“That would be helpful.”
“What should I do with this money? I don’t really want it after what you’ve told me. Maybe I should pay you for your time and trouble.”
“I don’t need it, Beverly. Why don’t you think about maybe donating it to charity or use it for Sara’s tuition?”
She nodded and began to cry some more. It was a good half-hour before I left. I’d just given her a much harder burden to bear regarding her daughter’s death.
****
Being a business major meant all of Sara’s classes were held primarily on the older North Campus. The entire campus had once been Lowell Technical College before it merged with Lowell State University back in the seventies. Its most recognizable feature is the working nuclear reactor that overlooks the river off the boulevard.
I parked in a lot off University Avenue and fed the meter for the maximum two hours. Sara had a one o’clock class in Southwick Hall so I waited outside for her on a park bench. The temperature had started to drop and I zipped up my leather jacket to protect me from the wind whipping up off the river. Before too long the first snowfall of the season would be here and I was looking forward to it. Since I didn’t have to deal with a commute, it could snow all it wanted as long as my refrigerator was full and I had power and heat.
All around me the students buzzed from class to class, paying little attention to the thug-looking guy sitting on their campus. Fifteen years ago that had been me living the best days of my life. I had little to no responsibility, no real worries, plenty of cold beer and a steady stream of drunk willing coeds. Sure…and the reality was closer to bad food, cheap beer and some horrible sex. Was my life better now? Probably, though recent circumstances certainly didn’t make it feel that way.
I had been waiting for about ten minutes when Sara exited Southwick with some friends. I stood up and waved. She said something to her friends and jogged across the street. To my surprise, she gave me a big hug.
“What are you doing here, Ronan?”
“I am an alumnus.”
“And you just happened to be outside the hall where I had class?”
“Well, I needed to talk to you.”
“About Karen?”
“Yeah.”
Her face scrunched up, almost like she had an idea what I was going to ask her. I immediately knew that she was aware of her sister’s side gig.
“This isn’t a good time. I have class in five minutes. Can I call you?”
“No, you can’t. I have a copy of your schedule and your next class isn’t for two hours.”
She looked at the cracks on the sidewalk trying to think of another excuse. It never came.
“Sara, I know Karen worked for an escort service. I need your help identifying one of her clients.”
Quickly she looked up, her blue eyes big and fearful.
“What? I don’t know anything about that.”
“Bullshit.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and started to shiver, but it wasn’t the cold. She was afraid of something and I suspected it had to do with the information I needed.
“Why don’t we go someplace and get a cup of coffee?” I offered.
“I don’t drink coffee.”
“How about a coke?”
“Maybe hot chocolate.”
I put my hand on her lower back and we walked across campus to what used to be called Astro’s Sub Shop. They had a new name but it would always be Astro’s to me. She didn’t say a word the entire way.
I opened the crappy wood-framed residential door for her and we went in. Other than the prices, the place was exactly how I remembered it. The same crappy pool table, same KISS pinball machine and same stained gold vinyl floor with tube steel tables and chairs.
Students overran the place like rodents on a rotten piece of cheese, which was also a fitting description of the food served there. I never cared for it but the beer was cheap so I spent a lot of time there between classes. I was shocked that the health department had never closed them down while I was a student.
I ordered a coffee and a hot chocolate from the crusty old woman working the counter and looked for a seat. There weren’t any. I went over to a group of students with no apparent food or drink and their books spread all over the table and glared at them. They didn’t move. A geeky looking kid with long stringy hair and wearing a faded black World Wrestling Entertainment T-shirt looked up at me and sneered.
“What’s your problem, man?”
“You guys eating or drinking?”
He looked at his buddies and they all shrugged.
“No, what’s it to you?”
I leaned over and looked him in the face.
“I need this table.”
They didn’t say a word and no one moved. I got the distinct impression they weren’t intimidated in the least.
“Hey guys, can we sit here?” Sara asked.
“Uh yeah, sure,” the geek said.
They gathered up their belongings and made an exit.
“I must be losing my touch.”
“They probably just don’t know who you are,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.
“I need to work on that.”
She grabbed a handful of napkins and cleaned off the salt granules and grease stains from the table while I grabbed our drinks. We sat and I handed her the hot chocolate. The coffee was the worst I’d probably ever had, even worse than in the service. There weren’t enough sugars in the world to fix this abomination but I drank it anyway.
Sara sipped her hot chocolate.
“Thanks,” she said.
“How is it?”
“Not very good.”
“How you can screw up pouring boiling water into a pack of mix is beyond me.”
“The food sucks too.”
“Some things never change.”
She nodded half-heartedly and started looking around, wanting to be anywhere but sitting here with me.
“I need you to be straight with me, Sara. What do you know about the escort service?”
“Really not all that much. I thought about maybe doing it, you know? She was making a boatload of money.”
She was so young, innocent and pretty, but I feared working for Duffy she’d end up eventually burned out, corrupted and maybe floating in the river like her big sister. Her even considering it made me feel a bit ill.
“You see where it got Karen?”
“I know. It was a bad idea but it seemed like easy money.”
“Easy money never really is, unless of course you win the lottery. Did she ever talk about her clients?”
“Yeah, she said they were mostly sad pathetic men.”
“That’s a given. Anyone who pays for sex has a problem.”
“I guess. She had had enough and wanted to get out. She planned to quit.”
“The types of people who run those businesses don’t ever let you go. Once you get involved, you become their property.”
“She told me they were trying to get her into other things besides the dates but she didn’t want to.”
“Like what?”
“Adult movies.”
That didn’t come as a surprise. When I busted the escort service in LA, they had piles of porno tapes of the escorts. We burned every last one after watching them to make sure there wasn’t any evidence we were…ah…overlooking.
“Did she ever mention any names of the men she dated?”
She shrugged and stared into the hot chocolate.
“Do you want me to find out who killed your sister?”
“I guess.”
“Then you have to tell me everything you know.”
“Okay.”
“Did you ever know her to do drugs?”
“I think she might have smoked some weed every now and then but she always warned me about the hard stuff.”
“That’s good advice. Did she ever tell you any of the names of her clients?”
She nodded yes. “Only one.”<
br />
“Who?”
“She kept telling me about this sort of famous guy and how he wanted to take her places, leave his wife and marry her.”
“What was his name?”
“I don’t know if I should. I don’t want to get into any trouble.”
“Sara, please, for your sister. I promise you won’t be in any trouble.”
She nodded. “Dan LaValle.”
I almost fell off my chair. When Judge Forester said powerful, I pictured maybe a local government type, a mayor or someone in the state senate. Now I especially understood why Duffy was sending his heavy hitters after me.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, she said he was pretty strange too. He always wanted to do weird stuff and paid her extra for it. He even offered to set her up in an apartment in Washington D.C. so he could see her more but she refused.”
I just nodded. What else was there to say? Just when things couldn’t get much more complicated, Sara had implicated the boss of the woman I had just slept with and worse, probably the next senator from my home state.
I gave Sara my cell phone number and instructed her to call if she remembered anything else. I took a walk down along the river and I tried to piece things together with what I now knew. The most obvious and easy answer was that Karen had threatened to expose LaValle and he had her killed to protect his secret. I found it to be a bit too simple though. Even if LaValle didn’t have anything to do with Karen’s death, their relationship being exposed might destroy his career. Of course, he could always pull a Bill Clinton and deny it ever happened or beg for forgiveness.
How did Diane figure in all this? My date with her would certainly muddle matters. She wasn’t going to appreciate what I was going to do to her paycheck if this panned out the way it appeared. She was a smart lady and wouldn’t have to worry about finding another job. I couldn’t worry about her though, I had made a commitment to Cassie, Karen and myself and I was going to follow through, even if I got killed in the process.
Since Tony and I had gone to AAA Diamond’s office, I’d mostly just questioned people and plotted. I’d been at this for over three weeks and it had dragged on long enough. It was time to take a more direct route.
I was almost back to my Jeep when I got a phone call. I was surprised to hear Chief Fontini’s voice.
“I’ve been doing some digging like I said I would.”
“What do you have?” I asked.
“Not over the phone. They can be monitored. We need to meet somewhere.”
“How do I know I’m not walking into an ambush?”
“I’ll meet anywhere you want. Name the place.”
“You remember much about Lowell?”
“Yeah, and if not I’ll find it.”
“Tonight, nine o’clock at Shedd Park, back by the cemetery on the access road.”
“I’ll be there.”
The call was totally unexpected. It had to be a setup and I didn’t plan on walking into it alone. The only other explanation I could figure was he had found out about the two rogue cops in his department and planned to feed me information. It was possible, but unlikely. Guys like Fontini were good at protecting their own ass. Taking me out would be a good way to do so.
According to LaValle’s website, his election headquarters was located in downtown Boston. Fortunately his published schedule showed he was going to be in his Lowell office later that afternoon, saving me a trip south.
I sat outside the brick building just off Bridge Street and waited with a large hazelnut coffee from the nearby Dunkies. Shortly after three o’clock, LaValle arrived with his entourage, which included Diane, in a white limousine. I waited a few minutes and headed inside.
A middle-aged receptionist with big hair and a brown and green checkered dress sat at the reception area answering the phone. She hung up and smiled at me.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“No,” I said smartly and kept going.
She jumped up out of her chair and almost threw herself in front of me. With her linebacker like bone structure, she stood a small chance of throwing a good block against me.
“Do you have an appointment, sir?”
I glared at her and thrust my lower jaw forward. It made me look meaner.
“Get out of my way, before I move you myself.”
Whatever I did, it worked better on her than the geeks at the sub shop because she jumped right out of my path. I pushed the doors open and walked in on LaValle, Diane and a handful of staffers.
“Dan, we need to talk,” I bellowed.
“Ronan! Get out of here!” Diane shrieked.
The receptionist ran in behind me. “I’m sorry, Congressman, I tried to stop him,” she said. “Should I call the police?”
LaValle looked unsure. “You’re Chief Marino’s brother,” he said.
“Yes, he is,” Diane replied.
She was embarrassed. Too bad, she’d get over it.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“Let’s talk about your little friend Misty,” I said.
“Who’s that?” he asked unconvincingly.
“Do you want me to say it in front of all these people?” I threatened.
He looked like a little boy who’d been caught stealing a candy bar from the corner store.
“Can you excuse us?” he said to his staff and motioned for them to leave.
They did, and I recognized the look of people who knew their employment may have just been put in real jeopardy. The receptionist backed up and exited, closing the doors behind her. Diane stood her ground, hands on hips. LaValle made sure the doors were all shut and sat in his overstuffed black leather office chair, resting his head on his hands. A large framed photo of his wife and two teenage children sat perched on the desk near his phone. They all had that used car salesman smile down.
“What the hell is he talking about, Dan?” Diane asked.
“Your boss here was using an escort service and the woman he was involved with was killed.”
“The one you were dating?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Is this true?”
He slowly nodded his head.
“I don’t know how you found out, Mr. Marino, but I am so sorry about her,” he said.
“Sorry about your relationship or sorry you got caught?” I asked.
He buried his face in his hands. Apparently the answer was neither.
Diane was enraged. “Jesus Christ, you just couldn’t keep your fucking dick in your pants, could you?”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry isn’t good enough,” she yelled. “Do you know what this could do to the campaign if it got out?”
It was odd seeing her berate her own boss.
“I couldn’t help myself. She was so young and pretty and I needed someone when you…”
“What we had is long over,” she interrupted.
“I know, I know,” he mumbled.
It was like I wasn’t even in the room. He stood up and tried to hug her. She pushed him off and he slumped back in his chair, a pathetic quivering mass of jelly.
“You two were involved?” I asked. The answer was obvious but I needed to interject myself back into the conversation.
“Yes, at one time,” she said. “It was stupid and unprofessional.”
“I felt so bad when I saw she’d died,” LaValle said. “It was like a part of me had been ripped away and I’d never get it back.”
“Spare me your sob story, Danny,” I said. “I want to know if you had anything to do with her death and don’t lie to me because I can tell if you’re full of shit.”
It was blunt and to the point but in his shaken state, if there was a confession to be had, now was the time.
“God no, I would never do anything to harm her. I cared about that girl. If she would have married me, I would have left my wife for her.”
“I think I am going to be sick,” Diane said.
Sadly enough, I
believed him. His body language said he was guilty but not of murder or conspiracy.
“Any ideas why she was killed?” I asked.
“I thought it was an accident,” he said.
“Yeah right, and Mary Jo Kopechne knew how to swim,” I shot back.
He kept biting his lip and looked like he was about to break down and cry. They must have taught that at some covert school for politicians. Diane motioned for me to come into her office, which was attached to his.
“Don’t let me find out you’re lying,” I said. “You might be a congressman aspiring to be a senator, but as Diane can tell you I’m not someone to fuck with.”
I left him alone with the picture of his wife and kids. I wished my brother could see him sitting there bawling his eyes out like a little girl.
Diane shut the door and sat on the edge of her desk; her already short skirt hiked up her shapely thighs. Her office was considerably smaller than LaValle’s but still had a nice view of the river.
“You’re probably wondering about our relationship,” she said.
“What’s to wonder? You were fucking him.”
“Crudely put, but yes I was. I’m not proud of it. When he asked me to come work for him, I ended it. I knew I had the talent to do the job without sleeping with him and I wasn’t going to be his little whore on the payroll.”
“That’s so admirable.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic. Haven’t you ever made a mistake in your life?”
“Too many to count.”
We’d be there all day and well into the night if I tried to run through the litany of my screw-ups for just the past few years.
“So what are we going to do?” she asked.
“Are you asking me to keep this under wraps?”
“It would end his career.”
“I’d feel so bad for him too.”
“You’re not being helpful, Ronan. Besides, you don’t have any proof. We’d just deny it as a plot to destroy him.”
She was right. I had nothing but Sara’s word and I wasn’t about to drag her into this. There was no way I could ever get Dicky from AAA to give the police a statement, even though I’d been rather convincing in our earlier meeting.
“You know the escort agency Karen worked for is tied to organized crime. They probably have all kinds of dirt on your boss.”
Lloyd Corricelli - Ronan Marino 01 - Two Redheads & a Dead Blonde Page 20
