A Dangerous Affair (41 page)

Leslie sat inside her car beneath a tower of parking lot lights and a pole-mounted surveillance camera outside a Wal-Mart entrance. Without specific knowledge of who to look for, everyone in the retail circus appeared suspicious, including the RV driver who cut across the open lot in a faded Winnebago with Arizona plates.

She'd waited hours for an FBI agent to show without any communication from George, who seemed more interested in his own career advancement than helping her bring a bad cop to justice. Nothing in her life made sense any more. The justice system she trusted had come apart at the seams and no one gave a crap. Manny Morallen was dead, and the man who killed him would stop at nothing to bury the truth about the murder of his own deputy. Now her future teetered on the outcome of a midnight rendezvous with a federal agent she'd never met. An agent who George assured her would make contact and bring her to safety.

You're losing it,
she told herself as a tall, heavyset man in a hooded sweatshirt headed in her direction with his hands in his pockets. She watched the stranger advance across the parking lot without a cart or a shopping bag or anything on his person to suggest he came to shop. The closer he got, the more facial details she discerned within the drawstring hood.
Caucasian. Late thirties to early forties. Dark hair. Clean shaven.

It wasn't Blanchart. And it wasn't anyone else she recognized either.

Tired of the waiting game, Leslie put the Lexus in reverse and backed away from the tree-lined median as the undercover agent gave chase.

She mashed her foot on the gas pedal and plowed through a convoy of empty shopping carts behind her. She slammed the transmission in drive without stopping and cut the wheel to peel out of the parking lot toward the main thoroughfare. If the feds wouldn't come to her, she'd bring her case to them and drop a crooked cop in their lap.

She replayed the notes in her head, rehashing everything she suspected about Blanchart's involvement in the murder of Deputy Carter and Manny Morallen. As certain as the sun would rise, she knew Blanchart killed Morallen and then tried to kill her. In every situation, Blanchart had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit the crimes. George's friend or not, Blanchart was a worm inside the apple.

She took the interstate out of town and checked the destination route on her Blackberry. She'd spent her life defending a system that turned its back on the one client she knew for certain was innocent. And the one witness she'd hoped to leverage against the sheriff in court.

Despite the mounting evidence against him, Blanchart always found a way to counter her attack. But like all tyrants, she knew eventually his reign would end. Whatever power Blanchart held in his own private universe would dissolve when the feds slapped the cuffs on him.

The minute the FBI had Blanchart in custody, she'd tender her resignation with the public defender's office and start a new career with a private law firm. The same crazy hours, but much better pay—and eventually a more manageable schedule to afford her the kind of life she'd always dreamed about. A life with more time for fun and less time for stress.

Her Blackberry signaled an incoming call.

She laid into George. "This better be good! Your guy never showed!"

She flashed her high beams at the construction zone up ahead.

The connection remained silent.

"Did you hear what I said? I waited in the parking lot alone for three hours!"

"I heard you the first time,"
said Blanchart on the other end.

Leslie straightened in her seat. Her initial fear morphed into anger. "How did you get this number?"

"That's not important."

Leslie slowed her car and followed closely along the staggered concrete barrier. A section of unpaved blacktop rumbled under her tires. "You murdered Simon Carter and Manny Morallen, and I have the evidence to prove it."

"If you live long enough."

"Don't threaten me you sick bastard. I'm not afraid of you."

"Maybe you should be."

"I have enough to put you away for life," Leslie spoke loudly, her confidence building as her final destination drew closer.

"You have nothing,"
said Blanchart, his voice calm and resonant.

Leslie changed lanes to pass a slower moving car. "I think my friends at the FBI will disagree."

Blanchart took his time with the highly intelligent and elusive adversary more inventive—and lucky—than most enemies he pursued.
"I admire your tenacity, Ms. Dancroft, especially coming from a public defender with an average track record and a law school rank at the bottom of her class. You failed the bar the first two times you took it. You never married because no self-respecting man would share his bed with you. Not even me. You spend all your time chasing fairytales, and yet you still don't get it. Now you're running from something you can't reconcile. And that's always been the case, hasn't it? Running is what you know. It's the only way for you to cope with the fear."

Leslie put the Blackberry on speaker mode. She gripped the wheel and accelerated to ninety-five. Wind turbulence buffeted the hood. "Don't underestimate me."

"On the contrary, Ms. Dancroft, you underestimate yourself. You had such potential, yet you chose to squander it in public practice, defending indigent criminals on the taxpayers' dime. You sacrificed your personal life for years with little gain. You have no husband. No children. No promise of a better future to look forward to."

"I have your demise to look forward to," said Leslie. "That's all the promise I need in my life right now."

Blanchart cleared his throat.
"How far do you think you can take this?"

"Far enough to watch you get the needle."

The connection went silent for several seconds.

"You're in no position to threaten me,"
said Blanchart.

"I'm five minutes from an FBI field office," said Leslie with resounding confidence in her voice.

"Unfortunately for you, you're not going to make it."

"How do you know?"

"Because you just missed your exit."

Leslie looked up to see a pair of blinding headlights hit her rearview mirror. She stabbed the accelerator, but the car behind her kept pace, gaining ground as the mile markers ticked by. She checked her speed and fumbled with her phone, rattled by the sudden shift in the balance of power.

A crushing impact to her rear bumper whipped her body forward and buried her shoulder belt in her chest.

She braked hard and then accelerated a split second later, maintaining control of the car with a mountain climber's grip on the leather-wrapped steering wheel.

She hailed the FBI on speed dial and heard the call connect when a second impact forced the car sideways, causing her to swerve toward oncoming traffic.

She veered right, then overcorrected to the left, slamming a section of guard rail at high speed. The Lexus spun out of control like a Matchbox car on a broken track, its twisted wreckage tumbling at high velocity, hurling metal and glass debris in a thousand directions at once before the crumpled sedan lost momentum and skidded upside-down on the roof, grinding sparks along the pavement.

* * *

Leslie opened her eyes to see the panoramic whirl of distant traffic. Flashing strobe lights moved in slow motion, reflected in tiny pieces of shattered glass scattered on the ground in front of her.

Pinned in her seatbelt upside down, she inhaled the smell of gasoline fumes through her broken nose. A punctured lung made breathing difficult. A splintered femur brought unbearable pain.

"Who else have you talked to?" said Blanchart, aiming a flashlight at Leslie's upside-down face.

Leslie gurgled on a lung filled with blood. Her body shivered from the cold enveloping her. "No one."

"Who else?"

"Can't breathe..."

Blanchart reached inside the empty passenger window and gathered the accordion file folders. "You've been in an accident. You're in shock. You'll die without immediate medical attention." He opened the folders and inspected the contents. "I can't help you unless you tell me what I need to know." He tossed the papers back inside Leslie's car and holstered his flashlight on his duty belt.

Leslie reached toward her hip and unfastened her seat belt to relieve the pressure on her chest and free her to move about. The transfer of weight sent shockwaves of pain through her leg. Transmission fluid dripped in her eye. The smell of death lingered like the Grim Reaper himself.

She reached for the digital recorder that spilled out of her purse in the crash and slid it away from the car.

Blanchart lit a cigarette and stooped to face Leslie eye-to-eye. "Who else has seen these files?"

Leslie curled a fist and sprung her middle finger. "Go to hell."

Blanchart stood up and took a long drag on the filtered Marlboro. Red-hot tobacco burned and crackled at the tip before he flicked the ignition source at the trail of spilled gasoline and said, "Ladies first."

Chapter 62

Lloyd rode his damaged Triumph to the Winn-Dixie parking lot and found the tan Civic where Samantha had parked it with the key still under the wheel well. He searched the lot for Jamie's Volvo or Blanchart's unmarked cruiser but found neither in plain view.

sped away from the parking lot and raced across town to the self-storage unit. He replayed the steps in his mind, convincing himself Jamie must have gone through with the plan. Every detail was accounted for. Every aspect double-checked.
Something went wrong,
he reasoned before he

He circled the abandoned property and ventured toward the back. Confident no one followed him, he dropped the kickstand and dismounted. Thunder rumbled in the night sky, marred by heat lightning and the onset of a passing shower.

He opened the rolling door to his father's storage unit and emptied the backpack full of cash in an old freezer chest. With Varden in custody, he had some latitude with his schedule, but if Varden could track his moves, so could his replacement.

He piled boxes above the freezer as steady rain began to fall. Outside the storage facility, a Geo Metro with a broken antenna pulled up beside the Triumph.

"What are you doing here?" Lloyd asked his brother, who got out of the car in a hurry.

"Looking for you."

"I know what you did to Mom."

Josh rubbed his nose with a shaky hand. "I'm not here for family counseling." Sweat dripped from his brow into dilated eyes that looked as tired and worn as the clothes he'd slept in. "Where's the money?"

Lloyd adjusted the empty backpack on his shoulder. "What money?"

Josh pulled a small revolver from his waistband and pointed the gun at Lloyd. "Open the bag."

"What are you doing?"

"I know about the money Dad stole. I saw you take it from the cemetery." Josh scratched his arms, first one then the other. "Let me see the bag."

Lloyd dropped the empty bag on the floor.

Josh unzipped the main compartment. "Where's the money?"

"I don't have it."

"Then where is it?"

"I gave it away."

"Bullshit!"

Lloyd kept his eye on the gun. "The money won't solve your problems."

"You don't know shit about my problems."

"I know they're bigger than any one man can handle himself."

"Did Mom tell you that?"

"You need help," said Lloyd. "I can help you if you let me."

"What I need is for you to give me the fucking money."

"Nothing good will come of this."

Josh pressed his dentures with his tongue. He hit the side of his fist against the cinderblock wall. He'd seen it coming with Lloyd, but he couldn't bring himself to accept the inevitable. "Spoken like the bro I know. A real life Superman. Always trying to save the day. But you can't solve everything. Not this time."

"I'll give you what money I have." Lloyd slowly lowered his hand and took out his wallet. He tossed it at his brother's feet.