Hacker For Hire (Ted Higuera Series Book 2) (22 page)

“Next time you see
that bitch is gonna be in a court room. We got her nailed. She’s gonna be
spendin’ the next five years as the state’s guest in Gig Harbor.”

Ted shut up. He
sat stoned faced while his mind raced a million miles an hour. Was Cat really
that stupid? Had she crossed the line? She never took the law too seriously. He
knew that Cat and Jeff pushed the limits. She often said that they did what the
police couldn’t. Had she gone too far this time? Had she pissed off the wrong
people?

“Cat got your
tongue?” The burly detective got up. “Last chance kid. Look, I’m tryin’ to help
ya here. How’s your mama gonna feel, having to come visit you on Sundays in the
pen? Do yourself a favor.”

“Don’t say a
word.” The door burst open. A slender woman with short brown hair and blazing
eyes charged into the room. “Jennifer Trask.” She thrust a business card at the
startled detective. “I’m Mr. Higuera’s attorney. Ted, don’t say a word to this
guy.”

The cavalry had
arrived. Ted had never met Cat’s lawyer, but he’d heard about her. She might be
a predatory divorce lawyer and a fierce advocate for woman’s rights, but could
she get Ted off on a criminal charge?

****

“What the fuck?” It
was all Ted could do to hold back the explosion until they exited the Public
Safety Building into a dreary, gray Seattle day. “Cat, what’s goin’ on?”

Jenifer posted
bail, but they still had the charges hanging over their heads. Ted, Catrina and
Jennifer stood on the corner of Fourth and James, unable to decide what
direction to go. Ted and Catrina had been unceremoniously arrested without
even being allowed to get a coat. The breeze blowing up through the concrete
canyons from the bay cut through them like a knife.

“I have my car in
a lot,” Jennifer said. “It’s only a couple of blocks.”

“We’ll get a cab
back to the office.” Catrina glanced up Fourth looking for a taxi.

“Cat, talk to me.”
Ted couldn’t contain himself. “What’s going on here?”

Ted stared at his
boss. Her short blonde hair was matted to her skull.

“Petrocelli.” Cat
slowly started walking. “He’s a friend of my ex. No, he’s a real bud. He’s got
a man-crush on Mike.

“He was the lead
attorney on the sexual harassment suit. Jennifer beat him badly in court. He’d
give anything to give Jenn and me a black eye.”

“BLACK EYE! Cat,
we’re talking felony here. That fat cop said I could get five years.”

“Ted.” Jennifer
put her hand on Ted’s bicep. “Don’t worry about it. He doesn’t have enough
evidence. We’ve got conflicting complaining parties. Metcalf made the
complaint, but Alison Clarke gave you permission. This won’t hold up in court.”

“What do I tell my
parents? I’ve never been in trouble. How do I explain to my mom that I’ve been
arrested?”

Several cabs
passed by. Catrina made no effort to hail them.

“Ted,” Catrina
wiped the water out of Ted’s eyes and brushed back his unruly lock of hair.
“This will all blow over. Jenn can handle it. When we nail Metcalf, Petrocelli
will have to drop the charges.”

“What if we don’t
nail Metcalf? What about the impersonating an officer of the law? I didn’t do
that, but you and Jeff did. You’re in deep shit.”

“They’ve been
there before.” Jennifer pulled a small umbrella out of her bag. “It’s all part
of the game. They pile on the charges to up the ante. They want to put pressure
on us. Force someone to crack and make a deal.”

“That someone is
you,” Catrina said. “They see you as the weak link. They’ll offer you a
sweetheart deal to get to Jeff and me.” She stared into his eyes for the longest
minute.

“Don’t talk to
anyone about this.” Jennifer watched the traffic signal turn to “walk.” “You
don’t tell your mama about this without me there. Understand?” She stepped off
the curb and started to walk away.

She stopped in the
intersection and turned to Ted. “Well?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

Ted and Catrina
stood and watched Jennifer walk up the street in silence.

“I don’t like it,”
Ted finally said to Catrina. “This is all too gray for me.” Ted took off
running as he saw an MT66 coming down Fourth.

Capitol Hill is
one of the most eclectic neighborhoods in a city of eclectic neighborhoods. Ted
always felt like he was in the cantina scene from
Star Wars
when he
walked down Broadway. Tattooed, pierced kids with green hair and red high-top
sneakers were the norm. Street people blended in with cross-dressers and
regular citizens. Same sex couples strolled hand in hand. Nothing he saw on The
Hill surprised him.

The Deluxe Bar and
Grill sat at the north end of the Broadway district. Chris waited for him at a
table next to the glassed in fireplace. The fire gave a warm glow to the dark
dining room. A large wooden bar dominated the room, complete with a red-haired
Irish barman. The flagrantly gay, middle-aged waiter dropped off the menus.

“Our soup today is
chicken vegetable. You’ll love it, honey.” He winked at Ted.

“Damn, I hate it
when people think I’m gay.” Ted glared at the menu.

“Don’t worry about
it, bro.” Chris picked up his bottle of Guinness. “Dwayne’d like everyone to be
gay.”

“Yeah, I’m more
worried about what they’re gonna think in the state prison at Walla Walla. That’s
a dangerous place to be gay.”

Chris took a drag
on his Guinness. “Don’t sweat it. You’re not going to Walla Walla. I’ve done
some research on Anthony Petrocelli. He’s an ambitious son of a bitch, but he
isn’t that good.”

Chris stopped
while Dwayne returned to the table. Ted ordered a Henry’s Private Reserve.

“Petrocelli is an
ambitious hack.” Chris looked around the room and kept his voice low. “He wants
to be District Attorney. Dad says that he’s gearing up to run against the
incumbent next year. He’s positioning himself as a real ‘law and order’ type of
guy, a man of the people. He wants to paint our current DA as a liberal
criminal lover.”

“That doesn’t
sound too good for Teddy.”

“Dad says that he
couldn’t litigate himself out of a paper bag. This guy’s lost more cases than the
Mariners lose ball games.”

They sat in
silence for a minute while Ted ruminated on his misfortune. How was he going to
explain this to his family?

Chris finally
broke the silence. “What was jail like?”

“You don’t ever
want to know.” Ted recounted his jailhouse experience.

“I guess if you
hang around with criminals, eventually you’re going to end up in jail.” Chris
picked up the menu again.

“Hey, dude, Cat’s
not a criminal. At least, I don’t think she’s a criminal.” Ted stopped and
thought a moment. “I think she’s on the up and up. She may bend the law a
little, but she’s doin’ it for a good cause. She really cares about people.
She’s tryin’ ta help.”

Dwayne returned
with Ted’s Henry’s and they ordered. Chris went for a peppered-bacon Tillamook
cheeseburger and Ted opted for the pork chop with chipotle glaze.

“So, can you trust
her, bro?” Chris polished off his beer and raised the bottle to get the
bartender’s attention.

“I think so.”

“She got you into
this mess.”

“Yeah, but she
knows her way around. She’s got this really good lawyer.”

“Jennifer Trask. I
did a little research on her too. She’s a street fighter. She’ll do anything
for her clients, but she does mostly divorce and custody cases. I don’t think
she handles many criminal cases.”

Ted studied the
worried look on his friend’s face.

“Here’s the good
news.” Chris started up again. “When she does take a criminal case, she usually
wins. She handled a murder case a couple of years ago. A woman was accused of
killing her husband. Trask used the battered woman defense and she won.”

“So, did you talk
to your dad? Can he help me?”

The food arrived.
Chris dug into his burger with gusto.

“I think you
better stick with Jennifer.” Chris popped a French fry in his mouth. “Dad can’t
help you. It’d be a conflict of interest.”

Ted took an
unenthusiastic bite of mashed sweet potatoes.

“Dad says that
there are rumors about Jennifer. She bats for the other team. He thinks
Jennifer and Cat might have a thing going on.”

“Shit, that’s all I
need. They’re emotionally involved. How’s all of this gonna help me?” Ted
played with his pork chop.

“Amigo, that’s
good news. Jennifer will do a good job. She’s like a mama bear. She’ll fight to
protect her cubs.”

Ted’s Blackberry
vibrated on his belt. A text message. He grabbed it, the screen said, “Lks like
U finally grew some balls. CU @ Ruby’s -10 am.” The sender was Justin
McCormack.

****

Ten in the morning
was about when Ted began to function. He was anything but a morning person.

Ruby’s, not far
off of Pioneer Square, was an old-time coffeehouse. With a giant copper
espresso machine and a tiny stage, Ted could picture beatniks reading
unintelligible poetry to the beat of bongo drums here once upon a time. The
Twenty-First Century brought a whole new clientele.

Why are all the
women dressed in black?
Ted watched black dresses, black suits, black
skirts, black sweaters, black coats, black handbags and black shoes parade back
and forth through the coffee shop.
I guess they think it makes them look
slimmer.
He didn’t pick out a single set of brightly colored clothes.

“Well, my man.”
Justin blew in the door like a hurricane. “It looks like you’ve got yourself in
a shit-load of trouble.” He raised a finger at the waitress and motioned
towards Ted’s table. She nodded and brought an oversized cup of black coffee.

“Mornin’, Justin.”
Ted still didn’t understand why Justin wanted to see him.

“So, how’s life
working for Seattle’s stupidest PI?”

“Cat’s not that
bad. Her heart’s in the right place. She wants to do good.”

Justin unbuttoned
his heavy wool coat and sat back in his chair. “She’s not going to be doing
much of that from the Women’s State Pen in Gig Harbor. If you’re going to bend
the law, you have to be smart about it.”

“Is that why you
wanted to see me?” Ted felt the bitterness in his voice. “I’ve got my own
problems.”

“I like you,
Higuera. You’ve got some talent, some potential,” Justin said. “You could go
someplace in this business, if you can manage to stay out of prison.”

Ted sipped his
coffee and just stared at his old boss.

“I had a little
trouble with the law myself when I was young. I learned how to handle these
things. If you’re smart, you can run circles around these dullards.”

“What’s smart?”
Could
Justin have a way out?

“Smart is playing
ball with me. I have friends in low places. I can get you out of this.”

“How? What can you
do?”

“I know Anthony Petrocelli.
I’ve made a sizable donation to his campaign fund. He owes me. I think I can
get him to see things my way.”

“Why are you doing
this? What’s in it for you?”

“It’s a win-win.
You’ve learned a few things out there in the real world. You come back to work
for me. I get Petrocelli to lay off you. I get a promising employee back, you
owe me big-time, He gets Cat Flaherty, he owes me bigger-time. We all live happily
ever after.”

“Why would Petrocelli
owe you?” Ted sipped the last drip of coffee from his cup.

“Because you’re
going to turn State’s evidence. You testify in court, say what he wants you to
say, and the charges against you get dropped. You’re just a small fish in this
game. He has a hard on for your boss. He’d sell his soul to put her away.”

“He got to you
didn’t he?” Ted glared at his old boss.

Justin just sat
back and returned Ted’s stare.

Ted felt the heat crawl
up his face. “I don’t get it. Why does he hate Cat so much?”

“Two reasons.
First of all, Flaherty and her dike lawyer beat Petrocelli in a sexual
harassment suit. It was the biggest settlement the City ever made. A black mark
on his record that he needs to erase. Secondly, the cops hate her. She’s
showing them up all the time. She always takes the wife’s side in abuse cases. He
needs the SPD’s backing to get elected. If he puts Flaherty away, they’ll have
to endorse him.”

“This is nuts.”
Ted stood. “This isn’t about justice. It’s not about breaking the law. It’s
about pure ambition. They don’t care about what’s right or wrong. The only care
about themselves.”

“Get off your high
horse, Higuera.” Justin stood to face Ted. “This is the real world. Our
criminal justice system isn’t about justice, it’s about winning. Do you think
that Cat Flaherty really gives a shit about you? She’d cut you loose in a
heartbeat, if it meant walking free. You better take Petrocelli’s offer before
she does.”

“Fuck you. I know
Cat. She’ll never turn on me.”

****

Catrina sat in the
darkened living room of her turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Victorian on Capitol
Hill. Flames dancing in the fire place cast ghostly shadows in the room. The
Seattle
PI
sat open and unread in her lap. The reading light on the side table
provided the only illumination in the house, aside from the weak glow from the
fireplace. An empty glass with a lemon wedge, mint leaves and ice cubes was all
that remained of her iced tea.

She sat back in
her overstuffed chair, her short blonde hair dangling over the chair back.
“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” Her voice was barely audible.

The night was cool
and the fire provided more atmosphere than heat. She shuddered and pulled her
flannel bathrobe tighter around her.

Now what?
Jennifer was a good lawyer, but they’d been caught dead to rights. That sap
Chung at the bank, hadn’t been the pushover that he appeared to be. She and
Jeff
had
impersonated an officer of the law. They
had
pretexted.

Pretexted.
A fancy new legal term. Pretending to be someone they weren’t in order to get
information from a witness. If she still carried a badge, it would be called
good police work. Now she was looking at five years.

Her cell phone
vibrated on the table next to her chair. She slowly turned her head to stare at
the unwanted interruption. She didn’t want to answer the phone. She didn’t want
to talk to anybody. What she really wanted was a drink.

Her old friend
Jack. Her right hand trembled as she felt the glass in her hand. She licked her
lips. Her tongue felt swollen. Just one drink. That’s all, only one. She could
handle it. She could stop anytime she wanted.

Yeah, sure.
How many times had she told her sponsor that one?

The phone vibrated
again.

Don’t they get
the message? I don’t want to talk.

She picked up the
phone and looked at the incoming number.

Tom.

Did he have some
news for her? Were they dropping the charges?

“Tom?”

“You’re too late.”
Tom didn’t even bother with a greeting.

“Too late for
what?”

“Your suspect. I
looked at your DVD. McGinty and I drove over to Millennium Systems this
evening. We found him in his office.”

“Who?” Catrina’s
mind slowly came back from that faraway place. The gears began to click.
“Metcalf. What happened?”

“Looks like a
heart attack. We found him slumped over his desk.”

“It can’t be. Tom,
that’s too much coincidence. Has the coroner examined him yet?”

“No. And I don’t
expect that he will. With a back log of cases, we have a natural death. I don’t
think they’ll waste the time on this one. His housekeeper told us that he has a
history of heart trouble.”

Catrina
really
needed that drink. “What about surveillance tapes? Did you look at the tapes?”

There was a pause.
“Funny thing. We asked Security for the DVD. They didn’t have it. Said the
camera musta malfunctioned.”

“Don’t you think
that’s a little fishy? Why would the security camera inside the chairman of the
board’s office malfunction on this one day of all days? Millennium Systems is a
world-class technology company. Don’t you think they should be able to keep a
security camera working? And what happens if one fails? Don’t you think that
guards would be there in a heartbeat to make sure something hasn’t gone wrong? Especially
with what’s been going on there?”

Tom didn’t respond
for a long time. He was processing Catrina’s question. Or was he thinking about
something else?

“Cat, what aren’t
you telling me? What
has
been going on there? How are you involved in
this investigation? How did you get that DVD?”

“Uh. . .” Catrina
needed to stall for time. “Can you talk to the coroner?”

“Cat. Stop it.
Tell me what’s going on. You’ve been indicted for a felony. You’re facing hard
time. You’re up to your ears in a murder, now this. You better come clean with
me.”

Catrina sat
silent, holding the phone to her ear.

“Okay, I’m going
to say it," Tom said. "You don’t want to hear it but I’m going to say
it anyway. I love you. That’s right. In my own sick, misguided way, I’ve fallen
in love with a woman I can’t have. Now this. I’m telling you, Cat, I may love
you, but I’m not going to lose my badge for you. ‘Fess up.”

Tears flowed from
her eyes.
Damn.
She hated to go all girly now. She needed to be strong,
but she couldn’t even catch her breath enough to answer.

“I . . . have a
source . . . Inside MS . . .”