Malicious

by James Patterson

  I stepped through the door to find Lise Mendez standing behind a large, ornate desk that didn’t seem to go with the office. She had a pretty face and long, black hair tied in a loose ponytail. She was probably thirty-five and radiated that sort of professional confidence that came from a good education and some success in her field.

  She said, “You must be Nathaniel’s brother.” She extended her hand.

  “I am.” I glanced around to notice that her office, unlike the reception area, was packed with boxes and files, which to me was a good sign because it meant she was busy.

  She said, “What’s your name?”

  “Mitchum.”

  “Your name is Mitchum?”

  I didn’t feel like explaining and I wanted to hear about my brother so I just said, “That’s what everyone calls me.” I glanced over at the wall nearest me and noticed her diploma. I looked at her and said, “Impressive, Harvard Law. Surprised you’re not with one of the big firms in the city.”

  “I was, but I moved back here for family reasons.” Now she pulled Natty’s file from a stack on her desk and motioned for me to sit down. I noticed my brother’s file was pretty thick.

  I said, “Natty called me to look into the death of his friend.”

  “Pete Stahl? I know. I represented him, too. Why did your brother ask you to look into it?”

  “I’m sort of an unofficial private investigator and he…”

  “Nathaniel told me you delivered papers.”

  “I do both.” I decided I wanted to change the subject, fast. “Do I owe you any money for this yet?”

  The pretty attorney shook her head and said, “No, your brother keeps me on retainer. Granted, it’s normally for narcotics cases, but let’s see what happens with this. So far all they have is the gun used to kill Pete, and unfortunately, Nathaniel’s fingerprints and, potentially, his DNA are on the gun. There are no witnesses, nothing else.”

  “Do you believe Natty when he says he had nothing to do with it?”

  “I don’t have to believe him. I just have to make sure his rights aren’t violated, and that means that I’ll protect him. If he had nothing to do with the murder and I protect his rights, he’ll be a free man soon enough.”

  “Have you handled many cases like this?”

  “A few.”

  “How many defendants walked free?”

  “Every single one who deserved to. This isn’t a sporting event where you keep score. I’ll do my best. If that isn’t good enough, there are other attorneys in town.”

  I considered what she had said and nodded, then said, “Do you think they’ll let me visit Natty tonight?”

  “They usually don’t at the police department holding cell, but probably when he gets to the county jail.” She took a Post-it pad from the corner of her desk and wrote down the phone number for the jail in the western part of the county.

  I took the single blue square sheet of paper with an upstate New York logo that said Adirondacks are not only chairs.

  I looked back at her and said, “What can I do to help?”

  “I don’t need some half-assed PI on this. Sorry, no offense.”

  I gave her a quick smile to let her know I had a sense of humor, but said, “Offense taken.”

  Chapter 10

  IT TOOK MUCH longer than I expected to get through the Newburgh police red tape and see my brother in his holding cell. First, I sat in a room at the front of the station for thirty minutes. Then they moved me back to a visitors’ area near the holding cells.

  I’m a big guy at six two and 190 pounds, yet all the Newburgh cops in uniform made me look like a scrawny teenager. I thought back to the offer of a job from Mike Tharpe. Maybe taking on that career would be more of a challenge than I assumed. I could see that the station was bustling. Newburgh in the winter. It was a wonderland.

  While I was waiting at the counter by the holding cells, the policemen walked a few prisoners through the hallway behind the counter. Most of them looked like younger Hispanic men and I recognized some of the tattoos on their bodies that told me they might be gang members. Most walked quietly, but there were two that were barking the whole way and pushing back against the cop who was trying to lead them to their holding cell.

  Finally, a middle-aged black man in a neat uniform with sergeant stripes stepped out of the hallway and behind the counter.

  He said, “You Mitchum?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He broke into a genuine smile. Not one like the employee from the electric company gives you when you pay your bill. It made me like the guy instantly.

  “My name is Bill Jeffries. Pleased to meet you.” He stuck out his hand. This was the friendliest Newburgh cop I had ever met.

  I shook his hand and said, “Do you think I can talk to my brother for a few minutes?”

  “Normally you’d have to wait until he’s booked at the county jail before you can visit him. We don’t really have the facilities to allow face-to-face contact. But in your case I can make an exception.”

  I was starting to think Lise Mendez was one hell of an attorney. But then the cop said, “I know your mom, Elaine, from the hospital. She’s a good lady and she’s always talking about you boys. She’s awfully proud of both of you.”

  “Even Natty?” I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.

  The man looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, one day you’ll realize a good parent only knows pride. It takes a lot for any boy to alienate his mother.”

  I realized this guy had been around, but more important, he knew my mother pretty well. Either way, he was doing me a big favor and I appreciated it.

  Chapter 11

  SERGEANT JEFFRIES BROUGHT Natty out to me in the waiting area. He left him in handcuffs, but neither of us complained. I knew this meeting was a huge breach of protocol. He moved to the end of the counter to give us some privacy, which also made me wonder what his exact relationship with my mother was. It might make for an interesting conversation when I saw her later that night.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Natty in custody. I know it isn’t shocking to think a drug dealer might’ve been arrested more than once, and Natty had even done a ten-month stint in Ulster Correctional. Still, I didn’t like looking at him in handcuffs.

  Natty seemed calm enough as he said, “Did you get a chance to talk to Lise? What did she have to say? Will she be at my bail hearing in the morning?”

  “She said she’ll be there. She also said they recovered the gun that was used to kill Pete and that they have your fingerprints and possibly your DNA on it.”

  Natty sat back, deep in thought. But he didn’t deny it like I was hoping he would. Finally, he said, “I know I played with his 9mm at his house one afternoon. I was visiting Katie and he had left the gun on a dresser.”

  “Do you know how that will look? That’s just not a good explanation for why your fingerprints were on the gun. Plus, no one will believe you weren’t sleeping with her.”

  “It’s a better explanation than me using it to shoot Pete.”

  “But that’s the conclusion everyone will jump to. Especially after they discover you and Katie are involved. No one knows, right?”

  “No. We were going to tell Pete about it soon and now she wants to wait a respectable amount of time before we take it to the next level or tell anyone. She’s really upset about Pete, but their marriage was over a while ago.”

  “I don’t understand it, Natty. I’ve never seen you googly-eyed over a woman before.”

  “Katie is different than any woman I’ve ever met. She could make me a better man. She’s honest and decent. That’s a lot to say about anyone. She’s an occupational therapist who works with autistic kids. That’s why she has all the stuffed animals around the house. I could see myself settling down with her.”

  “Would you keep your current career if you settle down and had kids?”

  That made Natty think. Sometimes I wondered if my brother ever consi
dered the future. He looked at me with total sincerity and said, “I think I’d like to try something else. The paramedics are all so nice to me and they do important work. I wonder how hard it would be to become a paramedic.”

  I let him consider his dream life for a little bit, then brought him back to reality. “What can I do to help you now? Is there anything you can think of that might have led to Pete’s death?”

  “Just his business with Alton. The stuff I already told you about. Alton Beatty isn’t anything like he seems. That’s a guy that might be able to provide answers. He just might not want to.” Then Natty took my arm and said, “I’m not worried. I didn’t do it and I have faith in Lise. But Katie won’t move on until she knows exactly what happened to Pete. I need you to find Pete’s killer for her. That’s all that matters now.”

  Chapter 12

  BY THE TIME I was back in Marlboro it was pitch-black outside and there was a light snow starting to fall. I don’t know if it’s because Marlboro is my hometown or that I was just glad to be out of Newburgh, but I felt a sense of relief when I pulled into my mother’s driveway.

  She still lived in the simple two-bedroom house where Natty and I grew up. She kept our bedroom the same so if either of us needed a place to stay we always had a bed. So far, I’d only taken her up on the offer a couple of times while I was on leave in the Navy. Natty had used the house to escape the police and avoid sticky situations with other drug dealers. I would hate to be the drug dealer who thought he could barge into my mother’s house without her permission.

  I knocked on the door as I opened it and called out, “Mom?” It’s never a good idea to surprise my mom.

  She stepped out from the kitchen and said, “Bill Jeffries already called me and caught me up on everything. He even worked it out for Natty to call me and managed to get your brother into a private cell at the county jail.” She had a slight hitch in her voice, but was still her usual, efficient communicator. Then she said, “I talked to Pete’s mother. She doesn’t believe Natty had anything to do with it, either. I told her you’d figure it all out. She’s been out of her head with grief. Pete’s sisters stayed at the house around the clock to comfort her.”

  Then I noticed her eyes were red and I realized she’d been crying. That was not my mother. I had seen her mad plenty of times. That was terrifying. But I’d never seen her worried or sad before. I always assumed it was her training as a nurse. Natty or I would suffer some sort of injury like a broken arm and she’d talk to us like she was making lunch and never show emotion. This was unnerving.

  She came out in the living room and gave me a hug. Then she said, “This is bullshit. They’re just trying to clear a case quickly. Murder? No way. Not my Natty.”

  “But you had no problem believing the narcotics charges over the years.”

  “That was just business. I’d be a fool to think Natty wasn’t a dope dealer.”

  “Drug dealer.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” I mumbled, realizing this wasn’t the time to debate semantics.

  My mom said, “I know exactly what Natty is. He sells drugs for a living. Christ, he even tried to steal some OxyContin once when he visited me at the hospital.”

  I cringed, imagining what my mother had done to him. When she didn’t offer any details, I had to say, “What did you do?”

  “I tore that stupid earring he used to wear right out of his lobe.”

  The image was unsettling, but at least it solved a mystery. I had wondered why he had abruptly stopped wearing the earring. He also stayed down in Newburgh for a while after that. I guess so he had time for his ear to heal and he wouldn’t have to answer a lot of questions.

  My mom said, “No, my Natty would never kill anyone. He’s basically a good boy.”

  That made me think about what Sergeant Jeffries had said about a parent’s pride. I also thought about all the favors he’d done for Natty the last few hours, from getting him a private cell to allowing me to see him at the station. I blurted out, “Are you dating Bill Jeffries?”

  Mom didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  I was a little shocked by her honesty. She had always kept her love life hidden from Natty and me. I just stood there, speechless.

  She said, “Are you shocked I can attract a man?”

  “No, not at all. It’s just that I don’t think about you and men. I mean, you are my mother.”

  “Are you too old to start calling someone Dad?”

  “Yes. And besides, you were always both to me. A better mom and dad than any man could ever be.”

  My mom started to cry in front of me. Something I’d never seen. Then she gave me a hug. You’re never too old to appreciate a hug from your mother.

  Chapter 13

  THE NEXT DAY, as soon as I finished my paper route, I headed to Tina’s Plentiful for some breakfast and a place to think. Thank God my official booth was open, so I plopped down, already considering what I could do to help my brother.

  The place was nearly empty this morning because snow was starting to build up on the roads. After a few minutes, while I was still lost in thought, Alicia placed a plate of eggs and ham in front of me and a bagel on the other side of the table. Then she slid into the booth.

  Alicia said, “You look like you need some protein and company.”

  I smiled at her insight.

  “You left so fast yesterday I didn’t get a chance to tell you what a wonderful thing you did for Mrs. Ledbetter. She and her daughter stayed here an hour, then went back to her house. It was beautiful.”

  I gave her a smile. This was exactly the sort of thing I needed this morning. Something light and friendly before I headed down to Newburgh.

  Alicia said, “I get off just after lunch today. Are you free? Would you like to do something?”

  My guess was that with a face like hers, she rarely had men turn her down. And I wanted to be here when she finished her shift. More than anything I could think of. But I thought of my brother sitting in the county jail and Pete Stahl’s mom crying over her dead son, and I summoned the courage to shake my head.

  “I’m sorry, Alicia. My brother’s gotten into some hot water down in Newburgh and I couldn’t face my mother again if I didn’t do everything I could to help him.”

  “Your brother Natty, the drug dealer?”

  Finally, someone was up on the current lingo for the job description. I nodded my head, still feeling the regret for turning down an offer to spend time with this beautiful girl.

  “I hope you’ll give me a chance to make it up to you as soon as I can. Maybe a nice dinner and movie up in Poughkeepsie.”

  She smiled and patted my hand. “You’re a good brother and son. That’s more important than an afternoon of wild sex.”

  My head snapped up at that. I smiled and said, “I wish you hadn’t said that. Now that’s all I’ll be thinking about while I’m in Newburgh.”

  “That’s okay. It was just a test to see how important your trip really was. You passed with flying colors. I’m very impressed.”

  A smile spread across my face as I realized just how smart and funny this girl was. Plus, I thought I could get lost in those brown eyes.

  She grinned and said, “Eat up. You’ve got crimes to solve and brothers to rescue. Just remember your promise to take me out when this is all finished.”

  “Then, I’ll have to find a way to clear this up right away.”

  Chapter 14

  DRIVING THE STREETS of Newburgh, I wasn’t really sure why I had rushed away from my breakfast with the beautiful girl who wanted to spend the afternoon with me. Snow did little to hide the deterioration of the city. All it did was keep more people inside and maybe a few cars off the road.

  I spent a few minutes watching kids play a game of football in an open field. It was four on four and the two-hand touches were a little on the rough side. They were doing what kids did: having fun.

  It made me think of Pete and the things we did and dr
eamed about as kids. He used to say he was going to be a sports trainer. Maybe work for the Buffalo Bills. We all had dreams. At least Pete realized he wasn’t talented enough to play football professionally.

  I never knew my limitations. I wanted to be a Navy SEAL. I thought I had all the bases covered. It turned out I’d missed one in order to get there.

  I talked to a couple of people on the streets, using my cash sparingly to buy information. When you’re a paperboy and a low-paid private investigator, there’s no other way to use your cash but sparingly.

  Each person led me to someone else who gave me a little more information. I wasn’t being particularly discreet, but I was starting to get a clear picture of the drug trade in Newburgh.

  Finally, later in the afternoon, I pulled up to a bar named the Budstop. This was where Alton Beatty ran his business, which apparently wasn’t much of a secret in Newburgh.

  I took a second to survey the building and parking lot. It didn’t look that much different than the bar where my brother worked. I did notice the rented Cadillac in the parking lot and three pickup trucks parked directly in front of the building on the street. I wondered if that had something to do with Alton selling more meth than pot and cocaine.

  I waited until all three trucks pulled away from the bar. All three of the drivers, who came out a few minutes after one another, looked like sickly rednecks. They were thin with sallow complexions. I don’t know much about methamphetamine, but these guys looked like billboards designed to scare kids away from it.