Necessary Decisions, A Gino Cataldi Mystery (44 page)

“Son of a bitch!”

“You betcha.” He laughed some more, kind of like a giggle, but from a
really
big belly. “That’s not all. Remember when I told y’all about Winthrop’s house gettin’ broken into? I checked that out some more. Guess who did the claims investigation?”

This was too much to hope for. “Lone Star Recovery?”

“Now
you’re
running with the big dogs.”

“Charlie, you’re the best. You might have earned bagels for life.”

“Don’t forget to tell Tip what I did for you. He’s always bustin’ my ass.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him.” I cracked the biggest smile I’d worn in days as I looked at Tip and Delgado. “Charlie wrapped it up and put a bow on it.”

“Let’s hear,” Ribs said.

“Winthrop not only has insurance, but it covers guests, so Jada would be covered. And get this—Ed Harbough is the one who investigated the claim Scott had last year.”

“
Hijo de puta!
So they didn’t take the wrong girl after all. They took exactly who they were supposed to take.”

“Right,” I said. “Who is going to suspect a guy who’s helping his fellow man?”

Delgado paced, running with the excitement of getting close to a bust. “So Winthrop pretends all along not to want to pay—once we know it’s not Alexa—then suddenly has a change of heart? Only it’s not a change of heart; it’s all staged to make us think he’s risking seven million for someone else’s kid.”

“I knew something was wrong when he did, but I couldn’t figure it out. Now it fits.”

“Sure it fits. Fits even better. Who’s going to suspect a guy doing this for another kid?”

“
Hijo de puta!
” Ribs said again. “Jada was the target all along.”

“Son of a bitch,” I said. “This cocksucker did all this for money. Fuckin’ whore.”

Tip clenched his fists. “And if Ed Harbough’s name came up, he’s involved. A lot of nooses hang in that man’s family tree.”

“He put Scott in touch with the kidnappers,” I said.

Tip nodded. “I’d bet ten dollars against every donut Charlie could eat.”

I thought about this scenario for a second or two. “So Harbough has been in this all along? The poker games too?”

Tip nodded. “He’s always been linked to Rusty. And Rusty had a lot of friends at those poker games.”

“So why would Rusty want his friends robbed?” Delgado asked.

“I wouldn’t actually call them
friends
,” Tip said. “They were ‘political acquaintances,’ if you get my drift. Rusty is always looking for blackmail material, to put it nicely.”

I picked it up. “So the games get busted. Rusty’s ‘friends’ are exposed. He ‘arranges’ to keep it quiet, and now they owe him a favor.”

“Gino, you’re getting too good. I expect you could run for office next year.”

“Not me, Tip. That’s your department.”

“Now that we solved this crime in our heads,” I said, “how do we pin it on Winthrop?”

“I got an idea,” Ribs said. “Get one of the techs.”

“What’s your idea?” I tended to be leery of anything Delgado came up with, especially in the company of Tip.

“First, we get Harbough out of jail…”

Chapter 65

Just a Few Questions

I
got a call on the phone. It was the fireman I met at the scene. “Gino Cataldi.”

“Detective, this is Steve. The final count is five.”

“Are you done there?”

“Not even close, but you can come take a look.”

“I’ll see you in about an hour.”

Delgado looked at me. “What’s wrong?”

“That was the fireman. I’m going to look at the bodies, but I want to see Jada first.”

“Go on,” Tip said. “Delgado and I can handle this.”

I shuddered at the thought of those two handling anything except a massacre of some sort. But I had no choice. “After I’m gone, tell Winthrop and the rest of them about Jada being safe. You can even tell them that the kidnappers are dead, or that we think they are, and that the money is gone. But go easy, gentlemen. My badge is on the line too.”

I left to the sound of them still laughing—not a confidence builder, but I had to get to Jada. As I drove to the hospital, I thought about how this whole thing unfolded, and I didn’t like one bit of it. We’d been outsmarted, outplayed, and outmaneuvered from day one.

I parked the car and ran into Alexa, who was just leaving the hospital. She hugged me.

“I can’t believe you got her, Detective.”

“How is she?”

Alexa looked as if she’d been crying. “She’s okay now. Sort of.” She stretched up and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for everything. And I’m sorry I was such an ass.”

I smiled. “Get some help, Alexa. You’re going to be all right, too.”

I didn’t know how she was going to take it if we busted her father, but I had no time to worry about that.

The elevator took me to the third floor, and before I knew it, I was standing at the door of the temporary room they had Jada in. The whole Hackett family was celebrating, but you had to look through the tears to find the joy. “I hate to break this up, but I need to hear Jada’s story before she talks to too many people.”

Lucia hugged her then walked away wrapped in the arms of Lonny and Mars. I sat beside Jada. “How are you?”

“Fine,” she said.

“‘Fine’? Really?”

She wiped her eyes and gave a short chuckle. “No. I’m scared still. I don’t know why…” She started crying again. It made me feel bad, as if I’d caused it.

I handed her a tissue. “Go on. Take your time. Tell me when you’re ready.”

She blew her nose, wiped the last of her tears, and then sat a little straighter. “I’m ready, Detective. What do you need to know?”

“How about you tell me in your own words what happened? Try to remember anything, not just what you think is important. Later on we can talk about other stuff.”

I was afraid to ask if they’d raped her. I didn’t want to know. Couldn’t know. I didn’t want another girl telling me she wished she’d died.

“Okay.” She seemed to think for a moment, then started up. She told me about the grab, and how they’d kept her in the motel. How they called each other by numbers, never names. She cringed when she talked about the one we’d killed, saying he kept her naked and watched her.

She covered her face but managed to stifle the cry. “Another one got killed at the motel, too.”

“What happened?”

“Number Two killed him.”

“Why did Number Two kill him?”

“He tried…” She lowered her head and looked away. “You know.”

“Tried raping you?” I hated myself already for bringing this up, but she’d said he
tried
, so I felt we were safe. When she didn’t answer, I pried. “
Did
he rape you?”

She shook her head. “He
would
have. He’s the one who beat me too. That’s why Number Two killed him.”

“Number Two? That’s the woman?”

She nodded.

“Was she the only woman?”

Again she nodded.

“How many men were there?”

“Four.”

I stood to stretch. Jada seemed to have clammed up once I started talking about Number Two. As if she was protecting the woman. I stared at her, astonished. “Jada, she
was
one of the kidnappers. She would have killed you.”

She glared at me. “Not her, Detective. She saved my life. Twice!”

I was trying to figure out how, despite theories of Stockholm Syndrome or whatever, that this young girl could have gotten attached to her kidnapper so quickly. Jada answered it for me with her next words.

“Detective Cataldi, she not only saved my life, but she stopped them from raping me. If not for her, those men—
all
of them
—would have done it.”

Now
I understood. I also realized I would get nothing else worthwhile from Jada. Not today. Maybe not ever. “I’ll tell you what, Jada. How about you go with your parents? We’ll talk more later on or tomorrow. Don’t talk to anyone else about the case. Okay?”

She flashed a smile at me. “Thanks, Detective. And I won’t. I promise.”

I started to walk away, but stopped. I took her hands in mine and looked into her eyes. “Jada, I can’t imagine what you felt like these past two days, and I can’t imagine what you’re going to go through after this. The memories won’t be good and they won’t disappear.” She had lowered her head, avoiding eye contact. I gently lifted her chin until I could see her eyes again. “Try to remember that none of this was your fault. Nothing you did, or could have done, would have prevented this.”

She faked a smile and said, “Thanks, Detective.”

“I’m not good at this, but I meant what I said. And I’ll get a counselor to contact you before you leave the hospital.”

She squeezed my hand and smiled. “Thanks. For real.”

I said goodbye to Jada then searched out the Hacketts. I managed to get Lonny’s attention and signaled him over. He wore a somber look.

“Yes, Detective?”

“You know what we’ve got to do, Lonny.”

He nodded. “Can I have a few minutes? I don’t know how to tell them.”

“Lucia doesn’t know?”

His head damn near came off he shook it so hard. “Nobody does.”

I sighed. Looked around. Fought with myself. Then I turned back to Lonny. “I’m going to let you go home for the night. I’m walking out on a huge limb here. I could lose my job. I know you understand what that’s like. Thing is, if I lose my job for something like this, I can’t get one anywhere. I couldn’t work at McDonalds. They figure if a cop can’t keep his ethics…you see what I mean?”

Lonny looked at me. Sincerity was in his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll be ready in the morning.”

“I’m trusting you, Lonny.”

He shook my hand. “I won’t let you down.”

As I watched him walk away, I said to myself.
I’m trusting you.

I turned down the road leading to the warehouse, smoke still tainting the perfect blue sky, and the smell of burnt things stinging my nose. Burnt things like gasoline, oil, plastic, fabric, and…flesh. That one was unmistakable. Even if you had never smelled burnt flesh, had never singed the hair on your arms, there was no mistaking it. Burnt flesh came with a distinct marker, almost like it sung to you of the vile and putrid nature of its business.

I tried breathing through my mouth, but that only worked for a few seconds. Eventually, I succumbed. After a few big whiffs, I almost puked. It took a moment to get my stomach under control, but when I did, I sought out Steve. He led me to the area where they had the bodies waiting to be shipped off for autopsies.

“Same count?” I asked.

“Four male. One female.”

“Anything else you can tell me?”

“Somebody lost a lot of money in there.”

“Money? As in cash?”

“I’m talking a
lot
of cash. We’ve got two bags in the warehouse that looked like they were loaded. Gone now.”

We had been walking as he filled me in. I saw the burnt-out shell of the van and made a mental note to have them cancel the APB. “Any ideas yet on how it started?”

“Looks like it may have started with the van. Too early to tell, though. We’ll have that later. I’ll call you.”

“I’ve got to get going anyway. Call me when you get something.”

I filled Delgado in before I left then headed toward Winthrop’s house, more confused than when I’d left. I found it impossible to believe that all of them had died in a fire, yet, the numbers added up. Four guys and a woman. Just like Jada said, and Lonny had too.

So what was I missing?

Chapter 66

Just Rewards

D
elgado went to the kitchen, started cleaning up dishes and coffee cups. Lots of those. Some of the other cops stayed to help. Most had gone. The techs were disassembling their equipment, putting phones back in order and unhooking surveillance they had set up out front.

Scott Winthrop grabbed a towel and dried the few cups that didn’t fit in the dishwasher. “Leaving, Detective?”

“It’s about time, wouldn’t you say, sir? I’m just glad it’s over and that Jada’s safe.” Delgado finished scrubbing a knife, one of those nice ones people didn’t put in dishwashers. He handed it to Scott to dry.