Brutality (51 page)

A
t the beginning of a case, Fina would take hold of any potential lead and follow it. This usually led to dead ends, but it was the only way to gain traction at the outset. Toward the end of a case, there were often too many leads to follow, and she had to pick just one. She decided Jamie was due a chat, particularly in light of Kelly’s visit to him the night before.

With a quick call to his office, Fina learned that he was working at home for the day. She stopped by a gourmet grocery store on the way to Hyde Park and picked up a frozen container of macaroni and cheese, a green salad, and a loaf of bread. Fina knew that the mac ’n’ cheese was a gamble; her nephews only ate the kind with white cheese and macaroni of a certain diameter, but she figured it had a greater chance of appealing to Jamie’s kids than poached salmon with saffron sauce.

Fina climbed the front steps with her peace offering and rang the bell. Jamie peered out from the front window a moment later and shook his head. “It’s not a good time,” he said.

“Jamie, come on,” Fina said. “I’ve come bearing gifts. I just want to ask you a few questions. I’m not going to give you a hard time.”

She waited on the front step, freezing her butt off, confident that she could outlast him in a test of wills. A minute later the door swung open and Jamie let her into the house.

“I brought you some food. You can freeze it if you don’t need it now.”

“Thanks,” he said, and took the bag from her.

“Do you have a few minutes?” she asked.

“Fine,” Jamie said. It was more like a surrender than an invitation.

Fina took off her coat and followed him into the kitchen, where a mug of coffee sat on the table.

“Do you want some?” he asked, gesturing to his cup.

“Water would be great.”

Jamie reached into an upper cabinet and took down a glass, which he filled at the tap. He put it down on the table, and Fina took a seat. He sat down across from her and raised his coffee cup to his mouth. Fina noted a slight tremor in his hand.

“How are things going?” Fina asked.

He put down his cup and spread his hands open. “They’re hunky-dory.”

Fina took a sip of water. “Have you seen Kelly recently?” she asked.

“She was here last night. My daughter stayed late at school for a project, and she’s in the same class as Kelly’s son. Kelly picked them up and took them out to dinner, then dropped my daughter off. Why?”

“I’ve been trying to be in touch with her, and we keep playing phone tag.” Fina waited while he drank some coffee. “Do you know what’s going on with her and Gus Sibley?”

Jamie put the mug down a little too hard, and some drops dribbled over the side. “What do you mean?”

“I know they’ve seen each other recently, even though they both claimed they weren’t in touch. I’m always curious when people lie to me.”

Jamie stood up and got a paper towel from the dispenser hanging under one of the cabinets. Fina knew he was buying time, which was fine by her. It was always interesting to see what baloney people came up with instead of the truth.

“I have no idea,” he finally said. “I didn’t know they were in touch.” He came back to the table and cleaned up the spilled coffee before tossing the paper towel into the trash.

“Hmm,” Fina said, rotating her glass on the tabletop. “You sure about that?”

“I thought you weren’t going to give me a hard time.”

“I’m not. I haven’t mentioned your drug habit.”

Jamie opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a ringing phone. He grabbed his cell off the counter and glanced at the screen. “I need to take this,” he said, slipping out of the room.

Fina tried to listen, but he had moved to the living room and was speaking in hushed tones. Maybe the phone call was innocent, but people didn’t tend to lower their voices when confirming a dental appointment.

She got up from the table and brought her glass to the sink, guessing that she had worn out her welcome. There were breakfast dishes piled up and what looked to be stacks of mail on the counter. Fina was placing her glass in the drying rack when something caught her eye. Next to the refrigerator, tucked behind a tall jar holding cooking utensils, she saw the familiar NEU colors. It was an NEU travel coffee mug, and it looked very similar to the ones toted by Gus and Kelly the day before.

Fina reached out and picked it up. It was light—too light to contain liquid. She shook it lightly, and the sound it made resembled a baby’s rattle. Fina quickly pulled off the top and looked inside. The travel mug contained white pills, the same sort of pills that Matthew had described Jamie purchasing at the club in Central Square.

She did a quick mental calculation and put the top back on the mug and returned it to its spot next to the fridge. Fina grabbed her glass, squirted some liquid soap into it, and turned on the faucet. When Jamie came into the kitchen a minute later, she was busy washing her glass and placing it in the drying rack.

“I was just washing my glass,” she said, noticing his eyes glance toward the counter and the travel mug. “I brought mac ’n’ cheese and salad and bread. Like I said, you can freeze the mac ’n’ cheese. I hope it’s the kind your kids like.”

Jamie avoided her gaze.

“Sorry for bugging you about Gus and Kelly,” Fina said. “I’m just really frustrated.”

“Me too,” Jamie said, his posture relaxing.

Fina started toward the front door. “If you think of anything, let me know.”

“Sure. I will.”

“I’m not frustrated because I’m not making progress; I’m frustrated because I’m about to crack the case and I’m impatient,” Fina said, pulling on her coat.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Jamie said, looking anything but glad.

“I’ll be in touch.” She squeezed his arm before starting down the front steps. Jamie closed the front door, disappearing from view.

Fina could have asked him about the pills, but that would have meant blowing the element of surprise, and she needed every possible advantage.

The last thing she wanted was for Jamie to warn his dealer and his drug mule that she was onto them.

—

F
ina pulled into a McDonald’s drive-thru and ordered large fries, a diet soda, and an apple pie. She needed a plan, and she developed her best plans on a full stomach. When her phone rang she’d made no progress on a plan, but was halfway through her fries. The number was marked “unavailable,” but private investigators don’t have the luxury of sending calls to voice mail.

“Hello?” she said, licking salt off her fingers.

“Could I speak with Ms. Ludlow, please?” a man asked.

“This is she. Who is this?”

“This is Dr. Morrison at the Portland Medical Center.”

“Oh, right,” Fina said, trying to cover her surprise. “What can I do for you, Dr. Morrison?”

“Well, I’m sorry to have to tell you over the phone, but Greta Samuels passed away this morning.”

Fina dropped the French fry she was holding back into the bag. “What? She did?”

“Yes. Your name was listed on the next-of-kin form. She was your aunt?”

“Actually, we’re not related, but I’m close friends with her niece.”

“Could you share the information with her niece?” he asked.

“Of course. Can I ask what happened? I just spoke with Greta a few days ago.” Fina could hear someone being paged in the background.

“It was an opportunistic infection. Unfortunately, these things happen, especially with patients who are older and not in generally good health.”

“I know she was waiting for a transplant,” Fina said. “Would that have made a difference?”

He paused for a moment. “It’s difficult to say.”

“Her niece was in the early stages of possibly becoming a donor.”

“If she was in the early stages, it wouldn’t have helped. The infection was very fast-moving, and obviously lethal.”

“I appreciate the information, and I’ll be sure to tell Greta’s niece.”

“Like I said, I’m sorry to deliver news via the phone,” Dr. Morrison said, “but there you have it.”

“Thank you,” Fina said, and pressed the end key on her phone.

She sat for a moment and stared out the windshield. She replayed her last conversation with Greta in her head and contemplated the conversation she needed to have with Risa.

Of all the outcomes Fina had imagined, this wasn’t one of them.

—

N
o sooner had Fina pulled out of the McDonald’s parking lot than her phone rang again. She pressed the speaker button and kept driving.

“Hello,” Fina said, sipping from her now flat diet soda.

“Fina, it’s Pamela Fordyce.”

“I was hoping I would hear from you,” Fina said. “What can you tell me about the Local Scholars program?”

“It’s a scholarship program that offers financial aid to local students who might not qualify for a scholarship otherwise. I didn’t realize Zack Lawrence was enrolled until I looked at the file again.”

“Why wouldn’t the participants qualify for a scholarship otherwise? Because they don’t have enough financial need or they don’t have the grades?”

“Mostly because they don’t have the grades to compete with needy students from other locations.”

“So what’s the point of the program? Why give aid to less-qualified candidates?”

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Pamela said. “The university gives a leg up to local underprivileged students, and those students then return to their communities and are good PR for NEU.”

Fina was in a backed-up left-turn lane and for once wasn’t annoyed by the delay. Sitting through a few light cycles let her focus completely on the call. She was practically parked.

“Okay. I appreciate the information,” she said. Fina wanted to know as much as she could about Zack, but she wasn’t sure how this piece was relevant to her investigation.

“Why don’t you ask Kevin about him?” Pamela said.

“What? Why would I ask Kevin?”

“Because Kevin was on the scholarship committee when Zack Lawrence was admitted.”

Fina was glad she wasn’t moving; she would have slammed on her brakes. “So they know each other? Kevin Lafferty and Zack Lawrence?”

“I don’t know if they know each other now, but they did at some point. Local Scholars is a small program. They must have had some contact.”

“Jesus,” Fina said, the wheels in her head turning.

“What’s this about? How is this related to the Liz Barone case?” Pamela asked.

“I’m not sure that it is, but I need to cover all the bases.”

“Does this implicate Kevin somehow?”

“Not necessarily. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?” Fina asked, wondering how long Pamela would maintain her own claim to innocence.

“No. That’s it.”

“Okay. Thanks for the update,” Fina said. “Gotta run.”

Fina pulled over into a strip mall parking lot. She took a deep breath and considered her options. She wanted to hightail it to Kevin Lafferty’s house and accuse him of orchestrating the car bomb, but just as she valued the element of surprise, so did the police. If she tipped Kevin off, he could cover his tracks and derail the whole investigation. She knew better than to jeopardize a potential court case.

She sighed and picked up her phone. Cristian answered after a couple of rings.

“It pains me to make this call,” she said.

“You really know how to get a conversation started,” he said.

“I just want you to understand how hard this is for me.”

“I understand.” Cristian sounded distracted. “What is it?”

“Did you know that Kevin Lafferty was a committee member for an NEU scholarship program that Zack Lawrence was enrolled in? If you did, then my angst is for naught.”

She heard what sounded like a file drawer slamming shut on the other end of the line.

“I did not know that,” he said.

“Cristian, that’s a pretty solid connection, and I can imagine Kevin getting someone to do his dirty work for him.”

“Okay, I can see that, but why go after you?”

“Because Kevin doesn’t want his dirty secrets to come out,” Fina said, “and I kept pushing.”

“What? You think he killed Liz Barone?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but he has a colorful history of sleeping with NEU students and got at least one of them pregnant. If that becomes public knowledge, his role as a booster is going to be seriously jeopardized.”

“How do you know he got someone pregnant?”

“I read about it in Liz Barone’s correspondence. He had an affair with her back in the day.”

“He really has been keeping secrets,” Cristian said.

“Yes,” Fina agreed. “I haven’t mentioned it to her mother or husband, so mum’s the word. Ha!”

“And why does it pain you to tell me all this? You don’t like the guy.”

“Exactly, and I would like nothing more than to go over to Kevin’s house right now and tell him that I know about the scholarship program and his connection to Zack Lawrence.”

“Which you absolutely cannot do,” Cristian said.

“I know, hence the pain.”

“Don’t go anywhere near him, Fina.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“Good. I’ll call you later,” he said.

Fina hung up the phone. It felt good coming clean to Cristian. Not as good as confronting Kevin would have, but good enough.

—

F
ina pulled up to Risa’s house and emerged from her car only to be hit with a snowball. Jordan, Risa’s eldest, looked momentarily stricken until Fina reached down for a handful of snow and took off after him.

“You’re a dead man, Jordan,” she called out.

He ran around the yard as his friends laughed and cheered Fina on. She caught him and smooshed the snow down onto his bare head.

“It’s going down my back!” he yelped, grinning. He reached down and batted a scoop of snow toward Fina’s face.

She grabbed his shoulders and wrestled him to the ground. “Seriously? You want to do this with me?” she asked, laughing.

“I give up! I give up!”

Fina stood up, and he rolled onto his back. His friends gathered around him.

“You got beaten by a girl, Jordan,” one of them said.