“Why didn’t he tell you?”
“He wanted to make the case on his own.”
“Wanted to show you up?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But it’s here, look at this. Whatever he bought will be in that box, as well. Some of the bribe money might be in there, and the rest of it he probably used to make buys.”
“What was going through his head, not telling anyone?”
“I don’t know, but like you found out, the other wardens called him a real loner.” Marquez thought about it and then wondered something else aloud. “Maybe he told Stella. Or maybe somebody got worried that he’d told Stella.”
“Ungar knew and waited to deal with him, but he didn’t know about this. He didn’t know Petroni had this set up. It wouldn’t still be recording if he did.”
They could hear the equipment working, recording the crime techs on the other side of the wall. Neither of them spoke, thinking it out, then Kendall asked, “Have you ever heard of anything like this before?”
The only thing Marquez could relate it to was the drug world, where a drug cartel would sometimes keep selling to undercover officers just to take their money, not being worried about what came later. Ungar must have felt he could control the variables. Marquez talked it out with Kendall and knew it would be hours before the construction storage box was taken in and opened.
“How are you going to do this?” Marquez asked. “So far, he’s saying he’s not involved, right. Even after the knife last night. He’s got a story for that too, doesn’t he?”
“He did last night.”
“Why don’t you ask him if he wants to sit down with me this afternoon?”
“Why would he?”
“To try to beat me one last time. To brag about what he had going. He’s that kind of guy and he’s way into bear.”
“He’s up for murder one.”
“Read his journal. Murder doesn’t mean that much to him, but he saw himself getting rich selling bile products.”
It was late that afternoon that Marquez’s hunch was borne out. He walked into an interview box and sat down across from Ungar, who was shackled, wrists chained down to the ring.
“You had an incredible operation going,” Marquez said. “Amazing what you set up out there in Nevada.”
“Are you here to flatter me into telling you something? I had nothing to do with killing anyone.”
“I’m a Gamer. Let’s just talk about bear.”
“The detectives think I’ll say something to you?”
“I don’t know what they think. I know they plan to charge you with murder, but that’s not what I’m here about. I’d like to know how long you’ve been bear farming?”
Ungar couldn’t stop himself. His eyes flickered over Marquez’s face, something triumphant in them. “Almost four years.”
“There must have been a vet involved.”
“I put in all the catheters myself.”
“You’re good.”
Ungar opened up a little, allowed he’d get the maximum sentence for trafficking in bear, but, “I’ll be out in under two years, at the most three.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Then I’ll come visit you.”
“And we’ll talk some more.” Ungar smiled, and Marquez said, “Let’s talk some more today about the operation because I’m curious, and I’m not flattering you, you really had it going on. The things you invented are impressive.”
They talked about the Nevada farm. Durham got a share of the profits, had owned animal operations himself, and knew the money to be made in bear bile and galls. Durham had been a good partner. The problem had been Nyland and the woman. Those were people that Durham had hired. The trough system Ungar had invented himself. He detailed how he’d figured out the systems and buying live bears, mostly cubs. His bile product sales were growing exponentially in Vancouver, San Francisco, particularly the San Jose area, and LA-LA was by far his best market. But he wouldn’t say what he’d cleared, wouldn’t talk about money.
“Why did Durham get involved?”
“I told him I’d make him rich.”
“Did you?” Ungar looked away. “Was Petroni on the take?”
“Five hundred a month.”
“To stay out of an area?”
“And provide information.”
“And then you got it back from him with sales.”
That was the first thing to fluster him and he couldn’t hide it.
“What are you talking about?”
“Selling to Mark Ellison.”
“I don’t know any Mark Ellison.”
Marquez wanted to say it all now, but Kendall would confront Ungar with hard evidence, the wooden box with Petroni’s badge in it when they tried to get him to confess and bargain. Killing a law enforcement officer made Ungar eligible for the death penalty, but if he helped resolve the Vandemere and Stella Petroni murders, and gave a full confession on Petroni, it was likely the county DA would let him bargain for a life sentence. Ungar was a bright guy and thinking fast. The first edge of doubt was in his eyes. As Marquez got ready to go he had to leave Ungar with something.
“In the end, Petroni beat you,” Marquez said. “He outsmarted you.”
“He wasn’t any brighter than you.”
“He didn’t have to be.”
Marquez cut off what Ungar said next as he closed the door.
52
Ungar didn’t go down as easily as Kendall had anticipated.
At the arraignment for Petroni’s murder he pled not guilty. It was another two weeks before he fired his lawyer and made the deal with the prosecutor, and even then never confessed to Stella Petroni’s murder, which Kendall now believed was an effort to frame Petroni, taking advantage of the discord in Petroni’s life.
Ungar did admit to paying Nyland ten thousand dollars to kill Vandemere because the county wouldn’t make the deal without that confession, and evidence of the payment showed in his records.
The only explanation he’d give was that Vandemere had pried into business that wasn’t his. A week later, Marquez stopped by the Placerville mini-storage alone. He punched in the numbers, drove through the gate and down to the unit Petroni had rented. It was empty now. There was really nothing to see, but for some reason he wanted to stand in the space and try to visualize what had motivated Petroni to keep his investigation to himself, how bitter he must have been, and yet, in here, checking the recording equipment, knowing he was building a significant case. It was remarkable he hadn’t revealed it to try to save himself from being suspended.
Marquez looked at the holes Petroni had drilled in the shared wall, thought about him working in here. The storage unit was similar to some the SOU had rented in the past, and very similar to a unit his and Petroni’s teams had shared a decade ago. He knew, despite all the talk otherwise, Petroni had never stopped thinking of himself as an undercover wildlife officer. He must have been waiting for the moment he’d call for backup and make the bust. He must have pictured the vindication, the feeling of taking down Durham, Ungar, Nyland, Sophie, Bobby and maybe Troy, all at once.
He had a conversation now with Petroni, one in his head, a conversation with the ghost of the guy he’d known. He let Petroni know how impressed he was that he’d pulled this off and said that he wished Petroni had taken a chance on opening up to him, that they could have worked together again.
Later that week Kendall, who’d been keeping him updated, said Ungar had unraveled another piece for them. He’d been behind another murder, the unsolved prior case that had drawn Kendall into the Crystal Basin murder of Vandemere. The watch and ring found in the hunting shack were taken from the earlier victim. Ungar had placed them on the shelf in the hunting shack.
“Why?” Marquez asked.
“Not completely clear whether it was part of some elaborate notion of framing Petroni or whether he was planting evidence that later would implicate Nyland. Several times he’s talked about watching Petroni have sex with Sophie up at that shack, and I get the feeling it may have been part of setting up the framing of Petroni before killing Stella.”