Has anyone approached you, Mr. Snider?”
He turned toward me. “Me? No. No one.”
“Have you ever heard of Carlos Cortes?” Tip asked.
He shook his head again. “Never.”
But at the mention of Carlos’ name, his wife tensed again. I was convinced she’d heard the name before, and not from Brent Davids. I looked at my watch and stood. “I guess we better get going.”
Tip handed a card to Snider. “Call me if you think of anything.”
“I will,” Snider said. “Thank you for stopping by.”
As we walked to the car, Tip said, “I guess you thought we weren’t making progress.”
“I didn’t think we’d get anything from him, if that’s what you mean.”
“But she’s a different story,” Tip said. “That woman looked like she was coming apart.”
“You should have seen her in the kitchen. She was shaking so badly, I had to help her pour the tea.”
Tip opened the car door and got in. I climbed in the passenger side.
“They’re not telling us something,” I said.
“That ain’t no shit,” Tip said. “I guess you’re going back?”
I nodded. “I’ve got to get her alone. She won’t talk with him there.”
“I agree,” Tip said. “In the meantime, let’s find out what the hell is going on with Delgado’s case. I don’t like that they were following Rosalee.”
Chapter 36
Closing In
On our way back to the station, Tip called Delgado. “I have it on speaker, Ribs, and Connie’s with me. Where are you?”
“On my way in. I just got Rosalee and the kids settled in with friends.”
“I’m glad you did that. You can’t trust these people.”
“I don’t think Carlos would be crazy enough to go after a cop’s family,” Ribs said. “But it’s better to be safe.”
I leaned close to the phone. “Don’t forget, this is the guy who killed Tony.”
“I’m glad you said that, Connie. I forgot. And by the way, Coop’s looking for both of you. She said she called.”
“She called a few times,” Tip said, “but I was busy.”
“Where’d you put the kids?” I asked.
“With one of the cousins.”
Tip laughed. “That’s the safest place for them. It would take Carlos a month to get through the Delgado family tree.”
“Sometimes it pays to have a lot of relatives,” Ribs said. “I’ll see you when you get in.”
Twenty minutes later, Tip and I walked into the station. The desk sergeant shook his head at us as soon as we got in the door.
“What’s wrong?” Tip asked.
“Coop is looking for you two. The first few requests were polite. The last one mentioned shooting on sight.”
“Guess you should have answered those calls,” I said to Tip.
We made our way to Coop’s office, where Cindy greeted us with a warning look.
“You might need a vest,” she said. I worried a little because she didn’t bother to open the door for us.
Tip opened the door and walked in first. “Gladys, how’s my favorite captain?”
“Close the goddamn door,” Coop said.
I pushed it shut and made sure the latch clicked.
Tip sat in a big chair across from her. I sat next to him. “Who’s got you pissed off?” Tip said.
“Would it mean anything to you if I mentioned the name ‘Stenson’?”
Tip sat up straight. “Bobby Stenson?”
Coop removed her glasses and set them on the desk. I’d only been here a couple of weeks, but I knew that was a sure sign she was pissed. “You know goddamn well who I mean. It’s come to my attention that you two think he might be a candidate for an IA investigation. That he might have something to do with drug distribution. And that those ties just might mean he could be implicated in a murder investigation.”
Coop stood, planted the palms of both her hands on the desk, and leaned toward Tip. “When the hell were you going to tell me?”
“I was trying to save the department the embarrassment in case he wasn’t dirty.”
“In other words, you were going to look into this yourself?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
Coop didn’t relax her stance. “Kind of? What the hell does kind of mean?”
Tip leaned closer to her. “Kind of means if I found out he was dirty and involved with Cortes, I’d have dragged him behind the car for a couple of hundred yards, then I’d have gagged him and tied him in a dumpster and let the rats eat his ass.”
“Don’t even joke about things like that,” Coop said.
“I’m not joking,” Tip said. “That son of a bitch is wearing a badge.”
Just as I was wishing Tip to shut up, Coop looked over at me. “Connie, I expected more out of you. Keep a rein on this man, or you’ll find yourself in as much trouble as he is.” She sat and put her glasses on. “Now one of you better fill me in on what’s going on with your case.”
“Lipscomb and Davids were definitely murders,” Tip said. “And we’ve connected them to a couple of bodies in Victoria that were set up to look like a murder/suicide.”
“Victoria?”
“I know that’s outside of jurisdiction, Captain, but we’re convinced it’s connected, and drug related. We think it ties into Delgado’s case, too.”
“The guy at the hospital? When was I going to hear about that?”
“We didn’t tell you because we’re not sure yet, but we’re getting with Delgado as soon as we leave.”
“All right, damn it. Keep me posted.”
As we walked out the door, Coop yelled, “And stay away from Stenson. That’s an order.”
I was almost out the door when Coop called me back. “Gianelli, I need to see you.”
I shot Tip a what-the-hell-is-this-about look. He shrugged, and said, “I’ll get Herb and Charlie. We’ll be at Julie’s desk.”
“Shut the door,” Coop said.
I did, and then she waited for me to sit before she said, “I spoke to Lieutenant Morreau.”
I didn’t like hearing that, but I wouldn’t have thought Morreau would do me wrong. “Yeah?”
“He backed up what you told me, and he said you could be trusted.”
Some of the lump that had been building in my throat disappeared. “I like to think so, Captain.”
“The trusted part was the most important thing for me to hear.”
I leaned forwar
d. “Go on.”
“You need to keep Denton away from Bobby Stenson. That’s all I can tell you, so don’t ask questions. And don’t tell Tip I said that.”
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but the message was clear. “Will do, Captain. You can count on it.”
She stood and let the tiniest crack of a smile show. “I am counting on it.”
I took note of the tone in her voice. This was a warning.
“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, and headed out the door.
***
Captain Cooper waited a moment before picking up the phone and dialing.
“Is that you, Cap?”
“You know who it is. And you won’t have any more trouble.”
“How’s that? Denton doesn’t get off a scent, and sure as hell, he thinks he’s got one.”
“I know all about Tip Denton, but he’s got a new partner who’s almost as tough, and she and I have an agreement. She’ll keep him in line.”
“I’m trusting you on this.”
“Hang up, Stenson. You’ve wasted enough of my time already.”
***
I called Delgado on the way to the coffee room. “I’m on my way. Anybody need anything?”
“Just you,” Ribs said.
By the time I reached Julie’s desk, she had a video loaded on the screen for me to watch.
“We’re assuming for right now that Carlos Cortes is behind everything,” Tip said, “which means that whoever killed our stiffs might have done Martin, too. And we’re pretty sure a woman is involved. She might not have done the killing, but she planned it or put it into action.”
“Do you know what she looks like?” Ribs asked.
“This is who we’re looking for,” Tip said, and gave everyone a copy of the sketch we had drawn of the mystery woman. “If you see anything else suspicious, let us know, but focus on this face. We think she may be the killer.”
“We’re going to be seeing tapes from the hospital,” Ribs said. “Cruz and I went through them earlier, but we were focused on the killer being male. Let’s focus on the killer being female, specifically the woman in that sketch.”
“What do the cameras cover?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, all we have are the entrances,” Cruz said, and moved closer to the screen. “The first one you’ll see is the side entrance. It’s used primarily by hospital employees.”
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