True Blue

CHAPTER 86

MACE DROVE BACK to Abe Altman’s place and checked on Alisha and Tyler. She found the pair in Altman’s study going over specifics of the program Altman had designed. They looked up when she poked her head in. Ty still had the basketball and was bouncing it in a corner.

“Where’s Darren?” Mace asked.

“He left,” said Alisha. “Didn’t say where he was going and didn’t say when he be back. I’m worried about him.”

“Hey, Razor can take care of himself.” This was a lie, Mace knew. When it came to people like Psycho you’d need an Army battalion to take care of yourself. She walked back to the guesthouse, went up to her bedroom, and pulled something out of her closet. It was the baggie of shell casings the honor guard had given her at her father’s funeral. She sat back on the bed and held the bag on her chest, staring at the ceiling. It was so stupid of her to have opened the coffin. Every time she thought of her father, it began with that horrifying image before she could manage to push it aside.

She rattled the metal in the bag.

Okay, Dad, what do you think I should do? Let Beth run with this or keep chugging on? I want to be a blue again, Dad. I have to be a blue again.

She rattled the casings some more, as though trying to get better reception. There was no answer. There would never be an answer. She wasn’t a little girl anymore who could run to Daddy for help. These were her problems to solve. Only there was no right or wrong answer. There were only choices. Her choices.

She put the precious bag of used ordnance away, slipped over to the window, and looked over the grounds. Her gaze, by habit, sought out all places of potential danger. Entry points, the shadowy spaces under trees, a secluded corner. She thought for a second that she had seen Rick Cassidy flit by, but it happened so fast she couldn’t be sure.

Feeling suddenly lethargic, she scooted down to the kitchen and made some coffee. She brought it back up to the bedroom with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with sliced bananas on toasted wheat that she’d made with her own two hands. It undoubtedly would not have met Herbert’s high culinary standards, but it tasted damn good. Finished, she lay back on the bed with the thought of just resting her eyes. She hadn’t really slept in a long time. It was finally catching up to her. Just a few minutes…

The vibration woke her. She sat up groggily and looked around for a moment, disoriented. A moment later she snatched her phone from her pocket. As she hit the answer button she noted the time.

Damn, I’ve been asleep for hours.

“Hello?” She glanced out the window where a gentle rain was starting to fall.

“It’s Roy.”

“I didn’t recognize the number. Where are you calling from?”

“My health club. Just call me paranoid. If they can tap computer cameras, you know?”

“I know. So what’s up?”

“Got something to write with?”

She grabbed paper and pen off the nightstand. “Shoot.”

“Okay, just so you know, everyone in the firm hates my guts.”

“And how magnanimous you’ll be when you turn out to be right.”

“No, I won’t. I’ll tell them to eat shit and die. Anyway, I checked out some stuff and talked to some people. I’ve got Diane’s ex-husband’s name and number. He lives in Hawaii so you can call him today if you want. It’s morning there now.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Apparently the divorce was not all that amicable. I’m hoping that the ex can give you some more info on that. Maybe the name of the lawyer who represented Diane.”

“And the connection to Meldon?”

“No clue at this point, but at least it’s a start.”

“What about DLT?”

“I’m planning to sneak down to the archives tonight and poke around.”

“Listen, Roy, you staying there after hours alone is not a good thing.”

“I’m not sure if anyone here is involved, so I can’t exactly waltz down to archives and start going through boxes. I’ll find what I can and take the stuff home.”

“Why not come to Abe’s instead? We’ve got real security here.”

“You think he’ll mind?”

“I think the place is so big you could roll in with a tank brigade and he’d have no clue you were even here.”

“Okay, maybe that’s smarter.”

“And that way we can both go over the docs you found. It’ll be faster. Are you going back to see the Captain?”

“As soon as I’m done here. They just notified me that the presentment is tomorrow morning at Superior Court. I need to go over some details with him to the extent he can remember any.”

“The presentment’s pretty perfunctory, right?”

“Nothing’s perfunctory when Mona Danforth is in the picture. They’ll have to get a grand jury to issue an indictment since it’s a first-degree felony.”

“Or they can just return a No Bill.”

“What, did you enroll in law school this afternoon?”

Mace said, “I was a cop. I’ve been in court more than most lawyers.”

“But there’s no way she’s not going to get an indictment returned on these facts. They might as well just dispense with the preliminary hearing. They’ve got more than enough to show cause for the prosecution to go forward. The Captain will be arraigned on murder in the first and a trial date set. Any word from your sister on the semen sample?”

“Uh, hold on a sec.”

Mace quickly checked to see if she had any phone messages on the off chance that she had slept through a call from Beth. “No, nothing yet.”

“Well, let me know the minute you do. I don’t want to be blind-sided by that when I walk into court tomorrow.”

“And when you do your firm will know for sure where you stand.”

“I know. And they’ll fire me. That’s why I’m going through the archives today. I probably won’t get another chance.”

“Good luck.”

“You too.”

Mace clicked off and punched in the number for Joe Cushman, Diane Tolliver’s ex-husband who was now living in the Hawaiian paradise.

Must be nice.