KEVIN WAS LYING on a chaise longue at the side of the pool, dressed in a swim team T-shirt and khaki Bermuda shorts. He had a paperback science fiction novel with him but it was lying facedown across his thigh and he was staring across the water and into space.
Amanda took off her flats and walked barefoot onto the pool deck. The sun was behind her shoulder. Kevin squinted at her then shaded his eyes. Amanda sat next to him on the edge of another lounger.
“Hi, I’m Amanda Jaffe. I was out here about a week ago but we didn’t get a chance to meet.”
Kevin watched her but he didn’t say anything.
Amanda pointed at the T-shirt. “What’s your stroke?”
“The fly,” he answered without enthusiasm.
“Are you varsity?”
Kevin nodded.
“You on a club too or do you just swim for the high school?”
“I work out with Tualatin Hills,” he said, this answer no more animated than his others.
“I swam for them and Wilson High. My best distance was the two-hundred free.”
Kevin looked Amanda in the eye. “Who are you?”
Amanda smiled. “Tired of my small talk?”
Kevin didn’t answer.
“I’m a lawyer. I’m representing Charlie Marsh. Do you know who he is?”
“He was charged with killing my father but he ran away.”
“That’s right. Charlie is the man who came to your house the evening your mother was murdered. You tried to warn him.”
Kevin looked away at the mention of his mother’s murder.
“He’s very grateful, Kevin. A lot of people would have been too scared to try to warn Charlie but you risked your life to do it. That’s the important thing.”
“He still got shot.”
“Sometimes events are out of our control and the best we can do is try.”
Kevin looked away and sobbed. “It’s not fair. She was so good.”
Amanda wanted to say something to comfort Kevin but she knew Sally’s death was too recent for anything she said to help. After a while, the tears stopped. Kevin lay quietly with his eyes shut and his chest heaving.
“Can you tell me what happened in your house?” Amanda said when Kevin’s breathing eased.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I know you don’t, but someone has made two attempts to kill Charlie. The police are certain he’ll try again. The person who murdered your mother is the man who is after Charlie. You may know something that will help the police catch him.”
“I told them everything I know.”
“Can you tell me?”
Kevin closed his eyes. Then he took a deep breath. “He came into my room. It was dark and he had a mask on, so I can’t tell you what he looked like.”
“That’s okay.”
“He put tape over my mouth. That’s what woke me. I tried to yell, to warn Mom, but I couldn’t.”
“No one could have.”
“I tried but my mouth was taped and he…he had a gun. He said he’d kill Mom if I tried to warn her. I…I believed him, but he killed her anyway.”
Kevin sobbed again and Amanda waited.
“What did this man sound like? Was there anything distinctive about his voice?”
“He whispered when he talked to me. He was trying to disguise his voice.”
“Okay. What happened next?”
“He tied me up and left me. I tried to get out of the tape but I couldn’t. When he came back he told me that he wouldn’t harm me if I did what he said. Then he brought me down to the living room. Mom was tied to a chair. Gina was…she was on the floor.”
Kevin licked his lips and looked off across the pool.
“What happened then?”
“He made Mom call Mr. Marsh. He said he’d shoot me if she didn’t. He told her what to say and she called him. Then we waited. We heard the front door open. That’s when…when he…”
“You don’t have to say it. I know what happened.”
Kevin nodded. He started to cry again.
“Kevin, what did you see when Mr. Marsh came into the living room?”
“I tried to tell him there was a man behind the drapes. I was trying to warn him when the man stepped out and shot Mr. Marsh. Then there was a shot from the front of the living room and the French windows shattered and everyone was shooting.”
“Did you see who saved Mr. Marsh?”
“When the shooting started I threw myself down on the floor. I was facing toward the French windows. I never looked at the door but I saw a reflection in the glass. It was wavy and there wasn’t much light but I think I saw a black man.”
“How sure are you that he was black?” Amanda asked as she tried to picture Nathan Tuazama as Charlie’s guardian angel.
“I’m pretty sure,” Kevin said hesitantly.
“What happened to the man who killed your mother?”
“He ran away. He got out through the windows.”
“Do you know if he was wounded?”
“No. My face was pressed to the floor. I only saw his sneakers when he ran out.”
Amanda could see that Kevin was exhausted and she decided he’d had enough.
“Thank you for talking to me,” she said.
“Did it help?”
“Yes. You’ve cleared up a few things for me.”
But the truth was that Kevin’s story had only muddied the waters. It made sense for Tuazama to keep Charlie alive so he could get the diamonds. But how had he known Charlie would go to Sally’s house in the middle of the night? She guessed it was possible that Tuazama had Charlie’s hotel staked out but it didn’t really make sense that he would be watching the hotel at two in the morning. Tuazama had to sleep.
And why didn’t the killer murder Kevin? Maybe the killer had planned on murdering Kevin and the person who saved Charlie had forced him to run before he could finish off the last witness to his crime. That made sense, but Amanda could think of another explanation for Kevin’s survival that was equally viable.
CHAPTER 41
Amanda went to see Kate as soon as she returned to the law office.
“How did it go in Denver?” she asked.
“Excellent. Rollins admitted lying at Sally Pope’s trial. He claims Burdett pressured him to say he saw Charlie shoot Pope by threatening to go after him for assaulting the security guard. He told me he never saw who fired the shot. There’s a report on your desk.”
“That’s fantastic news. Rollins’s testimony was the only solid evidence against Charlie. Now that he’s retracted it, Burdett may have to drop the charges.”
Suddenly Amanda smiled wickedly.
“Did you have any trouble with the boy wonder?” she asked.
“Not a bit. He didn’t come on to me once during the trip and he didn’t tell me how fantastic he is or brag about how rich and famous he’s going to be. Actually, he kept pretty much to himself.”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Amanda said.
“Yeah, you’re right. So what have you been doing while I’ve been winning your case for you?” Kate asked. Amanda sobered instantly.
“I was at Sally Pope’s house with Dad. Senior is going to sue for custody of Kevin. Liam O’Connell wants Dad to represent him.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to Kevin about what happened when Charlie was shot?”
“Yeah. The poor kid is a mess. He was so upset I cut our talk short.”
“Could he identify anyone?”
“Kevin can say that a man killed his mother, but it was dark and the murderer wore a mask. There was one interesting thing that came out of the interview. Kevin thinks that the person who saved Charlie was black.”
Kate frowned. “There aren’t any African-Americans involved in this case, are there?”
Amanda decided to keep Charlie’s confidences about Nathan Tuazama to herself.
“No African-Americans I’m aware of,” she answered honestly.
&
nbsp; Amanda stood up. “I’ve got to work on my other cases or I’m going to get disbarred.”
“See you later,” Kate said.
Amanda started to turn when Kate remembered something she’d meant to ask her friend.
“Say, did you do something with the photograph of Charlie and his entourage at that Dunthorpe estate seminar?” Kate said.
“What photograph?”
“Someone took a picture of Charlie and his people at the seminar in Dunthorpe; the one where he met Sally Pope.”
“I don’t remember seeing it when I went through the file but Burdett will have the original. We can get a copy if you need it.”
“No, it’s not important. I just can’t find it and it’s bugging me.”
“Sorry.”
“I probably put it in a file with a lot of other stuff and just missed it.”
“I’m sure it will turn up. See you later.”
CHARLIE’S CASE HAD come at Amanda so fast that it had dominated her practice. Unfortunately, her other cases had not disappeared and some of them required immediate attention. Amanda worked on a motion for a schoolteacher accused of possessing cocaine until hunger pangs drove her to a nearby Chinese restaurant for takeout. While she shoveled General Tso’s chicken into her mouth in a distinctly unladylike manner, Amanda read through the discovery in a securities fraud case she was handling for a stockbroker who had initially appeared to be honest and forthright but was now looking decidedly shady.
Amanda finished the discovery just as the last rays of sunlight faded behind the West Hills. She was deciding whether to call it a night or tackle another file when her cell phone rang.
“Is this Amanda Jaffe?” a man asked, slurring his words enough so Amanda had a hard time understanding him.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Karl, Karl Burdett. Thank God I caught you. I know it’s late, but we have to talk.”
Amanda frowned. The DA sounded frightened and she was certain he’d been drinking.
“Is something wrong?”
“I need legal advice. I’m in over my head. I didn’t see it until Cordova called me tonight.”
“The FBI agent?”
“You’ve got to help me.”
“Can you tell me what this is about?”
“Not over the phone. Meet me in the parking lot of the Tillamook Tavern.”
“Why there?”
“That’s where I am now. I’m afraid to go home. I’ll be in my car in the last row in the back. It’s dark. No one will see us.”
“I don’t think I can be your lawyer, Karl. We’re adversaries in Charlie’s case.”
“This concerns Charlie. That’s why I called you. Please, you have to help me.”
“Okay, Karl. Calm down. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you. Hurry.”
AS SHE DROVE to the tavern, Amanda tried to figure out why Karl Burdett would ask her for legal advice. After her father, she was the least likely person Burdett would consult if he had legal problems. Before she’d left her office, it had occurred to her that someone might be using Burdett to lure her into a trap similar to the one that had snared Charlie, so she’d slipped a handgun into her pocket. Amanda had been attacked a few times while working a case and she wasn’t going to this meeting unarmed.
The Tillamook Tavern was a squat, one-story workingman’s bar situated on a side street near an industrial park. On the same street were a rundown twenty-four-hour market with bars on its windows, which sold beer, cigarettes, and junk food, and a vacant, rubble-filled lot. Streetlights cast a pale yellow glow over one side of the bar but the only other light came from the neon sign with the tavern’s name and smaller neon signs in the narrow front windows, advertising brands of beer. There were two pickup trucks and a weather-beaten Chevy scattered around the tavern lot. Karl’s car was alone on the edge of a sea of asphalt in the last slot in the last row. When Amanda was a few rows from the DA’s car, she made out Burdett’s silhouette staring through the windshield into the darkness. Amanda parked a car length away. The DA did not look at her. She got out of her car and closed her hand around the grip of her gun. As she drew closer to Burdett’s car, Amanda noticed that the driver’s-side window was down.
“Karl?”
Burdett didn’t react. Amanda’s gut tightened. Something was wrong. She said the DA’s name again. Then she saw why Burdett hadn’t answered. He was staring straight ahead, slack-jawed, and there was a blood-rimmed bullet hole in his temple.
MIKE GREENE’S BLUE eyes were usually clear but were presently bloodshot, because he’d been awakened from a deep sleep. He parked on the street in front of the Tillamook Tavern, then walked around back, where he talked to the first officer on the scene and the forensic experts who were processing it. When he’d seen enough, he went inside the tavern and found Amanda in a booth in the rear of the bar. Sitting across from her was Billie Brewster, a slim black woman with close-cropped hair, dressed in jeans, a black Tupac Shakur memorial T-shirt, and Mercury running shoes. Billie, one of the top homicide detectives in the Portland Police Bureau, had been the investigating officer in several of Amanda’s cases and they had become good friends.
“This is a pretty extreme way of getting a date, Jaffe,” Mike said as he pulled a chair up to the booth and straddled it.
“Hey, bozo, your woman’s shook up,” Brewster said, “so can the gallows humor.”
“How are you doing?” Mike asked, suddenly serious.
“I’m okay. It’s not like I haven’t seen a dead man before. It was just a shock finding him.” Amanda shook her head. “I never liked Karl. He could be a pompous ass. But I’d never wish anything like this on him. If only I’d gotten here sooner, I might have scared off the person who shot him.”
“Or gotten yourself killed,” Brewster said.
“How did you happen to be the one who found him?” Mike asked, and Amanda told him about the phone call.
“And you have no idea what he wanted to tell you?” Greene asked when she was through.
“Only that it had something to do with Charlie Marsh.”
Amanda paused. “There is something.” She hesitated.
“Yes,” Mike prodded.
“Burdett has been acting…” She paused again. “I guess ‘weird’ is a good way to describe his behavior.”
“Weird?” Mike repeated.
Amanda told Mike and Billie about the bail hearing.
“I was really surprised when he didn’t fight Charlie’s bail and I couldn’t understand why he seemed upset when he conceded the issue. If he didn’t want Charlie out on bail all he had to do was contest my motion. What with Charlie skipping the country initially and this being a murder case, Karl would have had a good chance of convincing Judge Berkowitz to deny bail altogether.”
Amanda paused again as she reran Burdett’s actions at the bail hearing through her memory.
“You know, now that I think about it, Karl behaved more like a subordinate who was carrying out an order he didn’t agree with than the district attorney of the county, the man in charge. And there was the way he acted when he learned that a sniper had taken a shot at Charlie. He was much more upset than I would have thought he’d be.”
“I’d be very upset if someone tried to commit murder in front of the Multnomah County courthouse,” Mike said.
“I know. Anyone would. But Karl…I don’t know how to describe it. I just had the feeling that there was more to his reaction than simple anger or sympathy for Charlie.”
Amanda closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m beat, Mike. If you and Billie don’t need me I’d like to go home.”
“I took her statement,” Brewster told Mike as she stood up. “And I know where to find you if I need anything else,” she said to Amanda, “so I’ll leave you lovebirds alone.”
“Do you want me to stay over?” Mike asked as soon as the detective was out of earshot.
“Yeah, that would be nice. I really don’t want to b
e alone tonight.”
“Okay, let me check with the ME. Then we can head out.”
AMANDA PEELED OFF her clothes as soon as she was in her condo. Then she flossed and brushed her teeth as quickly as possible before staggering into bed. Mike tucked her in and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. The prosecutor made a few calls in the living room to check on the progress of the investigation before going back to the bedroom. Mike and Amanda had grown close during the past year and he smiled as he watched her sleep. Then his exhaustion caught up to him and he crawled into bed beside her, falling asleep soon after he closed his eyes.
Shortly after three in the morning, Amanda’s subconscious set off an alarm that jerked her awake. Karl Burdett had said something during his call that Amanda had forgotten to tell Billie Brewster and Mike Greene and she suddenly remembered what it was. She was tempted to wake Mike but he was sleeping so soundly that she crept out of bed, not wanting to disturb him. Her cell phone was in her purse on the kitchen counter along with the card Daniel Cordova had given her. Amanda walked as far from the bedroom as she could and used the light from the phone to read the number on the card.
“Agent Cordova, this is Amanda Jaffe,” she said as soon as the FBI agent answered the phone. “Have you heard what happened tonight?”
“Happened to what?” Cordova answered. He sounded groggy and annoyed, which didn’t surprise Amanda.
“Karl Burdett was shot to death.”
“Dear God!” Cordova said, instantly awake.
“I was working late. Karl called me. He was very upset and he sounded like he’d been drinking. He said he was in over his head. He also said that he hadn’t realized that he was in over his head until he talked to you. Can you think of something you said to Karl that frightened him?”
“No.” Cordova sounded puzzled. “I did talk to him but it was a courtesy call.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We arrested Gary Hass in Sacramento. He was part of the muscle for a large heroin sale and we swept him up when we made the collar. It turns out he was in California when the sniper shot at your client. I called so Burdett wouldn’t waste time on a dead end.”
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