by Darcia Helle
“Morning.”
Suzanne handed him a manila envelope. “Here you are.”
Jesse took the envelope, though he was completely baffled as to its contents. Had he asked her for something? Were these more graphic photos from Covington? He said, “Thanks, I guess.”
“I trust it will all be in order for you.”
“Am I supposed to understand this?”
“Have a good day, Mr. Ryder.”
Jesse stood there a moment. He was too tired to do this dance. He simply shrugged. “Yeah, you too.”
Once in the car, Jesse stuffed the large envelope into the briefcase he’d left in his car. He should actually be guarding that briefcase with his life. It contained all the paperwork relating to Covington. Anything he’d been able to find to help bury the bastard.
Jesse drove straight to his office. His curiosity was killing him but he hadn’t wanted to chance sitting in Covington’s parking lot while he sifted through the contents. It could be a neatly packaged threat from the big man. Or it could be everything he needed to put Covington away.
He parked his car, his mind swarming with possibilities. As he strode across the parking lot, he replayed his last conversation with Suzanne. Maybe he had hit a nerve. She could be scared and want out. Or she could have told Covington about their conversation and now Jesse was in even deeper shit.
Something hard and strong suddenly caught him on the back of the neck. He stumbled to his knees. The trees swayed around him. His vision blurred. Someone grabbed his arm and yanked. Jesse staggered backward. Before he could turn and focus on the face, a silent darkness swallowed him.
Jesse slowly became aware of the sounds of traffic. He forced his eyes open, blinked several times. He wasn’t happy to find that he could only see out of one eye. And not particularly well at the moment. He remained still, trying to get his bearings. His body was stiff and sore. His head throbbed.
The stench of rotting garbage sifted into his consciousness. He listened, hearing the traffic but nothing more. He pushed himself up to sit and immediately found the source of the stench. An open Dumpster was just a foot from his face. He glanced around, surprised to find himself in the alley beside his office building. At least he wasn’t in the trunk of someone’s car.
At least he was alive.
How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let his guard down so easily?
Suddenly he had a sickening realization. His briefcase was missing. And along with it, all the information he’d gathered on Covington. He groaned. And the envelope Suzanne had given him.
Jesse pushed himself to his feet. Blood spatters decorated his jacket and shirt. A coppery taste filled his mouth. But he was alive. That struck him as odd. Not that he was complaining. As he steadied himself and attempted to move his legs forward, he half wished they had killed him. Damn he hurt!
Maybe this hadn’t been Covington’s work. If it had been, he should be dead. Robbery maybe? He checked his pocket. His wallet was there and still contained his vast fortune of twenty-seven dollars. He’d left his gun at home, which had probably been the only smart thing he’d done today. Robbery obviously wasn’t the motive. Unless it was only the briefcase he or they had been after. That was far worse than a missing wallet.
Jesse walked on rubbery legs across the parking lot to the spot he thought he’d been jumped. He checked around the bushes and cars. No sign of his briefcase. Had someone been watching him, or Suzanne, or both? Did someone know what she’d given him and wanted to make sure he didn’t get to keep it? Why the hell hadn’t he taken the time to look?
He leaned against his car and took a few deep breaths. Then he saw it. Just behind the back tire of a canary yellow VW. He let out a long breath of relief. Retrieving it was a lesson in humility, since his body simply did not want to cooperate. But at least he had his briefcase.
He slowly made his way across the parking lot. His head pounded. The one eye he could see out of gave him a distorted and blurred view of his surroundings. He went inside the building, walked a crooked path down the hall, then pushed open the door to his office.
Dawn glanced up from his computer. Her smile instantly faded and her freckled face went pale. “What happened to you?”
“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “Somebody jumped me.”
“Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
“Damn, do I look that bad?”
Dawn hesitated. “Well…”
“I’m okay.” Jesse made it to his office door. “I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?”
“Really, I’m okay.”
“If you say so.”
Jesse placed his briefcase on his desk and collapsed in his chair. He took a moment to just breathe before taking out the manila envelope. He unfastened the clasp and removed the stack of papers. Blinking his good eye several times to bring his vision into focus, he leafed through the pages.
To start with, Suzanne had given him a copy of Covington’s entire personal payroll. Jesse stared at the names, some familiar, some not. Where had she gotten this information? And why was she suddenly willing to risk her life to give it to him?
He switched his computer on. There had to be fifty pages in the stack. Was he going to find anything useful or was she sending him on a wild goose chase? Maybe this was nothing more than a diversion sent by Covington. A bunch of dead ends. Jesse had a gut feeling it was real and that he was about to find what he’d been looking for.
The morning sped by. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His left eye throbbed. His body felt as if he had been attacked by a battering ram.
He checked his watch. Almost noon. He started to close his eyes again when he realized that he’d asked Tim to meet him for lunch at one. He hadn’t looked in a mirror yet but he was willing to bet he couldn’t go looking the way he did. He’d have to swing by his apartment to clean up, which meant leaving now.
He stuffed the papers back into the manila envelope, taking it with him. Dawn watched him, shaking her head. “I was starting to worry about you,” she said. “You’ve been closed up in there for hours.”
“I know. I’ve got a lot to do.”
“You look like hell.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you feel okay?”
“My head is possessed by demons. Got any aspirin?”
Dawn grabbed her purse from beneath her desk and fished out a bottle of Tylenol. She shook out two and handed them to Jesse.
“Just two?” he said. “I said demons. Not fairies.”
Dawn laughed. She handed him two more tablets. “Are you going home now?” she asked.
Jesse pushed his hair off the gash on his forehead. “Briefly, to clean up. Then a lunch meeting. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
“Are you sure you should be driving?”
“Nope.”
“Want me to drive you?”
“No. I like to live dangerously.”
Dawn sighed. “You’re incorrigible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Be careful.”
Jesse smiled, finding it hurt his face. “I will. I learned my lesson.”
Jesse arrived at McGuire’s almost ten minutes late. Tim sat in a booth nursing a drink. Jesse slipped in across from him. “Sorry I’m late,” he said.
“What the hell happened to you?” Tim said.
“I was reminded of what happens when I forget to watch my back.”
“Who was it?”
“An army, I think,” Jesse said. “I never saw him. Or them.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll survive.” Jesse pushed the manila envelope toward Tim. “Forenzi’s on Covington’s payroll. He’s listed as maintenance with a salary of a grand a week.”
“A thousand bucks a week for maintenance?” Tim said. “What the hell is he maintaining?”
“That’s not all. So far this year he’s been given three separate bonuses at t
en grand each.”
“He must be one hell of a maintenance man, eh?”
Jesse picked out a sheet of paper. “I checked the dates on the bonuses. One came on the day Deanna Bryant was killed. The second the day Foley died. And the last came on the day Danny Bellows was found hanging.”
“Bellows?”
“He was the friend of Nyles.”
A heavy-set waitress with permanent frown lines approached. “Would you like a drink?” she asked.
Jesse ordered a beer and both men ordered burgers. Once the waitress had gone, Tim said, “Nyles is the guy you’ve been trying to get to talk? The one the DA stepped in and took over?”
“A little much for coincidence, don’t you think?”
“You going to turn this over?”
Jesse shook his head. “Hell no. They’ll bury it, just like they want to do with the rest of the stuff I gave them.” He flashed Tim a grin. “I was hoping you and I could pay Forenzi a visit, ask a few questions.”
“You wanting me along for protection or for official reasons is unlikely at best,” Tim said. “So are you up to something I probably don’t want to know about?”
“I need you to show your badge,” Jesse said. “I want Forenzi to think the info has already gone through Eldridge. That I’ve turned it over and the case is being officially worked.”
“Why?”
“I want to see who he contacts. What gets set into motion next.”
Tim shook his head, rubbed a hand over his face. “Man, you get me in such deep shit sometimes.”
Jesse led Tim up the narrow steps of the three-story apartment house. The second floor hallway reeked of stale beer and smoke. “This place is a freakin’ dump,” Tim said. “You’d think a grand a week would buy the guy better living quarters.”
“Not if he’s snorting most of it,” Jesse replied. “Or buying women.”
They reached the top landing and separated, standing on opposite sides of the door frame. An old habit that neither man even stopped to think about. You never knew what might come through the door at you. A charging bull of a man. A hungry pit bull. A bullet.
Jesse rapped his knuckles on the battered door. The same door he’d easily slipped through not that long ago. A raspy voice barked at them from the other side. “Who is it?”
“Police,” Tim called. “Open up.”
They were greeted by a few moments of silence. Jesse was about to bang on the door again when it swung open. Dominic Forenzi peered at Tim through squinty eyes. His bulky frame blocked their view inside the apartment. “What?” he said.
Tim flashed his badge. “A few questions. Can we come inside?”
Forenzi caught sight of Jesse. His eyes managed to narrow even further. He glared through the remaining slits, one of which had to be a full inch lower than the other. He said, “What the hell do you want?”
“He’s with me,” Tim said.
Forenzi snorted. “You piss off the wrong guy, Ryder? Looks like you got your ass kicked.”
“I got stupid,” Jesse said. “Won’t happen again.”
A raggedy middle-aged man popped open the door across the hall. He stood at the edge of the hall, blatantly staring, waiting for a show. He probably expected something even better than the current episode of Jerry Springer.
Jesse cast a glance his way, then turned back to Forenzi. “You want to do this out here?”
Forenzi muttered a curse, then shoved the door further open and stepped out of the way. “Make it quick,” he said.
Tim’s gaze skittered across the room, taking it all in. Jesse had seen it before. He fixed his eyes on Forenzi.
Tim said, “How long have you been working for Alex Covington?”
Forenzi shrugged. His mouth twitched and the scar on his cheek sunk deeper. He didn’t answer.
“It’s a simple question,” Jesse said.
“What the fuck business is it of yours?”
Tim tried again. “Are you currently employed by Alex Covington?”
“Ain’t no crime to work for somebody,” Forenzi said.
Tim took a half step closer. “That depends on the type of work you’re doing.”
Again Forenzi shrugged. Tim continued, his voice calm. “So what is it you do for Mr. Covington?”
“Why don’t you ask Covington if you’re so fucking interested?”
“Whatever it is,” Jesse said, “it sure pays well.”
“Do I need a lawyer here?” Forenzi asked.
“Why would you need a lawyer?” Tim said.
Jesse said, “I don’t need a lawyer to discuss my work.”
“Me either,” Tim said.
Forenzi’s narrow eyes darted between Jesse and Tim. He folded his tree trunk arms across his chest. “It ain’t never smart to talk to a cop without a lawyer,” he said.
Tim watched him but said nothing. Let the moment drag on until the silence stretched into a black void that Forenzi teetered over. “I do maintenance,” Forenzi said. “You got a problem with that?”
“At a grand a week?” Jesse asked.
Forenzi’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected them to know that. He recovered quickly, falling back to his defiant tone. “I’m damn good with a screwdriver.”
Jesse and Tim exchanged a look. Tim said, “And the bonuses? Ten grand a pop. What does a maintenance man do to earn that kind of bonus?”
Forenzi’s scar twitched. “You want more answers, talk to my lawyer. I got nothing more to say to you.”
“Your lawyer,” Tim said. “Would that also be your boss?”
Forenzi smirked as he pulled his door open. Jesse drilled him with a glare until the smirk fell away. Then he said, “You and I, we’re not done, Forenzi. Not even close.”
24
“I can’t believe this,” Lauren said. She frantically paced across Jesse’s living room. “Why is he doing this to you? Why can’t he leave you alone?”
Jesse sat on the couch. “I didn’t see who it was. It might not have had anything to do with your father.”
“Was your wallet taken?”
“No. But -”
“Oh, come on,” Lauren said. “You know it had to be him. That bastard. No wonder someone tried to kill him.”
“Calm down.”
“Look what he did to you.”
“I’m fine.”
Lauren sat beside Jesse. She gazed into his dark, intense eyes, one of which was practically swollen shut. Those eyes, so full of emotion, she’d come to understand quite well. He’d given her strength, taught her to trust, taught her to love. A tear slid down her cheek.
Jesse pulled her close. “Don’t cry. It’s really not such a big deal.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“What about the next time?” Lauren asked. “What if you aren’t so lucky?”
“There won’t be a next time.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’ll never let my guard down like that again,” Jesse said. “Part of this was my own damn stupidity.”
“So you have to live in fear until he goes to jail? What kind of life is that?”
“I’ll be cautious. I won’t be living in fear.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Lauren said. “I know this scared you.”
“Maybe just a little.”
“You don’t have to sugarcoat this to protect me.”
“Okay, so it scared me,” Jesse said. “Waking up in the alley wasn’t all that pleasant. But I did wake up, which is the important thing.”
“I’m going to talk to him.”
“That won’t do any good. It’ll just piss him off and upset you.”
“So I should wait until he does kill you?”
“He’s not going to kill me.”
“Isn’t that what he wants?” Lauren said. “He’s trying to scare you, to bully you into doing what he wants. And when you don’t, and he decides your time is up, he’s going to kill you. Is
n’t he?”
“He doesn’t kill people.”
“Don’t mince words with me, Jesse. He’ll have someone else do it. The end result is the same.”
Jesse looked away. He didn’t answer. Lauren ran her fingertips lightly over his bruised face. Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Jesse said. “Maybe this was the lesson I needed. I won’t be as cocky from now on.”
“But -”
“Stop worrying. It’ll be over soon.”
Lauren rested her head against Jesse’s shoulder, calmed by his gentle tone. “What makes you so sure?” she said.
“His secretary gave me some info this morning.”
“What kind of info?”
“His personal financial records, timelines, a list of connections,” Jesse said. “I should be able to put enough together to have an airtight case against him soon.”
“Why would Suzanne help you?”
“I had a talk with her the other day. I guess she thought about things and decided she wanted him out of her life.”
“She’s been sleeping with my father for years,” Lauren said.
“I know.”
“So why would she want to help you hurt him?”
Jesse shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
“But you have your ideas.”
“Speculation. That’s all.”
“Are you sure she’s not helping my father set you up somehow?”
“I thought of that,” Jesse said. “But this isn’t a setup. The information is all accurate… and damning as hell.”
“Did you bring it to the police? The D.A.?”
“Not yet.”
Lauren shook her head. “Why don’t you just give it to them? Let them handle it. Then you’ll be out of it for good.”
“I’m sure as hell not trusting the system to handle this alone. Not after coming this far.”
“But if my father knew they were handling it, he’d have no reason to come after you anymore.”
“I wish it was that easy,” Jesse said. “No matter what I do right now with this investigation, I still know too much. And I’ve caused lots of problems. That won’t sit well with your father.”
