Detective (63 page)

532 Arthur Halley

I checked later; Gustav Ernst had a
brother, Zachary, who lives in the
Caymans."

"I can see how you wrote books,"
Cruz said. "So how'd the IRS get
in?"

"Cynthia did it. Seems she didn't
want to break U.S. laws, so she got
a tax adviser in fact, I have his
name and a Lauderdale address who
told her it was all okay providing
she declared the interest and paid
tax, which she did. There was a
letter from the IRS."

"Of which you have details, no
doubt."

"Yes."

"Remind me," Cruz said, "never to
put my briefcase down when you're
around." His face twitched with a
halfsmile. "There isn't much that's
funny in all this, except Cynthia
Ernst was such a smartass about
being legal, she created evidence
that could work against her. On the
other hand, having all that money
doesn't prove a goddam thing, unless
. . ."

"Unless what?"

"Unless that smirk on your
face which I don't much like means
there's something else you haven't
told me. So if there is, let's
hear."

"Okay," Jensen said. "There's a
tape recording I have, another tape.
It's in a safe-deposit box to which
I have the only key, and on that
tape is proof of everything I've
told you. And, oh yes, those other
papers the one with Cynthia's
handwriting about the Palacios, my
notes from the Caymans, and the
airline ticket they're in the box,
too."

"Cut the smart talk." Cruz moved
within inches of Jensen's face and
whispered menacingly, "This is not
some fucking game, Jensen. You could
be on your way to the electric
chair, so if you've an important
tape recording, you'd damn well
better tell me everything about
it rzow."

Jensen nodded compliantly, then went
on to describe the

DETECTIVE 533

recording he had made secretly a year
and nine months earlier, during a
lunch in Boca Raton. It was the tape
on which Cynthia had approved hiring
Virgilio to murder her parents;
agreed she would pay two hundred
thousand dollars each to Virgilio and
Jensen; explained her own plan to
make the murders look like other
serial killings; and was told by
Jensen that Virgilio had committed
the wheelchair murder, knowledge she
had subsequently kept to herself.

"Jesus Christ!" Cruz paused,
considering. "Add that all up and it
could change everything . . . Well,
not everything. But quite a lot."

"My client is willing to cooperate in
return for certain considerations,"
Stephen Cruz informed Knowles when
the session in the Homicide interview
room resumed.

"Cooperate in what way?" Curzon
Knowles asked. "Because we certainly
have all the evidence we need to
convict Mr. Jensen for the murders of
Naomi Jensen and Kilburn Holmes.
Also, by the way things look, we can
probably get the death penalty."

Jensen paled. Involuntarily, he
reached out and touched Cruz's arm.
"Go on, tell him.''

Cruz swung toward Jensen and glared.

With a slight smile, Knowles asked,
"Tell me what?"

Cruz recovered his composure.
"Looking at it all from here, it
appears you have a good deal less
evidence with which to confront
Commissioner Cynthia Ernst."

"I don't see why that concerns you,
Steve, but since you mention it,
there is enough. At the time she was
a sworn police officer, and
criminally delinquent by aiding,
abetting, and concealing a crime. We
would probably ask for twenty years
in prison."

534 Arthur Halley

"And probably find a judge who'll
give her five, or maybe two. She
might even walk."

"Walking's impossible, though I
still don't see "

"You will in a moment," Cruz
assured him. "Please listen to this:
With the state's cooperation, he can
give you a much bigger prize Cynthia
Ernst on a platter as the
hidden-hand murderer of her parents,
Gustav and Eleanor Ernst." In the
interview room there was a sudden
stillness and the sound of indrawn
breath. All eyes were on Cruz.
"Whatever penalty you sought in that
event, Curzon, would be yours and
Adele's decision but obviously there
you could go the limit."

Part of an attorney's training was
never to show surprise, and Knowles
did not. Just the same, he hesitated
perceptibly before asking, "And by
what piece of wizardry could your
client do that?"

"He has, safely hidden away where
even a search warrant won't reach,
two documents that incriminate Ms.
Ernst, but also more important a
tape recording. Unedited. On that
recording is every bit of evidence
you'd need to convict, spoken in
Cynthia Ernst's own voice and
words.''

Cruz went on to describe, from
notes made earlier, a broad outline
of what the tape contained
concerning Cynthia, though he
omitted any direct reference to
Patrick Jensen or to the wheelchair
murder. Instead, Cruz said, "There
is also on the tape, and I suppose
you could consider it a bonus, the
name of another individual who is
guilty of another, entirely
different murder, so far unsolved."

"Is your client involved in both
of those additional crimes?"

Cruz smiled. "That is information
which, in my client's interest, I
must withhold for the time being."

DETECTIVE 535

"Have you listened to this alleged
tape recording yourself, counselor?
Or seen the documents, whatever they
are?"

"No, I haven't." Cruz had
anticipated the question. "But I
have confidence in the accuracy of
what has been described to me, and I
remind you that my client is well
versed in words and language.
Furthermore, if you and I reached an
agreement and the evidence fell
short of what was promised, anything
we had arranged would be rene-
gotiable."

"It would be null and void," Knowles
said.

Cruz shrugged. "I suppose so."

"But if everything did work out the
way you say, what would you want in
return?"

"For my client? Taking everything
into account allowing him to plead
manslaughter."

Knowles threw back his head and
laughed. "Steve, I really have to
hand it to you! You have the most
incredible balls. How you can ask
for a slap on the wrist in these
circumstances, and do it with a
straight face, I really don't know."

Cruz shrugged. "Sounded reasonable
to me. But if you don't like the
idea, what's your counteroffer?"

"I don't have one, because at this
point you and I have gone as far as
we can," Knowles told him. "Any
decisions from here on must be Adele
Montesino's, and she may want to see
us together, probably today." The
attorney turned to Ainslie.
"Malcolm, let's break this up. I
need to use a phone."

Knowles had left for the state
attorney's headquarters, while
Stephen Cruz returned to his
downtown office, agreeing to be
available when needed.

536 Arthur Halley

Meanwhile, Newbold, aware that the
Police Department's role was
becoming more complex, had advised
his superior, Major Manolo Yanes,
commander of the Crimes Against
Persons Unit, of the broad issues
pending. Yanes, in turn, had spoken
with Major Mark Figueras, who, as
head of Criminal Investigations,
summoned an immediate conference in
his office.

Newbold arrived, along with
Ainslie and Ruby Bowe, to find
Figueras and Yanes waiting. Seated
around a rectangular conference
table with Figueras at the head, he
began vigorously, "Let's go over
everything that's known. Everything.
"

Normally, while general Homicide
activity was reported to superiors,
specific case details seldom were on
the principle that the fewer people
who knew the secrets of
investigations, the more likely they
would stay secret. But now, at
Newbold's prompting, Ainslie
described his early doubts about the
Ernst case, followed by Elroy Doil's
confession to fourteen killings but
his vehement denial of having killed
the Ernsts. "Of course we knew Doil
was a congenital liar, but with the
lieutenant's approval, I did more
digging." Ainslie explained his
search through records, the
inconsistencies with the Ernst
murders, and Bowe's research at
Metro-Dade and Tampa.

He motioned to Ruby, who took
over, Figueras and Yanes following
her report closely. Ainslie then
summarized: "The test was had Doll
told me the truth about everything
else, apart from the Ernsts? As it
turned out, he had, which was when I
really did believe he hadn't killed
the Ernsts."

"It's not proof, of course,"
Figueras mused, "but a fair
assumption, Sergeant, which I'd
share."

It was apparent that the two
senior of firers were looking to
Ainslie as the principal figure in
the discussion, clearly

DETECTIVE 537

regarding him with respect and,
strangely it seemed, at moments with
a certain deference.

Next, Ainslie had Bowe describe her
examination of the boxes from the
Ernst house, the revelations about
Cynthia's childhood, and, finally,
the discovery of the evidence proving
Patrick Jensen a murderer, evidence
that Cynthia had concealed all of
that detail so new that it had not,
until today, progressed beyond
Homicide's domain.

Following it all was the arrest of
Jensen earlier that day, prompting
Jensen's accusations against Cynthia
Ernst, and the promise of documents
and a tape recording.

Figueras and Yanes, though
accustomed to a daily diet of crime,
were clearly startled. "Do we have
any evidence," Yanes asked, "anything
at all, linking Cynthia Ernst to the
murders of her parents?"

Ainslie answered, "At this moment,
sir, no. Which is why Jensen's
documents and tape if they're as
incriminating as his lawyer
claims are so important. The state
attorney should have everything
tomorrow."

"Right now," Figueras said, his
glance including Newbold, "I'll have
to report this to the top. And if
there is an arrest of a city
commissioner it must be handled very,
very carefully. This is beyond hot."
He removed his glasses, rubbed his
eyes, and muttered, "My father wanted
me to be a doctor."

"Let's not waste time playing games,"
Florida's state attorney, Adele
Montesino, said sternly to Stephen
Cruz. "Curzon told me about your
fantasy that your client plead guilty
to manslaughter, so okay, you've had
your little joke. Now we'll deal with
reality. This is my offer: Assuming
the documents and the tape recording
offered by your client are as good as
he claims, and he is willing to

538 Arthur Halley

testify confirming what is there,
for him we will not seek the death
penalty."

"Whoa!" Raising his voice, Cruz
faced her squarely.

It was late afternoon, and they
were in her impressive office, with
its mahogany-paneled walls and
bookcases laden with heavy legal
volumes. A large window looked down
on a courtyard with a fountain;
beyond were office towers and a
seascape in the distance. The desk
at which Montesino sat, if used as
a dining table, would have seated
twelve. Behind the desk, in an
outsized padded chair capable of
tilting and swiveling in all
directions, was the state
attorney short and heavyset, and
fulfilling once more her
professional reputation as a pit
bull.

Stephen Cruz sat facing Montesino,
Curzon Knowles on his right.

"Whoa!" Cruz repeated. "That's no
concession, none at all when what my
client is being held for is a crime
of passion . . . you remember
passion, Adele love and haste." A
sudden smile accompanied the words.

"Thank you for that reminder,
Steve." Montesino, whom few presumed
to address by her first name, was
noted for her sense of humor and a
love of bandying words. "But here's
a reminder for you: the possibility,
which you and your client raised
voluntarily, that he may be involved
in another crime the Ernst murders,
a case which is clearly murder one.
In that event my offer not to seek
death is generous."

"An interpretation of generosity
would depend on the alternative,"
Cruz countered.

"You know it perfectly well. Life in
prison."

"I presume there would be a
rider a recommendation at sentencing
that after ten years, clemency might
be recommended to the governor."

"No way!" Montesino said. "All of
that went out the

DETECTIVE 539

window when we abolished the Parole
Commission."

As all three knew, Cruz was
indulging in rhetoric. Since 1995 a
Florida life sentence had meant
exactly that life. True, after
serving ten years a prisoner could
petition the state governor for
clemency, but for most especially if
the conviction had been for
first-degree murder any hope would
be slim.

If Cruz was dismayed, he didn't
show it. "Aren't you overlooking
something? That, given those harsh
alternatives, my client may decide
not to produce the tape and
documents we've spoken of, and take
his chances on a jury trial?"

Montesino gestured to Knowles.
"We've discussed that possibility,"
Knowles said, "and in our opinion
your client has a personal vendetta
against Ms. Ernst, who has also been
named in this whole matter. And to
pursue that vendetta he will produce
the tape and whatever else, anyway."

"What we will do," Adele Montesino
added, "is take a fresh look at
possible plea bargains when all the
evidence is in and when we know what
your client actually did. But no
other guarantees than the one I've
already offered. So no more
argument, no more discussion. Good
afternoon, counselor."

Knowles escorted Cruz out. "If you
want to deal, get back to us fast,
and by fast I mean today."

"Oh Jesus! God! The whole of the
rest of my life in jail. It's
impossible, inconceivable!" Jensen's
voice rose to a wail.