Accused

THIRTY-THREE

Retired FBI Special Agent Gus Grimes stood knee-deep in the surf wielding a long fishing pole. He lived in an isolated beach bungalow beyond a line of sand dunes on the next island over, or actually the adjacent peninsula. Scott and Rebecca had taken the car ferry from the East End of the Island across the Ship Channel and driven onto Bolivar Peninsula, where Ike had wiped the earth clean.

They had parked and knocked on the front door. When no one answered, they walked around back and found Gus surf fishing. He saw them and walked out of the water and across the sand to the house. Gus wore baggy shorts, an "I'd Rather be Fishing" T-shirt, beach shoes, and sunglasses. Reading glasses hung around his neck. Gus's gray hair was ragged and a bit long and stuck out from under a fishing cap. He smelled of the sea and looked more like a beach bum than a former FBI special agent.

"Sorry. Lost track of time."

Scott made the introductions then said, "Nice place. No nosy neighbors."

"Three thousand homes on the peninsula before Ike, only a dozen survived. Not mine. Rebuilt soon as I got my insurance money, so the fish didn't get cocky."

"No one else is rebuilding?"

"Oh, yeah. Most didn't have insurance, but the government's spending a couple hundred million to rebuild all the homes. No seawall out here, so we'll all get washed away in the next hurricane, but that's the government, giving away other people's money like Halloween candy."

Gus led them through the back door and into the bungalow. The decor was that of a fish-and-tackle shop.

"You know Hank Kowalski?" Scott said.

"Sure. Hank comes out here on weekends. We surf fish."

"Do all FBI agents retire to Galveston?"

"Only the smart ones."

Karen had briefed Gus on the phone about the case. Scott now pulled out a document and handed it to him. "Confidentiality agreement."

Gus nodded. "I understand."

He understood that Scott did not want a bad result released to the press or the D.A.'s office. Gus signed the document without reading it then handed it back to Scott.

"You work at home?" Scott asked.

"No need for an office. I do half a dozen polygraphs a month, just a little extra bait money. Just me and the fish now. My wife died three years ago, son lives in New York. Lawyer with a big firm. Hates it, but the money owns him."

"Beautiful view," Rebecca said.

She seemed completely calm and relaxed, unlike Scott. Gus noticed.

"Who's taking the polygraph, you or her?" He slapped Scott on the shoulder. "Lawyers always worry more than their clients." He turned to Rebecca. "Okay, sit down and I'll explain how this works."

He gestured her to a chair next to a table on which sat the polygraph machine.

"Just like a laptop," Gus said. "Those analog polygraphs you see on TV, the little needles flying over scrolling paper, they've been replaced by these digital versions."

He picked up a blood pressure cuff connected to the machine. He wrapped the cuff around Rebecca's left arm.

"Like at the doctor's office. Measures your pulse and blood pressure. And these are called pneumographs."

He wrapped rubber tubes around Rebecca's upper chest and stomach.

"They measure respiration. And these little gadgets measure how much your fingers sweat. Folks tend to sweat when they lie."

Gus attached little diodes to two of Rebecca's fingers.

"So what this machine does, it measures anxiety. We compare your physiological changes-pulse, blood pressure, respiration, sweating-against a baseline to see if you get anxious when answering certain questions. Anxiety is an indicator of deception. And that's all this drill can do-tell us whether a person is anxious. It's not really a lie detector. It can't tell us if you're lying, only if you're anxious. That's why the results aren't allowed as evidence in court. Okay?"

Rebecca smiled. "Okay."

Gus put his reading glasses on. "Scott, I've got to ask you to leave us alone for the test. Doesn't work with spectators. It'll take about an hour."

He walked Scott to the back door.

"She'll do fine." He chuckled. "Most folks, they're as nervous as a cat in a dog pound. But not her. I don't see any anxiety in her at all."

Scott whispered to Gus: "Ask her about cocaine use."

Scott walked down the desolate beach. Gus's house was the only one in sight. It was like being on a deserted island. A hot island. Heat waves shimmered above the sun-baked sand. Scott could feel the heat through the soles of his topsiders. Even the gulls didn't light on the dry sand; they stuck to the wet portion of the beach that the tide cooled with each pass. He walked alone and thought of his life-his past and his future.

Two years ago, he had had what he considered a perfect life: partnership at Ford Stevens. $750,000 a year. Highland Park mansion. Ferrari. Miss SMU for his wife. Boo.

Then, that life was suddenly gone.

Now, two years later, he could have his old life back. Ford Fenney. $1 million a year. The corner office on the sixty-second floor. The dining, athletic, and country club memberships. Life, health, and dental insurance. 401(k) plan. Mansion. Ferrari. Rebecca. Boo. Pajamae.

But did he want that life back? Could it ever be the same? Would it include Rebecca? Or would Boo visit her mother in the women's prison? The clock was ticking: nineteen days until trial, perhaps five more days until a verdict. Rebecca Fenney might be down to her last twenty-four days of freedom.

Scott decided to take another run at Melvyn Burke. He knew something. Something Terri Rawlins wanted hidden behind the attorney-client privilege. Scott pulled out his cell phone and dialed. When Melvyn answered, Scott said, "Trey owed five hundred thousand dollars to Benito Estrada. You know who he is?"

It took a moment for Melvyn to answer. "Yes."

"And what he sells? And who he works for?"

"Yes. Why the debt? Trey made that much in a week."

"Trey accused Benito of cheating him, refused to pay. You know what the consequences of not paying the cartel would be?"

"Yes. I know."

"Trey also owed fifteen million to the mob."

The line was silent for a moment. "Who told you that?"

"Gabe Petrocelli. You know him, too?"

"I know of him."

"He works for the mob."

"I know."

"Did you know about Trey's drug and gambling debts?"

"Does Rex know all this? The cartels, the mob?"

"He knows about the drug debt. I'm seeing him tomorrow about the mob debt."

"Maybe he'll dismiss the charges."

"Melvyn, if you know something, please tell me. Don't let an innocent person go to prison."

"Attorney-client privilege, Scott."

Scott ended the call when he saw Gus waving from the bungalow. He walked back up the beach. When he entered the bungalow, Gus said, "Rebecca, why don't you take a walk now, let Scott and me talk?"

"Okay."

She kicked off her sandals, and they watched her down to the surf.

"You get lonely out here, Gus?"

Gus smiled. "With all these fish?" His smile soon faded. "My work is done, Scott. I'll play out my life here on this sandbar."

Scott had put off asking as long as he could. "Well?"

"Inconclusive."

"What does that mean? Was she lying?"

"We don't say 'lying,' Scott. We say 'truthful' or 'deceptive' or 'inconclusive.' Inconclusive means 'I don't know'."

"Why not?"

"Because her physiological responses weren't significant."

"So she was telling the truth?"

"Possibly. From her demeanor, probably. She exhibited no nervousness or anxiety at all, so I'd lean toward truthful."

"Even about the cocaine?"

"Yep. Said she used it a few times with Trey, not recently."

"But possibly she was telling the truth and possibly she was lying?"

Gus nodded. "Which adds up to inconclusive. Which is why I took early retirement from the Bureau."

"What do you mean?"

"After Hanssen-the agent who sold secrets to the Russians-and then nine-eleven, the FBI and CIA and NSA, they all started seeing spies and terrorists behind every government desk. So they instituted wide-scale polygraph testing. Hell, they'd test every person in America if they could. They did test everyone at the Bureau. Anyone failed, they were fired on the spot. I kept telling the directors, that's not the proper use of the polygraph. Just too many false-positives to fire folks for one failed test. They want to say these things are ninety-five percent reliable, but that's just not the deal. None of this stuff-not even DNA-is foolproof, but we want a pill to make us skinny and a test to put the right people in prison. But the Bureau's more worried about bad press than bad guys, so they said shut up and test. I was ruining too many good folks' careers, so I quit."

"Yeah, but the D.A. won't quit this case on inconclusive."

Gus shook his head. "Nope."

Scott headed to the door but stopped. "You didn't ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"Why I'm defending my ex-wife?"

"Oh. Well, working at the FBI you learn pretty quick not to ask too many questions."

"That's comforting."

Consuela de la Rosa-Garcia hummed a Mexican lullaby while she rocked little Maria. She was holding her nina under the umbrella on the back deck and watching the girls play on the beach below and Carlos and Louis trying to surf the waves. Hombres locos. But they made her laugh. She heard a car out front, and Senora Fenney soon appeared down below. She walked out to the girls.

Consuela had never liked Senora Fenney.

When the Fenneys had bought the mansion on Beverly Drive in Highland Park and she had become their maid, she knew that her life would be difficult under her new mistress. It had been. Then Immigration took Consuela away that terrible day, to Nuevo Laredo. But Senor Fenney had somehow rescued her and obtained her green card and brought her back to Highland Park, and when she returned, Senora Fenney was gone. The last two years without her had been good for Consuela. She was the only maid she knew in Highland Park with health insurance. Maria was not born with a Mexican midwife in East Dallas; she was delivered by a doctor in a hospital in North Dallas. Consuela liked her life now.

She hoped Senora Fenney would not return with them to Dallas.