False Front (Lucinda Pierce)

by Diane Fanning

  No word was spoken. No movement made.

  ‘If you don’t come out of that cubicle, I am coming in. You may be hurt when I kick in the door. Please come out now.’

  Still no response.

  ‘There are FBI agents and police officers outside of the restroom door. You have no options left, Middleton.’

  When silence filled Lucinda’s pause, she raised up her leg and slammed the sole of her foot into the center of the door. Metal screeched, the door slammed backward and a woman screamed.

  ‘How dare you? Do you know who I am? I have a right to privacy. What do you think you’re doing?’

  Lucinda grabbed Tess by the back of the collar, spun her around and pressed her face against the cubicle wall.

  ‘You will regret this. You let me go immediately or I am pressing charges.’

  ‘You do that, Middleton,’ Lucinda said as she snapped a cuff around one wrist and jerked Tess’s other arm behind her back.

  ‘Unhand me. I am a candidate for the United States Senate.’

  Lucinda clicked the other cuff home and jerked on the chain between to pull her out of the booth.

  ‘I am the head of a major corporation. You can’t abuse me and get away with it. I will sue and you will lose your job.’

  ‘Oh, really, are you accepting applications at Scott Technologies?’ Lucinda said as she pulled open the door to the hall and shoved Tess out in front of her.

  Tess spotted a man in a TSA uniform. ‘Officer, arrest this woman! She assaulted me in the restroom stall.’

  The man looked away from her.

  ‘I’ve got your badge number,’ she shrieked at him. ‘When I’m senator, you’re toast.’ Tess continued to bellow, threaten and cajole anyone who would listen all the way outside to a waiting marked police vehicle.

  ‘Damn, I wish that woman would shut up,’ Jake said.

  ‘I’m sure she will right after she asks for a lawyer.’

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  Lucinda and Jake entered the interrogation room where Tess Middleton waited with a scowl on her face. Lucinda stifled a laugh thinking about how much Tess’s political opposition would love to get their hands on a photograph of Middleton with that sour expression on her face.

  ‘Ms Middleton . . .’ Lucinda began.

  Tess held up a hand. ‘You can stop right there. You do not need to read me my Miranda Rights. I will tell you right now that I want my attorney and will not answer your questions until he is here with me.’

  ‘Nonetheless, ma’am,’ Jake said, ‘we need to go through the proper steps in the process.’ He read from a sheet of paper as Tess looked away from him.

  When he finished she turned back and glared. ‘You will be sued for false arrest, police brutality and defamation of character.’

  ‘Ms Middleton,’ Jake said, ‘we are holding you on charges related to the counterfeit passport you attempted to use at the airport.’

  ‘You didn’t find that alleged counterfeit passport in my possession. I want to call my attorney now.’

  Jake and Lucinda looked at each other and rose to their feet. ‘The deputies will arrange for your call as soon as you’re transferred to the county jail.’

  ‘I want to speak with him right here.’

  ‘This is not your corporation and we are not your employees,’ Lucinda said. ‘You are under arrest and will be treated like any other prisoner in the system. You are not special here, Ms Middleton. And until you appear before a judge to argue about bail, you will remain behind bars – and I imagine that the judge won’t be too keen about letting you out since you have already proven your willingness to flee the jurisdiction.’

  ‘You can’t stand it, can you?’ Tess asked.

  Lucinda stared at her without saying a word.

  ‘You are a lowly public servant and here I am, another woman who has succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. And on top of that, I am beautiful, my face is flawless – unfortunately you can’t say the same. I wonder who you ticked off to get that damage to your face and I wonder something else, too: which one of my opponents paid you to have me arrested?’

  ‘I thought you’d invoked your right to remain silent.’

  ‘Only in response to your questions, Lieutenant. I will find out who bribed you. And I will take my revenge. Once I’m in the United States Senate, you’ll never work in law enforcement again.’ She darted her eyes over to Jake. ‘Nor will you, Mr FBI agent.’

  ‘That’s Special Agent to you,’ Lucinda snapped. ‘In fact, it’s Special Agent in Charge. You’d best heed that ‘in Charge’ part – your wealth and your political connections carry no weight here. And after your performance this afternoon, only your mother would vote for you.’

  ‘When I am through with you, not only will they vote for me, they’ll erect a statue in my honor and name their babies Tess.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Jake said, grabbing Lucinda’s elbow and steering her towards the door.

  Back in the hallway, Jake said, ‘You can’t fight her in a bitch-fest. She was never going to stop.’

  ‘I know but she so infuriates me.’

  ‘Me, too. Let’s go nail her ass.’

  They went into Jake’s office and made a series of calls to anyone who’d been assigned by them to find information about Tess Middleton. The subpoena served on her banking records was the first thing to produce solid results.

  An agent from the white-collar crime division of the FBI asked, ‘Lovett, has she denied knowing Julius Trappatino?’

  ‘We can’t ask her questions until her lawyer is present.’

  ‘She probably will deny knowing him, don’t you think?’

  ‘I suspect so,’ Jake said.

  ‘I’ve got what you need to impeach that statement. Lindsey Barnaby arranged for $20,000 to be transferred from her account to a bank in San Diego in the name of Junior Tavertino. We discovered that she’d received a deposit of that same amount from the account of Theresa Scott Middleton.’

  ‘Middleton even had a bank account in the name of the woman she murdered?’

  ‘Hard to believe, isn’t it? Some people’s arrogance knows no bounds. It’s a common thing with white-collar criminals.’

  ‘How do we prove that Junior is Julius Trappatino?’

  ‘We’ve taken care of that; I wired a photo to the San Diego field office. They went by the bank and the teller who handed out the cash identified Trappatino as the man who collected the money.’

  ‘Bingo!’ Jake said.

  ‘It gets better,’ the agent said. ‘Junior Tavertino paid cash for a ticket from San Diego to Seattle. A few days later, he paid cash for a ticket to New Jersey.’

  ‘Good job. Nail it all down tight. We’ll go see what we can weasel out of that Middleton woman. Even if she doesn’t talk, we can get her on conspiracy charges.’

  ‘What?’ Lucinda said as he hung up the phone.

  ‘We got her! Let’s head over to the jail – I’ll fill you in on the way.’

  On the way over, Jake and Lucinda tamped down their excitement. They did not want to show their hand – or even let Tess or her attorney know they had one to play – until the moment was right.

  Looking into the interrogation room, Lucinda groaned when she saw Stephen Theismann sitting next to Tess Middleton.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Jake asked.

  ‘My very least favorite attorney.’

  ‘Do you like any lawyers?’ Jake asked with a chuckle.

  ‘There is no “like” list for them – only a “tolerable” list and Theismann is not on it.’

  ‘That will make taking him by surprise even more enjoyable,’ Jake said and pushed open the door.

  Theismann cut off Jake before he could introduce Lucinda. ‘Lieutenant Pierce and I have a history.’

  ‘Don’t forget, Theismann, when your client Evan Spencer ignored your advice and told me the truth, I was able to eliminate him as a suspect.’ As she spoke, Lucinda cut her eye over to Tess. She saw the woman’s righ
t eyebrow jerk upward for a second before settling back in place.

  ‘Yes, Lieutenant, I am sure on rare occasions you are capable of playing fair.’

  ‘Well, OK,’ Jake said. ‘Let’s focus on the present situation. Your client handed a false passport to a TSA official at the airport. That is a federal offense. We also have reason to believe that she was involved in the death of the woman whose name was on that passport.’

  ‘Agent Lovett, my client is a successful and influential CEO and a candidate in the race for the United States Senate. Your imagination is working overtime if you think she had anything to do with anyone’s death.’

  ‘I’d like to ask your client a few questions to see if we can clear this up, then,’ Jake said.

  Theismann nodded.

  ‘Ms Middleton, do you know a man named Julius Trappatino?’

  Tess furrowed her brow and shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so – but I meet so many people in the course of my work and campaign that it’s possible.’

  ‘Do you know a man named Junior Tavertino?’

  Tess smiled and shook her head. ‘I don’t think so – with the same caveat, Agent.’

  ‘Surely if you sent that man twenty thousand dollars he would stick in your memory, wouldn’t he?’

  ‘Twenty thousand dollars? I don’t know what you are talking about.’

  ‘That’s not what Trappatino says.’

  Theismann placed a hand on Tess’s forearm. ‘Agent, could I have a moment with my client, please?’

  ‘Certainly,’ Jake said. He rose and left the room with Lucinda. In the hallway, they grinned at each other.

  ‘He suspects we can prove that money transfer,’ Lucinda said with glee.

  ‘Suspects? I’d bet he’s pretty damned sure of it.’

  ‘I hope you’re right,’ Lucinda said. ‘I’m going to go get a bottle of water; you need anything?’

  ‘Yeah. A Dr Pepper.’

  ‘Gag,’ Lucinda said, wrinkling her nose. ‘I forget you liked that carbonated prune juice.’

  ‘Hey, I don’t make fun of your secret passion for salted pumpkin seeds.’

  ‘Jake, how you can even compare the two is beyond me.’ She went down to the break room and returned with the two plastic bottles, handing the soft drink to Jake.

  ‘Here,’ he said, holding the can out to her, ‘just taste it. It’s really good.’

  ‘I have tasted it. And I don’t want to taste it again as long as I live.’

  Theismann stuck his head out of the door of the interrogation room. ‘Agent Lovett, my client has a statement to make to you.’

  Jake and Lucinda walked through the doorway.

  ‘Excuse me, Agent,’ Theismann said. ‘My client would like to speak to you – just you.’

  ‘I can get your client taken back to her cell now, if she’d prefer.’

  Tess widened her eyes and jerked her head towards her attorney. Theismann’s nostrils flared and a small spot on his throat throbbed. Jake and Lucinda stood just inside the door with their arms folded across their chests.

  Finally, Theismann broke the silence. ‘Very well. But I want my client released as soon as she delivers her statement.’

  ‘Well, Theismann, I guess that depends on what she has to say in her statement,’ Jake said.

  ‘Please, have a seat,’ Theismann said.

  Tess began when Jake and Lucinda settled into the chairs across from her. ‘I do know Julius Trappatino. And I know the name Junior Tavertino. I admit they are the same person. I admit that I sent those funds to Trappatino under his alias. But no matter what he says, I did not pay him to try to cause harm to anyone. I paid him to find people for me. I wanted to talk to my old classmates. I knew I needed to tell the truth about Candace Monroe Eagleton’s responsibility for the death of Lindsey Barnaby. I just wanted to give them all a fair warning first. I am a victim of Trappatino as much as any of them. I have been terrified that he was going to come after me next. That’s why I was trying to leave the country. I was afraid.’ Tess made a choking sound and pulled out a tissue to blot her eyes.

  ‘Will your client be willing to write and sign a statement to that affect, counselor?’

  ‘If she does, will you release her?’

  ‘If and when we can verify the content of her statement,’ Jake said.

  Theismann looked at his client. Tess nodded. Jake pulled a form out of the drawer on his side of the table and slid it over to Tess.

  ‘We’ll wait outside while you prepare this,’ Jake said. He and Lucinda left the room again.

  Outside the room, Lucinda said, ‘Creative. Very creative.’

  ‘Naming a dead person as the killer of Lindsey Barnaby was a nice touch.’

  ‘Doesn’t get any better,’ Lucinda said with a laugh.

  ‘Listen, as soon as we have that statement in our hands and look it over for consistency with what she said, I want you to confront her with the information we got from Bonnie Upchurch/Olivia Cartwright.’

  ‘What about Trappatino? Shouldn’t he be confronted with what Middleton said?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll call the Trenton field office and get that done.’

  Lucinda leaned against the wall, wondering where this would all go. She still had her doubts about Trappatino. The injection was troubling. How would he or Tess know about Candace’s prescription? Something was missing. She wanted to close the case but only if the right people were facing charges. A conviction is no good if it’s wrongfully obtained and the real killer continues to walk free.

  Then again, how else could all these deaths and the attempted murder in Trenton hang together if not for a plan by Middleton and Trappatino? She didn’t know and she didn’t have a clue about how to answer the question about the injection that gnawed on the back of her brain.

  Theismann interrupted her thoughts to tell her that the statement was completed. She told him that she and Agent Lovett would be with them in a moment. When Jake returned they stepped inside. They read over what Tess had written and slid it back across the table for her signature. Jake and Lucinda signed off on it and tucked it away in the drawer.

  ‘Ms Middleton . . .’ Lucinda began.

  ‘Agent, I thought we were through here,’ Theismann said.

  ‘The lieutenant has a few questions for your client, first.’

  ‘Do you remember Bonnie Upchurch from high school, Ms Middleton?’ Lucinda asked.

  ‘Vaguely.’

  ‘Vaguely? Are you aware that she changed her name to Olivia Cartwright?’

  A faint rosiness colored her cheeks. ‘Yes. I learned about that when you arrested Mr Trappatino.’

  ‘Not before.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you aware of her claim that she changed her name because she was afraid of you?’

  Tess snorted.

  ‘I would advise you not to answer that question,’ Theismann said.

  ‘Oh, please, Stephen – they should know the kind of person they are talking to. Poor little Bonnie. Always afraid of her shadow. Given to paranoid delusions as long as I knew her. It does not surprise me at all. There was no reason for her to fear me but she feared everyone – it is meaningless.’

  ‘Did you know that Bonnie claimed that you killed Lindsey Barnaby thirty years ago?’

  ‘Oh, my. She worshipped Candace. She had to transfer her memory somewhere else. Tag, I’m it. It’s really sad. I hope you will be able to get some help for that poor, tormented woman.’

  ‘She also said that you and Chuck Rowland transported Lindsey’s body down to Virginia and disposed of it in or near the Thomas Jefferson National Forest where her body was found.’

  ‘Oh my, this is so terribly sad. I knew Candace had to have someone’s help to dispose of the body. I suppose Bonnie must have been the one who helped her and now that poor woman can’t face the truth of her involvement.’ Tess shook her head. ‘It’s so sad. Is there anything I can do for her? I can afford the best mental institution, psychologists and psy
chiatrists. I want to help her in any way I can.’

  ‘So that’s why you paid Julius Trappatino to kill her?’ Lucinda asked.

  Theismann rose to his feet. ‘Agent, that is enough. This reckless police officer is violating our agreement.’

  ‘What agreement, counselor? Do you know of any agreement, Lieutenant?’

  ‘Well, we did promise we would attempt to verify Ms Middleton’s statement, didn’t we, Agent Lovett?’

  ‘Yes, we did. And counselor, that is what we are doing here.’

  ‘This interview is over,’ Theismann said.

  ‘Certainly, Mr Theismann,’ Lucinda said with a smile. ‘Would you like to have a few words with your client before the deputy takes her back to her cell?’

  ‘Agent Lovett,’ Theismann said, ‘before you send in a deputy, could I have a few minutes with my client?’

  ‘Ask the lieutenant. I’m outta of here,’ Jake said as he walked out the door.

  Lucinda saw the muscles along Theismann’s jaw tighten as he inhaled deeply. ‘Yes, Lieutenant, I will take advantage of your offer. I’ll let you know when we have finished.’

  ‘Five minutes, Theismann. Five minutes and not a second more,’ Lucinda said, then turned and exited the room.

  FIFTY-NINE

  After seeing that Middleton was returned to her cell and her attorney sent on his way, Jake and Lucinda headed back to the FBI field office. On the way, Jake received a request to fax Tess Middleton’s written statement to an agent in Trenton.

  It was the first thing Jake did when they arrived. He and Lucinda both got busy writing their reports about the interview with Tess Middleton for their respective agencies, both fearing that the powers-that-be would come pounding down on their heads on Tuesday. Arresting a prominent individual, no matter how guilty, always brought pressure to bear on the individual investigator.