"No offense, but why am I here?" Abel asked impatiently. "You don't usually call me in until we're ready to make an arrest."
"Well, are we?"
"No way. We won't have anything back on the forensics for a few weeks."
"All right, tell me what you've found since we last talked." Dan sat down and chewed the end of a croissant.
"I've looked at Sorenson's finances. He had a net worth in the high seven figures and a strong cash flow at his business. He did well in the market. No litigation at the company. He hasn't dismissed an employee in two years. There's nothing suspicious in his work life."
"All of his money goes to Maggie now?" Dan asked.
"Most of it. I saw his will. There are charitable provisions and some outright gifts to two sisters and a few nieces and nephews. Nothing more than a hundred thousand dollars. The bulk of the estate winds up in his wife's hands."
"Nice nest egg for a cop. What about the happy couple?"
"Not so happy."
"What does Maggie say about their marriage?"
"She says they were fine, but she's lying. I've got reports of arguments and affairs. He wasn't sleeping in their bed. You ask me, they were headed for a divorce."
"Can we prove that?" Dan asked.
"Not at this point. I do know that Maggie was seeing a shrink. Tony Wells. Sorenson went to see Tony the night he was killed."
"Do we know why?"
"I called him. Tony says he can't say anything unless Maggie waives privilege."
"That's not likely," Dan said.
"Tony thinks Maggie is innocent, for whatever that's worth," Abel added.
"It's not worth squat. What about these affairs?"
"His secretary says Sorenson catted around. I don't have any names yet."
"What about Maggie? Is she getting any on the side?"
"I've started asking around the department, but people don't want to talk about her."
"Do you have her under surveillance?"
"Sure, that's standard M.O., but Maggie knows we're doing it. She's not stupid."
"Keep it up anyway. Twenty-four seven. I don't want anyone saying we gave her special treatment."
"K-2 already ordered it."
"If you're looking for affairs, remember that she's always had a thing for Stride," Dan reminded him.
"Everyone knows that's platonic."
"Yeah? Don't be so sure."
Abel's eyes narrowed. "Do you know something?"
"I'm just saying they spend half their lives together. Check it out."
"If you say so." Abel wasn't convinced. He didn't like Stride and didn't much like Maggie either, but that didn't mean they were heating up the sheets. Then again, he had always assumed his wife was loyal, too.
"So her husband is cheating, and she's got millions coming her way," Dan said. "Motive isn't a problem."
"Nothing's a problem. It's her gun. No one was in the house. She did it."
"You sound pretty sure. How about gun shot residue?"
"Nothing, but she's a cop. She knows how to beat that."
"Any blood spatter on her clothes?"
Abel shook his head. "We're running tests, but I didn't see anything. It was her house. She could have washed her clothes before calling us. Hell, she could have shot him in the buff and then taken a shower. Oh, and I had her take a blood test, too. She was drinking coffee, but I smelled alcohol."
"And?"
"Her blood alcohol level was point zero seven. Even if she quit drinking a few hours earlier, that's high. She must have been drunk when she did it."
"That gives Archie Gale a way to talk it down to manslaughter."
"He may be right," Abel said. "Nothing points to premeditation at this point."
"Right, the gun walked downstairs on its own, and Maggie followed to find out where it was going." Dan took a big bite out of a pastry and licked the cream cheese off his lips with his tongue. He added, "How about the conspiracy theory? Anyone get out of prison lately who might want to get back at Maggie for putting him away? Defense attorneys like Archie Gale love to blow smoke about that kind of shit."
Abel scoffed. "There's nothing like that. I've got people running down her old cases, but so far, the violent perps she put away are all still behind bars or dead. Cases don't come much more straightforward than this. Stride's the one who wants this to be some mystery, because he can't accept the fact that Maggie did it."
Dan leaned forward. "Is Stride interfering?"
"He was at the crime scene before anyone else. I don't like that, but I don't think he actually touched anything or helped her clean up."
"If he gets in the way, or sticks his nose into this, I want to know immediately."
"You personally?"
"Damn right. I wasn't in favor of bringing him back, you know. As far as I was concerned, K-2 should have kept you in the top job, but Stride and K-2 are as thick as thieves. If Stride does anything that compromises this investigation, I will personally see that his ass gets kicked out of the lieutenant's chair."
Abel didn't know how to respond to that. "I wouldn't want it back even if K-2 offered it, and he won't."
"Never say never."
Abel didn't like game-playing. He wasn't going to be a pawn. He knew Stride was permanently on Dan's shit list because of the blown election, but if Dan was burning to take him down before he left the city, he could do it on his own.
He heard the muffled ringing of Dan's cell phone. Dan reached into the pocket of his bathrobe and retrieved it.
"Erickson," Dan said into the phone.
Abel watched Dan's eyes do a nervous dance. Dan snapped his fingers and gestured at the door, and Abel was glad to take the hint. Time to go.
Whatever the call was, it was bad news.
"Hello, Dan. Do you know who this is?"
There was a moment of dead air as Dan wrenched his way from one reality to the next. Every victim was like that.
"Yes," Dan replied, his voice forced.
"Tonight's the night. Is Serena ready to make the drop?"
"Yes."
"That's good." He added, "But you know this is just a down payment, right?"
"That's not what we discussed."
"You're right, it's not, but things have changed. A lot's happened this week, Dan. You think I don't read the papers? The price has gone up."
"That's not acceptable."
He chuckled long and low. "I love lawyers. Always negotiating. You're right, Dan, why don't we just forget about it. Hand the phone to that cop who's there with you, and I can let him know what's been going on."
He waited as Dan stewed. Targets like Dan were the easy ones. They'd chew glass rather than risk public embarrassment. Or jail.
"What did you have in mind?" Dan asked finally.
He smiled. "Let's wrap up the first deal, and then I'll check in with you again. I'd hate to see your big move to Washington get tanked."
"Give me the details," Dan snapped.
"Call Serena," he instructed. "Tell her to be at the Park Hill Cemetery off Vermillion Road at ten o'clock tonight. Alone. With the money."
"Why there?"
"Let's just say I like the idea of being surrounded by dead people." He thought about the river stench of the rising waters in Alabama and added, "The truth is, Dan, I'm a ghost."
13
Stride felt sorry for the guy from Byte Patrol, who was seated in front of the store computer at Lauren Erickson's dress shop, Silk. The store manager, Sonia Bezac, jabbed her razor-sharp nail dangerously close to his eyes and wouldn't have thought twice about digging in and gouging one out. The techie had a giant physique that made his neon purple T-shirt look as if it had shrunk in the wash, but Sonia may as well have been wearing black leather and cracking a whip.