by Regan Black
“I’m afraid that’s confidential.”
This was the worst morning he could remember in a long time. He’d promised Griffin to watch out for her, and he intended to do so despite his caseload and that she wouldn’t want him underfoot. One threat was already painted on her wall. He understood the desire to help; he’d go the distance for his siblings too. But he didn’t want her setting herself up for more trouble.
“I’m sure you have a busy day ahead, Detective Iglesias. I do, as well.” She reached for the door again. “Take care.”
“Pippa, come on. Aren’t you dealing with enough right now?”
“I like to stay busy,” she said. “If you and Griffin are so worried about me cracking under pressure, come on back tonight and hover however you see fit. I’ll be submitting the application at seven.”
Clearly she didn’t want him to accept. She would have to be disappointed in his diligence. “That’s pretty specific.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Part of the background they’ve created for me,” she said. Her expression softened as she studied his face. “You really don’t need to worry, Detective.”
“Emmanuel,” he corrected. He wanted her to think of him as a friend, not the detective who’d testified against her client. “I’ll see you at seven. Earlier,” he said before he could change his mind. “I’ll bring dinner.”
Her lips parted, and he was tempted to silence her protest with a kiss. Instead, he walked out, closing the door before she could utter a word. Before he could make a fool of himself.
He wasn’t buying that lie about her limited involvement in the Capital X investigation. If Griffin had believed she was only going to tap a few keys anonymously, he wouldn’t have mentioned it to Emmanuel at all.
In his car, he called Griffin. “What are you thinking?” he demanded as soon as his friend answered.
“And good morning to you too. Did Pippa shoot you or something?”
“Sorry.” Emmanuel pulled himself together. “And of course not. It’s been a long day, and I’m not even to the station yet.”
“Pippa can do that,” Griffin said with a chuckle. “She’s a junkyard dog when she sets her mind on a task.”
Emmanuel bristled at the unflattering description. He didn’t mind her feisty side. Grit and determination were positive traits in his book, especially in the pursuit of justice. On that they were agreed, even if they had different approaches and opinions on how that should be accomplished. He was far more troubled by the way her green eyes flashed when she was mad and she nibbled her lip when she was lost in thought.
“Iglesias?”
“What?” He’d lost track of the conversation.
“I asked if she demanded you recant your testimony.”
“No.” Though, like her brother, he expected her to suggest it at some point. “She did convince me to take another look at the evidence.”
“Seriously?”
“You heard me,” Emmanuel said, resigned. “I’m almost to the station. Need to double-check the report from her break-in last night and then—”
“Is she doing all right?”
“Seems to be. Is she always so stubborn?” Emmanuel asked.
“She prefers the term independent, and yes. Pippa and Kiely have both been that way since the day I met them. That’s why I asked you to step in.”
He remembered the story about Griffin, a couple of years older than Pippa and her twin sister, being adopted into the family when he was eight.
Emmanuel drove past the station, deciding he wanted a shower and a change of clothes before dealing with anything else this morning. “Independent or not, she’s taking a hell of a risk with this plan to get a loan.”
“I’m sorry you disapprove,” Griffin said, his voice cool. “Again, that’s why I asked for your help. She’s mad at me because I insisted we take the time to work up a solid alias. She was willing to handle it under her own name.”
Stubborn and cute. It was a fascinating combination. Was the fierce independence rooted in the awareness that her siblings always had her back? But that kind of stunt could’ve wrecked her credit, put her at risk with the Michigan bar, not to mention practically a guarantee of physical harm. Her blatant disregard for her own welfare was shocking. “Anything for family?”
“Pretty much the Colton motto.”
Despite the awkwardness and inevitable pitfalls ahead, he was weirdly grateful that Griffin had involved him. “I’ll keep you posted,” Emmanuel said.
“One second. You can’t leave me hanging,” Griffin said. “How did she convince you to take another look at the Wentworth case?”
He couldn’t tell her brother the whole truth, that he was worried for Pippa’s safety. Neither could he voice his concern that the man who’d trashed her apartment would try again if she made any progress on overturning the conviction. He sure wasn’t ready to admit that Pippa’s fierce faith in a woman no one else liked had made him question himself.
“It’s the only way to prove I’m right about Wentworth,” he replied.
“Good luck, then.”
“Thanks, Griffin.”
Emmanuel ended the call as he pulled in to the driveway. He dashed inside, cleaned up and changed clothes in record time and, feeling like he’d hit the restart button, headed to work. Through it all, he thought about how she challenged his view of Anna Wentworth. Maybe he had been too quick to dismiss alternate suspects.
The mood was somber as word spread about Ingrid’s death. All of them thought the world of her and no one could believe she was gone. It was almost a relief when he sat down at his desk and found a stack of paperwork that needed his attention.
“You okay?” Daniel asked, peering over his computer monitor. “Tough night, tough news this morning.”
“I’m fine,” Emmanuel lied. “Rather not talk.”
Instead of cooperating, Daniel came over and dropped into the chair next to Emmanuel’s desk. “I was hoping you’d have more of a glow after spending the night with the cute attorney.”
If only. “Not the time,” Emmanuel said, keeping his head and voice down. And not the right woman, since Pippa considered him a roadblock to her goal of freeing Anna.
He flipped open the first file on the stack. “This is the report from the break-in at the Colton condo?”
“Thought you’d want one more look before I filed it.”
“Definitely. Thanks.” Emmanuel read it, taking his time because he knew he was tired. “The paperwork looks good.” He sat back. “Does it bother you that everything was so clean?” Other than the partial boot print, they didn’t have anything to go on. “Did you get anything from the security video?”
“I haven’t been through it all yet, but so far I haven’t spotted him.” Daniel leaned an elbow on the corner of the desk. “Do you really expect us to solve this one?” he asked. “She’s trying to free a woman the city loves to hate. If she gets Wentworth released, all of your cases and all of McRath’s cases will come under review. We’ll need a whole new department just to deal with the attorneys and their dreams of legal glory.”
So Daniel did realize that anyone on the GRPD with the right shoe size was a potential suspect. And that was in addition to everyone in town who viewed Wentworth as the wicked witch and Hicks as an “innocent” victim of her wrath.
“I’m aware.”
“So how much effort are we putting in?”
“As much as it takes,” Emmanuel replied. “I can’t believe you’d even ask. We’re the good guys, remember?”
“Does she remember?”
Emmanuel tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Yes,” he said, though he wasn’t sure Pippa wasn’t bearing her own grudge against the department at the moment. “Let’s focus on the break-in.” He righted himself and drummed his fingertips on the report. “That’s our job.”
“All right. Setting motive aside, the method doesn’t match any open cases or recent complaints.”
“Any other pesky trouble in the building?”
“Not so much as a stolen package,” Daniel answered.
Zero crime news should be cause for a victory dance, but Emmanuel felt defeated. “That’s one bored building security team.”
“It’s all remotely monitored off-site. They have one guy on the desk for packages and stuff, but that’s it. When he’s off duty, the maintenance supervisor is expected to step up.”
“Have you talked to him yet?” Emmanuel asked.
“Meeting him in an hour.”
“Good. Do you need help getting through the video files?”
Daniel snorted. “I’ve gone through everything from the building. Twice. I focused on the hours after I saw Miss Colton head out to her car. At this point, I’m wondering if it’s someone in the building. Maybe Wentworth or Colton pissed off a neighbor or the condo association.”
Emmanuel tried to laugh it off, but it sounded false to his own ears. “Did CSI go back to that boot print I found in the grass?”
“Sent it to them this morning. Not enough to make a mold,” Daniel said.
He’d been afraid of that. “What about the message itself? I’ll look for a similar MO in the files of other vandalism cases. Maybe something will match up.”
“I’ll see what I can find from the church cameras. Unless the man was inside, he didn’t just fly away.”
Emmanuel stood and walked to the break room for more coffee, Daniel right behind him. “Take a closer look at her neighbors,” he suggested. “I don’t trust myself to talk to anybody for a couple of hours yet, and we need to find a lead.”
“All right.”
“I’ll review the security footage too.” Tired as he was, watching the modern-day equivalent of silent movies was about the safest use of his time. “Maybe I’ll catch the intruder coming in earlier in the day with one of the service crews.”
“Good luck. I saw a few strays, but nothing helpful. Most of the deliverymen came and went within minutes. What happened in her condo took some time.”
Fresh eyes. On a new case and a closed one.
“Divide and conquer it is,” Daniel said.
By midday Emmanuel caught his second wind, though he had yet to pinpoint which of the people entering Pippa’s building could possibly be the vandal.
It was beyond frustrating. Most people weren’t this good at hiding in plain sight. Especially not people angry enough to deface a wall and ransack a home. He’d almost convinced himself it must have been someone on the building maintenance staff who had gone in, done the damage and returned to work. He texted the list of names to Daniel so his partner could follow up after visiting with her neighbors. They would have to look into the backgrounds for everyone on staff in her building.
Daniel texted back immediately, confirming they were on the same page. He reported that the maintenance staff spoke well of Pippa and none showed much more than a passing curiosity about Anna Wentworth.
Though he didn’t want to label the break-in unsolvable, it was lining up that way. Worse, he knew if it had been reported by anyone else, they would’ve filed the report and put it aside after a day’s cursory investigation. With no injuries and no missing items, it wasn’t a GRPD priority. Under typical circumstances, they would watch and wait for the perp to strike again and a pattern to emerge.
He couldn’t set this aside and wait. Not just because he’d promised Griffin, but because his gut was telling him Pippa was in danger. When he gave his word, he kept it. That integrity was vital to him, ingrained into him and his siblings practically from birth. His parents raised them all with a strong work ethic. His mother had given her word to show up when she was scheduled to work, even when it wasn’t easy. Even when her employer had no compassion.
Although Pippa wasn’t as well-known as her newest client, she did have a good reputation in the area: generally viewed as a chip off her father’s block in terms of the types of cases she took on...except for this one. Attorneys made enemies, just like cops did. It was part of choosing a specific side of an issue. He would definitely ask her again about her other recent cases, but he agreed that this was likely tied to Wentworth. The timing, the high profile, all of it tracked.
Who would have known she was headed to the prison?
People in her office, probably an assistant, and if she did her job properly, she would have notified the prison of her intent to visit. After only a few hours in her company, he had no doubt Pippa had done things correctly. He believed her when she’d said the forms were received and approved.
Yet they’d denied her upon arrival. That was skirting the line, especially when it came to attorney and client meetings. He didn’t care for the doubt creeping in, bringing him right back to the conclusion that the best way to protect her was to remove any question of Wentworth’s guilt.
If he had made an error during the case, it wouldn’t be the first time a legal professional was swayed by belief more than facts. Same for her. She might claim to know Anna Wentworth better than anyone outside of the family, but he’d caught a peek of her heart on her sleeve when she’d talked about Elizabeth.
Pippa had been genuinely startled when he told her they’d looked at Elizabeth for the crime. But while working background on the victim, it had become apparent that Hicks dated a lot of women. Jealousy was a powerful motivator. Emmanuel and Joe needed to confirm Hicks hadn’t been the center of a love-triangle between mother and daughter. He accessed the case file on his computer and started reading. The details came flooding back. Hicks had been found by one of the landscapers in a rose garden behind the house. Detective Joe McRath and Emmanuel had caught the case. Joe took the lead when they arrived, questioning the landscaper while Emmanuel assessed the scene.
Hicks had taken two bullets in his chest, and Emmanuel found the two casings a few yards away. No stray bullets were found. Closing his eyes, Emmanuel could see it all perfectly. The man’s clothes had been mussed and his shirt wrinkled, as if someone had grabbed him during some mild altercation. No powder burns had been found on the clothing, so the killer must have fired from several yards away. They’d noticed a bruise on his face as if he’d been slapped hard. During the trial, the prosecution provided witnesses to several instances of Anna slapping people who’d offended or angered her.
A gun had been located immediately under a rose bush next to the body and later confirmed to be the murder weapon. The most incriminating evidence, one of Anna’s unique sapphire brooches, had been discovered under the body by the coroner.
The photos were there organized as an attachment to the file, but Emmanuel didn’t particularly need them. He read through Joe’s raw notes and his own. No one remembered hearing gunshots around the time of death. The GRPD had found the car Hicks had driven to the scene and the blackmail note addressed to Anna’s husband in the glove box, but no witnesses who could put the two of them together that day.
While the grounds surrounding the Wentworth mansion were monitored, there were plenty of ways to get in and out without being too obvious, and Hicks, her lover of at least four months, would’ve known the gaps in the security coverage.
Wentworth had verified that Hicks had visited her more than once in that rose garden. She denied seeing him on that day, though she admitted to escorting him into the mansion through the sunroom to a guest suite where they could be alone and undisturbed on prior occasions.
He and Joe had spoken with everyone who worked at the Wentworth mansion and everyone who’d been near the mansion on the day of the murder. No one had seen Hicks or had contact with him. No one with easy access to where the body had been found had a motive to kill him. Emmanuel skimmed the original interviews with the family. Ed Wentworth had been out of town and Elizabeth had been away from the house. Neit
her of them had even heard a whisper about any blackmail threats.
Hicks’s new girlfriend, Jenny Dawson, gave a statement that he’d gone over that day to break up with Wentworth. Again. Because Anna hadn’t accepted the fact her ex-lover had broken up with her, that it was over.
Emmanuel stopped and read through that interview transcript again. Joe had spoken with the distraught new girlfriend initially, and they’d gone back later, together. Jenny’s theory was Hicks had broken up with Wentworth and she’d then shot him when he threatened to tell her husband if Anna didn’t leave him alone. The girlfriend hadn’t provided any evidence or tangible examples to back up her claim that Wentworth had been harassing Hicks to come back. And she claimed no knowledge of Hicks trying to blackmail Anna.
Naturally Wentworth denied all claims that she’d wanted Hicks back. She’d said he was a grifter and had dumped her when she refused to invest in some new business venture. She swore she’d never touched a gun, much less purchased the one used against Hicks. Fortunately, the prosecutor hadn’t needed the new girlfriend as a witness or gun receipts during the trial. The evidence at the scene combined with other witnesses and Wentworth’s snobbish outbursts had zipped the case up tight.
He couldn’t see a mistake. Couldn’t identify a place where he’d allowed his bias to color his decisions or his testimony. Would it have been nice to have found gunpowder residue on Wentworth’s hands or her prints on the gun? Sure. But they’d found gloves similar to those the staff used in the trash in her private bathroom, and the crime lab analysis backed up everything found at the scene. It was Wentworth against the state of Michigan.
Neither public nor private opinion had come into play in any significant manner.
And still, Pippa was adamant the wrong person was doing time for the crime. If she was any other defense attorney, he might think she was posturing to sway the media, but not Griffin’s sister. She’d insisted the GRPD hadn’t looked for anyone else. Obviously they had, since the records were right there in the system database. He was half tempted to invite her in to look for herself, but a detective cooperating with the attorney trying to undo his work would stir up too much trouble.