Chapter 25 Shark
Marybeth drummed her fingers on her desk, her face frowning as she looked at Carmen. She wasn't frowning
at
Carmen; she was frowning at what Carmen had just asked. Carmen, for her part, wondered if Marybeth was ever going to come up with an answer, but she finally did. It was a punt. "Lauren, what do you think?"
Carmen had asked if they were in danger. She meant others of the Friends who had been at the party when Jenny was murdered. But she may have also meant Lauren and herself, too. They were, after all, investigating two murders. Jenny and Max were already dead.
Lauren was frowning, too. "I don't like it that we still don't know why they were murdered. We have a theory with Jenny, having to do with the blackmail, but we aren't even sure if that was premeditated, or spontaneous. It seems clearer that Max's murder was premeditated, but we don't know why. We aren't even sure the two are linked. We suspect it, but we don't know it. I don't think we can know if anyone else is in danger, absent a good reason why Jenny and Max were killed. Short answer? I don't know. Longer answer? It's always prudent to take some precautions."
"Okay," Marybeth said. "But who is it needs protection? Carmen, you asked the question, and you've obviously been thinking about it. I know you like to think outside the box. What is it you're thinking?"
"Okay, first, I don't think Lauren is at risk, because she's a police detective going about an investigation, her job. And going after a cop is a really bad idea and a major escalation. I don't think that's what's going on. I don't think I'm personally at risk, because I wasn't at the party and I'm just basically tagging along as Lauren's trusty sidekick and comic relief. My first concern is Niki, because she was a co-victim of the blackmail, if the killer was eliminating witnesses. It raises the question, though, why wasn't she eliminated some time ago? It's been what, two years now. My next fear is Shane--"
Shane's head shot up and she looked at Carmen.
"--It's less because she was Jenny's lover at the end, but rather she was Jenny's friend and confidante for many years, and she lived in the house where the movie negatives were hidden. But there's the same problem with Shane as with Niki. It's been two years, and if somebody was going after either of them, they'd have done it by now. So why not? Here's some possibilities. First, the killer isn't worried about them, has no reason or desire to kill them. This may be because the killer believes they don't know anything that could hurt him, and maybe they don't. That would be good for Shane and Niki, at least. Second possibility: He hasn't gone after them because he couldn't. He's dead, or in jail, or has left the country. He'd try to get them if he could, but he can't. That's the one that worries me. Third possibility: Wherever he is, he's unaware that we've restarted the investigation. After killing Max, he thinks he's in the clear. Nothing happens, he relaxes, whatever the problem was, it's problem solved. He took his hundred G's blackmail cash and is living quietly below the radar in some beach village in Costa Rica. He doesn't know we believe Alice didn't do it, and we're back on the case, cold as it may be. My fear is, what happens if and when he finds out? What happens when we get close? How close is close? Does he get worried all over again and think maybe he has to take out the people he ignored before. Namely Niki and Shane."
Marybeth drummed her fingers again, thinking. "If he's not aware we've reopened the case, it tells us something. It means he's not in the immediate vicinity of the group. He's no longer watching anything, he has no contact with anyone of them. It's part physical distance, part communication. We've managed to avoid media attention so far. What worries me is blackmailers and extortionists are like sharks, when they find a good feeding ground, they come back to it from time to time. Your theory proposes he isn't a shark, or isn't one yet. I know it's a huge cliché, but he hasn't returned to the scene of the crime. What happens if he does?"
"He goes after Niki," Lauren said quietly.
"Because?"
"She was his co-victim. Presumably she knows almost as much about the details as Jenny did. She made the drops. Maybe she saw something. She told us she didn't, but how does he know that? And maybe she did see something but didn't know or understand at the time what it was. You know, she's cunning and wily and amoral, but she's not a rocket scientist. Maybe she saw something but didn't know it. Or hell, maybe he's just going to take a precaution."
"Why does he take her out?" Marybeth asked, playing devil's advocate. "She's got a ton of money. She's the richest feeding grounds he'll ever find other than maybe Helena again. Why not try to take another bite?"
"Well, he knows Niki is surrounded by a lot of lawyers. She was before, but not as many as now. Here's a question. Does he believe Niki told the investigation or her lawyers about the blackmail?"
"That's pretty interesting," Lauren said. "On the one hand, we'd all say sure, that's obvious we'd find out. But look, he's got the same problem we do. Alice's false confession shut down the investigation prematurely, within a single day of the murder itself. And afterward, there was no word in the media about blackmail or even much about Niki's involvement. The studio hushed up the stolen negatives. All the news stories were about the murder and the confession next day by a friend pissed off about a stolen screenplay treatment. There's a good chance he'd be thinking he was in the clear, because there was no mention and no follow-up."
"How would he know that?" Carmen asked.
"Easy," Marybeth said, and Lauren nodded, too. "We'd have sent people out to the observatory and the Hollywood Bowl, the two drop sites, looking for evidence, and just generally scoping the scene of the drops. But we never did. And all he'd have to do is keep those sites under observation for a few days. If no cops and no crime scene people show up, it must be because they didn't know."
"Okay, you're right, that does seem easy. What about Shane?" Carmen asked.
"Hear, hear," Shane muttered quietly. "What about me?"
"Shane was Jenny's roommate, maybe he thinks Jenny confided in her," Carmen said.
"Which she fucking well didn't," Shane said.
"Yes," Carmen said quietly, "you know it and I know it, but he doesn't know it."
"All right," Marybeth said. "Let's get back to what we do know. How are you coming on all your interviews?"
"As far as the party goes, we've talked to everybody but Helena. She's off somewhere on some isolated Greek island with her kids, no phones, no Internet, no e-mail. I've left word with her people to tell her to get in touch with us at the earliest opportunity. They say they are even going to send a messenger to the island she staying on, but there's no guarantee when we'll hear back. We've talked to Alice briefly, once, but we need to go back for a second round. Outside the group, we have to talk to Tom, Max's husband, and the adoption people. That's due diligence, and I don't expect anything much to come from it. I owe a phone call to Sgt. Collins out in Bakersfield, to update him on our end and see if he's got anything new, although if he did he'd have called me."
Like everyone else, Carmen had turned her cellphone ringer off, leaving it on vibrate. It vibrated now, sitting on the table in front of her. Everyone could see and feel it humming. So much for not drawing attention and disrupting a meeting. Carmen glanced at the caller ID: Her mother.
"Sorry," she said. "It's my mom."
"To ahead and take it," Marybeth said. "Always take calls from your mother and your children."
Carmen tapped the face of her phone and held it to her ear. "Hey. Mom, I'm in the middle of a big meeting. Can I call you back? ... Oh ... okay ... okay. Really? Okay. I will. Yes, mom. Yes, mom. Yes, they're here with me right now. Yes, mom. Yes, mom. Mom, jeez. Yes, I'll call you back as soon as I can." She sighed and ended the call. "Sorry. That was Mercedes, Queen of the Barrio. Her royal highness bideth her subjects cometh before the Royal Presence for dinner at the castle tonight at six p.m., and she apologizes for the short notice. Shane, you have a Very Special Royal Invitation--"
"You're shitting me," Shane said, surprised. The last she knew, Mercedes wanted her dead and her head on a pike for jilting Mercedes' beloved youngest child at the altar.
"I shitteth not," Carmen said. "I'm as shocked as you are. She never told me she wanted to bury the hatchet with you, so I suppose it could be a clever trap to have you assassinated in the street in front of her house, while she watches from the balcony."
"I can't," Shane said. "I already told you, Chase and I are doing a commercial for the Sugar Shacks tonight."
"Yes, you did tell me. You are therefore pardoned. Go in peace, my child. Lauren, got dinner plans?"
"Apparently not. She knows I carry a gun, right?"
"Yes. She knows. Anyway, she has no plans to have you executed, unlike Shane, and you've had dinner at her house before."
"I know. Yes, Count me in, if I can take home leftovers. I ate her leftovers for three days last time I came to your house."
Shane said nothing, but inside her head she said to herself, Lauren had dinner at Carmen's mom's house before? And she's going again? Marybeth was on the same page, and also said and showed nothing.
"I think that leftovers can be arranged," Carmen said. She couldn't possibly mention to any of these women that Mercedes was measuring Lauren for the role of future daughter-in-law. "Marybeth, she specifically asked me to invite you and your husband. She wants to make sure you're the kind of police lieutenant she's comfortable having her beloved baby daughter hang around with."
"I see," Marybeth said with a straight face. "In case I might be one of those evil, crooked cops you see in the movies and on TV."
"Exactly. She needs to be assured you aren't a female Dudley Smith or that bad guy from
Person of Interest
."
