by Jan Burke
She speeded up.
She reached the stairs, paused briefly, then resolutely made her way toward a group of three men on the beach.
Frank had no difficulty recognizing them. Whitey Dane, Myles Volmer, and the wasp man. He turned to Hitch and said, “You’re on his fucking payroll, aren’t you, you bastard?”
Hitch wheezed and held his hands up as if to ward off a blow.
Frank turned his attention to the others now, ready to do all he could to protect Elena. But he soon realized that she wasn’t acting afraid.
Despite all the possibilities he considered in those few moments, he was still surprised to hear Dane call out, “If it isn’t my dear old friend Elena.”
40
Thursday, July 13, 8:10 P.M.
Las Piernas Beach
“I’m not your friend, Dane,” Elena said. “Not then, not now.”
Dane placed a hand over his heart. “You wound me.” As Frank approached, Dane extended a hand and said, “Detective Harriman! So good of you to join us.”
Frank stood with his fists clenched.
“There is no need for hostility or violence, Detective Harriman, I assure you. I’m not wearing a gun, and neither are Myles and Derrick. Have you met Myles and Derrick?” He smiled. “You may have seen them around town, at funerals or florists.”
Frank didn’t trust Dane to be telling the truth about being unarmed. He thought of his gun, locked away out of concern for Seth’s safety. He looked up and down the beach, but the nearest group of people were some way off, on the boardwalk near the pier.
“I would have preferred a comfortable little coze in your living room,” Dane went on, “but I asked Detective Hitchcock to bring you to me here — you see, I understand you share your home with a rather large Felis catus. There is much I admire in cats,” he said, taking a long and considering look at Elena. “However, ultimately, they may be the death of me.” He smiled, then turned to Frank. “That is, I am severely allergic to them. And I must admit that I also sent the intrepid Detective Hitchcock to your door because I thought you might be a tad more willing to open it to a fellow detective than to me.”
“‘A tad,’” Elena said, mimicking his voice. “Whitey thinks that bullshit way of talking makes him sound elegant, but he still acts like the little pimp from Pittsburgh he’s always been. That’s a tad pathetic, isn’t it?”
Derrick moved forward a little, but Dane checked him with a small gesture. “Still too impulsive for your own good, aren’t you, Elena? I wonder — all those years ago, was it impulse that led you to betray me?”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Such poise! When I compare your response to the rather anxious one of your former partner, I must say, I’m tempted to believe you.” Dane studied her again, then glanced at Hitch, who was edging back. “Derrick, please make sure Detective Hitchcock remains with us.”
“Mr. Dane, please—” Hitch began, but fell silent as Derrick put an arm around his shoulders — a friendly gesture belied by Hitch’s wince — and moved him closer to Dane. Hitch’s face was pale, but he said nothing.
“Let’s not waste time,” Dane said. “Let me tell you my concerns. It’s just so — how shall I say it? — so inconvenient to be accused of murders one hasn’t committed. And now, at a time when I am winning the trust of businessmen and civic leaders—”
“Buying votes and favors is more like it,” Elena scoffed.
“Calling the kettle black, my dear? In return for a favor, I believe I once received certain assurances from you.”
She flinched and glanced at Frank. In a low voice, she said, “I kept my word, Whitey, and until tonight you kept yours.” She smiled coldly. “At this rate, I’m going to stop believing in the old adage about honor among thieves.”
“How tragic that would be! Perhaps I have been misinformed.” He turned toward Hitch, who appeared to be close to fainting, then back to Elena. “But you, my dear, seem so much more likely to have been an enemy posing as friend! Someone who had information about where I would be that evening. Someone who knew I would be among friends whose — shall we say, histories? — might be an obstacle for jurors asked to believe my alibi.”
“I’m not the only one who knew where you’d be that night,” Elena said. “And neither is Hitch, for that matter. You surround yourself with all these muscle-bound boy toys, they start to get jealous and spiteful.”
He shook his head. “Elena, Elena. Do strive to be more original.”
“What are you worried about, anyway?” Frank said. “The Randolph case never went to trial.”
“Oh, that’s another sore point. I’ve never been allowed to prove my innocence, have I? Indeed, I’d even settle for having all that phony evidence in my own hands. But someone else has it. Suppose it’s suddenly rediscovered in the LPPD property room?”
Frank shrugged. “Then your lawyers say the department lost control of the evidence for ten years, and the D.A. says good-bye to the case.”
“Detective Harriman, I have no doubt I would be able to extricate myself from any legal difficulties, but surely you understand how offended I am that someone attempted to set me up?”
“Get over it,” Elena said.
“No, I’m afraid I’m the type who isn’t forgiving. I keep thinking of all the elements that had to be in place, and I cannot help but see that I was betrayed by someone who knew me.” He began counting off points on his long, milky fingers. “Someone who knew that I favored deck shoes of a particular type, who knew that I would not be out on the Cygnet myself that night, who knew how to steal a boat — and let’s face it, who learns more about tricks of the criminal trade than police officers? — someone who made sure Lefebvre, the department’s star homicide detective, was at the marina and made certain that he discovered the Amanda.”
“Phil made that discovery on his own.”
“Did he? Or were you there to make sure he lingered near it? You see, I’ve heard a recent rumor that my old friend Elena Rosario—”
“I have never been your friend!”
“—Elena Rosario was being naughty with Lefebvre. You can hardly deny that rumor, my dear.”
“I’m proud of every moment I spent with Phil.”
“But when it comes to me—”
“I can’t think of anything I’m more ashamed of.”
Dane laughed. “Derrick?”
Frank stepped forward to protect her, but he had misjudged the target — the wasp man moved like lightning and planted a hard right in Hitch’s gut. Hitch doubled over and went to his knees, retching on the sand.
“On the other hand, Detective Hitchcock, I’m afraid, has no shame,” Dane said. “That’s what leads me to believe he lied to me a few years ago when he told me you tipped off Lefebvre.”
Elena stared at Hitch in disbelief. Hitch was weeping.
“Yes,” Dane said, looking between them, “I do believe I have my answer now. To one question at least. Myles? Derrick? Detective Hitchcock seems to be in need of medical attention. Let’s remove him to a place where he will get the level of care he deserves, shall we?”
“Frank, Elena!” Hitch pleaded. “I’m begging you, please! Don’t let him take me!”
“What happened to ‘no violence’?” Elena said to Dane.
“Oh, dear. I’m afraid I meant to you or Detective Harriman.”
Myles hoisted Hitch to his feet and held on to him, keeping Hitch’s arms pulled back.
Frank stepped a little closer to Derrick, who in turn moved back slightly, staying out of range. Frank wondered at this — he didn’t believe for a moment that Derrick was afraid of him. He glanced at Elena. She met his eyes now, and although she did not betray it by any signal to him, he knew she was calm — and ready. Again watching Derrick, he said to Dane, “Let Hitch go.”
“You would speak up on behalf of this piece of offal?” Dane said. “Well, then — perhaps I should hear what Detective Hitchcock has to say for
himself.”
Derrick moved closer to Hitch, his right side toward Frank. Frank shifted his own stance.
“Mr. Dane,” Hitch began, “you’ve got to believe me — I didn’t know what he planned.”
“Of whom are you speaking?”
“I don’t know! The guy called me — that’s all it was, a phone call. Disguised his voice. I swear it. I swear it!”
Dane waited.
“I told him where you’d be, that’s all. Nothing more than that — nothing! He — he paid me. He left a little cash for me, but I swear to you, I didn’t know he was gonna try to stick you with a murder rap! You’ve got to believe me, Mr. Dane!”
Dane sighed. “A false assumption. Derrick?”
Just as Derrick’s fist connected with Hitch’s face, Frank moved, landing a hard kick to the outside of the wasp man’s right knee. Frank heard a muffled cracking noise — Derrick gave a shout of pain and lost his balance as the knee gave. He rolled to the right. Elena grabbed his left wrist as he fell, yanked his arm out straight, and kneed him hard in the face. He dropped like a stone.
“Enough,” Dane said.
Myles dropped Hitch, whose bloodied nose sent a crimson flow over the front of his shirt. He held his hands open, out at his sides, a gesture of half-surrender.
“Now look what a mess you’ve made!” Dane scolded. “None of this was necessary.”
“You thought I’d stand here and watch you beat the crap out of Hitch?” Frank asked.
“He can’t be very precious to you. You’ve just halted the only punishment he’s likely to receive.”
“You’ve learned what you wanted to know. Besides, if you think he arranged the killings on the Amanda, you’re a hell of a lot dumber than I think you are.”
“Detective Harriman! I’m so pleased. Now we come to my interest in your investigations. I believe you can see why I’m determined to bring Trent Randolph’s killer to justice.”
Derrick rolled to his side and groaned.
“It had better wait, unless you want to watch your lapdog suffer.”
“Arrest him,” Elena said, and Frank could see the misery in her — that she knew what that would mean to her. “Arrest all of them.”
“I don’t think he will,” Dane said. “You see, I believe Detective Harriman is better at thinking ahead than you are, my impulsive — oh, don’t scowl — all right, you aren’t my friend.”
Frank bent to help Hitch to his feet.
“Take Detective Hitchcock, for example. Detective Harriman realizes that he has no real proof of anything other than Detective Hitchcock’s confession of conspiring to convict me of murder.”
“He just saw two of your men assault an officer, on your orders.”
“And he knows that poor Derrick never attempted to defend himself from either of you. Besides, I promise you, your name will not be left out of any statements I make to the police.”
She hesitated, then said, “Don’t let that stop you, Frank. This is your chance.”
Frank pulled Hitch’s arm over his shoulders. He knew an impulse of his own, to reach down and grab a handful of sand and throw it into Dane’s good eye. Childish, he told himself. “Help me with Hitch,” he said to her.
Elena moved to Hitch’s right side, but as they lifted him, she reached across Hitch’s shoulders to place her hand on Frank’s arm. “Frank—”
“What would happen to Seth then, Elena?”
“Maybe he’d be better off with—”
“Fuck you and your self-pity,” he said. “Think of Seth.”
She lowered her hand to Hitch’s waist, so that she was no longer touching Frank.
Dane came closer and patted Hitch’s cheek. “You do know I hate unfinished business, don’t you, Robert? I know you lied to me to protect your own hide, but why did you choose Elena for your scapegoat? Revenge because she let Lefebvre get into her pants?” He laughed.
Frank suddenly felt Hitch’s full weight — Elena had let go of him.
Her punch came from Dane’s left — hard and fast across the bridge of his nose, catching him in the right eye. Dane howled and grabbed at her.
Frank dropped Hitch and stepped between them, shoving Dane aside. Myles tried to come to Dane’s aid and soon demanded all of Frank’s attention. He landed a dizzying blow above Frank’s eye, splitting his brow. Frank brought his own left up hard under Myles’s jaw and followed it with a quick right to his gut. Myles’s head snapped back, and the air left his lungs in a whoosh. Frank deflected a wild punch and hit him again in the face, throwing everything he had into it. Myles fell on his ass with a thud. He stayed there.
“Myles, Myles, Myles,” Dane said. “What were my orders?”
Myles lowered his head as if in shame.
Frank tried to wipe the blood from his right eye and saw that Dane had Elena pinned beneath him. He stumbled toward them. Dane tilted his head, trying to see around the swelling in his own right eye. Seeing Frank’s injury, he laughed.
“Shall we leave it at an eye for an eye, Detective Harriman?”
Frank nodded.
“Elena?”
“Yes, damn you.”
Dane released her and said, “Myles, help Derrick.”
Elena came toward Frank, but he turned away. He pulled his T-shirt off, which required a set of motions that made his head swim. He held it to his brow to stanch the bleeding.
“Get up,” he heard Elena say to Hitch. “You’ve had enough time to get your wind back.”
Hitch shakily came to his feet.
“Another time, Detective Harriman,” Whitey Dane said as they slowly walked away. “Another time.”
41
Friday, July 14, 3:30 A.M.
The Kelly-Harriman Home
“You need your sleep, too,” Irene whispered as she came into the guest bedroom.
“Can’t,” he said. “Careful — don’t trip over the dogs.”
“Your head still bothering you?”
“I’ll be all right. It’s a good thing I was awake, anyway — he just had a nightmare about the fire. I think all of this is tougher on him than he lets on.”
Seth and Irene had returned from the rink, worried when Frank hadn’t shown up for his game, pulling into the driveway just after Hitch drove off.
Irene had rolled down a window, said, “Get him into the backseat” to Elena, but Frank went inside long enough to wash his hands and face, get another shirt on, and lock up. In the car, Seth had been frightened and wouldn’t let him out of his sight. Frank thought of lying to him and telling him he had tripped over something in the garage, but decided against it. He wasn’t going to lie to Seth if he could help it.
“I had a fight with a bad guy,” he said.
Seth’s eyes widened.
“He kicked the bad guy’s ass,” Elena said.
“Cool! Is the bad guy dead?”
“What a bloodthirsty kid you are,” she said, making him laugh. “No, he isn’t dead, but he knows better than to mess with Frank.”
“Did you help Frank fight him?”
She glanced nervously at Frank. “No, Frank didn’t need any help from me.”
Irene must have heard Elena’s slight hesitation, though, because she looked into the rearview mirror at them.
“Tell me about skating,” Frank said.
While he was waiting to get stitched up, and out of Seth’s and Elena’s hearing, he told Irene the full story.
Now she sat beside him on the edge of Seth’s bed. He put an arm around her, but left his other hand in Seth’s grasp.
“You’re disappointed in Elena, aren’t you?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Frank said. “I am.”
“What about Hitch?”
“So far he’s leaving Elena’s name out of it.” Hale himself had called to give Frank the news that Hitch had walked into headquarters with his lawyer in tow.
“Do you think he could cause her trouble?”
“Maybe. At some point she knew Hitc
h was on Dane’s payroll. I don’t think she was on it herself or Dane wouldn’t have let her walk away from her job with the narcotics squad — she would have been too great an asset to him. And he would have kept better tabs on her after she left.”
Irene nodded. “She couldn’t have had much dirt on either of them, or they would have seen her as a big threat.”
“If he had ever really believed that, Dane would have had her killed. He came here tonight because he had questions. I don’t know if he believes Hitch about the anonymous call, but I do. Lefebvre wrote notes about getting an anonymous tip on the night the Amanda was attacked.”
They sat in silence for a time, listening to the steady rhythm of Seth’s breathing. The dogs awakened and moved out of the room. Frank could hear their nails clicking on the floor as they moved toward the front door.
Irene said, “So if Hitch had come forward earlier about the anonymous call—”
“Then maybe the department wouldn’t have stayed so obsessed with the idea that Dane was the killer. And who knows? Maybe Seth Randolph and Phil Lefebvre would be alive today. Instead, an asshole like Hitch is crying for mercy, and four good people are cold in their graves. You can play the ‘if ’ game another way — if Elena had told what she knew about Hitch, maybe he would have caved in ten years ago and Lefebvre would be alive.”
Suddenly, the dogs began barking wildly — startling both of them.
Seth awakened and sat up, wide-eyed with fear.
“Just the dogs,” Frank said, but Seth held his hand more tightly.
They waited, expecting the dogs to quickly settle down. Instead, the barking increased in intensity.
“What the hell has gotten into them?” Irene said, and started to get up.
“For God’s sake, stay here,” Frank said, pulling her back. “I’ll check it out.”
The dogs were growling now, focusing on something beyond the front door. They began barking again.
Seth held tightly to him. “It’s the bad guy. He’s come back.”
“You didn’t believe your mom when she told you I kicked his ass?” Frank said lightly. “Stay here with Irene, okay? I’ll ask your mom to come in here, too. I’m going to take a look outside. The dogs are probably just after a skunk or something, but let’s play it safe.”