Chương 7
At 10:17, Detective Calder called to say the old phone had powered on.She did not say whether the recording was there.“You enjoy withholding information,” I said.“I enjoy not giving information before I have it.”“Same disease, different specialty.”“We have a recording file.”Chloe was asleep beside me, her fractured wrist elevated on a pillow.I stood and moved toward the window.“How long?”“Forty-seven minutes.”My pulse jumped.“Playable?”“Parts of it.”“Parts.”“The phone was warm when recovered.”“From the turkey.”“Yes, from the turkey.”There was a tired edge in Calder’s voice now.“Moisture got through one of the bags.”“Can your lab recover the rest?”“They’re making an image of the device before anyone does anything else.”“Good.”“What we can hear is enough to change some things.”I looked back at Chloe.“What things?”“Marcus and Sylvia are being detained.”Not arrested.Not yet.The distinction mattered.“For questioning?”“And because we recovered additional evidence.”“What evidence?”Calder hesitated.“Prescription medication.”“Zolpidem?”“A bottle labeled zolpidem was found in Sylvia’s purse.”My hand tightened around the phone.“Her prescription?”“Label says her name.”“That proves possession, not administration.”“I know.”“How many tablets?”“I’m not discussing inventory over the phone.”“You called me.”“I called because your daughter needs to know officers will be coming to speak with her again once her doctor permits it.”“She’s sleeping.”“Then let her sleep.”I heard voices behind Calder.One sounded angry.Not Marcus.A man.“What’s happening there?”“Guests are arriving.”“At the house?”“Yes.”“You’re executing a warrant in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner preparations.”“The dining room is currently occupied by two detectives, a crime-scene technician, one irritated caterer, and a centerpiece made of pears.”“Any CEO?”“Not yet.”I almost smiled.Then Calder said, “Lauren Pike just arrived.”The smile vanished.“Why?”“She says she was invited to dinner.”“At ten-thirty in the morning?”“She says Sylvia asked her to come early.”“Does she have counsel?”“Not at the moment.”“Does she know about Chloe?”“We haven’t told her details.”“Has she seen Marcus?”“No.”I turned fully toward the window.“Calder.”“Yes?”“Don’t let Marcus see her before you speak to her.”“I am familiar with separating witnesses.”“I know.”“Do you?”“I deserved that.”“You did.”She disconnected.Ruth returned twenty minutes later carrying a drugstore bag, two coffees, a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, underwear, and three pairs of socks.“I bought the expensive soft ones because guilt has made me financially reckless.”I took the bag.“Thank you.”She looked at Chloe.“Still asleep?”“Yes.”“Good.”Ruth set one coffee beside me.“Any arrests?”“Detained.”“Difference?”“A large one.”“Annoying.”She sat.“What about the phone?”“There’s a recording.”Her face changed.“Did they hear it?”“Some.”“What did it say?”“I don’t know yet.”Ruth stared at me.“You are very bad at satisfying normal curiosity.”“I spent a career preventing normal curiosity from contaminating witnesses.”“I’m not a witness.”“You could become one.”“To what?”“Marcus has been calling me.”“He hasn’t called you.”“He called my house last month.”I stopped.“When?”“November third.”“What did he want?”Ruth looked away.There it was.A tiny avoidance.I had seen it in hundreds of conference rooms.“What did he want?”“He asked about you.”“In what sense?”“Your work.”My coffee remained halfway to my mouth.“What exactly did he ask?”“What kind of cases you handled.”“And what did you tell him?”“Not much.”“Ruth.”“I said financial fraud, contracting cases, corruption, the usual.”“The usual?”“I am not a lawyer.”“That is not the problem.”She folded her arms.“He was making conversation.”“Marcus does not make conversation with you.”“I know that now.”“What else?”“He asked whether retired prosecutors still had government contacts.”Cold moved through me.“And?”“I said probably.”“Probably.”“I didn’t give names.”“Did he ask?”“He asked whether you still knew anybody in Washington.”I put the coffee down.“Why did you never tell me?”“Because it sounded like Marcus being Marcus.”“That sentence has covered a great deal of damage in this family.”Ruth flinched.I regretted it immediately.“That was unfair.”“No.”“It was.”She picked at the edge of the drugstore receipt.“I should have told you.”“Maybe.”“I didn’t because I thought you’d laugh at me.”“Why?”“You always acted like he was harmless.”The truth of it sat between us.I had called Marcus vain.I had called him tiresome.Once, after he spent an entire Christmas dinner describing his promotion, I called him a walking LinkedIn page.I had never called him dangerous.Maybe that had given everyone permission not to look harder.“Did he ask anything else?”Ruth nodded reluctantly.“He asked whether you had ever worked cases involving Halcyon.”My skin prickled.“What did you say?”“That I didn’t know.”“Which was true.”“Yes.”“I never prosecuted Halcyon.”Ruth’s eyes narrowed.“But?”“But I prosecuted one of their former subcontractors.”“How long ago?”“Seven years.”“Marcus could find that online?”“Probably.”The case came back in fragments.Invoices.Shell companies.A warehouse outside Baltimore.A procurement officer who claimed he had never noticed two million dollars passing through a vendor with four employees.The smell of burnt coffee in the trial team room.A witness named Paul Danner who kept rubbing his wedding ring when he lied.None of it had seemed connected to Chloe.Until now.I stood.“What was the subcontractor called?”Ruth looked startled.“You’re asking me?”“No.”I was asking myself.The name arrived a second later.“Armitage Systems.”I took out my phone.Then stopped.Calder had told me not to make calls connected to the facts.Old habits surged anyway.Daniel Ruiz could answer one question.Maybe two.I stared at his name in my contacts.Ruth watched me.“Are you going to call someone?”“No.”I put the phone away.“That looked painful.”“It was.”At 11:03, Chloe woke and immediately asked for her phone.The absurdity of it nearly made me laugh.“You don’t have one.”“Oh.”She blinked.“Right.”“I can lend you mine when the detective is done preserving messages.”“No.”She adjusted herself and winced.“I don’t want to see anything.”“That may be wise.”“Did they get the recording?”“Part of it.”Her face tightened.“What did it say?”“I don’t know.”She looked annoyed.“You always know.”“Apparently retirement has lowered my standards.”She stared at the soft socks Ruth had bought.“Those are ugly.”“They were eighteen dollars.”“They can be expensive and ugly.”“Your aunt selected them.”“That explains both.”Ruth, returning from the hallway, heard her.“I can return them and bring you hospital rubber socks.”Chloe pulled the package toward herself.“These are perfect.”For a few minutes we discussed socks.It was the first normal conversation of the day.Then Detective Calder arrived.She carried a paper cup and looked as if she had forgotten it contained coffee until it was too late.A second detective stood outside the room.Calder pulled the visitor’s chair closer.“Chloe, your doctor says we can speak for ten minutes.”Chloe nodded.“Did you hear it?”“Some of it.”“What part?”Calder glanced at me.I stood.“I can leave.”Chloe grabbed my sleeve.“No.”Calder waited.“You gave permission for your mother to remain?”“Yes.”“Fine.”She opened her notebook.“The recording begins at approximately 7:48 last night.”Chloe frowned.“That sounds right.”“We hear kitchen sounds for several minutes.”“Marcus and Sylvia were eating.”“Yes.”“Can you hear them?”“Not clearly at first.”Calder turned a page.“At 7:56, Sylvia says something about the tea.”Chloe’s hand tightened in the blanket.“What?”“She says, ‘It won’t hurt her.’”The room went very quiet.Calder continued.“Marcus responds, ‘That isn’t what I’m worried about.’”My jaw tightened.“What comes next?” Chloe asked.“Movement.”“And then?”“You enter the kitchen.”“How can you tell?”“You address Marcus by name.”Chloe swallowed.“What do I say?”Calder’s eyes softened.“You ask him to give your phone back.”Chloe nodded slowly.“I remember.”“Marcus says you are not in a condition to use it.”“Yes.”“You accuse him of changing your passwords.”“I did.”“Then you mention calling Halcyon.”Chloe stared at her.“So I told him.”“Yes.”“I thought I didn’t.”“According to the recording, you did.”Her face fell.The sedative had already started taking pieces from her memory.“What did he say?”Calder looked down.“He asks who you spoke with.”“Rebecca.”“You say you won’t tell him.”A faint spark appeared in Chloe’s eyes.“Good.”Calder did not smile.“Then Sylvia says something significant.”“What?”“She says, ‘Lauren already fixed the report, so stop making this dramatic.’”My heart began pounding.Chloe whispered, “Lauren knew.”“Possibly.”“But she fixed it.”“Those are Sylvia’s words.”Calder’s precision mattered.Chloe looked away.“What happens after that?”“The audio becomes confused.”“Because he grabbed me?”“Probably.”“You can hear impact sounds.”Chloe closed her eyes.I wanted Calder to stop.I wanted Chloe to demand she continue.Both feelings existed at once.“There’s a crash,” Calder said.“The rug.”“Maybe.”“Then Marcus says, ‘Look what you did.’”Chloe’s breathing changed.“After that, Sylvia tells him to get a towel.”“I threw up.”“Yes.”Calder waited.“Then there is a period where your speech is difficult to understand.”“Do I sound drunk?”“You sound impaired.”Chloe looked at me.“I hate that.”“I know.”Calder continued.“Marcus says you’re going to sleep.”“I didn’t.”“No.”“Then what?”“You say you want to leave.”“I remember that.”“Marcus tells you it would be better for everyone if you were gone before morning.”A tear slid down Chloe’s face.Calder gave her several seconds.“Do you want me to stop?”“No.”“The recording cuts out at 8:19.”“Why?”“We don’t know.”“But I wasn’t taken to the terminal until much later.”“Correct.”“What happened in between?”“That is one of the things we’re establishing.”Chloe stared at the blanket.Calder turned another page.“We found your coat.”Chloe looked up.“Where?”“Hall closet.”I felt something inside me harden.Marcus had said she left wearing it.Calder saw my reaction.She continued without commenting.“We also recovered one of your shoes from the garage.”Chloe’s face went blank.“And the other?”“On you at the terminal.”“How did one get in the garage?”“We don’t know yet.”Calder closed the notebook.“Now I need to ask you about Lauren Pike.”Chloe wiped her cheek.“Okay.”“When did you first meet her?”“Last December.”“Where?”“Marcus’s company holiday party.”“Second time?”“A dinner in May.”“With Marcus?”“Yes.”“Anyone else?”“Sylvia.”That surprised me.Calder caught it.“Sylvia attended?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Marcus said it was networking.”“What was Lauren like with him?”Chloe hesitated.“Comfortable.”“That means?”“She touched him a lot.”“Romantically?”“I told myself no.”The sentence hurt because it contained an entire marriage.Calder asked, “Did Lauren ever contact you directly?”“No.”“Send messages?”“No.”“Come to your house?”“Not when I was there.”A voice spoke from the doorway.The second detective.Calder stood and stepped outside.They spoke too quietly for us to hear.Then Calder returned.Something had changed in her expression.“Chloe, I’m going to stop for now.”“What happened?”“I need to follow up on something.”“What?”She hesitated.Then looked at me.“Lauren Pike has agreed to give a statement.”Chloe’s jaw tightened.“Good.”Calder did not move.“There’s something you should know before you hear it from someone else.”I stood.“What?”“Lauren says she was not having an affair with Marcus.”Chloe stared.“Of course she says that.”Calder continued.“She says Marcus told her you knew about their relationship.”Chloe’s face went still.“What relationship?”Calder’s next words changed the entire shape of the morning.“Lauren says Marcus was blackmailing her.”
