Buying Time (42 page)

“So it’s special treatment you want. Is that it?” the detective replied.

Actually, yes. I do want special treatment. I was the Attorney General of the United States, for Christ’s sake.
“I just need someone to call my lawyer, Nolan Flanagan. Can one of you guys please do that for me?”

Detective Davis gave him a skeptical look. “Sorry, but you’ll have to wait until you get down to the station.”

Erickson looked over his shoulder and saw Becker approaching. Had he come to help or cause more harm? Maybe Becker could at least talk them into taking the handcuffs off. “That’s my law partner coming up the driveway,” he said to the detective. “Please let him through.”

As Becker weaved his way toward him, Erickson could see his neighbors rubbernecking in clumps along the street.

“Becker,” Erickson called out in desperation. “Please make them stop this madness. Tell them I didn’t kill Claire! Tell them how Ashley set me up!”

Becker had almost reached him when an officer tried to block his path. Detective Davis ordered the officer to step aside and let Becker through.

“Could you give me a few minutes alone with him?” Becker asked. “I’m his law partner. I need to talk to him away from the cameras.”

Detective Davis hesitated, then instructed two officers to escort Becker and Erickson inside the house.

“The cuffs stay on and we’re going to be just a few feet away,” the detective said, entering the spacious foyer and closing the door behind him. “You have five minutes.”

“That’s fine,” Becker said. “I won’t need that long.”

The officers moved a few feet away to give them privacy.

Becker walked up to Erickson, his face less than an inch away. “You deserve to rot in prison,” he whispered angrily. “I can’t believe that I made you Kaylee’s godfather. You goddamn pervert!”

Oh no! He knows!
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Erickson stuttered.

“I just had a long conversation with Sophia,” Becker continued. “I finally understand why Ashley hates you so much.”

Erickson started to quiver. “You can’t believe Ashley’s lies. She’s trying to destroy me.”

“You’re the liar!” Becker nailed Erickson with a solid punch to his left cheek that sent him crashing into the wall. The two officers rushed over and pulled Becker away.

“You sick fuck!” Becker yelled.

Erickson hung his head. His horrible secret was out. But that did not mean he had killed his wife. Nolan Flanagan would get him off.

“Becker,” Erickson sobbed, “you must tell them the truth. Please!”

“I’d be glad to.” Becker turned to Detective Davis. “Our ex-Attorney General killed his wife because she threatened to expose his penchant for child porn.” Becker attempted to reach into the pocket of his jacket, but the officers restrained him.

“Don’t worry,” Becker said. “I don’t have a weapon, but I do have evidence that proves he’s a pedophile. I was about to hand you a DVD I have in my pocket.”

Erickson’s eyes widened. “How can you do this? You know I didn’t kill Claire! You’re framing me! You wanted me out of the way so you could take over the firm.”

“I thought you said your stepdaughter framed you?” Detective Davis replied. He removed the DVD from Becker’s pocket. “Now,
this
guy is the one who supposedly set you up? You need to get your story straight.”

“Please don’t do this to me!” Erickson cried out to Becker. “I won’t survive in prison.”

“We found traces of morphine on your gardening gloves that we picked up during the search of your house,” Detective Davis said. “I suppose somebody planted the gloves, too?”

“Gloves? That’s impossible? I’m being framed!” Erickson screamed. “I didn’t kill my wife! I swear!”

“I hope you never see daylight again,” Becker hissed. “Get him out of here.”

An officer took the sobbing Erickson by the arm and led him back outside and through the crowd of police, media and spectators.

“You’re going to make a lot of new friends in lockup,” the cop said, as he stuffed Erickson into the back of the police cruiser. “They love perverts like you.”

T
heir interrogation of Britney lasted three hours and led Waverly to only one conclusion. He had no chance of the police believing his story unless he could turn over Vincent or Ricardo or Rico or whoever he was.

Waverly, Dre and Angela were huddled in Dre’s bedroom, trying to plan their next move. Britney remained tied to a chair in the living room. Dre stepped into the hallway every few minutes or so to make sure she stayed put.

Angela’s call to her colleague Zack, paid off in minutes, rather than hours. There was indeed a link between Live Now and Goldman Investments, Inc., the company Rico had instructed Waverly to purchase the policies for. After checking Ricardo’s aliases, they found four criminal convictions. Two for check fraud, one for larceny and one for assault with a deadly weapon.

“We have to smoke Rico out,” Dre said. “And the only way I know to do that is to convince him that he has a shot at you
and
his money.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Waverly said. “Using me as bait will probably mean I’ll get a bullet to the head.”

“That won’t happen,” Dre said. “I have some guys who can provide protection.”

Angela sat down on the edge of the bed. “Exactly what are you suggesting, Dre?”

“Based on what Britney told us, this whole thing is a scam run by Ricardo-slash-Vincent, probably with the knowledge of Live Now.”

Angela looked up at him. “What you do mean?”

“At first I was thinkin’ that this Rico dude just wanted his money back. But if there is no Rico, just Vincent, he’d have a reason to want you dead. All of this stuff leads straight back to him and he can’t afford to let that happen. But if you’re dead, it would be easy to pin everything on you.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t care about getting his money back?” Angela asked.

“No, I’m sayin’ he might let the money ride if it means he doesn’t have to take a rap for murderin’ a bunch of dying people.”

“That makes sense,” Waverly said. “It’s not really about the money. With all the policies Rico bought, he’s a long way from being in the hole.”

“Yep,” Dre said, nodding. “The dude definitely wants you out of the way. I guess we’re goin’ to have to use Britney to lead him to us.”

“How?” Angela asked.

Dre paused to think. “By makin’ Rico believe he’s goin’ to get to Waverly
and
his money.”

“I’m not following you,” Waverly said.

“Rico doesn’t know that we know that he’s Vincent. The next time he calls you, answer the phone and propose some kind of exchange. Tell him you have somebody else, namely Britney, who’s goin’ to deliver the money.”

“He’s not going to buy that,” Angela said. “He’s going to assume Britney talked to us.”

“You may be right,” Dre said. “That’s why we’re goin’ to let him demand that Waverly show up. But you’re takin’ Britney with you.”

“Show up and do what?” Waverly asked. “Get my head shot off?”

“I got your back,” Dre said. “I’ll call in my boys.”

“No,” Angela said, standing up. “This has gotten way out of hand. If we’re going to do something like this, we need to have the police involved. Ricardo or Vincent or whoever he is probably won’t be coming alone and neither should we.”

“The L.A.P.D. will just screw everything up,” Dre said. “I know some guys we can trust.”

“No,” Angela repeated. “Everything is already a mess. We need to call in the police. First let’s figure out what we’re doing with Britney.” She turned to Waverly. “We need to convince her to play along. The next time Rico calls, you’re going to tell him you have his money. Then we’ll have Britney call him. She has to act like she’s secretly making the call. She can tell him she wasn’t able to call earlier because we’ve been watching her too closely. She has to convince him that we don’t know anything.”

“I’m sure he’s pretty pissed about not findin’ you at that address Britney gave him,” Dre said to Waverly.

“She can just tell him she made a mistake,” Angela continued. “That she didn’t notice that Dre’s name wasn’t on that utility bill.”

Sweat beads dotted Waverly’s forehead. “Don’t you think he’ll sense a setup?”

“Not if we can convince Britney that it’s not,” Angela said. “I get the feeling that she’s really afraid of the guy. There’s no way she wants him to find out that she folded and told us everything. I think she’ll play along if she thinks this is all going to lead to a happy ending.”

“Wait a minute,” Waverly said. “We’ll have to make her think we actually have some money to turn over.”

“I can help with that part,” Dre said quietly.

“We’re not talking about small change,” Waverly said. “This guy is expecting me to hand over three hundred thousand dollars. In cash.”

Dre hesitated, then opened his closet and removed a section of the wall which hid a large, steel safe. He opened it to reveal stacks upon stacks of bills wrapped in rubber bands.

Angela rubbed the back of her neck and looked away.

“You’re willing to give up three hundred grand for me?” Waverly asked, flabbergasted.

“Hell naw,” Dre said, as he relocked the safe. “I’m willin’ to
pretend
to give it away. We’re goin’ to stuff a bunch of bills into a duffel bag and show it to Britney so she can tell Ricardo, or whoever, that she actually saw the money. And when she’s not lookin’ we’re switchin’ bags. No way that money is walkin’ out of this apartment.”

“Sounds like we have a plan then,” Waverly said.

Angela pulled out her BlackBerry.

“Who are you callin’?” Dre asked.

“My friend Zack,” she replied. “I’m not one hundred percent sure we can trust him. But we’ll just have to chance it.”

B
ritney was not at all excited about her role in the money exchange.

“Why did I have to come?” she protested. “Why couldn’t you just do it by yourself?”

She was sitting in the passenger seat of Dre’s borrowed van as they neared Kenneth Hahn State Park. Waverly was behind the wheel. Dre’s friend Mossy had picked Angela and Dre up earlier. They were already stationed someplace in the park out of sight.

“What are you afraid of?” Waverly asked, as he turned off La Cienega and into the park. “Rico’s your boyfriend. You think he’s going to shoot you?”

“Of course not.” Britney locked her arms across her chest and pouted. “Ricardo wouldn’t hurt me. But if something crazy goes down, I don’t wanna get hit by any stray bullets.”

“There’s not going to be any shooting,” Waverly assured her, though he wasn’t exactly sure about that. “You’re going to hand over the money and then we’re getting out of here. Unless, of course, you want to stay with your boyfriend.”

“Uh . . . no,” Britney said. “I . . . I’d rather go back with you.”

“Really? You don’t want to go back home with your boyfriend? I thought you said Rico never hurt anybody.”

Britney huffed and looked out of the window.

When Waverly had finally spoken to Rico by phone, he told him he had the money and would give it to him in exchange for his life. Rico agreed and suggested that Waverly make the delivery after dark in the parking lot of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Waverly vetoed that setting, insisting on a daylight drop off in an area that was far less congested. Waverly didn’t want to run the risk of innocent people getting hurt just in case a shooting did break out.

Dre was the one who suggested Kenneth Hahn State Park. Located in Baldwin Hills, it was one of the most scenic parks in L.A., equipped with a Japanese garden, fishing lake, four playgrounds and more than one hundred picnic tables. The walking trails provided a view of the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Hollywood sign to the north.

It was early afternoon on a Monday and the park was nearly deserted. Waverly stopped at the entrance to pay the parking fee. He glanced around, hoping to spot a uniformed officer. Angela had turned to her colleague Zack, who called in law enforcement to set a trap for Rico.

As it turned out, Baldwin Hills was an unincorporated area manned by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, not the L.A.P.D. Waverly prayed that dozens of gun-toting sheriff’s deputies were hidden around the park, their trigger fingers ready to fire. He looked around for a sign of Rico and was happy that he couldn’t find one.

As he slowly drove the van down into the park, then up a steep incline, Waverly felt increasingly skittish. Angela had assured him that they would be under close watch, but he had little faith that this delivery would take place without any glitches. He simply didn’t have that kind of luck.

When he got to the top of the hill, he spotted Mossy sitting in his car at the end of a dirt path. He wondered if Angela and Dre had gotten out of the car or were hiding in the back seat.

Rico had instructed him to park at the top of the hill near the covered picnic tables. When he finally reached the area, Waverly took in the amazing view. He never even knew this park existed. He could actually see the downtown L.A. skyline.

His BlackBerry chirped and Waverly jumped high enough to hit the ceiling. He knew who was calling.

“Glad you’re on time,” Rico said, when Waverly answered.

“Where are you?” Waverly anxiously glanced around. He still had not cut off the engine.

“Around,” Rico said.

Waverly tried to keep his voice level. “How do you want to do this?”

“Get out of the van with the money,” Rico ordered.

“No way. Your girl—” Waverly caught himself. He couldn’t let Rico know that Britney had exposed him. “Like I told you on the phone, my friend Britney’s bringing you the money.”

Rico chuckled. “Why would you use a woman to do a man’s job?”

“If you want the money, she’s bringing it to you. Otherwise, we’re out of here.” Waverly was still looking around trying to figure out where Rico was hiding.
And where in the hell are the sheriff’s deputies?
He saw a few people milling around. He prayed they were plainclothes cops.

“Fine. Let’s do this,” Rico said. “Tell her to drop the money in the doorway of the men’s restroom. Then go back to the car.”