She covered herself again. Hot steam from the shower made her face damp.
“Who is Lombard?” Frost asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met him in person. But he knows everything about me.”
“Tell me how it works.”
“Anything I tell you will put both of us in danger. I just want you to understand the reality of the threat. He is cruel and ruthless. And his spies are everywhere. You won’t win.”
“I was lying before, Belinda,” Frost told her. “I wouldn’t have tried to expose you.”
“Believe me, I know that. My whole life has been reading people, and I can read you. It doesn’t matter. I think you’re a fool trying to destroy Lombard, but if you’re willing to sacrifice yourself, go ahead. Someone needs to take him down. I’ll help if I can, but I’ll never say a word of this in court or in public. If anyone asks me, I’ll deny it.”
“Understood.”
“You’re right about the cruise. It was the mayor and Filko. I arranged the whole thing. I helped the mayor win him over from the beginning. I knew exactly who Filko was when I first met him. The Marquis de Sade with an unlimited bank account. Regardless, the mayor was willing to do whatever was necessary to get the Zelyx HQ to San Francisco, and my job was to make sure Filko got whatever he wanted.”
“And Lombard?” Frost asked.
“I kept him informed. That’s all. I didn’t want to know the details.”
“But he’s been part of it?”
She nodded. “Yes, he solved some problems.”
“Three years ago, did you set up Filko with an escort named Naomi? Was she one of the problems?”
Drake’s face twitched. “Yes. For all his money, Filko can’t get a normal woman to last five minutes with him. The only ones who will put up with him are the ones who get paid for it.”
“What happened to Naomi?” Frost asked.
“She told me that Filko would tie her up, choke her until she was unconscious. He would use — devices — on her. She said she wasn’t going to let any other girls go through that. I told Lombard about it in my reports.”
“You told him that Naomi planned to expose Filko?”
Drake bowed her head. “I did, but I swear, I never thought anything would happen to her. I thought Lombard would pay her off to keep her quiet. And then I heard about her death. I knew she hadn’t OD’d.”
“And Greg Howell? His heart attack? Was that Lombard, too?”
“I wasn’t in the loop on that one, but I think so. Howell was being a pain in the ass. He was getting in the way of the land deal for the new headquarters with his lawsuit. Having him die like that to clear the legal path for the project was awfully convenient.”
“Tell me about the cruise on Tuesday,” Frost said.
“It was supposed to be a social thing. Filko’s been difficult about some of the tax and environmental issues, so the mayor wanted to schmooze him with a fancy overnight on the Roughing It. It was all going to be hush-hush, very private, nothing in the press. The mayor actually likes Filko. I don’t know why. I think they’re cut from the same cloth. The thing is, Filko wanted companionship for the trip. So I arranged an escort. One of the best I know.”
“Fawn,” Frost said.
Her eyes widened. “You know about her?”
“I know she was on the boat. I know she’s missing.”
“She’s not missing,” Drake said. “She’s dead.”
Frost took a heavy breath. He was thinking about giving Prisha Anand the news about her sister. “Go on.”
“I got a call in the middle of the night.”
“Denny?” Frost asked.
“No, the mayor. He was in a panic. Everything went okay, great food, lots of drinks, Filko was happy. But the mayor turned in around two in the morning, and that’s when things went to hell.”
“What happened?”
“Fawn went overboard,” Drake said.
“She went off the boat? How?”
“Supposedly, she fell. They were cruising offshore in the Pacific. Denny spun the boat around, but he couldn’t find her in the water. She must have gone straight down. That’s when the mayor called me.”
Frost shook his head in disbelief. “She fell? Or she got an assist from Filko?”
“I don’t know. The mayor didn’t see it happen. Filko claimed he was asleep, and Denny backed him up. Denny thought Fawn was too drunk or stoned to know what she was doing.”
“Fawn? According to her sister, Fawn was always clean. No drinking. No drugs.”
“You’re right. I thought that, too.”
“Fawn knew all about the problems between Filko and Naomi,” Frost went on. “She hated him. The only reason she would have agreed to go on that boat was to confront him. What do you think would have happened when she did that?”
“I swear, I don’t know anything more,” Drake said. “All I know is, I got the call.”
“And you called Lombard,” Frost concluded.
“Yes. You have to understand what a catastrophe this would have been. The mayor and the CEO of Zelyx go out on the water with a hooker and she goes off the boat and drowns? It would have been a media feeding frenzy. There would have been criminal charges, jail time. The deal for the Zelyx headquarters would have died in a wave of litigation. This needed to be fixed. No one could know. That’s what Lombard does. He sent the cleanup crew and arranged to get everyone off the boat. He provided a ton of cash so I could pay off Denny and the others.”
“Don’t be naive, Belinda. Giving them cash simply shut them up for a few days. It bought Lombard some time. He was never going to let them live.”
She folded her arms tightly across her chest. The shower drummed behind her shoulder. “Yes, I suppose I knew that.”
“And now it’s done,” Frost said. “Everyone who could talk about what happened on that boat is dead.”
Drake got even closer to him. Her breath was on his lips. “No. Not everyone. That’s why they’re panicking.”
“What are you talking about?” Frost asked.
“They can’t find Mr. Jin. He got paid off, and then he disappeared on Wednesday morning. Lombard didn’t do it. They don’t know where he is, and they’re desperate to find him. Mr. Jin is the key, Frost. He’s alive. You need to get to him first.”
33
Frost met Trent Gorham at a bench across from the palm trees of the Embarcadero near Pier 14. Out on the water, the four silver towers of the Bay Bridge swept majestically toward Yerba Buena Island, and white sails dotted the waves. It was midafternoon. Gorham had a cup of coffee from the Ferry Building on the bench next to him, and he ate kernels of popcorn one at a time from a takeaway box. His pale eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. A pink bloom spread across his cheeks and large nose.
“So you talked to Marjorie Detlowe,” Gorham said as he digested the update from Frost. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s still grieving.”
Gorham nodded. “I should go see her. It’s been a while.”
“I didn’t realize you and Alan were so close,” Frost said. “She said the two of you were best friends.”
“Oh yeah. Alan was a great guy. If you’re right about Martin Filko, it pisses me off to think of Alan getting killed because of a rich little punk like that.”
Frost heard the bells of a trolley clanging its way north toward Fisherman’s Wharf, and he glanced over his shoulder to keep an eye on the people around them.
“I’m surprised Alan didn’t tell you about Filko and Naomi before he was killed,” Frost said. “You were in homicide. He wasn’t.”
Gorham shrugged. “It doesn’t surprise me. That’s the kind of cop he was. Cautious. Alan always played things close to the vest. He wouldn’t have come to me without some real evidence to prove that Filko was involved in Naomi’s death. Rumors don’t count.”