“Well, I tried not to involve her. I wasn’t a very good father when she and Natalia were growing up. Travelled a lot with the job, you know how that is.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“She’s a good girl and she’s all I’ve got left in the world. I didn’t want to burden her with the sordid side of my life. She deserves to be happy.”
“So you’re saying you never told Delia that Natalia died because of David Gerard?”
“What good would it have done, Isabel?”
“All right, let’s move on. So what did you do then?”
“After holing up in my hotel room for a week or so, I had to get back to Washington, back to work. I’d had my chance to avenge Natalia’s death and I blew it, so I high-tailed it back to DC, hoping David would never find out who the gun belonged to.”
“So tell me about David’s murder a year ago. Did you decide to come back and give it another try?”
“You think I killed David Gerard?”
There was a knock at the door before it swung open. Colin popped his head in and told Isabel he had some news.
Isabel turned her face toward the door, consciously keeping her chest pointed at Jerry.
“The lab said the ballistics are in on the second gun and they’re a match. The fingerprint results will be back within the hour. Just thought you’d like to know that.”
She thanked him and he left.
“Wow, did you hear that?” Isabel studied the man’s facial expression for any tells. However, as a seasoned agent, he had been trained to keep his feelings and outward expressions under control—his face remained still as stone.
“What second gun?” he asked in an emotionless tone. “A match to what?”
“A Ruger P345 pistol that was found on the riverbank Saturday night.” Again, she watched his expression, particularly his eyes, for even the most subtle hint. She thought she saw a flicker in his eyes, for the briefest moment, so she pressed him. “The gun that killed Evan Parker. Sorry, I mean David Gerard. Is there something you want to tell me about that gun?”
“Like what?”
“Jerry…are we going to find your prints? Did you kill David Gerard?”
He did not answer, his face twisted into a snarl. “Whatever he got he had coming to him.”
“Let me remind you we have the ballistics proving it’s the murder weapon, and confirmation of the prints will be in soon. If you admit it right now, I’ll see that you don’t go to prison for this. You don’t have much time left. Wouldn’t you rather spend it with Delia?”
“Delia.” He spoke her name and blankly looked off in the distance—Isabel imagined he was seeing Delia in his mind, perhaps as a happy little girl running into his arms.
“So, I’ll ask you again, did you kill David Gerard?”
He paused and stared at her with laser intensity, as if his glare could bore right through her. “Yes, Isabel.” His words were slow and calculated. “I killed David Gerard. I went to his office and shot him for what he did to my daughter.”
“Tell me exactly, step by step, what happened the night David Gerard died.” Isabel stood motionless at the foot of his bed, capturing the entire confession on video.
After drawing in a deep breath, Jerry took her through each action, how he set David up, how he shot him, and why.
“What’s going on in here?” Delia burst through the door.
“Your father has just confessed to murdering David Gerard. You knew him as Evan Parker.”
“Oh, Dad, no!” Her head shook violently as tears sprang to her eyes.
“I’m afraid so, Princess.” His eyes were brimming with tears, as well, and he reached out to his daughter. She rushed to the side of his bed and grabbed his hand, leaning over to rest her head on his chest. He stroked her long, dark hair.
Colin and Emily silently slipped just inside the door. Isabel turned away from Jerry and Delia and stepped over to her friends. She bent her head down toward the brooch and whispered, “I’m turning it off for now, Buzz, but stand by. I’ll be back on in a few.” She raised her head and looked to Colin. “You’re up.”
He moved closer to Jerry’s bedside. “Delia, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to my office in time to meet with you, but I—”
“You asked me to come to your office so Isabel could get in here and talk to my father, didn’t you?” Her normally refined manner had melted under pressure, exposing the raw anger seething below it. “I want you all out of here! Now!”
“Whoa, lady. You’re not in a position to be giving orders. I still need to talk with you, preferably down at the station.” Colin rolled his wrist and read his watch. “Let’s say in one hour?”
“I have nothing to say.” She spoke slowly, through clenched teeth, looking Colin in the eye.
“Then why so defensive, Delia?” Emily crossed her arms and glared at the woman whom she had once considered a friend. Now she was more of an enemy combatant.
“My father is dying and I don’t want to leave him.” A knot seemed to catch in her throat and she swallowed hard.
“Delia, go with the man,” her father encouraged. “I’ll be fine.”
“No, I don’t want to leave you.”
“It’s okay, go.”
“Should I bring an attorney?” Delia asked.
“Only if you have something to hide,” Colin replied.
Delia glared at Colin, then her eyes narrowed as she pinched her lips together. “All right, Dad, I’ll go,” she said, turning her gaze back to her ailing father. “But I’m coming back just as soon as we’re done. Okay?”
“Okay, sweetheart.” Jerry closed his eyes. “Now, if you all don’t mind, I’d like to get some shuteye.”
Delia stalked out of the room first and stomped down the hallway as Isabel stood with Colin and Emily in the hall, right outside the door.
“Where’s she off to in such a hurry?” Colin asked.
“She probably didn’t want to get stuck in the elevator with the rest of us.” Emily remarked. “I’ve never seen her so ruffled.”
“That’s a good thing,” Colin remarked. “She’ll be more likely to blurt out the truth under pressure. I’m going to give ADA Laraway a call and bring her up to speed on what’s happening.”
“Give her my regards,” Emily muttered with a hint of sarcasm as Colin pulled his phone out and walked down the hall. The polished blonde with a take-no-prisoners attitude had all but thrown herself at Colin when he’d first arrived in Paradise Valley.
“Time for me to head back in.” Isabel twisted the daisy stem and turned her brooch back on. “Buzz, I’m back on. After I’m finished this time, I’ll need a copy of this entire recording asap.” She raised her head and grinned at Emily. “I’m not through with Jerry yet. You guys may want to stick around for the show.”
CHAPTER 23
Isabel breezed back into Jerry’s room. “Knock, knock.”
Colin and Emily waited out in the hall as Isabel let the door swing silently behind her. She hoped Jerry didn’t notice the lack of sound when the door did not close all the way—Emily had stuck the toe of her pointy black boot there so they could listen.
“What the—”
“Sorry, it’s just me again, Jerry.” Isabel moved to the foot of his bed once more.
“I thought we were done. You got your confession. What else do you want?”
“There was something else I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Like I told you before, the ballistics verified the gun that was found by the river was the one that killed David Gerard. Unfortunately, the lab says there were no usable fingerprints on it. It had been in the mud too long.”
“So you’re saying I confessed for nothing?”
“As luck would have it, there was a bullet still in the gun and the lab was able to pull a beautiful print off of it.”
“No kidding.” Jerry crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.
&n
bsp; Isabel wasn’t sure if he was really interested or simply being sarcastic. “Want to take a wild guess who the print belongs to?”
He pinched his lips together and waited, turning his head and staring out the window at the cloudless blue sky. Did he have an idea who it belonged to but didn’t want to say?
“The print belongs to Ricardo Vega.” For a millisecond Isabel thought she saw a look of surprise flash in his eyes before his expression went flat again.
“Delia’s late husband?”
~*~
Isabel grabbed a thumb drive from Buzz in the hospital’s parking lot. It had the video confession recorded on it. She handed it over to Colin. “The ball’s in your court now, Detective.”
Emily rode with Colin back to the police station, and Isabel followed in her own car.
“I can’t wait to question Delia,” Emily said, excitedly squirming in her seat. She rolled the window down and let the cool fall breeze whip through her hair.
“You can’t officially question her, Emily. You’re not law enforcement.”
“Can’t I at least be in the room while you interrogate her?” She sat up straight in the seat and twisted her shoulders, leaning toward Colin. “You know how important this is to me.”
“I don’t know.” He paused and shook his head. “It’s a pretty small room,” he teased.
She playfully smacked his arm and grimaced.
“Okay, since the Chief wants you on board as a consultant, I’ll let you be in the room, but you can’t ask any of the questions. I mean it.” He down-shifted the red jeep and came to a stop at the light. He looked over at her, waiting for a response.
She leaned back in her seat and looked away from him, out the open window.
“Emily…”
“I’m thinking.” She gazed back at him and grinned. “Okay, I promise I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Colin rolled his eyes. That’s what she had promised him in the interrogation he had conducted in New York City on the first case they ever worked together.
He was questioning a Russian mobster about his role in Ricardo Vega’s murder, and it was more than she could do to keep her mouth shut. He chuckled to himself as he thought of it. She couldn’t keep that promise then and she likely wouldn’t keep it now. Although, he did have to admit that in the New York interrogation she had asked a pivotal question, so he had quickly forgiven her.
Yes, that was his Emily—pretty as a peach and as hot and hard to handle as a firecracker.
~*~
“Hey, Stella,” Emily greeted as she strolled through the front doors of the Paradise Valley police station with Colin.
Stella stood up behind her desk and smiled. “Hello, Emily. Good to see you, dear. We’re all so pleased Colin is back.”
“Me too.” Emily gave Colin’s hand a squeeze.
“Isabel Martínez should be coming right behind us. Send her back to the interrogation room as soon as she gets here.” Colin and Emily walked to the door leading to the back offices and he swiped his security pass to let them in. “Oh, and Delia McCall will be here soon. Have her wait out here and I’ll come and get her when you announce her.”
“Yes, sir, Detective,” Stella replied with a hand salute.
He grinned at her. “Cut the formalities, Stella. Yes, Colin, will do just fine.”
At the sound of the buzz-click, Colin pushed the door open for Emily and followed her through it. He led her back to his office and went directly to his laptop which sat open on his desk. He pushed the on button and sank down into his black-leather office chair. He waited for the programs to come alive before sticking the thumb drive in an available USB port.
Emily stood across the desk and placed her hands on the edge, craning her neck to try to get a glimpse of the screen. “Do you think we have time to watch the video before Delia shows up? All we know is that Isabel was able to get a confession, Colin. We haven’t seen any of the video ourselves yet.”
“We all agreed to the plan, so if Isabel stuck to the script, there shouldn’t be any surprises.”
“Surprises? What surprises?” Isabel asked, standing in the doorway. “We don’t want no stinkin’ surprises.”
“Very funny.” Emily spun around, crossed her arms, and sat back against the edge of the desk.
“Emily was wondering if we should watch the video before Delia shows up,” Colin said. “I stuck the thumb drive in and it’s all queued up.”
“Let me give you the short version. I told Jerry if he confessed before the prints came back from the lab, I wouldn’t have him arrested.”
“How can you promise that?” Colin asked.
Emily grinned at her girlfriend. She knew how Isabel’s mind worked. “It’s easy, Colin. She didn’t say you wouldn’t arrest him, she said the Feds wouldn’t arrest him.”
“Ahh—I get it. Evan was murdered in my jurisdiction. It’s not a Federal case. Very clever, Isabel.”
“I do have my moments. Although, he’ll probably be in the grave before it ever got to trial, so what would be the point?”
“True,” Colin had to admit.
“Now, back to the video. Jerry did confess to the murder, but when I told him Ricardo’s prints were on the bullet still in the gun, he started to backpedal.”
“Why would he confess then think he could recant?” Emily asked.
“We’ll need to figure that out,” Colin replied. “Hopefully we can squeeze something out of Delia.”
“Colin,” a female voice blared from his desk phone’s intercom speaker. “Delia McCall is here to see you.”
Colin depressed a button and spoke toward the phone. “Tell her I’ll be right out.” He released the button and rose from his chair. “It’s show time, ladies.”
~*~
Emily and Isabel were already seated at the table in the conference room when Colin escorted Delia in, dressed in her customary tailored suit and expensive jewelry. Her long dark hair floated around her shoulders in waves.
The laptop sat open in the center of the table, ready to play the video of Jerry’s confession, alongside a gun sealed in a clear plastic evidence bag.
“Have a seat, Ms. McCall.” Colin pulled a chair out for her, then he took his place at the table and set a file folder down on it.
“Thank you, Detective.” She eyed the gun and computer as she sank down onto her chair. Her gaze rose to Colin. “But you can call me Delia. It’s not like we don’t already know each other.” She set her purse on the floor and scooted her seat up to the table. “Hello, Emily, Isabel.”
“Hi, Delia,” Emily replied pleasantly.
Isabel looked at her with a deadpan expression.
“I didn’t expect all of this.” Delia gestured around the table with her open hand. “I thought you simply needed to ask me a few questions to clear something up. What’s going on?”
“I do have something I want to talk to you about, and I thought it’d be best if Isabel and Emily were here.”
“All right, I’m listening,” she replied, with a hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Several years ago, someone tried to kill Evan Parker. Did you know that?” Colin asked.
“No.” Delia shook her head. “I only knew he was murdered about a year ago.”
“From what we’ve discovered, he managed to wrestle the gun away from the perpetrator during the attempt. He hid the gun with a note saying he hoped one day he could use it to identify his attacker.”
“I don’t know anything about that, Colin.”
“Obviously, the gun has surfaced, along with the note, or we wouldn’t be talking about it,” he said.
“The FBI lab traced that gun back to your father, Jerry Banderas,” Isabel added.
“Oh, my.” Delia put a freshly manicured hand to her chest. “I had no idea. Really.”
“You had no idea?” Isabel crossed her arms and leaned forward on the table, staring into Delia’s dark eyes.
“N
o, none.” Delia pursed her perfectly painted lips.
“Jerry confessed that he attempted to shoot Evan that night,” Isabel said.
“He never told me—honest.”
“I videotaped his confession, Delia. He stated Evan wrestled the gun away from him and shot him in the shoulder as he escaped.” Isabel watched Delia’s expression, but she remained stone faced. “He said he called you and you came to his hotel room with everything he needed to dress the wound.”
“Uh—well, um—I didn’t know it was Evan that shot him. He just said he’d been shot. I assumed, with his work in the FBI, it had something to do with one of his cases.”
Emily sat silently, her arms crossed and her lips pressed tightly together, fighting against the urge to say something.
“I’m not sure your story is lining up with Jerry’s,” Isabel said. “Let’s play the video, shall we?” Isabel reached over and pushed the play button.
Delia watched as her pale and sickly father reclined in his hospital bed and confessed to trying to kill Evan—David Gerard—several years ago, and why he did it. He told how he had called Delia to bandage his wound after David shot him in the shoulder.
In the video, Isabel’s voice could be heard asking questions and moving the confession along to the night Evan was killed.
“Tell me what happened the night David Gerard died,” Isabel was heard to say.
“I made an appointment with him, pretended to be someone who wanted to hire him for a job. I showed up at his office that night, and we chatted for a while about this and that. We’d never worked together in Washington, so he didn’t know me—but I knew him. I knew he was the reason my Natalia was dead.”
Delia watched the computer screen as Jerry’s voice cracked and his eyes grew moist. He ran his hand across his eyes to wipe the tears then continued.
“I’d hated that man for so long, I couldn’t help myself.” His voice quivered with emotion. “I didn’t care what he was calling himself at the time, I wasn’t going to give him another opportunity to wrestle the gun out of my hand. When David went to get something from the file cabinet, I jumped on the chance to put a bullet in the back of his head.”
3 The Chain of Lies Page 20
