If they do I guess I’ll have to come up with an excuse or something.” I put my head on the pillow. “I can’t believe they are selling kids.” I said, closing my eyes. “What the fuck?”
“Apparently this Afghan Air-Bridge has been operating since the eighties.” Jessie said, undeterred by my being on the verge of sleep. “It’s like a corporation or something, and I guess Pierson Senior left his share to Junior and he’s the one who started selling the kids.”
“Fucking nepotism.” I said.
My sleep was short, maybe a couple of hours before Jessie was hauling me into the living room. “Look,” she said, “David is on the news.” I struggled to focus on the TV.
Local news anchors Tom Farnin and Kate Welsh sat behind a blue desk while the drums and synthesized horns of their opening theme music faded. “Good morning.” Tom Farnin began. “Our top story today is the capture of accused murderer David Telano. Telano -wanted in connection with three murders- was apprehended last night, inside the city of Lakeview. Residents of this exclusive gated community were shocked to find that they had a killer in their midst. Sally Tupins has this exclusive report.”
She stood outside the front gate, on the side of the road. “The mood here in Lakeview today is one of stunned disbelief, as residents come to understand just what has happened in their normally peaceful community.” In quick succession came shots of a couple I didn’t recognize walking a baby stroller through the park, then Bess Joiner and her grandson eating ice cream cones on the meetinghouse steps, and then a close up of Harry Means sitting in his car with the window down. “It’s beyond belief.” Harry said. “I just don’t understand it. It’s bad enough that these things happened, but for the killer to be right here, less than a block away from our house of worship, its just… It’s a shock.”
“I didn’t know Freddie Divos, but I knew Becky Pierson.” A woman I’d seen many times, but whose name I couldn’t remember was saying. “And she didn’t deserve to die like that. No one does. At least now that he’s caught they can punish him. He oughta get the chair for what he did.”
Sally Tupins came back on. “Earlier, I spoke with the security guard that apprehended the alleged killer.” She said. “Miss Niti Ravhandies gave us this statement.”
Niti was standing in the guardhouse common room, in front of a large map of Lakeview. “We received a noise complaint at around eleven forty, which called us to a home that was supposed to be empty until next spring. When we arrived we found a window broken and loud music playing and inside we found Mr. Telano and one of our local kids. Apparently this young woman knew that Mr. Telano was hiding there and had kept it a secret for almost a week. After we found him, he gave himself up without any trouble, and sat quietly in the guardhouse until the Shoreston and Cleveland police arrived.”
“Reporting live from the community of Lakeview, this is Sally Tupins. Tom?”
“Thank you Sally. Action News Crew Eleven was on the scene as David Telano was escorted into the courthouse in Cleveland this morning. We have this exclusive footage.” They showed David being led in handcuffs by two cops. He had his head down. There were a lot of cameras there, and someone yelled a question.
“I ain’t do nothin’.” David said, barely looking up.
“Ugh.” I said. “If ever a situation called for the use of proper English.”
Tom Farnin continued. “Mr. Telano is charged with three counts of murder in the first degree, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, auto theft, resisting arrest, breaking and entering and statutory rape. He pleaded not guilty on all charges.”
“Statutory rape? How’d they throw that one in there?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t know.” I said. The news had moved on to another story and our phone was ringing. I picked it up.
“You’re in some deep shit Ben.” Said a voice that I recognized as Niti.
“Hey I just saw you on TV.” I said. “You did good.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Niti said. “You think I forgot about the other night when we had that call to the Relna place?”
“No, why?”
“Cut the shit.” She said. “I didn’t say a word about it to the cops, but Franco saw you going in there to water the plants. He couldn’t wait to share that little tidbit with the detective.”
“Oh fuck.” I said. “What detective?”
“Same guy that was in Lakeview the other day, the big guy.”
“Borgano.” I said.
“Yes, him. How could you help someone like David Telano? I saw what he did to Becky Pierson, he is an inhuman monster Ben. I thought you had more sense.” She seemed hurt, almost betrayed.
“Don’t worry.” I said. “He’s innocent. You’ll see. He’s a good guy Niti, he couldn’t have killed anyone.”
“We found him balls-deep in Melissa Finer.”
“That’s what the statutory rape thing is about-”
“Yes, she’s sixteen.”
“That’s funny -you saying ‘balls-deep’.” I said.
“This is serious Ben. What are you thinking?”
“Hey, Jordan had been in there smoking dope.” I said. “The Lakeview teens were probably using it as some kind of love shack. Melissa must’ve let him in there. You implied it on TV just now. They must’ve known each other. That’s plausible.”
“Barely. If that’s the best you can do I’m worried about your future.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty thin.” I said. “Shit. For what it’s worth he didn’t do it. He’s a fucking patsy.”
“You are a stupid, stupid man.” She said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Okay.” I said. “Thanks for the heads-up about Franco.” I hung up.
Jessie was annoyed. “Why’s she so concerned for you? It’s none of her business.” She said. “I might be jealous if I didn’t know for a fact that Indian girls don’t fuck.”
I considered asking if she’d heard of a little book called the Kama Sutra, but then I thought better of it. I began dialing a number. “Who’re you calling?” She asked.
“Reyes.” I said. Jessie came over and put her ear next to the phone. When I got the detective on the line, I started right in. “Yesterday I mentioned a name to you that you didn’t pass on to the guys in the black suits. Why?”
“From the moment I met you, you’ve been operating on the assumption that I have no idea what’s going on.” She said. “Why is that?”
“It’s not that,” I said, “I just got the feeling your partner was against me from the beginning.”
“Yes well, he’s having quite a time interviewing your friend. The story of how he managed to elude police for so long has some glaring holes in it, and the general consensus around here is that they are Ben Perkins shaped holes. Would you like to comment on that?”
“Coincidence.” I said. “I haven’t seen David since the night he drove by my gate in Junior Pierson’s car. Listen, if you can lose Mr. Personality I’d be happy to sit down with you somewhere and tell you everything I know.”
“Not interested.” She said. “I already know everything you could give me. Information is useful only when it leads to hard evidence.”
“Like videotape?”
“I’m listening.”
“Freddie Divos’s last words.”
“And how would you have such a thing?”
“Long story.” I said. “Can we meet somewhere privately?”
“Yes.” She said. “If you bring me the tape.”
We set it up for that afternoon at a park in Cleveland Heights and I hung up.
“Are you going to give her the video?”
“Part of it.” I said. “Is Gretchen on there? Can you see her?”
“No, but you can hear her voice.” She said. “Pap said he was going to cut the sound out when she was talking on the dubs he’s making. He’s got some video editing equipment on his Mac at work. He said he was going to edit her voice out and type the questions she was asking on the screen.?
??
“How many copies do you think he’ll make?”
“A bunch.” She said. Her phone was ringing and she looked at it. “That’s him now.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
I handed Reyes the DVD. “There were children in the back of the Escalade when Gretchen and her crew left the airfield.” I said. “She’s not out for revenge, she’s trying to save a bunch of kids. And she didn’t kill Becky Pierson, Junior did. That’s something Freddie says on the video.” We were sitting on a bench near a jungle gym that needed a paint job. The park was empty except for a couple of dog walkers.
“If you’re feeling guilty about giving me this it’s not necessary. Even if this DVD is hard evidence that she killed someone, I don’t think it would be admissible in court.”
“Because we stole it?”
“No.” She said. “That might be a problem too, but I assume there are things on here that would be deemed sensitive and confidential by DHS. The evidence would be sealed and only a judge would ever see it.”
“So it’s useless?”
“No, far from useless from your perspective. I assume you have some copies squirrelled away somewhere.”
“Yeah.” I said.
“Good, you might not be a complete moron.” She said. “How come your friend has a public defender?”
“David? I don’t know.” I said. “I mean they don’t have a lot of money, but I figure his mom should be able to scrape together something for a lawyer.”
“Thomas Delaney the Third.” She said. “That’s the guy he should get. I worked on a case that was similar to this and he knew which buttons to push to get