Cut and Run

27

‘I blew off a third date for you,’ Vernetta Westbrook said.

‘I appreciate your sacrifice,’ Claudia said.

‘I suspect he has back-hair issues,’ Vernetta said in her rasp. ‘But a sweet guy. I’m on the fence in that petty, should-I-date-him-again way.’

The two women sat under the not-moving ceiling fans of the Goode Company barbecue restaurant on Kirby, the air heavy with winter damp and the wood-scent of ribs and brisket. Their plates held shreds of stray meat and onion and pickle chunks mired in barbecue sauce. The benches under the fans were mostly empty; it was too cool for outside dining but Vernetta smoked.

They had eaten their way past the awkwardness of old school friends who have not spoken in too long. They covered Claudia’s failed marriage, the embarrassing level of coverage she’d gotten in capturing a serial killer on the coast, Vernetta’s move from defense lawyer to working at the Harris County DA’s Special Crimes bureau, her endless parade of wrong guys, mutual college friends’ misfortunes and triumphs.

The meal done, Vernetta opened a fresh Shiner Bock, lit a cigarette, and took a relaxed puff. Claudia edged toward the subject she’d wanted to touch. ‘So for real, how are you liking working for the DA’s office?’

‘Now we’re getting to the favor,’ Vernetta said. ‘Work-related. Color me surprised.’

‘I have a friend who was murdered here a couple of days ago. Harry Chyme.’

‘God, I’m sorry.’ Vernetta bit at her lip, tapped ashes into her plate.

‘Does his name ring a bell, Vernetta?’

‘You mean has the special crimes division gotten involved in the case?’ Vernetta poked at a dollop of coleslaw on her plate. ‘I’m not sure.’

Claudia could smell a blow-off coming. ‘Arturo Gomez is the investigating officer. You know him? He hasn’t returned my calls yet.’

‘Gomez is very capable. Very ambitious. I imagine he sees police chief ahead of his name one day.’ Vernetta blew out a stream of smoke. ‘You have information on the case or are you wanting to dig around?’

‘Before I go barreling in as the rural cop and make myself look stupid I’d like to know the players. Obviously Harris County has a much more elaborate setup than what I’m used to in Encina County. So can you give me the lay of the land?’

Vernetta raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, from my side of the map, the DA’s Special Crimes Division, we’re involved in crimes where the police department needs the input of lawyers. We focus on gangs, narcotics, major and consumer fraud, major offender and theft rings, asset forfeiture.’

‘You reacted like you’d heard Harry’s name.’

‘I have.’ But then she sipped her beer again, and Claudia waited. She had to be careful. She wanted to give the Houston authorities whatever help she could in Harry’s case, but she didn’t want to get Whit in trouble. Something was terribly wrong, when Whit would not talk to her, when he would warn her off and tell her to go back to Port Leo.

Maybe he had information, and he hadn’t contacted the authorities. He might be breaking the law in this crazy search for his mother.

Claudia waited, sipped tea. Finally Vernetta stubbed out the cigarette.

‘Tell me why you’re meeting with me instead of Gomez if you’ve got info.’

‘I need to know details of the case before I go in and talk to him,’ Claudia said.

‘Why?’

‘I just do, and I know we haven’t talked in a while, because life gets in the way, but I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Please. I can tell you know more than you’re saying.’

Vernetta lit a fresh cigarette. ‘Harry Chyme and a senior VP from Coastal United Bank named Richard Doyle were found shot to death in an insurance office on McCarty, one exit up from the Port of Houston. The office is owned by an eighty-three-year-old insurance agent named Joe Alvarez. We’re not sure who all his insurance clients are, but his family lives rather well. Since yesterday, the Alvarezes have their lawyers talking for them, which means they’re saying nothing.’ She shrugged. ‘I suspect our office will serve a grand jury subpoena on Mr Alvarez by Monday morning if he’s not more forthcoming.’

‘What if he doesn’t talk or takes the Fifth?’

‘Then we give him a grant of immunity. That way, he can’t take the Fifth. He refuses to answer then, he’s in contempt of the grand jury.’

‘So Alvarez is covering for someone.’

‘McCarty Street’s not exactly a hotbed of high-dollar insurance clients,’ she said. ‘I bet Alvarez Insurance is a front. We’ll find a connection between Doyle and Alvarez as we subpoena Alvarez client records and records from the insurance companies.’ She took a sip of beer. ‘Doyle was known as a high-roller, heavy gambler. We’ve started going through his finances, and he seemed to have very heavy debt. But he had clean hands at the bank.’

‘So far.’

‘So far. Divorced a few years ago, alienated from his teenage kids, the kind of guy who’d bet on paint drying.’ She paused. ‘Most likely Doyle owed money and didn’t pay. What we haven’t known is Harry Chyme’s connection. Do you know?’

Claudia took a deep breath. ‘Harry was investigating a case with a loose connection to the Bellini family. I take it you’re familiar with them?’

Vernetta let nearly ten seconds pass before she answered. ‘Oh, sure. They were being watched from the moment they arrived in Houston. But they’ve stayed clean. Mrs Bellini is old Houston money, a debutante who never outgrew the gown. Her husband’s set himself up as an art importer. They haven’t gotten into trouble.’

‘Are you sure?’

Vernetta tapped her nails on the worn wood of the picnic table. ‘Trouble that could be proved, let me say. There was a little dust-up a few years ago. Anonymous tip that they were dealing drugs, not anything you could get a warrant on, but a hotshot investigator decided to chat with Tommy Bellini, went to his house. Mr Bellini and hotshot got into an argument. Hotshot shoved Bellini down in a marble foyer, Bellini got a fractured hip. He sued HPD. Big mess. Almost funny, a guy who was certainly ex-mob suing the cops for brutality. HPD paid through the nose, people lost careers over it. They’ve left the Bellinis alone, but in fairness, they’ve had no serious reason to look at them again. Don’t expect the police to rush at the Bellinis without hard evidence. They don’t want another killer lawsuit.’

Claudia considered. ‘Say Doyle had a connection to the Bellinis, and Harry was trying to get information from him. The Bellinis didn’t want Doyle talking to Harry.’

‘Or Harry got caught with Doyle at the wrong time. Or these gamblers, Claudia, they get in deep real fast. The level of debt can quickly rise into six figures, and they get desperate and scared. Maybe Doyle was trying to sell info on the Bellinis to Harry.’ Vernetta tapped fingernails on the table. ‘I’ like to know about this case Harry was working.’

‘A friend of mine… his mother had not been in touch with him for many years. Harry thought a woman working for the Bellinis was my friend’s mom.’

‘Gomez is attacking this case from every angle Doyle brings to it, not from anything to do with the Bellini family. You better talk to him.’

‘Yes,’ Claudia said, her stomach twisting, the smell of the barbecue suddenly making her queasy. ‘I think I better.’

‘The Bellinis?’ Arturo Gomez said. ‘You got any proof?’ They stood on the lawn of Richard Doyle’s ex-wife’s house, where Gomez had been questioning her about Doyle’s acquaintances and where he agreed to meet Claudia and Vernetta.

‘No,’ Claudia said. Gomez was immaculately groomed in a gray suit, haircut no older than two days and still styled as though he’d just left the salon. Fortyish, ready to make the career leapfrog from investigator to executive and a shade impatient.

‘Maybe the Bellinis lent him money,’ Vernetta said.

‘I’ve got two detectives and an accountant going through Doyle’s finances. So far we’ve found he owes money to at least three small-scale loan sharks who hang at the racetracks and at the Biloxi casinos. But no one we can connect to the Bellini family.’ He laughed. ‘It hasn’t exactly occurred to anyone. They keep their noses clean.’

‘Perhaps Doyle used the small sharks for his gambling loans, and the Bellinis for bigger amounts,’ Claudia said.

‘How big is Port Leo?’ Gomez said, not unkindly. ‘You deal with a lot of loan sharking down there between the shrimpers and the retirees?’

‘Claudia bagged a serial killer,’ Vernetta said. ‘You got one on your wall, Art?’

Gomez cleared his throat.

‘Vernetta, don’t,’ Claudia said. ‘Harry was looking for Eve Michaels, and he ended up with Richard Doyle. There has to be a connection.’

‘True enough,’ Gomez said. ‘This friend of yours. I want to talk to him. Now.’