Robert B. Parker’s Buried Secrets

Sixteen

Molly was at the station by the time he walked back inside. She handed him a fresh cup of coffee. He took it gratefully, even though the heat irritated the burns on his hands. It had been a long day already, and it was only eight-forty-five a.m.

“Wait,” he said. “Since when do you get me coffee?”

“Don’t shoot the messenger,” she said. “The mayor is here.”

Jesse rolled his eyes. Gary Armistead was not going to improve his day or his mood in any way.

“Remember, I only escorted them in,” she said.

Jesse sighed heavily. “ ‘Them’?”

“Ellis is with him, too,” Molly said, and then, more quietly, “And I know you’ve had a terrible day already, but you can’t punch them.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll probably fire you. And I don’t want your job. So play nice.”

Jesse grimaced. “I’m always nice.”

That made Molly laugh. “Sure.”

Jesse walked into his office, where Armistead and Ellis Munroe were already seated in front of his desk. They sat up straight, chests out, jaws set like they were going into a bar fight, or a tennis match, or whatever these two did on the weekends. Jesse didn’t really know or care.

“Stone,” Armistead said.

“Gary,” Jesse said. “Ellis. Make yourself at home.”

“Don’t worry, Jesse. We won’t be staying that long,” Ellis said, and, with a flourish, slapped down a piece of paper on Jesse’s desk.

Jesse read it.

Then looked up at both men, who sat there, proud of themselves.

“You can’t be this stupid,” he said.

Armistead’s face went deep red.

“Jesse!” Molly shouted.

“Stop eavesdropping, Molly,” Jesse called back. He picked up the paper. It was an order, signed by Ellis in his capacity as DA, claiming the $2 million in cash found in the Burton house as evidence and demanding it be turned over to the City of Paradise.

“This is a terrible idea,” Jesse said. “I am still trying to find the suspect in this arson. I haven’t identified a motive or any of the victims involved. And you want to get into a pissing match over the money.”

“You haven’t surrendered the case to the State Police,” Ellis said. “The money is evidence in the case. We have every right to keep custody of it until the case is concluded.”

Armistead finished for him: “And if there are no legal claimants to Burton’s estate, that money belongs to the town.”

“Finders keepers. Is that the legal standard?”

Ellis frowned at him. “Civil forfeiture, Jesse. You know that as well as I do. Any assets that are suspected to be the proceeds of a crime are subject to confiscation and sale or use by the government. In this case, that’s us.”

“That’s usually for drug cases. This is not a drug case.”

Ellis shrugged. “This much cash, who’s to say? Drug dealers leave a lot of small bills lying around.”

“It’s not a drug case,” Jesse said again.

“Well, the courts are pretty lenient on that standard,” Ellis said. “And we still have a claim to the money as illegal proceeds of a crime.”

“That money could do a lot of good here in town,” Armistead said. “We still have a hole in the budget from the pandemic. Tax receipts are down, tourism is still recovering. We’ve got roads that need fixing, maintenance for city buildings...”

A mayor’s office that needs redecorating, Jesse thought but didn’t say.

“...and new equipment for you and the fire department,” Armistead continued.

“I get all that,” Jesse said. “What I don’t understand is why you want to keep it here in Paradise instead of at the state evidence facility.”

Ellis looked uncomfortable. Armistead didn’t. He plowed right ahead. “We don’t want the state to get any ideas about claiming it.”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s a lotta money. People get greedy.”

“Yeah, they do,” Jesse said.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing.” Jesse looked at Ellis. “You really think the state is going to try to steal the money from Paradise on the off-chance we get to claim it.”

Ellis shrugged. “They could make an argument that they’re entitled to part or all of it. The state evidence team collected and bagged it. And they’ve got a hole in their budget, too. Don’t tell me you think they wouldn’t jump at the cash.”

Jesse didn’t reply. He couldn’t say that Ellis was wrong.

“Look. If this is our case, then it’s our money. We should hang on to it,” Ellis said. “It’s that simple.”

Jesse looked at Armistead. “And you clearly feel the same way.”

“I would feel better knowing we have the cash under our direct supervision,” Armistead said.

“Well. As long as you feel better about it.”

“Excuse me, Stone?”

Jesse could see Armistead was dug in on this, no matter how dumb it was. He tried another approach. “Where are we going to keep it?”

That stumped Armistead for a moment. “Don’t you have an evidence locker?”

“We have a closet. It’s secured with a padlock. And it’s mostly full. Does this look like Fort Knox to you?”

“So empty it out.”

“This is more than two million dollars in small bills. They carried it out in two big duffel bags. It won’t fit.”

“What about a safe?”

Jesse pointed to the safe bolted to the floor in a corner of his office. It was smaller than a mini-fridge. “This is our safe.”

“That’s it?”

“I’ve been asking for a better one for years.”

“Don’t try to blame this on me, Stone. I’m trying to get more money here, and all you’re doing is—”

Ellis jumped in before Armistead could finish his sentence. “You could take the guns out of the weapons locker. Pack it in there,” he suggested.

“We’re not leaving our guns lying in the hallway, Ellis.”

“I’ll call the bank,” Armistead said. “They’ll put it in their safe and—”

Ellis cut him off before Jesse could. “That would break the chain of custody. Too many people going in and out. It’s not an official facility. We have to maintain control over it or any halfway decent defense attorney could keep it out of any trial.”

“Well, I’m sure you could still win the case without the money,” Armistead said, not willing to let go of his inspiration.

“But you wouldn’t get to claim the money, either,” Jesse told him. “If it’s not part of any criminal case, then we can’t seize it under the civil forfeiture statutes. It would go to Burton’s heirs, if he had any.”

Armistead looked at Ellis.

“Hate to say it, but he’s probably right,” Ellis said.

“Oh.”

They both went quiet. Jesse waited. This was their plan. Let them try to save it.

Ellis looked like he had a cartoon lightbulb go on over his head. “Jesse, didn’t you say something about locking it in a jail cell?”

They both smiled at Jesse like this was the most brilliant idea they’d ever heard.

He flexed his fingers. The burns still hurt like hell.

Despite his promise to Molly, that was pretty much all that kept Jesse from punching them both in the face.