The Hearing

41

He must have dreamed it, but so often the left hand didn't know what the right was doing that it had the force of epiphany.

Glitsky, alone, woke up completely alert in his bed on Saturday morning. Before his eyes were really open, he reached for the telephone. Sergeant Ridley Banks hadn't signed out on a city-issued vehicle on the night he drove out to see Eugene Visser in his office on one of the piers. He'd taken his own car. Glitsky's dream, or whatever it was, had Ridley pulling into an open spot a block off the Embarcadero. On his first call, Glitsky got the license plate number of Ridley's personal vehicle, then he called the city tow lot.

Yep, they told him, they had the car. Cost him a hundred and twenty-five bucks if he wanted to get it out.

Glitsky, Hardy, Thieu, a crime scene investigation team, the drag line dredge unit, and half a dozen uniformed officers made it a substantial party, but nobody was happy. Contributing to the gloom, a cold storm had blown in overnight, bringing with it a steady rain driven by winds gusting to twenty-five.

Thieu was down by the dredge, wanting to see how it all worked. Glitsky had satisfied himself on that score years before on a body they'd pulled out of Lake Merced. Now he stood silently by the railing along the walkway above the bay, his hands in his pockets, the collar of his raincoat up around his ears. Hardy the boy scout had thought to bring an umbrella, but it had already blown itself inside out once and now wasn't working as its manufacturer had intended. He, too, was watching the dredge line, the water, silently waiting to see what they might pull up.

The quiet was in itself unnerving. But the increased noise by the dredge – they'd hooked up with something – didn't lighten up anyone's mood.

Glitsky threw a look at Hardy. It was the type of assignment where you mostly wished you would fail, and they both started moving forward, but slowly. Ridley Banks had a favorite black leather jacket, and that's what Abe saw first as it came clear of the murky green water. The scar tightened through his lips.

By the time they got to where Thieu stood, the body was hung up on the line at about the water level. They stood a moment, heads hung, sick in their hearts.

'How did you know?' Hardy asked.

Rain was dripping down Glitsky's face, although he paid it no mind. He motioned behind him. 'He left the car he used parked back over there. We knew he'd been to Visser's, but nobody knew where he'd gone from there when he left. Once I found where the car had been towed from, I realized he hadn't gone anywhere.' A look down over the railing. 'Except there.'

Hardy had a hard time taking his eyes off the body. 'I don't get it,' he said after a while. 'Visser didn't need to kill him.'

Thieu shrugged. 'So? He didn't need to kill Cullen Alsop either. Maybe he found out he liked it. Maybe Ridley told him more than he had to and he felt threatened.'

'Easy, Paul,' Glitsky said. The sight of his colleague's body had put the young sergeant on edge. 'I've got a theory,' Glitsky added. 'Anybody want to hear it?' He didn't wait. 'These three guys – Torrey, Logan, Visser -they're splitting up some good money working together, more or less as equals. Everybody's got their own part in the various scams. Torrey's using his office. Logan's scouting up the business. Visser's the muscle.'

'All right so far,' Thieu said.

Glitsky nodded. 'When Elaine came to Torrey the first time, he thought he'd convinced her to forget about blowing the whistle on him, on them all. Maybe even bragged about it to the other two. I'd bet he did.' Glitsky stopped, his eyes following the activity at the water. The crew down below were working to untangle the body from the drag line. From this distance, he couldn't make out what damage had been done by the sea and its creatures, but the body was now recognizably, undoubtedly, Ridley's. He pulled his gaze back up, tried to gather his thoughts.

'Torrey bragged to the other guys,' Hardy said, helping him out. Although he, too, was captured by the drama unfolding on the dredge.

'Yeah,' Glitsky said, 'OK. So they all knew Elaine was on to their scene. But mostly she was a threat to Torrey, on all kinds of levels. If he got exposed, they were all screwed, but he had the farthest to fall. In any event, when she turned up killed, Visser's no dummy, he knew it was Torrey.'

'How did he know that?' Thieu asked.

Glitsky blew rainwater away from his mouth. 'At the very least, because he'd given him the gun. But then they already had this perfect suspect – I'd given him to them – and Torrey had a history of working the system to all of their advantages, so Visser decided he'd wait and see what happened. Maybe it would all work out. But the other thing that really changed everything was that Visser knowing about Elaine gave him heavy leverage on Torrey.'

Thieu didn't know the players as well as his lieutenant did, and wanted to get it straight. 'Wouldn't Logan have it too?'

Glitsky shook his head. 'I doubt if Logan knew.'

Hardy added to that. 'All he would have cared about was that Elaine was out of their lives. They could keep partying. That's who he is.'

'Anyway,' Glitsky continued, 'Visser's got this leverage and Torrey makes a mistake. He brokers the deal with Cullen Alsop.'

'Why's that a mistake?' Thieu again.

'Because from Visser's point of view, Torrey got an unreliable junkie involved who's got a better than good chance to screw up an already locked-up case. Maybe Visser even knew Cullen, knew he'd renege, break on cross, something. So anyway, now the new Visser is thinking he's smarter than Torrey, who before has always been the brains. He decides he knows the best way to save them all from Torrey's stupid mistake…'

Hardy picked it up. 'Is to make sure Cullen doesn't testify.'

'So he gives him a bag of China White.' Thieu nodded in appreciation. 'I can see that.'

'I bet we'll know for sure soon enough.' Visser and Torrey had both been arrested just outside the courtroom yesterday. Now with the appearance of Ridley's body and whatever forensic evidence it might still have on it, both would be available for questioning for at least the near future. 'These rats will fall over themselves trying to save their own sorry asses by giving the other one up, you watch.'

'So Ridley spooked him?' Hardy asked.

'Total blindside, is my opinion,' Abe said. 'Caught him completely off guard. Here's Visser, he just supplied Cullen with the pure smack, and it kills him. Everything had worked perfectly, and now suddenly Ridley's at his door out of the blue, working without a partner, and he puts Visser on the griddle. Visser's an ex-cop. He knows he's made. Ridley pretends things are cool, but he's not going to go away. There's nothing else to do, so Visser does him.'

'With the Glock, you think?' Thieu asked.

Glitsky looked down over the railing again. He wiped his whole hand over his eyes. 'With something.'