Cutter didn’t say anything for a long time. He leaned forward to study the watch. The contrast of the expensive, sparkling jewelry with the drab, oppressive surroundings of the prison room was striking. Even under a dusty fluorescent bulb, the diamonds and rubies shined.
“It’s beautiful,” Cutter said finally. “The Swiss are very talented. How much do you think a watch like that is worth? Ten thousand dollars? More?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, it’s so unusual you’d think it would be one of a kind,” Cutter said. He paused, and his eyes narrowed. “But we both know it’s not.”
“I’m not sure what you think you’re doing, Cutter,” Frost said.
The man gave him a look of surprise, as if the truth was obvious. “I’m getting out of prison. And you’re going to help me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because no matter what you think I did, you can’t live with a lie,” Cutter said. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Frost picked up the evidence bag and twisted it between his fingers. “You’re clever. It’s a clever game, but it won’t work.”
“No?”
“No. A judge will never let you out over this. A duplicate watch isn’t enough evidence to free you. It doesn’t prove a thing.”
“Except it’s not an exact duplicate, is it?” Cutter asked.
Frost shrugged. “The inscription on the back won’t help you. I already talked to Camille Valou. She said Melanie’s watch had no inscription. This watch didn’t belong to her daughter.”
“She’s lying,” Cutter said.
“And just how do you expect to prove that? It’s your word against hers. Who do you think a judge is likely to believe? A convicted serial killer or a mother whose child was murdered?”
“I don’t have to convince a judge,” Cutter replied calmly. “I just have to convince you. The fact is, I already have. You’re sitting here. You came to talk to me. That means you know the truth. You know the watch in your pocket belonged to Melanie Valou. You know that your colleague, Jess Salceda, planted a fake watch in my house in order to frame me. You know that I’m in prison because of a lie.”
Frost shook his head. “Is that what this is about? You think you can take Jess down? You want to put a cloud over her career and make everyone think she’s a corrupt cop?”
“She is corrupt.”
“And like I said, you’ll never prove it. You want me to take this watch to a judge? Fine. I’ll do it. Nothing will come of it. There’ll be a hearing, and Camille will testify that the watch I found didn’t belong to Melanie, and Jess will testify that she found Melanie’s real watch in your ceiling. The judge will throw out your motion, and you’ll be right where you are now. It’s a waste of time. You see, you’re forgetting one thing, Cutter. Even if anyone secretly believes that this is Melanie’s watch, they’ll still know you’re guilty.”
“Really? Why is that?”
“Because the only way you could have found Melanie’s real watch is if you’d had it hidden all along.”
Cutter actually smiled. Frost had never seen him smile before. Cutter leaned across the table and whispered, “That’s a good point, Inspector. Except I never had that watch.”
Frost hesitated. “What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t challenge the authenticity of the watch that Jess found at my trial,” Cutter said, “because I assumed that Jess had found Melanie’s real watch and planted it. Not that I had any way to prove that at the time. But I knew I didn’t have it.”
“Then who did?” Frost asked.
“That’s a good question. I thought about that for a long time as I sat here in prison. I always thought the whole thing was strange. Melanie Valou was wearing her watch in the video footage from the ATM. So where on earth did Jess find it? I had no explanation. Not until very recently.”
“What happened?” Frost asked.
“I was listening to a Giants game on the radio this spring,” Cutter said. “They did an interview with one of the starting pitchers. Hector Veracruz. He mentioned a little incident from a few years ago. When I heard it, I knew exactly what had happened to Melanie’s watch. It was sort of like a bunch of alarm clocks going off at the same time. Know what I mean?”
Frost got the joke, which was like a sick boast that Cutter had been behind the whole overnight game.
“Go on,” he said.
“Hector got mugged,” Cutter told him. “It was a week after their last World Series victory. Some kid pulled a gun on him and took his cash and his last series ring, too. That was five years ago. November five years ago. Does that ring a bell with you, Inspector?”
It did. Frost understood the timing. Melanie Valou had disappeared five years ago. In November.
“Go on,” Frost said.
“I had someone on the outside do some research for me. Guess where Hector got mugged? It was near a skateboard park under 101. I bet that rings a bell, too. It’s only a few blocks from the ATM where Melanie Valou took out cash. Do you see where I’m going with this, Inspector?”
“You think Melanie got mugged,” Frost said. “The mugger took her watch.”
“Right.”
“Before she met you,” Frost said.
“Before she met whoever killed her,” Cutter replied.
“That’s quite a story. Do you expect me to believe it?”
Cutter shrugged. “You already do believe it, Inspector. I can see it in your face. You know it won’t be hard to confirm everything I’ve told you.”
“The mugger. Do you know who he is?”
“His name was Lamar Rhodes.”
“Was?” Frost asked.
“He broke his neck in a skateboarding accident six months after Melanie was killed. Police found a gun and a lot of cash in his pocket. Hector pegged him as the kid who heisted his series ring.”
Frost took out the evidence bag from his pocket again. “If Rhodes is dead, how did this watch get in my hands? Where has it been for five years?”
“That took a while to figure out. Remember, I still thought that Jess planted the real watch. I assumed she must have found Lamar Rhodes and taken the watch from him. Or maybe he fenced it and she tracked it down on the street. Either way, I was simply trying to prove what Jess had done. I had someone digging into Lamar’s background, talking to people who knew him, trying to figure out what had happened to the watch. One of the people was Lamar’s sister, Yolanda. She sprang quite a surprise on us.”
“How so?”
“She was wearing the watch,” Cutter said.
Frost didn’t say anything, but he was thunderstruck.
“Yeah, it surprised me, too,” Cutter said. “That’s when I realized there must have been two watches. A mother-and-daughter set. And Camille Valou gave her own watch to Jess to plant in my ceiling. They figured it was safe because they assumed I had Melanie’s watch and couldn’t produce it without incriminating myself. Instead, a teenager in the Mission District had it the whole time. She thought the jewels were plastic. Imagine this kid walking around with a few thousand dollars on her wrist and not even knowing it.
“Yolanda Rhodes,” Frost murmured.
“That’s right. Go talk to her. She’ll tell you all about it. And just in case you think I paid her off to feed you a crap story, there’s proof, too. She’s got a picture of herself and Lamar from five years ago where she’s wearing the watch.”
Frost wanted to believe that Cutter had concocted an elaborate lie, but he didn’t think so. The story was crazy, but it had the ring of crazy, simple truth. He knew who’d really been lying all along. Camille Valou. And Jess.