Kevin licked his lips and looked off across the pool.
“What happened then?”
“He made Mom call Mr. Marsh. He said he’d shoot me if she didn’t. He told her what to say and she called him. Then we waited. We heard the front door open. That’s when…when he…”
“You don’t have to say it. I know what happened.”
Kevin nodded. He started to cry again.
“Kevin, what did you see when Mr. Marsh came into the living room?”
“I tried to tell him there was a man behind the drapes. I was trying to warn him when the man stepped out and shot Mr. Marsh. Then there was a shot from the front of the living room and the French windows shattered and everyone was shooting.”
“Did you see who saved Mr. Marsh?”
“When the shooting started I threw myself down on the floor. I was facing toward the French windows. I never looked at the door but I saw a reflection in the glass. It was wavy and there wasn’t much light but I think I saw a black man.”
“How sure are you that he was black?” Amanda asked as she tried to picture Nathan Tuazama as Charlie’s guardian angel.
“I’m pretty sure,” Kevin said hesitantly.
“What happened to the man who killed your mother?”
“He ran away. He got out through the windows.”
“Do you know if he was wounded?”
“No. My face was pressed to the floor. I only saw his sneakers when he ran out.”
Amanda could see that Kevin was exhausted and she decided he’d had enough.
“Thank you for talking to me,” she said.
“Did it help?”
“Yes. You’ve cleared up a few things for me.”
But the truth was that Kevin’s story had only muddied the waters. It made sense for Tuazama to keep Charlie alive so he could get the diamonds. But how had he known Charlie would go to Sally’s house in the middle of the night? She guessed it was possible that Tuazama had Charlie’s hotel staked out but it didn’t really make sense that he would be watching the hotel at two in the morning. Tuazama had to sleep.
And why didn’t the killer murder Kevin? Maybe the killer had planned on murdering Kevin and the person who saved Charlie had forced him to run before he could finish off the last witness to his crime. That made sense, but Amanda could think of another explanation for Kevin’s survival that was equally viable.
CHAPTER 41
Amanda went to see Kate as soon as she returned to the law office.
“How did it go in Denver?” she asked.
“Excellent. Rollins admitted lying at Sally Pope’s trial. He claims Burdett pressured him to say he saw Charlie shoot Pope by threatening to go after him for assaulting the security guard. He told me he never saw who fired the shot. There’s a report on your desk.”
“That’s fantastic news. Rollins’s testimony was the only solid evidence against Charlie. Now that he’s retracted it, Burdett may have to drop the charges.”
Suddenly Amanda smiled wickedly.
“Did you have any trouble with the boy wonder?” she asked.
“Not a bit. He didn’t come on to me once during the trip and he didn’t tell me how fantastic he is or brag about how rich and famous he’s going to be. Actually, he kept pretty much to himself.”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Amanda said.
“Yeah, you’re right. So what have you been doing while I’ve been winning your case for you?” Kate asked. Amanda sobered instantly.
“I was at Sally Pope’s house with Dad. Senior is going to sue for custody of Kevin. Liam O’Connell wants Dad to represent him.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to Kevin about what happened when Charlie was shot?”
“Yeah. The poor kid is a mess. He was so upset I cut our talk short.”
“Could he identify anyone?”
“Kevin can say that a man killed his mother, but it was dark and the murderer wore a mask. There was one interesting thing that came out of the interview. Kevin thinks that the person who saved Charlie was black.”
Kate frowned. “There aren’t any African-Americans involved in this case, are there?”
Amanda decided to keep Charlie’s confidences about Nathan Tuazama to herself.
“No African-Americans I’m aware of,” she answered honestly.
Amanda stood up. “I’ve got to work on my other cases or I’m going to get disbarred.”
“See you later,” Kate said.
Amanda started to turn when Kate remembered something she’d meant to ask her friend.
“Say, did you do something with the photograph of Charlie and his entourage at that Dunthorpe estate seminar?” Kate said.
“What photograph?”
“Someone took a picture of Charlie and his people at the seminar in Dunthorpe; the one where he met Sally Pope.”
“I don’t remember seeing it when I went through the file but Burdett will have the original. We can get a copy if you need it.”
“No, it’s not important. I just can’t find it and it’s bugging me.”
“Sorry.”
“I probably put it in a file with a lot of other stuff and just missed it.”
“I’m sure it will turn up. See you later.”
CHARLIE’S CASE HAD come at Amanda so fast that it had dominated her practice. Unfortunately, her other cases had not disappeared and some of them required immediate attention. Amanda worked on a motion for a schoolteacher accused of possessing cocaine until hunger pangs drove her to a nearby Chinese restaurant for takeout. While she shoveled General Tso’s chicken into her mouth in a distinctly unladylike manner, Amanda read through the discovery in a securities fraud case she was handling for a stockbroker who had initially appeared to be honest and forthright but was now looking decidedly shady.
Amanda finished the discovery just as the last rays of sunlight faded behind the West Hills. She was deciding whether to call it a night or tackle another file when her cell phone rang.
“Is this Amanda Jaffe?” a man asked, slurring his words enough so Amanda had a hard time understanding him.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Karl, Karl Burdett. Thank God I caught you. I know it’s late, but we have to talk.”
Amanda frowned. The DA sounded frightened and she was certain he’d been drinking.
“Is something wrong?”
“I need legal advice. I’m in over my head. I didn’t see it until Cordova called me tonight.”
“The FBI agent?”
“You’ve got to help me.”
“Can you tell me what this is about?”
“Not over the phone. Meet me in the parking lot of the Tillamook Tavern.”
“Why there?”
“That’s where I am now. I’m afraid to go home. I’ll be in my car in the last row in the back. It’s dark. No one will see us.”
“I don’t think I can be your lawyer, Karl. We’re adversaries in Charlie’s case.”
“This concerns Charlie. That’s why I called you. Please, you have to help me.”
“Okay, Karl. Calm down. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you. Hurry.”
AS SHE DROVE to the tavern, Amanda tried to figure out why Karl Burdett would ask her for legal advice. After her father, she was the least likely person Burdett would consult if he had legal problems. Before she’d left her office, it had occurred to her that someone might be using Burdett to lure her into a trap similar to the one that had snared Charlie, so she’d slipped a handgun into her pocket. Amanda had been attacked a few times while working a case and she wasn’t going to this meeting unarmed.
The Tillamook Tavern was a squat, one-story workingman’s bar situated on a side street near an industrial park. On the same street were a rundown twenty-four-hour market with bars on its windows, which sold beer, cigarettes, and junk food, and a vacant, rubble-filled lot. Streetlights cast a pale yellow glow over one side of the bar but the only other light came from the neon sign with the tavern’s name and smaller neon signs in the narrow front windows, advertising brands of beer. There were two pickup trucks and a weather-beaten Chevy scattered around the tavern lot. Karl’s car was alone on the edge of a sea of asphalt in the last slot in the last row. When Amanda was a few rows from the DA’s car, she made out Burdett’s silhouette staring through the windshield into the darkness. Amanda parked a car length away. The DA did not look at her. She got out of her car and closed her hand around the grip of her gun. As she drew closer to Burdett’s car, Amanda noticed that the driver’s-side window was down.