by LS Sygnet
I waited in the foyer. No shouts. No grunts. No crashing bodies through walls. Not even a single gunshot.
“Helen?”
I turned at the steady sound of Dad’s voice and saw Johnny and Datello standing behind him. Neither one of them looked too certain of the wisdom of this face-to-face. Behind my eyelids, I saw the rapid disintegration of civility.
“Thank you for coming, both of you,” I said. Dad was in street clothes. Danny still wore his monkish cloak. He’d at least lowered the hood. Handsome guy, if I were completely honest. Whatever work he’d had done, Celeste would probably appreciate it. I wondered if we’d ever close this wretched case and have the opportunity for better lives.
Johnny swept one hand toward the living room. “Let’s sit and have this conversation.”
Datello hung back until I reached his side. “Helen,” he said quietly, “are you sure about this?”
“Do you trust Celeste?”
He sighed. “Fine. I get it that you trust Orion. But I think this this truce between the two of us is too new to offer much in the way of reassurance.”
“You’re still walking around undetected. It’s been two days since we met, Danny. That would’ve been plenty of time to summon the FBI if that were my intent. It isn’t.”
“Well, I haven’t been shot or beaten within an inch of my life yet, so I suppose that’s a good sign too.”
Johnny reappeared. “Are the two of you coming?”
“In a minute,” I said. Our eyes met for the briefest of moments. “Remember how wise Celeste is,” I said for Datello’s ears only. “If you can’t trust much, believe that. She’s been right about everything else. She’d want you here, Danny.”
He nodded curtly and strode with me into the living room. When I sat, he took his place at my right.
“What can I tell you, Commander Orion?”
Johnny cleared his throat and avoided eye contact with all of us. “Did Wendell tell you that I’d like you to remain here while we attempt to resolve this case?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure I understand why. We talked about what possible reason you’d have to keep me under wraps, commander, and it occurs to me that it’s probably the result of distrust. I can’t exactly blame you for that.”
“Nonsense,” Johnny said. “If I didn’t trust at least in your innocence where most of the accusations against you are concerned, I’d have called Agent Soule myself. I want you here because I think you probably have important information you’re not even aware of. If you’re part of this process, it moves things to the resolution quicker.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” Datello said. “I really wasn’t aware that Umberto Gutierrez was smuggling slaves through Darkwater Bay on one of my ships. If I’d had any idea that Destiny was breaking the law, I’d have never kept her on my payroll, let alone designated her as my power of attorney or turned over control of Datello Enterprises to her after my arrest.”
“I want information,” Johnny said. “I know what Celeste said about Mitch Southerby, and I know that you confirmed some of it to Helen the other day. I also know that the FBI claims that Sully is unaware that they’ve got the evidence David Ireland held against him.”
“If that’s true, which I doubt, they’re completely clueless. Uncle Sully knew years ago that someone was informing the FBI of his activities. He didn’t know it was me. I was careful to only call when I was in different cities. It wasn’t until David Ireland got involved that the link to Darkwater Bay was made.”
“Are you saying that Sully found out because the FBI traced the information back here?” Wendell asked. Alarm sparked in his eyes. I recognized it immediately. How did we know after all, that Southerby identified himself to the bureau as the informant? Only because David said so.
“Yes,” Datello said. “It wasn’t long until Mitch showed up out here to question me. I was Uncle Sully’s only remaining link to this city. My parents were both deceased by then. He hated it that I came back here. I made it clear to him that my presence did not green-light him setting up shop in town.”
Johnny snorted. “I hope you realize that wouldn’t have stopped a man like Sullivan Marcos. He’s used to doing exactly what he wants, wherever he pleases.”
“I was naïve,” Danny said. “I realize that now, and I know for a fact that I was surrounded with people who were loyal to him, not me.”
“The men Southerby used last Christmas?” I asked.
He nodded. “Most of them were on my payroll. I suppose they were really on Uncle Sully’s.”
“None of them has said a word to anyone but their lawyers,” Johnny said. “But let’s get back to Ireland’s murder. He didn’t come into possession of the disk because you gave it to him, correct?”
“No,” Datello said. “He got it from my lawyer.”
“Carlos Stefano?” I asked.
Danny shook his head. “His brother Dayton, who was later disbarred. He was a good man, Helen. Ethical.”
I recalled the story Ned Williams told me before he died, that Dayton Stefano had been disbarred for violating privilege and turning over evidence against his client, a pedophile, to the district attorney’s office. “I’m aware of his history. How exactly did that disk fall into David Ireland’s hands?”
“They were working a case together, an accusation of fraud in one of the local unions. It got mixed in with some files Dayton submitted to the DA in defense of the union. It was one of those sour grapes things, one union wanting control and alleging fraud against their competitor. It was a baseless charge, and Ireland realized it quickly.”
“But David had your evidence against Sully,” I said.
“He did. It was a simple matter of going to him and explaining that a personal file had been included with Dayton’s other information, really. I just never anticipated that he’d crack the code I used to encrypt the information.”
“So the honor thy father business was your code?” Johnny asked.
Datello stared at his hands, folded loosely in his lap. They twitched with a bit of tension, reluctance maybe. “I know you think I’m a terrible person, Johnny, and I’m not proud of a lot of things that I’ve done in my life, but I loved my father. I’m a pretty devoutly religious man, even though I’ve drifted away from certain church functions.”
Johnny glanced at Wendell. “Like confession.”
“Yeah. I wanted Uncle Sully to pay for what he did to my father. When Ireland told me he understood the information on that disk, I was very concerned.”
“You didn’t trust him?” Wendell asked.
“No, it was my knowledge of Uncle Sully’s reaction to anybody compiling evidence against him that had me concerned. David Ireland was a good man. He had a family. I was fearful for all of them, if his involvement was ever discovered.”
“Which it was,” I said.
“Yeah. I’ve never forgiven myself for what happened to him, Helen.”
Johnny gave Datello a hard stare. “How did Southerby find out that Ireland was allegedly trying to help you?”
“He was in town awhile before he made his presence known to me,” Danny admitted. “He followed me, saw me meet with David several times. We were trying to determine the best way to get the evidence to the authorities without putting anyone’s life at risk.”
“And?” Johnny prompted.
“He showed up in my penthouse uninvited, asked why I was so chummy with a district attorney. I panicked. I told him that David and I were working together on that fraud case against the union that represented my fishermen.”
“He didn’t buy it, did he?” I asked.
“Clearly not. I told David that he was here, begged him to get rid of the disk, mail it anonymously to the feds, hide it in a safety deposit box, anything. I told him we couldn’t meet anymore, at least not while Uncle Sully had me under Southerby’s thumb.”
“What did David do?” Johnny asked.
“I’m not entirely certain, but I suspected that he cont
acted the FBI and tried to make it appear that Southerby was the information leak. I suppose he thought that if Uncle Sully suspected his own man, he might retaliate against him instead of us.”
“And that was when Southerby murdered David Ireland,” I said. “He ransacked his office looking for the disk.”
“Thank God David heeded my advice and hid it.”
“He did,” I said. “And his wife was the only one who knew where it was. Did you know that she buried it with him, Danny?”
He shook his head. “Not until I got back to Darkwater Bay on Christmas Eve. They told me they were getting the evidence back once and for all. If I went along, they’d only kill me. If I tried to stop them, they claimed to have someone in Hawaii ready to kill my wife.”
“So you drove the car,” Johnny said.
“I wouldn’t have come back at all, but Mitch called me hours before I got back and said he was meeting with Helen, that he’d get the truth out of her about what happened to Rick.” He turned to me with real regret in his eyes. “I knew what that meant, Helen. I might’ve hated you for what happened to my cousin, but nobody deserved to suffer the way Southerby hurt people. Nobody.”
Johnny dragged one hand down his face. “Of course, we assumed Southerby was acting on your orders.”
“Understandable,” Danny said. “We haven’t exactly been admirers over the years, commander.”
“Johnny,” he said. “You can call me Johnny. Particularly since you came back to try to save my wife’s life.”
“I didn’t want her dead; I wanted her in prison,” Datello said.
“I don’t understand something,” Dad said. “If Southerby was caught for Ireland’s murder, and he confessed, how did he manage to escape without somebody’s help?”
I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear rather than go through the whole sordid mess. “Dad, it’s a very long story.”
He crossed his legs and nestled into his chair. “I’ve got time, Sprout. Humor me.”
“Jerry Lowe,” Johnny said. “Though for the life of me, I can’t figure out how he got involved in any of this. We suspected that you were involved in Lowe’s rise to power in the police department.”
Datello’s eyes darkened. “I most certainly was not. I had nothing to do with the police department. I was a close family friend of Frank and Dennis Bennett, as you well know. Do you think I was unaware of how they felt about Jerry Lowe? I assure you, I knew full well what they thought of the man.”
It was another detail that hadn’t occurred to me months ago. Why would Datello support Lowe’s rise to power if he was so tight with the Bennett family? Yet somebody was supportive. Somebody powerful.
Details about Darkwater Bay began flickering through my mind. Tony Briscoe’s history lessons, the blackmail of George Hardy and Donald Weber, Harry McNamara’s murder, the multitude of details that didn’t quite add up. Somebody most certainly wanted Lowe in power. But who? Why? What other horrors were we going to uncover in the course of this investigation?
“Helen?” Johnny snapped his fingers in front of my nose.
“Hmm.”
“Is she all right?” Datello asked.
Dad was chuckling. “She’s fine, gentlemen. Johnny, I’m sure you’ve realized what that glazed look is all about, but Danny really doesn’t know more than his misperceptions of Helen over the years. Give over, Sprout. What did you just realize?”
“I was just wondering why Jerry Lowe would approach Southerby with a solution to his predicament after you and Briscoe arrested him for David Ireland’s murder, Johnny. Do you remember what he said to me when I arrested him for Gwen’s murder?”
Confusion inched over Johnny’s forehead. “Which thing?”
“That his arrest was only the beginning. He made some cryptic remark to Crevan and me about Darkwater Bay, and secrets that aren’t meant to remain buried. At the time, I thought it was the beginning of his insanity act. I’m not so sure anymore.”
“Helen, don’t even think about it,” Johnny growled.
“There’s no question now, nothing to think about.”
“What’re you saying, Helen?” Datello asked.
“I forbid it!”
Dad chuckled. “Good luck with that, Johnny. I’m her father, and I never got away with forbidding anything.”
“Forbid what?” Datello interjected once again. “What have I missed.”
I turned toward him, drew one leg up on the sofa. “Jerry Lowe helped Mitch Southerby fake his death. He framed you for years, Danny, made everyone believe that you were the root of every crime in this city. He didn’t act on that without direction from higher up.”
“You think he’s involved in this slavery ring?”
“No,” I said. “I think it just served his perverse needs to be the go-to guy in the police department. But he knows the names of the people who pulled the strings. He liked messing with the justice system. He really liked screwing with my husband’s head. And Jerry Lowe told me that he knew I was the one, that I’d figure all of this out. He said he wished he’d be around to watch it all unfold.”
“Shit,” Johnny hissed. “They’re gonna kill Jerry Lowe, aren’t they?”
I looked at Dad. What I saw was not the face of a man who necessarily disapproved of Lowe’s death.
Chapter 17
Johnny whipped out his cell phone and rushed off without a single word to me about where he was going or who he called. He didn’t need to explain it. I already knew. Crevan would meet him at Dunhaven. And while they might not get any answers out of Jerry Lowe, they’d certainly be in a position to get him into protective custody so that he didn’t mysteriously die.
“What the devil is going on, Helen?” Dad asked.
“Lowe could hold the answer we’ve been chasing all this time.”
“I believe that was quite obvious. Do you really believe this madman is willing to divulge any information to law enforcement? He could’ve ended this all before it started when you arrested him last spring.”
“Your father’s right, Helen. Lowe won’t talk. You know it, don’t you?”
I tapped one finger against my lips. “He won’t talk to Johnny.”
“I don’t want you going anywhere near that man, Sprout. On that much, Johnny and I are in complete agreement.”
“Wait a minute. What makes you think Jerry Lowe would talk to you? Didn’t he already prove that he won’t when you arrested him?” Danny asked.
“He wants Helen to play the game,” Dad said with a knowing, yet disapproving gleam in his eyes. “That’s why he wanted you out here, isn’t it Helen?”
“I’m not sure he did want me here. Sending Varden and Kelly after me –”
“He sent the sleaziest private investigators in Darkwater proper after you?” Datello looked as alarmed as he sounded. “They’re not nice people, Helen.”
“I think he wanted to make sure I’d be scared enough from an abduction attempt in Washington to make sure I took George’s job offer here.”
“No,” Danny said. “Those two make people disappear. If they came after you, it wasn’t to scare you into coming here or anywhere else, Helen. Are you sure that Lowe sent them after you?”
“They were arrested for breaking into my hotel room and stealing my computer,” I said. “Of course they never implicated the man who hired them, but David Levine saw that man. He matched Lowe’s description. They were also seen at Central Division the night that my office and Rodney Martin’s were vandalized.”
Datello bounced off the sofa and started pacing. “They were trying to kill you. Who stopped them? No wait. It was Orion, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah… but how could you possibly know that?”
“Something Gwen told me before she died. She said she received a threatening letter and that there were fingerprints that belonged to Varden on the envelope. I offered to send her and Vinnie away. She refused, said she had it under control.”
“Johnny was watching them. That�
��s how he prevented my abduction in Washington.”
“Did he know who you were?” Datello asked.
“Not until I showed up at Gwen Foster’s house after she was murdered.”
“Oh Christ,” Datello hissed. “This could’ve all been prevented.”
“It’s not your fault any more than it is Johnny’s,” I said. “Even if the two of you could’ve buried the hatchet years ago, Lowe targeted Gwen because she reminded him of his first victim so much, just like Brighton Bennett did, and probably two or three dozen other girls. Danny, he was never going to stop raping women that reminded him of Frank and Dennis’ sister. The only thing that would’ve made him stop was his arrest.”
I turned to my father. “Daddy, I really need to talk to Jerry Lowe again.”
“No, Helen. You’re not playing into this man’s psychotic delusions.”
“You don’t understand. He has all the answers. I know this man. He had information on everybody. Some of it he used to bend people to his will, the rest, I suspect he locked up in his head and saved them for later use.”
“What makes you think you can pry the truth out of him? I’m not disparaging your skills, Helen, because Lord knows, I’ve learned over the past several weeks exactly how talented you are. But this man likes the game too much to fall for the usual tricks.”
“Which is exactly why he needs a massive dose of the truth.”
“Helen, you can’t tip your hand to Lowe,” Danny said. “What if he’s part of this slavery thing? He’ll spill his guts to his partners. You’ll lose your tactical advantage.”
Lowe would always assume he had the upper hand with me. Still, Datello made a valid point. Just like the last time I spoke to him, he gave Riley Storm a head’s up so he knew what was coming. Storm was cooperative until I asked about Southerby’s remains. He knew the man wasn’t dead, yet he led me to believe Datello was the boss who couldn’t be named. They all did, even Painless Carl, one of Johnny’s torturers.
“I need to get all these bastards into one room,” I muttered.