Private: #1 Suspect

CHAPTER 54

Tandy grabbed my left elbow, Ziegler hooked my right, and they walked me down the winding staircase that opened into the reception areas on every floor. Clients and would-be clients, staffers moving between floors, all of them saw that I was under arrest.

Their faces mirrored my shock.

“We’ve got a car waiting,” Ziegler said. “It’s not your usual ride, Jack. But it has an engine. And wheels.”

“You didn’t have to do it this way,” I said. “But I’m pretty sure you know that.”

Tandy laughed. The son of a bitch was having a very good day. When we reached the ground floor, Ziegler held the front door open and we exited out onto Figueroa.

Clearly, the media had been alerted by the cops. The morning sun cast a flat bright light on the eager faces of the press surging toward me. Bystanders crowded in from the fringes.

Tandy cracked, “Hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Jack. I read that in Variety.”

Cody was waiting for me at the curb. He was very close to tears.

“Justine and Mr. Caine are heading out to TTCF,” he said to me. “They’ll meet you there.”

The Twin Towers Correctional Facility was the supersized prison complex that had replaced the LA Hall of Justice after the quake of ’94. It was known as the busiest prison in the free world, consisting of an intake center and three jails on a ten-acre campus.

The horror stories of the brutality at TTCF were legendary. If you couldn’t make bail, you could lose your health, even your life while waiting months to see a judge. This was true whether or not you were guilty of anything.

“What should I say to people?” Cody was asking.

“Say that I’ve been falsely charged and that I’ll have a statement for the press as soon as I’m back in my office.”

“Don’t worry, Jack. Mr. Caine will get you out. He’s the best.”

Cody was trying to reassure me, and I wanted to reassure him, but I had nothing comforting to say.

I wished now that I hadn’t listened to Justine, that I had gotten to Tommy and beaten the crap out of him. He was a cagey bastard, but he couldn’t stand up to me. Not in a fair fight. He would have told me something.

Reporters called my name, shouted, “What’s your side of the story, Jack? What do you want people to know?”

Tandy pushed my head down and folded me into the backseat of the unmarked car. As I ducked under the doorframe, I turned my head and glanced up at our offices.

Mo-bot was on the second floor, leaning out an open window with a video camera.

She was filming everything.

She saw me look up at her and gave me a thumbs-up. I was filled with affection for Mo. I smiled at her for a second before Tandy slammed my door. He went around to the other side and got into the backseat next to me.

Up front, Ziegler started the engine.

He waited a good long minute or two for an opening in the traffic while reporters banged on the doors and windows. And then the car took off.

I didn’t see a crack of hope.

They had me, and if they could they would destroy me.