Ties That Bind

Chapter Forty-Six.

At five in the morning Stan Gregaros knocked loudly on the door to Harvey Grant's bedroom and entered without waiting for an invitation.

"What's going on?" Grant asked as he groped for his glasses.

"We have a problem."

"Is Bennett still alive?"

"No, she's dead. Kerrigan did just fine." Gregaros put the plastic bag with the murder weapon on Grant's end table. "He got the tape, too, but I didn't trust Bennett when she promised to turn over all of the tapes Dupre made at the fund-raiser, so I sent two men to Dupre's safe house after Bennett left. They were supposed to get everything out of his safe and bring it to me. They emptied the safe but someone shot them and took the bag with the tapes."

"What do you mean, someone shot them? Were they waiting for them? Do we have a leak?"

"I don't know, but I don't believe in coincidences. I think Jaffe knows about the tapes."

"Amanda Jaffe?"

Gregaros nodded. "Pedro's men made it to one of our doctors, and he called me. They told me that the shooter was a woman. Amanda Jaffe's investigator is very good with a gun. I showed them a snapshot. They identified her right away."

Grant paced back and forth across his bedroom. This was a very serious situation. No one knew what Dupre had recorded. Jaffe could be in possession of evidence that would destroy everything Grant had taken a lifetime to build.

If she was still investigating Dupre's case aggressively, she would go after the police reports in Delgado's murder and the murders at the drug house. Those reports contained the only clue to the identity of the original members of The Vaughn Street Glee Club--the names of the boys who were with Wendell Hayes on the evening that Wendell took three guns from his father's locked gun cabinet.

"Get Castillo on this right away," Grant said. "I want that bag and I want Jaffe dead."

"I'll call him on the road."

"Where are you going?"

"McCarthy paged me on the way over here. He wants me at Bennett's crime scene."

"Why?"

"No idea."

"You don't think he knows you were there, do you?"

"I don't see how he could. I'll tell you what's going on later."

The sun was just coming up when Stan Gregaros parked behind one of several police cars at the Bennett crime scene. Two men from the lab were making casts of a tire track, and two uniforms charged with keeping gawkers away were shooting the breeze, because no civilians had made the trek to the murder scene yet. Wisps of smoke hung in the air over the burned-out hulk of Ally Bennett's car, and an acrid smell similar to overcooked barbecue--typical of an arson murder--assailed Gregaros when he drew closer.

Sean McCarthy broke off a conversation with one of the forensic people when he spotted Gregaros.

"Hell of a way to start the day, huh Stan?"

"Hey, you know me. I love the smell of charred flesh first thing in the morning. To what do I owe this honor?"

McCarthy gestured toward the car. "We ran a trace on the plates. It belongs to Ally Bennett."

"She's one of Dupre's girls."

McCarthy nodded. "The body was badly burned, but it's female and fits Bennett's general description."

"Lori Andrews. Now Bennett."

"Don't forget Oscar Baron."

"You think the three murders are connected?"

"Two of Dupre's women and his attorney murdered so close together. What do you think?"

"Dupre is in jail. He couldn't have killed Baron or Bennett."

"That's why I called you out. You know all about Dupre's operation. Did he have a partner, someone who'd get rid of witnesses for him?"

"No. He was a loner. I . . ."

"Sean!"

The detectives turned. Alex DeVore was crossing the meadow followed by a heavyset man wearing a green uniform.

"This is Dmitry Rubin. He's with park maintenance. Dmitry made the 911 call last night."

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Rubin," McCarthy said. "I'm Sean McCarthy. This is Stan Gregaros."

"I just finished taking Mr. Rubin's statement. Tell them what you told me."

"I was driving back to the garage last night when I passed a car. What made me remember it was it was driving without headlights. It came out of nowhere. There could have been an accident."

"Can you describe it?" Gregaros asked, trying to keep his voice even.

"Nah. I figured it was kids, you know, going up to the meadow to make out."

"Go ahead, Mr. Rubin," DeVore said.

"The explosion was a few minutes after. I pulled over when I heard it. Then I turned around and headed back. When I was halfway here, a car came barreling by."

"The same one you saw before?" Gregaros asked.

"No, a different one. But the car that was driving without headlights came by a few seconds later."

"Can you give us a make or model on either car?"

"Mr. Rubin did better than that," DeVore said. "He got most of the license number on the car he saw right after the explosion."

"I didn't get it all," Rubin said apologetically. "It went by too fast."

"What about the car that was driving without headlights?" Gregaros asked.

Rubin shook his head. "I was writing down the license number. My head was down. By the time I looked, it was too late."

"Don't worry about that," McCarthy said. "This is a great help to us."

"Yeah, nice work," Gregaros added, successfully hiding his relief that Rubin had missed his car. Still, if they traced the partial plate to Tim Kerrigan, there would be trouble.

An hour after Stan Gregaros left the meadow, Kate Ross walked into Amanda's office.

"Did you listen to the local news this morning?" Kate asked.

"Was there something about the shooting at Jon's house?"

"No, nothing. But Ally Bennett is dead."

"What!"

"She was murdered. They found her body in Forest Park."

Amanda looked stricken. "She recorded the tapes at the Travis fund-raiser and she brought the tapes of the drug deals to Oscar Baron. The people who killed Oscar probably got to her."

"I bet she was the woman who was staying at Dupre's safe house."

"The men you shot last night may have killed her. Are they in custody?"

"I don't know."

"Could they have left on their own steam?"

"Maybe. They were in a lot of pain but the big guy was tough. Have you made a decision on what to do with the evidence in the duffel bag?"

"Not yet. If the two men got away, maybe we don't have to do anything. Just hang tight and we'll talk later."