“Even if I agreed to use it, we could never prove that.”
“I’m the lawyer here. Leave that up to me. I think there’s a chance we can prove it. After our meeting the other night, I looked into the state of her marriage. There’s a ton of evidence to show they were at each other’s throats. Everybody at that party saw him show up with his mistress. They saw a big argument between the two of them. My investigator has a source at the county clerk’s office who found out that Caroline actually filed a divorce complaint. She withdrew it, but we were still able to get a copy. It says he took all the money. Did you know that?”
“I did know that. That’s why she asked me to kill him.”
“Jason leaves Caroline for his mistress and takes all the money. She murders him and frames some poor schlub for the crime. You being the schlub in question. That’s good. This is turning into a decent defense case. I’m actually starting to believe it.”
“But—”
She pointed a manicured nail at him. “Don’t tell me that you won’t talk bad about your girlfriend. This is our best shot. We’re using it, or else I really will think about dropping you.”
51
Jess and Mike put aside their disagreements long enough to join forces to search for Caroline Stark. Jess believed Caroline with all her heart. She wanted to bring her star witness in from the cold and offer her protection. She also needed to reassure the prosecutor that Caroline could be relied upon to testify. Mike had a different agenda. He wanted to find Caroline so he could question her more aggressively about the night of the murder. He thought he could uncover discrepancies that would implicate her in the crime. Jess didn’t like that idea, but she wasn’t going to argue about it now. The important thing was to find Caroline, and quickly. For that, she needed Mike’s help.
Jess delegated the technical side of the search to Mike. He’d serve subpoenas on the wireless companies to ping Caroline’s cell phone regularly and monitor her sister’s and daughter’s phones. If Caroline used her phone, or if Hannah or Lynn communicated with her at a different number, they’d be able to track her down. Meanwhile, Jess would search for Caroline in the real world, starting with her sister’s house.
It was getting dark as Jess pulled up to Lynn and Joe Lombardo’s house on a quiet street in Massapequa. Jess remembered Caroline saying that Lynn had inherited their childhood home. The house was modest, with an older BMW sedan and a newish Ford pickup in the driveway. Lynn’s husband supposedly owned a trucking business, and it looked like they did okay for themselves. But nothing lavish, and not anywhere close to the lifestyle that Caroline and Jason had enjoyed. Apparently, Caroline didn’t believe in sharing the wealth.
The doorbell echoed inside the house and set a dog to barking. Lynn came to the door eventually, opening it a crack, keeping the chain on. Jess flashed her badge.
“Mrs. Lombardo, I’m Lieutenant Jessica Messina with the New York State Police. We spoke on the phone yesterday. I’m investigating the murder charge against Aidan Callahan. Can I come in and—”
“Hold on. I can’t hear you with the dog,” Lynn said, and shut the door.
The dog, which sounded big and mean, was barking wildly. Jess heard Lynn yelling for Joe to come take it away. She pressed her ear against the door. The barking stopped suddenly, and she heard Joe Lombardo ask his wife who was at the door.
“You better not talk to any cops,” he said.
Jess heard that quite clearly, as well as Lynn’s reply—
“What am I, stupid?”
Huh.
A second later, the door opened wide, and Lynn stood there with a smile on her face.
“Sorry about that, Officer. You were saying?”
The smell of spaghetti sauce wafted from the depths of the house. It was dinnertime already, and Jess hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She wished this encounter would go smoothly, that she could find her witness with a minimum of fuss, that the case would fall into place and she could eat a good dinner and get a decent night’s sleep. But that wasn’t going to happen; she could see it just by looking at Caroline’s sister. Lynn was armored for battle. Her smile was fake. She was shiny and untouchable, in capri slacks, a fancy blouse, high-heeled mules, with lots of jewelry and her hair carefully lacquered. Lynn’s style was Real Housewife, while Caroline’s was ladylike. Jess would have said they were nothing alike. But there was a toughness to Lynn that Jess had seen echoes of in Caroline. She remembered how dry-eyed Caroline had been during their interview. She didn’t want to believe that Caroline was the third man. But she was starting to wonder.
“Could I come in to ask you a few questions?” Jess said.
“Sorry, it’s not a good time.”
“This won’t take long.”
“I said no. We’re dealing with a tragedy here. My niece is with us. She’s distraught. I have to take care of her. Your questions can wait.”
Lynn pulled the doorknob, but Jess got her body in sideways, preventing her from closing the door.
“Mrs. Lombardo, I’m very sympathetic, but unfortunately it can’t wait. I’m worried about your sister’s safety. And beyond that, we can’t pursue the case against Aidan Callahan without her. I’m sure you don’t want him getting released for lack of evidence. If I could have a few minutes of your time to discuss Mrs. Stark’s whereabouts, it would be a big help.”
“I’m not telling you where she is. Didn’t I say that when you called yesterday? Caroline doesn’t want you to find her. She doesn’t trust you to protect her.”
“There are a lot of things we can do to protect a witness. If I could speak to her on the phone, I could reassure her about her safety.”
“Be my guest. Call her.”
“I have called. I tried many times, left messages, texted her. She won’t answer. I was hoping maybe you could convince her to speak with me.”
“Why would I do that? If Caroline doesn’t want to talk to you, that’s her business. She’s scared. She just lost her husband. Go away and leave her alone. Leave me alone. I don’t want you on my property. Unless you have a warrant, you need to go.”
She moved to close the door again, and this time, Jess let her. But Lynn’s behavior was odd enough to qualify as suspicious. Occasionally—rarely—the victim’s loved ones refused to cooperate in a murder investigation, but that was in a specific kind of case. The kind where the grief-stricken husband initially reports his wife missing, but when the police uncover discrepancies in his account of events, he suddenly stops talking. Maybe even flees the jurisdiction, like O.J. in the white Bronco. This case had nothing in common with that scenario. Caroline Stark was an innocent victim. She’d been stalked by Aidan Callahan, and then he’d been allowed to attack her in the police station. Caroline had a reason to hide. It didn’t make her guilty. It didn’t. Mike Castro was wrong. Jess would keep telling herself that until she had hard evidence to the contrary.
Jess walked down the driveway toward the curb, where she’d parked, then stopped short, instantly on high alert. A shadow had flicked by the car as she came toward it, then disappeared. Somebody was there, on the other side of the car, hunkering down, waiting for her. Joe Lombardo maybe? Jess’s hand flew to the gun at her waist. Adrenaline buzzed in her veins as she maneuvered around the vehicle, ready to defend herself.
52
A girl crouched on the ground near the rear door of Jess’s car.
“Get up,” Jess said, holstering her gun. “I thought you were gonna jump me. I could’ve shot you.”
“I’m sorry. Oh my God. I’m Hannah,” she said, her voice shaky and breathless.
“Jess Messina. I’m working on the murder case. Are you all right? What are you doing down there?”
“I overheard you talking to Aunt Lynn and snuck out. I need to talk to you. My aunt and uncle can’t know I’m here.”
It was full dark outside, but a streetlight at the corner of the driveway illuminated the area surrounding her car. The driveway sloped upward to the house, which
sat on a rise. Somebody watching from a window would look down and see Jess standing there, but wouldn’t be able to see Hannah, who was crouching. Hannah needed to stay down.
“Don’t stand up, or they’ll see you,” Jess said to Hannah. “I’m going to open the rear door and lean in like I’m getting something from the backseat. Stay low and scoot past me onto the floor. I’ll drive away, and we’ll find a spot nearby where we can pull over and talk. Okay?”
Hannah nodded. They executed the maneuver smoothly. Jess drove until she spotted an elementary school several blocks away. She pulled into the parking lot. The school was dark, the playground empty of children, swings swaying in the strong breeze. Hannah Stark’s childhood must seem very far away to her at this moment.
“Stay down there, okay, Hannah?” Jess said. “We’re still in your aunt and uncle’s neighborhood. I doubt they’ll come looking for you, but you never know.”
“Okay.”
“Are you afraid of them?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. Aunt Lynn and Uncle Joe would never hurt me. But I do think they’re lying to me. I think Aunt Lynn knows where my mom is, and she won’t tell me. She won’t tell me anything. I told her I want to talk to you, but she said no. They don’t want me talking to the police.”
“Why would she do that? It’s unusual in a murder investigation. Usually the victim’s family is eager to cooperate.”
“Aunt Lynn is trying to protect me. She and I are really close. Sometimes she’s a little overprotective, but I don’t need that right now. I need answers. My father is dead, and my mother’s nowhere to be found. She may never come back.”
“I’m sure she’s coming back,” Jess said.
Jess hoped she was right. If Caroline didn’t come back to testify, the case would fall apart. But fear was a powerful emotion. After the station house attack, Caroline had reason to doubt that the authorities would protect her.
“I’m not sure. Aunt Lynn told me I can stay with them as long as I want. She said if I want to take a leave of absence from school until everything blows over, I could live with them. Why would she say I could stay with them indefinitely like that if my mom is coming back?”
“You think your mother told your aunt she’s not coming back? That she’d tell your aunt that but not tell you?”
“She might. Mom and Aunt Lynn are really tight. Their father died before I was born. They got all the money and the other kids didn’t. The other kids sued them. Ever since then, it’s been the two of them against the world. And Dad and Uncle Joe follow their lead. So, I think Mom would tell Aunt Lynn anything. What surprises me is that Aunt Lynn wouldn’t tell me. That makes me think it’s something really bad.”
“Bad? Like what?”
“I don’t know. But I feel so alone.”
Quiet sniffling sounds came from the backseat. It broke her heart to think of this young woman, at the start of her grown-up life, dealing with the loss of her father. And no ordinary death—but a brutal murder at the hands of her mother’s lover, the salacious details of which were being splashed across the tabloids. Jess wanted to give Hannah a big hug and tell her everything would be all right. But she couldn’t promise that—not when today’s events had cast doubt on Caroline Stark’s role in Jason’s murder.
“I’ll do my best to find her and try to convince her to come back. But you know she’s doing this for a reason, right? She’s afraid of Aidan Callahan.”
“Shouldn’t I be afraid, too?” Hannah demanded. “What about me? Did you know that Aidan came into the coffee shop at my school and pretended to be a student in order to meet me? It was definitely him. I saw his picture online and recognized him. Can you imagine how I felt when I found that out?”
“He was stalking your mother, Hannah. His approach to you was part of that. Your mother was beside herself when she learned about it, I can assure you. She blamed herself.”
“She should blame herself. It was her fault. I actually thought he was cute. I invited him to my dorm room. I gave him my number. And then I see online that he slept with my mother and murdered my father? What kind of nightmare is that? She’s responsible. She let it happen.”
“I’m so sorry. That’s truly awful. But you know, it may explain why your mother isn’t returning your calls. She’s ashamed of herself, and she can’t face you.”
“She’s not ashamed. She has no shame.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Everything that happened is because of her. Look at what she did. Cheated on my dad, and brought this killer into our lives?”
“I don’t mean to defend your mother. I agree that her conduct was inexcusable. But your father cheated on her first. He brought a woman—”
“Yeah, I saw that reported online. It’s a lie.”
“Why do you say that? Were you at the party where the Russian woman showed up and made a scene?”
“No, I wasn’t. But my mom told me about it, and I confronted my dad. He swore that woman was a business associate, and I believe him. He wouldn’t lie to me, and he would never cheat on my mom. He adores her. Adored. Past tense. God, I can’t believe she brought this lunatic into our lives and, and now…”
Hannah paused, her bitter sobs filling the car.
“I’ll never see my father again.”
Jess passed a packet of Kleenex over the console. “Hannah, here. You poor thing.”
“My poor dad,” Hannah said, through her tears. “Everything he ever did was for her, to make her happy, to give her the things she wanted. The cars, the clothes, the beach house. That house cost millions of dollars. And yet I got a notice from the registrar’s office two days ago that my tuition hasn’t been paid. Something weird was going on with my parents.”
“I can look into that. Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything unusual that happened? Anything you can remember that might possibly shed some light on your parents’ circumstances?”
Hannah was silent for a moment, mopping her face with a tissue. Jess felt bad about leaving her wedged on the floor of the backseat.
“Hey, do you want to come sit in the front? There’s nobody else in the parking lot, and you look so uncomfortable.”
“I feel safer down here. And we should go soon, before they miss me. Aunt Lynn made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner because it’s my favorite. I don’t want her to think I’m ungrateful, or that I didn’t listen.”
Jess put the car in gear. “I understand. We’ll go back in a minute. But first, think about my question. Anything unusual, anything that stands out?”
“Okay. Yes. One thing is, my dad started traveling for work a lot more in the past year. Like, a huge amount more. He was gone constantly, and that was new.”
“Did something change at work? The nature of his job?”
“I don’t know. But my mom probably does.”
“She mentioned that he traveled a lot. But she never said it was a change.”
“It was. And come to think of it, it was right around the same time that things, like, got weird, generally.”
“Things got weird generally? What do you mean?”
“Nothing specific. Just a feeling that something was going on with them—something bad. Like they were in trouble.”
“Can you be more specific? How did this come to your attention?”
“Dad was gone a lot. Mom was on edge, and even more of a monster to deal with than she usually is. When Dad was home, they’d lock themselves in their bedroom and whisper. And not like that. I could hear the tone. It wasn’t happy, or romantic. It was like, urgent and troubled. I would ask what was going on, and they’d act like I was crazy. But I wasn’t crazy. I knew what I was seeing. Oh. Another thing.” She paused, thinking.
“What is it, Hannah?”
“Yes, this was definitely around that time. I saw a gun in my dad’s briefcase. Now, maybe he’d had it before, but I doubt it.”
“A—a gun?”
“Yes.”
Jess knew what her
next question had to be.
“What type of gun? Can you describe it?”
“I don’t know anything about guns, and I only saw it once. It was silver and kind of clunky-looking. That’s all I remember.”
“Silver and clunky-looking” was an accurate description of the gun seized from Aidan Callahan’s truck. Was Jason Stark murdered with his own gun? That wouldn’t necessarily mean that Caroline had been involved. Maybe Jason pulled the gun on Aidan, and Aidan took it away from him.
Though that wasn’t how Caroline said things went down.
Was she lying?
“Did you ask your father why he had a gun?”
“Yeah. He said it was for personal protection.”
“Did he say what he was protecting himself from?”
“No. I wish I’d asked.”
“You said they were behind closed doors, whispering, seeming unhappy. Do you think that might be because they were having trouble? Problems in their marriage?”
“No, actually. They seemed more like a team than ever. He was more adoring. She was more on top of him, always having him call to check in. They seemed so close. Like allies against the rest of the world. That’s why I can’t understand how this happened. I have so many questions. I’m lost, I’m mourning my father. She abandons me at a time like this? Why would she do that? There has to be something I don’t know. What is she hiding from me?”
53
“Callahan. Get up. You got a visitor,” the corrections officer said, rapping on the bars of Aidan’s cell.
“Is it my lawyer?”
“Civilian.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Get moving.”
A civilian? Could that mean Tommy? The whole way to the visiting room, Aidan thought about what he would say to his brother. He wanted to proclaim his innocence, to reassure Tommy that he hadn’t fallen that far, hadn’t done what they claimed he did. That all of Tommy’s efforts hadn’t been for naught. But why would Tommy believe him? This wasn’t their first rodeo. They’d been through it all before. Aidan remembered swearing to Tommy that what happened with Matthew Bostick was an accident. A fight over a girl in which Aidan hadn’t even thrown the first punch. Tommy believed him then—and stood up for him, at some risk to his own reputation. And again, on the night of Jason Stark’s murder, Tommy took a huge risk for Aidan, throwing him out of Caroline’s house without reporting the break-in. Aidan promised to go to Tommy’s house, to look out for his family, to stay out of trouble. Instead, he went back to Caroline’s house, and now he was charged with her husband’s murder. How could he ask Tommy to believe that was a mistake? The same man keeps getting wrongly accused? Lightning doesn’t strike twice. Anybody would laugh.
A Stranger on the Beach Page 26