Thicker Than Water

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was on the drive back to Fort Myers that Louis remembered something Ronnie Cade had said the very first time he had gone out to J.C. Landscaping. Ronnie had mentioned that his father had bailed him out of jail when he was a teenager. That meant Ronnie probably had a record. And there was a slim chance that the record could lead to a blood type on file somewhere. But he needed Mobley’s help to get it.

The reception area outside Mobley’s office was empty when Louis got there. He looked at the wall clock. Past five. Mobley’s door was shut, the lights off. He was about to leave when the Amazon came in, carrying a freshly washed coffeepot.

She smiled at him. “What are you doing back here?”

“I needed to see the sheriff.”

“Too late. He cut out early today. He won’t be back ’til Monday.”

“Damn,” Louis said under his breath.

“Can I help?” she asked.

Louis almost told her no, but nodded. “Yeah, maybe you can. Can you check to see if someone has a record?”

“Sure. What’s his name?”

“Ronnie Cade.”

She gave him a look, but went to the computer terminal at the back of the room. Leaning over the chair, she brought the monitor to life and looked back at Louis.

“Got a social or a birthday?”

“Sorry.”

She typed in the name, then looked back at him. “I got two. Ronald John or Ronald Walter?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Do you have birth dates or anything else there?”

“I got one in nineteen-forty-nine and one in nineteen-thirty-two.”

“It’s got to be forty-nine.”

She pecked at the keys, then the printer in the corner started pumping out a piece of paper. She ripped it off and brought it to Louis.

Ronnie Cade had one charge: a DUI from 1976, the result of an accident with injuries. Finally, a break. Any accident victim who had been treated at a hospital was always tested for alcohol. And they were routinely blood-typed.

“Excuse me,” Louis said.

The Amazon had been putting away the coffee filters and she looked back at Louis over her shoulder.

“Is there any way you can check to see if the hospital records for this accident are in his file?” Louis asked.

For the first time, she gave him something other than a smile. “Hey, I’ve clocked out. I gotta go pick up my kid at the baby-sitter.”

“I wouldn’t ask-”

“But you really need this. . yeah, yeah, yeah.” She heaved a big sigh. “We don’t usually have hospital records.”

“Sometimes they’re put in the files. Can you check?”

She took the computer printout back. Louis paced while she made the call. He was looking up at Dinkle’s portrait when she called his name.

“This must be your lucky day. We’ve got them,” she said.

Louis came toward her quickly. “I just need to know his blood type.”

She spoke into the phone and looked back. “O-positive.”

Louis let out a sigh. He was relieved for the sake of Ronnie and Eric.

The Amazon had hung up the phone and was now stuffing things into her big purse.

“Can you tell me how I can reach the sheriff?” Louis asked.

“No way. He would kill me.”

“I doubt that. Come on, it’s important.”

She hesitated, then shrugged. “Okay, but don’t tell him I told you. He’s a partner in a supper club down in Naples-La Veranda. He’ll be there tonight and tomorrow night. I’ve been there. Fancy place. Men gotta wear ties to get in.” She smiled. “I can drive you down, if you want, after I pick up my kid.”

Louis smiled. “Maybe some other time.”

Outside, he paused on the sidewalk. He knew he needed to call Susan. The fact that neither Cade nor Ronnie had raped Kitty could still be important to her defense. If he could tie Kitty and Duvall’s deaths together. And if she would listen.

But there was something else, and it bothered him when he recognized it. He just plain wanted to talk to her.

He turned and walked a block to a café, ducking inside to a pay phone in the back. He dialed her office number and it rang ten times before she picked it up, breathless.

“Susan, don’t hang up,” he said.

She hesitated. “I wasn’t going to.”

“I want you to listen to me without saying a word.”

There was another pause. “Okay.”

Louis took her through his day, laying everything out for her, from the unreadable slide to Bob Ahnert’s revelation about the AB-negative sample. He finished up with the fact that neither Jack nor Ronnie Cade raped Kitty.

She said nothing.

“Well?” he asked.

“I’m a little stunned,” she said softly. “I’m trying to figure out what I can use.” There was a pause. “Can you bring me this report that says Kitty’s rapist was AB-negative?”

“Not exactly.”

“Can I subpoena it from someone?”

“No.”

A long pause this time. “Where is this report?”

“It’s in Jack Cade’s trial file from 1967, which was on Spencer’s desk when he was shot. The cops picked it up along with everything else.”

There was another pause. Louis could hear papers rustling. He was about to tell her that he was going to see Mobley when she interrupted.

“It’s not here,” she said.

“What?”

“I have the evidence sheet from Duvall’s office right here in front of me. There’s no mention of Jack Cade’s trial file. It’s not here.”

“It has to be. You’re sure?”

“I’m looking at the list, Louis. They took other files, but nothing about Jack Cade.”

Louis shifted the receiver to his other ear. “Then where the fuck is it?”

“How the hell should-”

“Wait,” Louis said quickly. “Ellie told me that she gave Duvall the file. It was there. So whoever killed Duvall must have taken it.”

They were both silent for a moment.

“Susan, I have to go see Mobley,” Louis said. “Come with me.”

“Why?”

“I need to convince him to reopen Kitty’s homicide.”

“You don’t need me for that.”

“Yes I do. I need him to see you’re with me on this.”

Susan was quiet for a moment. “If I decide to use this in a new defense, I don’t want to tip my hand. Mobley is a cop, Louis, with a cop brain. I can’t trust him.”

“Susan, listen to me. You’re going to have a hard time making this believable. You need Mobley to reopen Kitty’s homicide for credibility. You need the cops on your side this time.”

Susan was quiet.

“Trust him, Susan,” Louis said. “And me.”

He heard her sigh. “Okay. Give me an hour. Pick me up at home.”