Conviction: Book 3 of the Detective Ryan Series (19 page)

“You wanna give her your house?”

“No, but she could rent it from me. She’ll have her freedom and the responsibility of taking care of a home. Then we’ll all have our privacy and no one has to worry about walking in on anyone else.”

“I don’t know.”

“I vote yes,” Amanda shouted from the spare bedroom.

“Do I get a vote in this,” I replied.

“Nope,” Amanda yelled which brought made James laugh.

“Of course you do,” he whispered.

“How about we discuss this once the threats die down. I wanna make sure we’re out of danger before making any hasty decisions.”

The fear of being too comfortable was weighing on me, making me wonder if the so called Puppet Master was waiting for just the right moment to come after us.

Chapter 34-Ali

The vibrations of our phones against the nightstands woke me early the next morning. Hearing it coming from both cells, worried me. It meant something happened, something big.

I picked up mine first. There were four missed calls. Two from the station and two from Esposito. I feared what he would say. Was there another murder? Was it someone we knew? When I turned to James, he had the same ghastly look on his face,

I called Esposito back and barely let him greet me before I snapped at him. “What happened?”

“Nothing yet. A.D.A. Reed called me and told me to have you and Thornton meet her in my office immediately. So I suggest you get your asses down here.”

“Yes, sir; on our way.”

James flung the comforter back as he got out of bed. “What is it; a homicide, an arson, or a gang war?”

I glared at him while pulling on my pants. “No, nothing like that, at least not that I know of.”

“Well it better be something like that for him to wake us both up this early. My shift doesn’t start for another two hours.”

“All he said was A.D.A. Reed called and told him to have us meet her in his office A.S.A.P.”

“Great, I get to start off my day off with that ray of sunshine.”

“Cut the crap, James. We both know you were the one that made a horrible first impression on her, and she’s not the type of person that will easily let something like that slide.”

“Yeah, but__”

“But nothing. She’s been doing everything to help us with this case. So like it or not, you’re stuck with her. I just hope she has a lead for us.”

“God, I hope so. I can’t wait to put this whole thing behind us and move forward with our lives.” He brushed his hand over my cheek while pushing a few strands of hair away. “I meant what I said last night. Once this is done, I want us to get serious.”

“I promise, once this is over, we can talk more. Right now, we need to get going before Esposito pops a blood vessel.”

When we entered the station, there was a stillness in the air. There were few officers at their desks which didn’t calm my nerves. I would rather have them cracking jokes or milking the clock so they could get more overtime. Seeing how serious they were, made me uneasy.

I rapped my knuckles against the Lieutenant’s door. “You wanted to see us?”

His head pulled away from the pile of paperwork on his desk. His bushy mustache rose as the corners of his mouth turn upwards. He motioned for us to enter as he pushed the papers aside.

“Come in and have a seat.”

“What’s this all about?” James asked.

“I don’t really quite know. Ms. Reed asked if she could borrow a few officers, told me to bring you two down here, and said she would be back in a couple of hours.”

“So we’re supposed to sit here and wait until she decides to show up? That’s a bit rude to rush us down here, if she wasn’t planning on getting back for a while.”

For once I had to agree with James. We were woken up, called-in early, and rushed down to the station for nothing. I was fuming and demanded an explanation. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait long for one.

The station doors slammed against the walls as two men in suits entered. One was shouting loudly grabbing everyone’s attention as he approached the office doors.

“This is harassment,” the man screamed. “This is absurd; you’re arresting me for no reason.”

“No one said you were arrested,” one of the officers said. “I told you we were bringing you in for questioning. That’s why we picked up your lawyer too.”

I turned to see Mr. Lewis walking side-by-side with a white haired main in a navy blue and black striped business suit.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lewis was in the station with his lawyer. “Someone mind telling me why you brought him down here?” I asked.

“I was following up on your lead, Detective Ryan.” The cold, nonchalant voice of Ms. Reed came from behind the officers. She appeared at their sides as she directed them to take Mr. Lewis and Mr. Langston to one of the rooms. She stopped in front of Esposito’s door and smiled at us. “I decided to check into Mr. Lewis a bit more after our conversation yesterday. Apparently, he was named beneficiary to Matthew’s life insurance policy. That alone was enough proof to get the warrants we needed. I arranged for two uniforms to bring him in for questioning so that way neither of you could be brought up on harassment charges.”

James rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he would be forced to admit I was right. “Thanks,” he mumbled. I jabbed his side with my elbow. “Look, I know we got off to a rough start. I just wanted to apologize for being an idiot when we met.”

She raised an eyebrow, giving him a look of uncertainty while considering his apology. “I really don’t have time for this. We have three homicides and an arson someone needs to account for, and a suspect in custody waiting to be interrogated.” She stared at me as if I was supposed to keep him in line. She turned and looked into James’ eyes. “I appreciate and accept your apology. Now, can we get down to business and see what Mr. Lewis knows?”

The three of us entered the interrogation room. James stood off to the side against the wall. Ms. Reed took the lead as we sat across from Mr. Langston and his client.

“Thank you both for coming down here,” she began.

“Thank us,” Mr. Lewis snapped. “It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Your officers unjustly handcuffed me and dragged me down to the station.” He turned to his attorney. “I want you to start a lawsuit against this department for harassment.”

Ms. Reed folded her hands neatly in front of her, maintaining her composure. “Correct me if I’m wrong Mr. Lewis, but I believe before today you were visited only by Detectives Ryan and Thornton only once. Is that correct?”

Mr. Lewis was red in the face as he glared back at the Assistant District Attorney. “I’ve been harassed by your people too much to count.”

“And when was the first time you met these two detectives?”

“I don’t know; a few days ago, I think.”

“A few days ago, or yesterday?” The scowl on his face indicated the real answer. “You see, Detective Ryan didn’t know about you or your business until yesterday morning.”

Mr. Lewis leaned to his side, whispering in his attorney’s ear. Mr. Langston nodded and smirked. “My client would have no knowledge of when Detective Ryan knew about Mr. Lewis or his business.”

“We could easily solve the issue of when these Detectives first arrived at Mr. Lewis’ office by checking the security cameras.” I watched as she waited for a response. “No, then let’s not waste any more of your time like you have with these fine detectives. Now you can either tell us what we want to know, or we can make a public display that you and your company is under investigation.”

Lewis banged his fist on the table. “This is outrageous. Harassing me wasn’t bad enough, now you want to threaten me?”

I watched Ms. Reed’s eyes become more serious than I had ever seen. “Believe me; this is no threat, it’s a warning.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder, squaring up with Mr. Langston. Her cold stare never wavered. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. We have under good authority that someone helped the Campus Killer, Nick DeFalco, and Dr. Claire Cain commit the murders of ten people. There have been three other deaths since Dr. Cain’s arrest that seem to be connected. Your client is deeply connected to one of the victims and greatly benefits from his death.”

“I didn’t do anything to him,” Mr. Lewis snapped.

“Ms. Reed, if you had anything on my client, you would have torn my client’s office apart, he would already be in jail, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So please, spare us the fishing expedition. We both know you’re bluffing.” He motioned to Mr. Lewis to get up, but Ms. Reed had other plans.

“If I were bluffing, would I have these?” She opened the folder and displayed several warrants including the search of Mr. Lewis’ office and home. “Now we have tried to do this the easy way. We’ve given your client a couple of opportunities to tell us what he knows and hand over any evidence that could point us in the direction of another suspect. But if you continue to refuse, then we’ll just have to let the public know that Mr. Lewis is the prime suspect in this case.”

“You fucking bitch,” Mr. Lewis snapped. He jumped up from his chair and lunged at Ms. Reed. James and I stepped in to restrain him as his attorney stepped around the table.

“I apologize for my client’s outburst. Please allow me to speak with him privately so I can help sort this out.”

“You have five minutes to talk some sense into him. If he’s not willing to cooperate after that, we will use these warrants.” Ms. Reed walked to the door and signaled for us to follow.

I waited until the door closed before speaking. “You really think they’re gonna cooperate after that?”

“Just wait for it,” she replied while counting down. She held up her hand for us to see. “Five…four…three…two...one.”

The knock on the door indicated they were ready. I opened it to find Mr. Langston standing there. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

I grabbed a folder filled with pictures in hopes Mr. Lewis could identify one of the killers, a victim, or anyone else. I returned moments later taking a seat at the table.

“I’d like to begin with your relationship with Matthew Alvarado,” I began. “How long have you known him?”

“He’s been a friend of mine since college. After we graduated, he decided he wanted to help more people. He told me about his self-help company idea, and I decided to invest in his dream.”

“Did you ever argue or fight?” James asked.

“Of course we did. Friends fight all the time, but we always got passed whatever caused the argument.”

“Tell me about the insurance policy you took out on him not long before he was murdered.”

“It was Matthew’s idea to take one out on each other. He said with all the craziness going on with people getting murdered, it would be best if we made sure the other person was well taken care of.”

It was starting to sound like Matthew knew something we all didn’t, which made me wonder how much he really knew. “Did you have any other partners or silent partners?” I asked.

“No other partner, but we did have a few regulars who did presentations and joined us on stage.”

“We will need a list of names and their pictures immediately.”

Langston nodded as his client continued. “There were three regulars and a couple of guys that didn’t come around often. But yes, I can get you their information.”

Whatever the attorney said, must have flipped a switch for Mr. Lewis. He was much calmer and more reasonable to speak to, which also made him cooperative.

There was one more chance I was willing to take. Opening up the folder, I took out photos of the victims and the two people that were connected to those homicides. “Mr. Lewis, would you please look through the pictures and let me know if you see anyone familiar in them.”

Mr. Lewis flipped through the pictures of the victims first, mumbling no after each one. His eyes stared at the picture of Nick DeFalco. He held it in one hand while staring at Claire’s phot.

“Do you know either of them?” I asked.

“This one,” he held up DeFalco’s picture first, “I saw him on the cover of the newspaper.”

“You’ve never met him before?”

“I don’t know. He might’ve come in for a meeting or two; I can’t remember.” He put the picture down and glared at Claire’s picture. “This one is Dr. Cain.”

“What do you know about her?”

“I know that we went out on a couple of dates, but kept quiet about her life. Most of the conversations were focused on me.

“How long did you two date?”

“A couple of weeks. We were nothing serious and never went beyond a kiss at the end of the night.”

“How did you meet Dr. Cain?”

“She was at the meetings.”

“Was she there often?”

He hesitated. I didn’t know if that was him thinking about the times he saw her, or if he was thinking of how many times he was willing to tell us.

“I’d say about once a week.”

“Was she ever there with someone or talking to anyone else there, anyone you can think of?”

He shook his head, putting me back at square one. There were too many questions left on the table, but Mr. Lewis refused to give us those answers.

“We want those names of the frequent and infrequent presenters before the end of the day,” Ms. Reed demanded. “In the meantime, these officers will escort you back to your office where they will discretely use the search warrant to look for any videos and logs for the meetings. Do we have a deal?”

Mr. Langston conversed with his client who nodded in agreement. “Yes, I believe so. My client will fully cooperate with the investigation including releasing any videos he may have.”

Ms. Reed shook his hand and exited the room with Mr. Langston and Mr. Lewis following her out the door.

“You really think he’s gonna give us all of it?” James asked.

“We’ll find out soon enough.”