Always Watching (37 page)

“
I thought we weren’t
getting the bureau involved in this.”

“
He’s calling Collangelo,
who I might add, is a prick that I hope I
never
meet in person.”

“
Honey, it’s his
career.  He was blowing off steam.  Believe it or not,
this isn’t the first time he’s gone ape shit over
nothing.”

“
It isn’t nothing,
Johnny,” I whispered.  “If anybody’s career is on the line,
it’s probably yours, and it’s definitely my fault.”

“
Like you, I don’t need
the job or the money.  Remember?”

“
You love being the top
cop in the state.”

“
I love my
wife.”

More sniffles.

“
I wanted to kick his ass
for going after you like that, Helen.  I’m sorry.  Chris
shouldn’t have dragged you into it.”

“
Yeah, he really
should’ve.”

“
So what does David plan
to tell him?”

“
He’ll call me later and
fill me in,” I said.  “He is coming to Darkwater Bay to help
with all of this, Johnny.  I told him he could stay with us
while he’s here.”

“
I see.”

“
You’re not angry about
that, are you?”

“
No,” Johnny said. 
“Unfortunately, I’ve got to head over to Montgomery tonight. 
Joe’s setting up an interview with the paper where he and I will
explain what some of OSI’s expenditures mean.”

“
But –”

“
I know,” he said
softly.  “We’ll have to postpone our wedding night,
sweetheart.  I planned to take you with me, but if Levine is
on his way …”

“
Maybe he won’t need you
there after David calls him,” I said.

“
Don’t count on
it.”

Chapter 31

I met David at the airport in Montgomery at
midnight.  Johnny and Collangelo were still talking to the
hard-ass reporter from the rag newspaper that loved nothing more
than printing political scandal.

When David called to tell me the
conversation with Collangelo went very well, and learned that
Johnny and I wouldn’t be together on our wedding night, he altered
his flight plan. 

“
Are they still at
it?”

“
Collangelo and the
reporter?”

David nodded.

“
They were when I
left.”

“
I don’t suppose you were
part of the interview.”

“
No badge, remember? 
I’m not even a paid consultant, which if you think about it, looks
pretty good in light of Sanderfield’s gripe about the cost of
OSI.”

“
You said some things
about this guy when we talked earlier, Helen.  Johnny was
looking into Sherman for illegal campaign contributions when you
uncovered this human trafficking thing, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
And you’re sure Sherman
was part of it?”

“
I talked to the State
Department, David.  Not only was this guy a slave owner, he
wasn’t really Eugene Sherman.  His name was really Gill
Vorre.”

“
What time is the woman’s
arraignment?”

“
Nine,” I said. 
“We’ll have to be up before dawn to get home in time.”

“
And the DA handling the
case?”

“
Zack Carpenter,” I
said.  “I think you met him in December when we arrested
Datello.  I’m sure he’ll be thrilled that you’re
here.”

“
Helen, you said that
Detective Mackenzie had a theory that someone else is involved with
the prostitution aspect of the evidence you uncovered on Sherman’s
laptop.”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
Are we sure that
Sanderfield doesn’t know what kind of scum he crawled into bed
with?  I mean, the guy was recruited by Danny Datello to
challenge Collangelo in the governor’s race.  He may have
received illegal campaign contributions from Sherman.  It
doesn’t really give him a squeaky clean image in my
book.”

“
Sherman formerly
supported Collangelo too, and he’s not involved in this mess at
all.  God only knows if Danny supported him prior to the
advent of OSI.  Politicians will take money from anybody,
David.  You know that.”

“
True.”  He paused
and fiddled with the zipper on his coat.  “Still, Sherman
managed somehow to corrupt an FBI agent, Helen.  I did a
little more digging into Preston’s history after we talked this
afternoon.”

“
Let me guess. 
There’s no indication that he was anything more than a guy with
ambition who lacked the ability to achieve his goals.”

“
Actually, no.  There
were a couple of things that in hindsight, looked like pretty
serious issues to me.  Were you aware that he was one of the
agents that showed up with Mark Seleeby when he arrived the second
time to harass you last year?”

“
No.”

“
He was pretty vocal about
his dislike, Helen.  In fact, he filed a report endorsing what
Seleeby was investigating with regard to Rick Hamilton’s untimely
demise.”

“
Florence Payette said
something to me yesterday.  She said that Eugene Sherman was
very excited when I came to Darkwater Bay.  I wonder what she
meant by that.”

“
Has anyone dug into
Datello’s fishing business yet for a link to where the Villanueva
girl was found?”

“
Crevan and Dev are going
to follow up with the new CEO of Datello Enterprises in the
morning.  Celeste already promised cooperation.”

I signaled and turned into the drive at the
governor’s mansion.  Security recognized me and waved me
through.  I filled him in on the plan for Devlin’s date with
Fantasia Monday night.

“
You’ve covered all the
bases, haven’t you, Helen?”

“
We’re trying.  We
need someone other than Payette.  She’s a mess,
David.”

“
I don’t doubt
it.”

I parked behind the sprawling mansion and
shut off the SUV.  “Do you think we’ve got a case, or am I
blowing this out of proportion?”

“
I don’t think it’s an
accident that Analynn Villanueva turned up dead in Darkwater
Bay.  I suppose the most tenuous aspect of this to my way of
seeing it is that Datello was involved.”

“
They could’ve double
crossed him.  Florence said he was good friends with Sherman,
that they used to meet at Sherman’s house, David.  Maybe she
was telling the truth.  Sherman felt that the baby shouldn’t
be raised by a young mother with a father in prison.”

“
More likely, it was a
plan that the wife cooked up after Sherman died,” David said. 
“Nobody would intentionally screw with a member of the Marcos
family, Helen.”

Nobody but me.

“
Preston murdered
Danny.  I’d say he didn’t care about the Marcos family
ties.”

“
Your coroner friend seems
to think that Preston was living on borrowed time anyway,
Helen.  He had nothing to lose.”

“
But what could he
possibly gain from his involvement in this, David?  That’s
what I don’t understand.”

“
We’ll have to keep
digging for answers on that one, Helen.  Not to abruptly
change the subject, but are we spending the night in the governor’s
mansion?”

I rolled my eyes in the
darkness.  “
Joe
insisted.  Apparently, he felt it was the least he could
do to make it up to us for ruining our wedding day, doubting the
most loyal person in his entourage and as a way of thanking you for
setting the record straight regarding my tenure with the
bureau.”

“
I’m exhausted,” David
said.  “Shall we get this part of the night over
with?”

Joe, Johnny and presumably the reporter from
the paper met us at the back door.  I wanted to throw my arms
around David and hug him to death.

He thrust out one hand to the
reporter.  “Supervisory Special Agent David Levine, FBI. 
And you are?”

“
Rox Hammond,” he
said.  “Are you here on official business?”

David smiled that thin one
that could dismiss the most self-important in the world.  “If
I were, my responses would all be
no
comment
, Mr. Hammond.  The FBI does
not discuss ongoing investigations.”  He turned to
Johnny.  “Good to see you again, Johnny.  Joe, you’re
looking well.”

“
The governor tells me
that OSI actually vetted Dr. Eriksson with you,” Hammond persisted
at his own peril.

“
Of course they did,
sir.  We were and still are feeling the pangs of our loss of
such a fine profiler.  Did Joe tell you what an integral part
of our team she was?”

Hammond flipped open a notebook.  “He
did, but a quote from her former supervisor would be an asset to my
story.”

David folded his arms across his
chest.  “If I didn’t know how serious Helen was about
retirement, I’d be offering her position to her right now. 
She left a hole that we haven’t been able to fill.  But I
suppose that shouldn’t be too difficult to comprehend, considering
the cases that she closed in Darkwater Bay, should it, Mr.
Hammond?”

“
And these allegations
that the FBI had an investigation thwarted in the death of her
ex-husband, there’s no truth to them?”

“
In the case of Rick
Hamilton, because of his affiliation with a prominent crime family,
his suicide was thoroughly investigated – just to be sure that the
family hadn’t eliminated a potential problem.  At no time was
Helen ever suspected of wrongdoing.”

I wondered at the ease with which he lied,
if that line between cop and criminal was a whole lot thinner than
anyone could possibly imagine.  Then again, I might’ve been
the virus that corrupted normally incorruptible men. 

“
As for Rick’s death,”
David continued, “it was obvious to me immediately that he
committed suicide.  He was facing a long prison term.  He
betrayed his wife.  The Marcos family would’ve killed him if
he considered cutting a deal with the federal prosecutor.  Can
you imagine another way out of that sort of
predicament?”

“
I guess not.  I’m
curious how the bureau managed to vet Dr. Eriksson however. 
Isn’t it true that her father was somewhat of an infamous criminal,
currently incarcerated for life?”

Sparks arced between David’s eyes. 
“Because we always punish the children of criminals, right?”

“
No, but –”

“
I’m sorry, but that’s a
ridiculous question, Mr. Hammond.  If you’ll excuse me, I’d
like to get some rest.  It’s been a very long day.”

“
Dr. Eriksson, anything
you’d like to add to my interview?”

Johnny made a slight slicing motion across
his neck out of Hammond’s sight.

“
I’m retired,” I
said. 

“
Commander Orion says you
consulted on a rather high profile kidnapping case in Darkwater Bay
last week.”

It was my turn for a
little perverse news-telling.  I slipped past the reporter and
snaked one arm around Johnny’s waist.  “Well, I suppose any
time my husband asks for my opinion, he could call it
consulting
.  I am,
however, happily retired.  Have a good night, Mr.
Hammond.”

Johnny chuckled as I dragged him down the
corridor.  “And I got scolded for being blunt about our
marriage?  Sweetheart, dropping a bombshell like that on the
press might not have been the greatest idea.”

“
I’m still mad at you
about that, Johnny.”

“
Did you and David have a
nice chat on the way home from the airport?”

“
This isn’t home, and
don’t change the subject.”

“
I already
apologized.”

“
Not to
Devlin.”

Johnny sighed.  “If I must.”

“
I don’t mean apologize
for marrying me.  You could’ve let me tell him
alone.”

“
Why was that so important
to you, Helen?”  He waved me toward the back staircase. 
“Did everyone else rate a private conversation?  I have a lot
of friends who will read about our wedding in a nasty newspaper
article thanks to your comment tonight.  Do you owe them an
apology?”

“
I’d develop laryngitis
apologizing to all the soon-to-be-devastated women in your
life.”

“
Oh, so that’s the
qualifier for Mackenzie, huh?”

My mood took a dangerous slide in a bad
direction.  “Are you telling me that I should apologize to
them because they have genuine feelings for you and that you can’t
bear the idea that my insensitivity might’ve really hurt them?”

“
You can’t
bear
that I hurt
him?  Jesus, Helen, you make it sound like you love the
guy.”

“
I do love
him.”

Johnny froze with the door to the bedroom
where we planned to spend the night hanging open.  I stepped
inside. 

“
What, you don’t love your
friends?”

He shook his head and slammed the door on
his way out.