Icy Betrayal (15 page)

TWENTY-NINE

T
he group gathered around a conference table in the Investigations Bureau. While Mick was pleased they’d scooped up Lennox, he was none too happy the other key suspect was still at large.

“I want Lisa Sullivan,” Mick said firmly. Mia gave Keller a quick glance across the table. He looked as surprised as anyone that Sullivan had been a no-show.

“We’ve got Lennox, and he’s the bigger fish in this thing, but we need to find the woman. And we need to find her fast. The press is going to get wind of this, and they’re going to start asking questions.”

The captain turned to Mark Archer.

“Mark, how much does Sanchez at the News-Press know about this case? Did you tell her we were looking for two people in connection to the murder?”

“I didn’t give her a lot of specifics about the case, but I did indicate that we believed a conspiracy was behind the homicide. She’s not stupid. She can draw her own conclusions when she learns we arrested only one person today. She’ll definitely be asking me about it, but I’m not sure what exactly she will put in her article.”

Mick responded, “Well, we can go one of two ways on this. We can just play up the arrest of Lennox today, not mention a conspiracy, and just let people believe we picked him up for Lombard’s murder. People won’t naturally assume he had help. We will eventually have to come clean about it, though, and when we do there will be some finger pointing asking why we didn’t say any of this at the time of Lennox’s arrest.”

Archer interjected, “Yeah, but we can always say we kept it quiet for the good of the investigation, that outlining the motive at these very early stages would have compromised the case. We do it all the time in homicide cases. Then, when we do find her, we tell the press that the investigation led us to another person we believe participated in the killing of Lombard.”

The captain answered, “That’s true or we can just lay it all out there. We do have one in custody, and we can say that we don’t believe he acted alone, and his accomplice in this murder is Lisa Sullivan. And then we plaster her picture all over the state of Colorado. She’ll be hotter than the bottom of my laptop. Some alert citizen will spot her and call it in. You know the press—her picture will spread like wildfire.”

Mick looked across the table. “Mia, Jack, I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

Keller looked at Mia and nodded, giving her the floor.

“I think we should go public with Sullivan. I say we put her picture on the friggin Nancy Stein cable show. We tell the story, let people know what she did. She shouldn’t skate on this; she was an accomplice in the murder. The faster we get on it, the better chance we have of picking her up. That’s my two cents. But I’d really like to hear what Jack thinks.”

Mia fixed her stare on Keller.

“Well, I think we need to have a little perspective here. And with all due respect to my partner here, Sullivan’s not Jack the Ripper; she’s a goddamn nurse from Rosebud, Colorado.”

He continued, “Before we worry about the newspaper or TV, maybe we ought to do some basic police work and go find Lisa Sullivan. Jesus Christ, everybody’s assuming just because she didn’t meet Lennox for a cup of coffee, she’s armed to the teeth and hopping a bus to Canada. C’mon people, we don’t even know if she ever heard the message from Scott Lennox! Has anyone here called the hospital where she works? Who knows, maybe she’s reading the Sunday paper in her apartment right now, for Christ’s sake, or skiing down the fucking slopes at Vail!”

Keller had a point, and everyone knew it.

“Now, let’s just say we look everywhere and she doesn’t turn up. I think the captain had it right with the first scenario. It’s probably best that we keep the whole Sullivan thing quiet for now and focus the attention on the arrest of Lennox. We can do a lot in the way of searching for Sullivan without alerting the public. We all know most of the time, the public’s help is a bigger pain in the ass than it’s worth. If we release her picture and say we are offering a reward, we’ll get hundreds of damn leads on her, with half of those telling us she’s hanging out with Elvis down at Mister Mountain Donuts. And let’s say she is on the run; its not like she’s had tactical evasion training with the CIA. We’ll zero in on her the first time she uses her fucking Macy’s card.”

Mick considered the reward. Under RCSO policy, he could offer up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sullivan. But Jack was right—a reward was a double-edged sword. Bounty hunters and nut cases would often emerge when money was on the table. There was also the issue of having RCSO staff monitor a tip-line twenty-four hours a day. He thought it best to hold off for now.

Mick addressed the group. “All right, listen up. We need to call the DA’s office and get a search warrant for Sullivan’s apartment, and get one for Lennox’s home and business while we’re at it. We need to see what kind of evidence we can dig up. I’ll call in additional resources. We need to send a team to the hospital, toss her place in Rosebud, and raid Mister Mountain fucking Donuts if that’s what it takes.”

He looked at his watch. “We will schedule a press conference for 7 tonight. That gives us about six hours to scoop her up. If she’s not in custody by then we go public.”

He turned to his lead investigators. “Keller, Serrano, I need you two for the interrogation, so get ready for Lennox. Mark, come down to my office so we can brief the sheriff.”

“Will do, Captain.”

Mia turned to Mick, “Captain, when you call in for additional people, can you tell whoever is going to search Sullivan’s apartment that they need to grab that concert ticket off her refrigerator? We have to bag it.”

Archer called Anita Sanchez to give her an advance on the story. He didn’t say anything about Lisa Sullivan, as he hoped she would be in custody by the time the press conference got underway.

Keller went outside for some privacy and a clear cell signal. Lisa picked up after two rings.

“Hey.”

“Where are you? Out of Colorado, I hope?”

“Yeah, I crossed into New Mexico a while ago. I’m going to go as far as I can tonight before I find a motel to get some sleep.”

“Okay, good to hear. You doing okay?”

“I’m okay.”

She paused then asked, “Did Scott get arrested?”

“Yeah, he did. He’s in custody. I’m going to question him in a few minutes. I don’t think he’ll have much to say. Look, I need to fill you in on what’s going to happen next. The department will be—”

“Shit!” Lisa exclaimed. “There’s a state trooper behind me, and he just put on his flashers. He’s coming up behind me. Oh God, oh God…”

“Stay cool. They don’t know you’re wanted. Hang up and call me back when you can!” responded Jack.

The phone went dead.

RCSO hadn’t issued any alerts on Lisa, but they would likely be statewide by nightfall. However, if she got a ticket, it would be big trouble. Her license plate and driver’s license would pop up immediately in any kind of data search, and RCSO would know she had been pulled over in New Mexico. “That’s the last thing I need,” Jack thought to himself.

“Where have you been, Jack?” Mia asked as he walked into the conference room. “We need to get in there and interview Lennox, like, right now.”

“Sorry. Are we good on the warrants?”

“The warrant team is staging near her apartment in Rosebud. Deputies already poked around the hospital, and we know she’s not there, so they’re focusing on the residence. The other team is getting ready to hit Lennox Ice and his house.”

“Good,” Keller said. “You ready for Lennox?”

“Yup.”

“Me too, let’s go hammer his ass.”

Mick was peering at Lennox through two-way glass when Keller and Mia walked into the observation area where Mick was standing. All three could see Lennox through the glass, sitting in a chair and looking despondent.

“Everything set?” Mick asked his investigators.

Both Mia and Keller nodded.

“Look at him, almost makes you feel sorry for the prick,” said Keller sarcastically.

“How do you want to play this, Jack?” asked Mia.

“I’ll start. Give me some room and you can jump in when you think it’s appropriate. I don’t see him confessing to anything, at least not now. Let’s just lay the groundwork and try to establish a rapport. I think that’s more likely to happen with you, Mia. I’m guessing he’s a sucker for a good looking woman.”

“Do you want to bring up Sullivan?” she asked.

“Not now. The less he knows about what we know, the better. Let’s see what he has to say about Lombard’s death and see if we can trip him up.”

Jack opened the door, walked in confidently, and took a chair opposite Lennox. Mia took the chair next to Jack. Lennox looked up but didn’t speak.

Keller started, “Can we get you anything? A glass of water, a soda, anything at all?”

Lennox shook his head.

“Okay, well if you change your mind just let us know. Listen, Scott, we just want to get this whole thing cleared up.”

“This is crazy,” Lennox told them, pleading.

Mia spoke, “Scott, we are going to read you your Miranda rights. I know they were read to you earlier when you were arrested, but we’re going to read them to you again now. And as you can see, we’re tape recording our conversation with you as well, just for the record.”

No response from Lennox.

Mia read him his rights, and Jack started in with the questions.