Always Watching (31 page)

“
The cadaver dogs got into
the woods behind the house and went absolutely friggin’ nuts,
Helen.  The crime lab from the state police brought them, of
course, but their lieutenant is telling me that the dogs have
identified no less than three hot zones.”

“
Jesus,” I muttered. 
“Is he certain?”

“
Yeah,” Devlin said. 
“Pretty damn convinced.  They’re getting ready to use some
kind of ground penetrating radar to pinpoint remains before they
start digging.  Apparently, these dogs are trained to locate
human remains and nothing else.”

“
So what’s the
problem?”

Devlin’s sigh hissed over the
connection.  “They think we ought to get Montgomery PD
involved in this.  He’s fussing about jurisdiction, that the
state police can’t simply make this call –”

“
Is he clueless?” 
Fuming, I started to pace again.  “Do these buffoons have any
idea who Johnny Orion is?”

“
Well, my word that Johnny
ordered this isn’t gonna cut it, Helen.  Any chance that the
big man can give the order himself?”

Why hadn’t he called me yet?  “Dammit,”
I muttered.  “Let me call him again, Dev.  He’s at this
emergency hearing with Zack.”

“
We’re gonna need that
order sooner rather than later, Helen.  This guy’s getting
ready to examine the first potential grave.”

“
Stall as long as you
can,” I said.  My phone was already in my hand, Johnny’s
number poised for speed dial.

“
Keep him on the line
while I talk to Johnny.”  Send.

“
Now what?” Johnny growled
into my ear.  “You do realize that judges really frown on
interruptions like this in court.”

I raced through the current crisis. 
“But this boneheaded guy with the state crime lab is balking over
jurisdiction, because he didn’t get the order directly from
you.”

“
Because he knows I
wouldn’t have given it, Doc.  What’re you
thinking?”

“
Oh, I don’t know.  I
guess I figured that keeping what we know and what we suspect as
controlled within a tightly knit group was the most important
aspect in our potential for getting some answers.  If we’ve
got eighty million crime lab people messing around in this, how
long do you think it’ll be before somebody calls the FBI? 
What if some of those remains are more children?  What if
someone in Montgomery was on Sherman’s payroll, like it appears
Alfred Preston was?”

“
You make some valid
points, but this is an election year too, Doc.  We can’t
simply ignore jurisdiction because it suits our purpose
again.  Joe is living under a microscope.  Do you really
want Terrell Sanderfield calling OSI the Gestapo during the
election?”

“
Politics,” spoken as the
epithet it is.  “That can’t be my concern, not if you’re
really serious about solving this crime, Johnny.”

“
I can’t ignore it. 
Joe, aside from being my boss, is a friend, Helen.”

That was when the brilliant idea popped into
my head.  I snapped my fingers.  “I’ve got a reasonable
compromise.”

“
All right,” he
drawled.

“
You don’t have to sound
so suspicious, Johnny.”

“
Does this compromise
involve you running off to Montgomery?”

“
No, but that’s not a bad
idea either.”

“
Baby, do I have to remind
you that I can’t say certain things without you running for the
bathroom?  How do you think you’d handle improperly buried
human remains?”

My gut fisted into a tight knot. 
“Fine.  As in you made your point.”

“
Breathe through your
nose.  There’s a vending machine in the basement with
7-Up.”

“
Johnny, do you want to
hear my suggestion or not?”

“
I’m waiting.”

“
Devlin’s old partner,
what’s his name.”

“
Andy Gillette,” Johnny
supplied what my hormone-saturated brain cells couldn’t
summon.

“
Right.”

“
What about
him?”

“
If we need someone from
Montgomery in on this, why not use the guy we already went to from
the beginning?”

In the pause, I heard Johnny’s internal
debate, saw him pinching the bridge of his nose.  For the life
of me, I could not comprehend his reluctance.  It defied
logic.  If Dev trusted his former partner, that was enough for
me.

Then again, it might’ve been the underlying
cause of Johnny’s reluctance.

“
Honey, if this is because
you’re still pissed at Devlin –”

“
It’s not,” he said. 
“I don’t trust Gillette.  I can’t explain why, but there’s
something about the guy that rubs me the wrong way.  Don’t
tell me you didn’t pick up on it too, Helen.  He was more of
an obstacle to you and Devlin returning the Datello infant to
Darkwater Bay than I was, yet I’m the one you blamed.”

“
I never said he
was
completely
up
to speed on the case.  It was need-to-know.  I didn’t
think we needed to share a whole lot.”

“
And you’re really
comfortable with this guy?”

“
Devlin trusts him. 
It’s good enough for me.”

“
Fine.  I’ll call
Mackenzie and give the order myself, with the stipulation that this
Detective Gillette be part of that crime scene,” he relented, much
to my relief.

“
Did my information help
sway the judge?”

“
Helen, how the hell would
I know?  You keep dragging me out of the courtroom.  I’ll
call you as soon as I know anything.  In the meantime, Zack
says you should try to keep Payette talking.  He’s not very
hopeful about this situation.”

“
Don’t forget to call
Devlin,” I said quickly.

“
My next task.”

I had no clue how my flash of brilliance
would irreparably damage the investigation.  Like most
problems of my own creation, I wasn’t going to have to wait long
for the revelation.

Chapter 26

Crevan and I worked in silent concert
selecting photographs to display.  My over-eager nature
required a strong bridle from my friend.  It would’ve suited
my fancy entirely to march back into the interrogation room with
only one photograph in my possession – that of Agent Alfred
Preston.  I was certain that Florence would identify him as
the man who took Sofia Datello from her at Saint Mary’s
Hospital.

“
Helen, you know how this
works.  Please think of all the problems you’ll cause Zack if
we don’t do this carefully,” Crevan warned.

I peeled a few more layers of skin off of my
lower lip.  It would bleed soon.  “I thought we did hand
him a perfect case, Crevan.  And now look what’s
happening.  Some shyster attorney is hell bent on tearing down
our evidence.  I won’t allow Melissa Sherman to stroll out of
here scot free.”

“
I’m pretty sure I don’t
want to know your alternative if the judge sees fit to dismiss the
case.”

“
Stop parroting Tony
Briscoe,” I felt my patience thin again.  “He doesn’t have a
clue who I am. 
You
have more than a clue, Crevan.  You know
me.”

He paused the arrangement of our impromptu
photo array and pinned me with a probing stare.  “Then what’s
your alternative?  Say Zack loses at the hearing this
afternoon.  What if Marcel comes back here with walking papers
for Melissa Sherman, or prances in here asserting privilege on
behalf of Payette?  How do you plan to stop a court order,
Helen?”

“
I don’t know,” I muttered
half under my breath, even though only a few days of the law
enforcement fray had completely reawakened my darker urges. 
Yes, it occurred to me that a bullet to the head would solve a
multitude of problems.  And I’m not talking about a solution
for the conundrum that Florence Payette presented.  As far as
I’m concerned, she’s every bit the victim Sofia Datello was. 
She didn’t have a Helen Eriksson to rescue her or her
mother.

She didn’t have me then.  She does
now. 

My slight tilt to Lady Justice’s scales for
Scott Madden was fresh in my memory.  Yes, psychology could
offer a reasonable out for those who did the right thing regardless
of what the law thought, or in Florence’s case, had no choice but
commit a crime.  I could easily and effectively argue that the
poor woman suffered from Stockholm syndrome.

That little slip of the tongue I chastised
myself over turned out to be a blessing in disguise now.  Some
of the confidence I lost ebbed again.  If I hadn’t blurted out
the news of Eugene Sherman’s death, Florence might not have reached
the point that enabled her to talk to me.  Once she realized
that her true captor couldn’t hurt her anymore, she found a sliver
of empowerment.

I figured there was more than a little bit
of blame involved as well.  Florence’s mother was relegated to
the grave when the new Mrs. Sherman arrived on the scene five years
ago.  It could be an ace waiting to be played, if Florence
suddenly became reticent again.

Crevan’s soft laugh jerked me back into the
here and now.  “Why does it worry me so much when I can hear
the gears in your head grinding while you drift away to God knows
where?”

“
Because you listened to
your paranoid ex-partner for too long.  What makes him think
it was such an unusual reaction when Johnny almost
died?”

“
I was there too,
Helen.  I understood why you wanted to kill Mitch
Southerby.  Don’t deny it.  On that point, Tony and I
agreed completely.”

“
And the
contention?”

“
I don’t believe you’d
have actually done it.”

Oh my dear, blind friend.  “Well, he
deserves to rot in prison.  I was afraid Johnny would die, and
that it was my fault.”

“
It was your fault. 
Which is why I hope whatever you were so silently plotting a moment
ago doesn’t involve sneaking off to figure out if your next great
burst of insight pans out.  I think Johnny has sufficiently
proved to you and the rest of the world that he will take the hit
if that’s what it takes to protect you.”

Crevan had no idea how much stronger
Johnny’s instinct would become over the coming months.  I
absently rubbed my belly.

“
More nausea?”

“
Hmm?” 

“
You’re… ” Crevan mimed
the movement of my hand.

“
Oh, yeah, I guess. 
There’s a lot of pressure to get this right, and we’re wasting
time.”

“
You’ll do great with her,
Helen.”  He thrust the photo array into my hand.  “I’ll
be on the other side of the mirror.”

“
Thanks.”

We sent one of the administrative assistants
out to McDonald’s for Florence’s favorite meal – a plain hamburger,
small fries and a carton of milk.  I thought about the
challenge her fluctuating mental status would wreak on Zack’s
prosecution of Melissa Sherman.  Perhaps the knowledge that
Eugene was dead would continue to swing the odds in our favor.

I pushed the door open.  Florence had
finished her meal and carefully stored the debris in the paper
bag.  She peered at me with wide eyes.

“
Remember when I told you
I wanted you to look at some pictures, Florence?”

She nodded.

I moved to the table and sat beside her
again.  “Do you recognize any of these people?”

Her eyes carefully examined each photograph
while the expression remained inscrutable.  “No, ma’am,” she
finally spoke.  “I’ve never seen any of these people before in
my life.  Who are they?”

It’s ingrained from the beginning of law
enforcement.  We don’t answer questions, we ask them. 
Even thought I firmly believed that Florence Payette had the
emotional maturity of a pre-pubescent girl, it didn’t strip me of
years of instinct.

“
Can we talk some more
about the day you saved the baby from the hospital?”

She sighed.  “But I already told you
everything, Ms. Helen.”

“
I don’t want to talk
about how you got Sofia out of the hospital,” I said.  “I’d
like you to tell me what happened to her after that.”

Her forehead scrunched.  “I don’t
know.”

“
You said before that you
put her in your bag and took her downstairs.”

“
Yes.”

“
So you left a helpless
little baby alone outside in the cold until your shift
ended?”

“
Of course not!  I
would never hurt a… ” her voice faded, but recognition flashed in
her eyes.  “Oh.  You want to know about the man who took
the baby home to Ms. Sherman.”

“
So it was a man, and not
Ms. Sherman who took the baby from the hospital?”

She nodded.

“
Had you ever seen him
before?”

Florence’s shoulders caved inward.  “I
don’t know,” she said softly.  “Is he going to hurt me if I
say something he doesn’t want me to say?”

“
You are perfectly safe
here.  I won’t let anyone hurt you.  None of the police
will let anyone hurt you.”

“
Not all the police,” she
whispered.

“
Florence, are you sure
you’ve never seen any of these men before?”