“I’ll have to check it out,” I told her. “I can read while Gabe watches baseball.”
“Do it,” she said. “You’re going to love it. In fact, the main character reminds me of you a little.”
“Yeah? Dashing, smart, and amazing with hair?” I asked her.
“Charming, brilliant, and snarky,” Sally Ann told me.
“You know what? I’m going to download and read it tonight while I wait for Gabe to come home,” I told her. I knew I needed to keep my brain busy lest I wanted it to conjure up every terrible scenario that Gabe could face during his undercover operation. “He’s going to have a late night.”
“You’re coming to our house for dinner then.” Sally Ann’s firm tone said she meant business and wasn’t taking no for an answer. “You can start the book later tonight or tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thank you for inviting me.” I loved spending time with the Goodes and my evening suddenly looked a lot brighter.
“DETECTIVEWYATT, RELAX.”JONATHONSilver stood up from the bed across the one I sat on in the hotel room. He looked at Dorchester, Weston, and Harris. “Is he always like this?”
“Mostly,” Dorchester replied, “but he knows his shit, so maybe you should stop busting his balls and listen to him for a damn minute.”
Everything I suggested had been rebuked or mocked by Silver, and it was wearing hard on my nerves. The tech team had already stopped by to hook him up and test his equipment. Not only was he wired for sound, but they also gave him a tie clip that had a tiny camera hidden among fake diamonds, or at least I thought they were fake. That part went smooth; it was the part that came afterward that seemed to rile him up. It was obvious as hell that he wanted to oversee every situation.
“Too bad you weren’t this dedicated when my brother turned to you for help,” he snarled. “Maybe he’d still be alive.”
“Clear the room,” I commanded. My team obeyed the order immediately. I slowly rose to my feet and squared off against Silver. “You have every right to be angry over the loss of your brother, but blaming me for his death isn’t going to bring him back. Instead, focus your damn energy on catching his killer by listening to what I’m telling you.” I pointed my finger at him and said, “If you go in there half-cocked you could destroyeverything. Are you listening to me?”
Silver turned and paced away from me, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. He turned to face me and released his pent-up frustration in one, long breath. I saw the tension fade from his tall frame.
“I didn’trefuseto help Nate; he refused to helphimself.He should’ve been up front about everything because it was highly unlikely he didn’t know why he was targeted. He might not have known who, but he might’ve had an idea of why. His asking me to sneak around outside of the law to find his harasser was wrong.” Technically, he hinted, not asked. “He wasn’t forthright with the CPD when he finally turned to them for help. We can’t help someone who doesn’t want it, Silver.”
“I know,” he said softly. “I was out of line. I’m sorry.” His apology was completely unexpected, but not unwelcome. I wasn’t ready to stick my neck on the line by removing him as a viable suspect, but my conviction that someone other than Silver killed Nate grew stronger each day.
“Trust me when I tell you I know how powerless you feel right now. My brother was killed in a robbery when I was fifteen. He was my hero, and I was devastated,” I told Silver. “His killer was never arrested, so please believe me when I tell you that I will do everythinglegallywithin my power to solve Nate’s case. I need your help to do that, which means you have to listen to what I say.”
“Call the team back in. I’m ready to cooperate,” Silver said.
An hour later, the team gathered around eating pizza while we waited for Spizer to show up. Silver made sure he arrived early at the restaurant so that he wasn’t caught getting off the bank of elevators used by the guests of the hotel. Silver wasn’t wearing an earpiece so he couldn’t hear us when we discussed the situation.
“Spizer is thirty minutes late,” Dorchester said. “He could be running up the billable hours, or he’s not coming.” As hard as we tried to keep the warrant a secret, there was always a chance a clerk tipped him off.
As if he sensed our anxiousness, Silver pulled out his cellphone from his inside suit pocket. He held the phone in front of him where we could see it before he dialed Spizer. “Rick, I’ve been sitting here at the restaurant for thirty minutes waiting for you. Did I get the time wrong? Give me a call, buddy.”
Silver set his phone on the table and drank another glass of water while we waited some more. He checked his phone every few minutes, but there was never a call or text from Spizer. My spidey sense told me something was wrong. My suspicion was confirmed twenty minutes later when dispatch called to let me know that Spizer had been found dead in his home office. His death appeared to be a suicide.
“What?” I asked. “Give me the address and tell everyone to keep the scene clear until my team gets there. Only the M.E. goes in.” The more people that were there, the more opportunities to contaminate the scene. “Who found Mr. Spizer?” I asked, drawing the attention of my team. I snapped my fingers and pointed to the screen, indicating that I wanted someone to call Silver and let him know. I wanted to have a quick chat with him before we left for Spizer’s house.
“His wife did, Detective. As you can imagine, she’s a mess right now. The responding officer thinks she’s going to need sedation. He also said there’s a suicide note that admits responsibility for the deaths of Owen Smithson, Nate Turner, and Lawrence Robertson.”
“We’ll be there asap, but she should go to the hospital if they think it’s necessary. We can interview her in the morning.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll pass the message along.”
I hung up and waited for Silver to get back to the room. “What’s going on?” he asked as soon as he flung open the door.
“Spizer was found dead in his home,” I told Silver. “We’re going to head over to his house right now. I’ll call you when we know more, either tonight or tomorrow.”
His normally stoic mask was gone, and in its place, was shock and raw grief. “I don’t believe it,” Silver said. “Honestly, I thought there was another explanation for Rick’s involvement instead of him killing them or hiring it done, but this can’t be a coincidence. He was good to me when everyone else was skeptical of my appearance in Nate’s life, including my brother.”
There were no words I could say to make him feel better. If I wanted to help Silver, then I needed to get to Spizer’s house and investigate his death with a dubious eye, because I had learned long ago that reality was often the opposite of our expectations.
I crossed to him and patted the grieving man on his shoulder. “I’ll be in touch,” I said before we left.
