by Ingrid Thoft
Fina gestured for her check and pressed her finger against the plate to capture the last crumbs of fried batter. Check in hand, she pulled out her wallet and placed fifty bucks on the counter. It was a generous tip, but it was important to leave a positive, memorable impression whenever possible.
It hadn’t been positive, but hopefully she’d made a memorable impression on Zack Lawrence.
—
I’m in my car, but I’m not driving,” Fina insisted when Cristian came on the line. She’d pulled off the wig and was scratching her scalp with her free hand.
“Happy to hear it, but you didn’t need to call me to report that.”
“That’s the least of what I have to tell you,” Fina said. She was sitting in the parking lot of the Galley. “You ready?”
He sighed. “Just tell me.”
“I found the car bomber.” She beamed even though he couldn’t see her expression through the phone.
“Really?”
“Really. Get out a pen and paper, ’cause you’re going to want to write this down.”
There was some noise in the background. Fina imagined that Cristian was tucking the receiver into the crook of his neck, poised to take notes.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“His name is Zack Lawrence, and he lives in Lynn. He’s about six feet five inches and two hundred and sixty pounds. Somewhere around there.”
“Car? License plate?” Cristian asked.
“Jeez, you want it all. There can’t be more than one Zack Lawrence matching that description in Lynn, for goodness’ sakes!”
“How’d you find him, and what makes you so sure it’s him?”
“I found him by investigating, and I’m sure he’s the one who planted the bomb for a variety of reasons,” Fina said. She redirected the air vent away from her face.
“Such as?” Cristian asked a moment later. “I can’t pick the guy up based on your gut feelings.”
“He’s wearing the same socks that are in the photo, and those socks are only sold at three places in the state. He shops at one of those places, and when I mentioned the garage, he got jumpy.”
“When you mentioned the garage?” Cristian’s voice went up a notch. “You talked to the guy?”
“Of course I talked to the guy. I wanted to be sure before giving you his name. I wouldn’t want anyone to be falsely accused,” Fina said. “You know I take civil rights very seriously.”
“Where did you talk to him?”
“At the Galley in Lynn. It was a perfectly pleasant conversation, but he did hightail it out of here when I mentioned the garage.”
“So he’s gone?”
“Yes. I thought about following him, but I didn’t want to spook him too much.”
“That was very restrained of you.”
“I thought so, too.”
“You said ‘planted.’ You don’t think he built the device?”
“I’m not convinced he’s the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know he’s the guy from the garage.”
“You heading home now?” Cristian asked.
“That’s the plan,” she said.
“Want some company later?” he asked.
Fina looked toward the far corner of the parking lot, which ended abruptly at the water’s edge. The ocean looked inky. “Actually, tonight’s not a good night.”
“No problem. We’ll figure something else out.”
“Sure. Let me know as soon as you have something on this guy,” Fina implored.
“Right. Like you did?”
“You’re a better person than I am, Cristian. Everyone knows that.”
Fina hung up and sat for a moment, contemplating Cristian’s offer of company. She loved spending time with him, but she was surprised by the follow-up invitation so soon after their night together. She hoped Cindy hadn’t instilled in him a level of attentiveness that she’d have to undo.
Fina had enough on her plate.
—
She invited Milloy over for dinner, but he had a late appointment and then a dinner date with some guy friends. Fina wasn’t very hungry and decided that the Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer qualified as a balanced meal, particularly since she had eaten arugula and other greens at Risa’s the day before.
She ate while watching an episode of Haley’s favorite reality TV show, which combined blind dates and home renovation projects. Afterward, Fina wandered over to the dining room table and grabbed the stack of surveillance photos from Dennis. She turned on the table lamp and examined them again with the magnifying glass, first in chronological order and then in reverse. Next, Fina numbered the backs of the photos to preserve their original order before shuffling them on the coffee table and gathering them into a random stack. Sometimes when you performed a task in a practiced order or mode, your mind skipped over details that you should be scrutinizing.
She started through them again and kept getting tripped up on one particular photo. It showed Gus in the background walking into the coffee shop at the end of his day. In the foreground, his black Mercedes-Benz was parked next to a minivan. Fina didn’t recognize the car’s license plate, but something about it was bothering her.
Grabbing her phone, she punched in Dennis’s number and waited for him to answer.
“Hey, it’s Fina. Could you send me an electronic version of one of those photos?”
“Which one?” he asked.
Fina described the photo in question and clicked on the send and receive button half a dozen times before the file arrived.
“What do you got?” Dennis asked.
“The minivan,” Fina said. “I recognize it.”
“Really?” He sounded skeptical. “There are thousands of those around.”
“I know, but I’m sure I’ve seen it before. I’ll call you if I figure it out,” she said, hanging up the phone.
Fina opened the file and zoomed in on the photograph. It was still blurry, but she was right; she had seen the window decal before. It was a stick-figure family, complete with pets.
“Those goddamn liars,” she said, slumping back against the couch cushions.
32.
Fina rolled around all night, her mind racing with possibilities. She finally climbed out of bed at six A.M., an ungodly hour in her book, but there was no point in lying there, staring at the ceiling.
She’d called Dennis back the night before and arranged for a second surveillance gig on a different person. Surveillance involved waiting—even if you weren’t the person doing the actual surveillance—and it was one of the hardest parts of the job. Fina would much prefer an angry confrontation to sitting by the phone, anxious for an update. But waiting was often the best strategy; it was always better to catch someone in the act even when you weren’t sure what that act would be.
Keeping busy was critical if she didn’t want to go nuts, so she spent most of Sunday cheering on her nephews at their indoor soccer games. Ryan, Teddy, and their teammates demonstrated some actual skill, but Chandler’s game was by far the most entertaining. The younger boys ran around the enclosed playing field like mice in a maze, the ball bouncing off the walls at a rapid pace. Fina wasn’t convinced that the ball made contact with their feet, and yet it was constantly in motion. It was the perfect distraction and kept both her anxiety about the case and her untapped energy at bay.
—
On Monday, Fina prepped for the day and arrived at Kevin Lafferty’s office at nine A.M. She brought a bag of bagels and used them as a prop when the receptionist tried to flag her down.
“Delivery for Kevin Lafferty!” Fina called out, and continued down the hall toward Kevin’s office. His assistant, Colin, was in the doorway talking to Kevin when Fina arrived.
“I brought you bagels,” Fina said, gently pushing the bag into the young man’s chest.
“I don’t think . . .” he stammered as Kevin got up and came out from behind his desk.
“There’s nothing to think about,” Fina assured him. “I got a variety of flavors, cream cheese, the works.”
Colin looked at his boss, and Kevin waved him away from the door. “I can handle this, Colin. Why don’t you share Fina’s largesse with everyone else?”
Fina walked into the office and sat down in front of his desk. “I think you’ll want to close the door,” she said.
Kevin closed it and returned to the chair behind his desk. “I don’t think it’s very smart talking to me without your lawyer. It’s not in your best interest to be off the record with me,” he said with a smirk.
“Yeah, I’m not the least bit worried,” Fina said. She reached over and took a bottled water from the credenza.
“I’m a busy man, so get to it,” Kevin said.
Fina unscrewed the top and took a long drink. “I want to know what happened to the baby.”
He gave her a blank stare. “You really are nuts,” he said finally.
“So you’ve told me,” Fina said wearily, “multiple times.”
“Well, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”
“When you got Liz Barone pregnant? What happened to the baby?” Fina enunciated her words as if talking to a foreign language speaker.
Kevin gripped his armrests. “Liz and I weren’t having an affair. I told you that already.”
“Not now, dummy. I meant when she was a student at NEU. What happened to that baby?”
“I don’t know who told you that, but it’s a lie,” he said, gaining momentum. “We were never involved, and there certainly wasn’t any child.”
“You want to know who told me? Liz told me.” Fina reached into her bag and pulled out the bundle of letters she’d found amongst Liz’s memorabilia.
“What are those?”
“Love letters,” Fina said. “Well, yours aren’t exactly love letters, they’re more like ‘I care about you, but don’t get your hopes up’ letters.” She handed them across the desk.
Kevin pulled off the elastic band holding the envelopes together.
“The one on the bottom is the really juicy one,” Fina advised.
He took the letter from the bottom of the pile and opened it. He skimmed it before slipping it back into its envelope.
Kevin sagged back into his chair. The color that had been rising in his cheeks began to fade.
“What is it that you want exactly?” he finally asked Fina.
“You know what I want. I want to know the truth.”
Kevin glared at her. “It’s none of your business.”
“That’s how you want to play it?” Fina asked.
“My personal life is none of your concern.”
Fina shook her head. “You had an affair with a student while you were an employee of the university, and you got her pregnant.” She reached out and retrieved the stack of letters. “You still have affairs with students. It may not be my concern, but the university can’t keep ignoring it.”
“Get out,” he said.
“Thought you’d never ask,” Fina said, rising from her chair.
At the door, she turned back to look at him. “It’s all going to come out. If I were you, I’d get out in front of it while you still have the chance.”
Fina sat in her car and thought about Kevin and Liz and wondered just how far he’d go to protect his secrets. Sometimes people killed to protect secrets, but she didn’t know if Kevin was one of those people.
—
Rather than going home and pacing the living room, Fina crossed Fort Point Channel and pulled into an alley to make some calls.
First, she left a message for Cristian requesting an update on Zack Lawrence. Next, she dialed Pamela Fordyce’s office and was put on hold by the eternally grateful Jill.
“This is Pamela,” the authoritative voice answered after a couple of minutes.
“It’s Fina Ludlow, Pamela. How are you?”
“Busy, actually.”
“Well, this will only take a minute. I wanted to let you know that I followed up on your tip and found some interesting information.”
There was a long pause. “Did you tell Kevin that I said those things about him?”
“No, of course not. Why?”
“He came storming into my office on Friday and accused me of telling you things.”
“I never mentioned your name,” Fina said, “but apparently he figured it out on his own.” Fina watched as a man shuffled into the alley. He looked like the Michelin Man with his layers of ill-fitting and inappropriate clothing. His feet were clad in men’s dress shoes that were held together with duct tape. Fina hated the cold, but she had plenty of ways to keep warm. Other people weren’t so lucky.
“I shouldn’t have told you,” Pamela said.
“I would have figured it out eventually,” Fina said.
“I should have let you.”
Fina reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of twenties. When she tapped the horn, the man came over to her open window and accepted her offering.
“What are you so afraid of?” Fina asked.
“Nothing, but I didn’t want to be involved, remember?”
“Pamela, you wanted to take the guy down, and believe me, that’s the direction he’s headed. You’re getting what you wanted.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Pamela said.
“I’m sure, but I called you for another reason. I need you to look up someone in the NEU system.”
“I can’t do that,” Pamela said. “It’s against school policy.”
Fina let the comment hang in the air for a moment. “Kind of like sleeping with students is? I’m sure you can overlook one more small violation before your moral compass kicks in.” Honestly. Now was not the time for Pamela to get a conscience.
“What’s the name?” Pamela asked quietly.
“Zack Lawrence.” Fina spelled it out for her. “I don’t know if it’s short for Zachary. I think he’s early to midtwenties, and he lives in Lynn. He’s black, if that makes any difference.”
“It shouldn’t. What am I looking for?”
“Any connection he might have to NEU. As a student, employee, anything like that.”
“Fine. I’ll be in touch,” Pamela said, ending the call.
Something hinky was going on with that woman, but before Fina could take that thought any further, her phone rang.
“How close are you to NEU?” Dennis asked.
“Close enough. Why?”
“It looks like your two subjects are meeting again.”
“Where?” Fina asked as she put the car in drive and pulled out of the alley, nearly colliding with a cab. She exchanged horn blasts with the cabbie and made a U-turn in the middle of the street. Dennis gave her the address, and Fina dropped the phone on the passenger seat so she could be completely focused on exceeding the speed limit and cutting off her fellow drivers. It was like a Best of Boston driving sample. She just hoped she wouldn’t catch the attention of any cops or kill anyone in the process.
She pulled into the parking lot of a Peet’s Coffee shop seven minutes later and found a space in the back corner of the lot. Once out of her car, she scanned the area until she found Gus’s Mercedes. One row away, she spotted the minivan. Fina crept forward until she got to an SUV that gave her a good view of the coffee shop and the two cars, but still provided some coverage.
“Come on, come on,” Fina urged quietly. She looked at her watch. She didn’t doubt the surveillance guy’s report, but she wanted to see it with her own eyes.
Which she did, a minute later.
Gus Sibley came out of Peet’s carrying his NEU travel coffee mug and strode to his car.
He was pulling out
of the lot a minute later when the front door of the shop swung open and a woman walked out.
Kelly Wegner carried an NEU travel coffee mug to her minivan and climbed behind the wheel.
—
Fina returned to her car and called Dennis. She asked him to keep the tail on Kelly but pull off Gus.
“I was wondering how long we were going to do that. You’re racking up quite the bill,” he commented.
“I think Carl will be paying for this,” Fina said. “Can your guy be in touch in a few hours? I don’t want to wait until the end of the day for an update.”
“Of course.”
Fina was thrilled to discover a link between Kelly and Gus, but she still didn’t know what their actual connection was, and she couldn’t just ask them. They’d claim it was a coincidence, so she had to keep waiting.
Rather than ruminate, Fina drove to Newton, happy for the distraction. Frank’s car was in the driveway outside 56 Wellspring Street, and he looked pleased to see her when he opened the door.
“I’m taking you to lunch,” Fina declared. “Unless you already have plans, of course.”
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Frank beckoned her inside while he got his coat from the closet and slipped on his boots.
“I’m happy because I’m on the brink of solving this case, and I thought, who would I like to share this with? You came to mind.”
Frank patted her cheek with his rough hand. “That’s so nice, sweetie. I’m happy that you’re happy. Where are you taking me?”
“Your choice,” Fina said, and rattled off a list of local establishments.
Frank paused in concentration. “I have had a hankering for baked Boston scrod recently.”
“Well, by all means, let me make that dream come true,” Fina said. “Legal Sea Foods it is.”
—
Over lunch, Fina updated Frank on her progress.
“Do you still think the case has something to do with the lawsuit?” he asked once their entrées had been served.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But everything keeps coming back to the university. Whatever’s going on, the university plays some role in it.”
“So what are you going to do?”
