“Fine. You’re right, of course. I’m going to lodge the formal complaint tomorrow.”
Andi closed his eyes. “Do that. It’s going to be okay. You’ll see.”
“I’ll make it so.” George sounded determined. Andi let his voice wash over him, chasing away all the bad and giving him a rare moment of peace. He just wished it could go on forever.
24. The Caterpillar’s Cocoon
AFTER THEIRtalk the evening before, George felt better about his decision to go against Chief Norris. Even though he still felt the weight of responsibility, having heard Andi’s pragmatic take on things had helped him gain perspective. The first thing he did in the morning before he started making breakfast was send the file he had compiled to IA. In a way it was freeing to have it out of the way. Now he could concentrate on closing their case, even though he had given up on puttingallof the culprits behind bars.
The precinct was unusually quiet, at least compared to the last few days, what with all the drama surrounding Daniel Holway’s escape and death. Gentry and Mescew were at their desks, greeting them with nods. Andi didn’t waste time to get to their whiteboards, staring intently at all the lines and names while murmuring something about a caterpillar’s cocoon. George was curious, so he asked him about it. “Don’t you mean a spider’s web?”
“No. That wouldn’t be so complicated. One net, one spider in the middle or to the side, waiting to strike. This case is a lot more intricate.”
When George only looked at him blankly, not understanding what this explanation had to do with caterpillars, Andi pinched the bridge of his nose. “The caterpillars of the ermine moth weaves a huge net to hide under. It can cover entire trees and protects the caterpillars from predators while they are eating. It’s huge, way bigger than anything a spider could weave, and intricate because it’s done by many, and it’s perfect for hiding. Basically what Gideon Gartner has done with this case. Though he did have a solid base to work with, considering what charming individuals our victims were.”
Andi was right, George realized with sudden clarity; the entire case was a multidimensional web with the victims at the heart and the predators partially out of reach, hidden behind layers of years and trickery. The image frustrated George to no end while he sat down at his computer.
Over the course of the night, some new information had trickled in from various sources. Timmy Delain had sent them a notification about Tamara Portius having successfully fought her husband’s will. It seemed she had found the contract between her father and her husband about two-thirds of the money belonging to her. Apparently it was clear-cut enough for Portius, Dyson & Partners to refrain from fighting it, which meant the whole ordeal had ended well for at least one participant. Two, because George was sure Theodora had feathered her own nest just like she claimed, and she surely wasn’t too upset about her husband’s death. Sophia McHill was now free of her husband, but she had also lost her son. Andi had mentioned he didn’t believe she would grieve, an assessment that probably stemmed from his less than stellar experiences with his own mother. No matter how distant mother and son had grown, George was sure Sophia felt the loss of her child. It was something he had to believe in, because when mothers stopped mourning their sons, what kind of world did they live in? A final report from Narcotics stated they had arrested the dealer who had sold Dominic the laced heroin. The batch had killed two more addicts the police knew of and probably a few more they would never hear about. There was still a bad aftertaste for George when he thought how beautifully the timing lined up, but sometimes, on very rare occasions, what looked like a duck was really a goose. He wondered if geese could be eaten with dumplings andblaukrautas well.
A text from Shireen had them walking over to her space, where she greeted them with a serious expression. “I have news, and you won’t like it.”
George felt his shoulders sagging. The morning was off to a wonderful start. “Give it to us.”
“I looked into Gideon Gartner again, this time combing through everybody and everything related to the case.” She tapped her tablet and the flat-screen on the wall came to life, showing another net, this one even more elaborate than the one on their whiteboards.
“As I’ve already told you, Gideon Gartner has his hands in many pies, just like the three victims, though he’s a lot more careful and discreet about his less savory endeavors, so to speak.” She waved her hand around, making her bracelets clink. “On the other hand, one could argue this is normal in the circles he frequents.”
“You’re sounding very posh today, Shireen.” Andi didn’t take his eyes off the screen while teasing her.
“I’m just trying to give things a little polish.” She flipped Andi off and turned toward George. “Anyway, I found things. Many things. Unfortunately, it’s just crumbs, and they’re not leading anywhere, least to the witch’s house.”
“You mean out of the woods?” George was confused. Shireen had a knack for getting her metaphors mixed up.
“No. The riches were at the witch’s house. Why would we want to leave the forest?” She sounded as if she couldn’t believe he was that dense.
“Could we stop with the fairy tales, please? Shireen, do we have something or not?” Andi did his usual impression of a hedgehog with a sore nose.
Shireen’s shoulders slumped a bit. “I’m sorry, we don’t have enough. Besides the glaring fact that he’s in a wheelchair because of Portius, Miller, and McHill, I can tie Gartner to the three victims and the crime in several indirect ways, but nothing a good defense lawyer wouldn’t blow right out of the courtroom. Nothing a DA would risk using for that exact reason. If it even made it to court.”
“Tell us anyway.” George wanted to know. Perhaps there was a way….
“First of all, I took a closer look at the scholarships for Tabitha Clemént and Josephine Garr, the ones they got for Yale. They were definitely paid by Aquarius Foundation, but I have no evidence whatsoever that Gartner somehow intervened on their behalf. The way they make it look, the foundation helped Tabitha and Josephine because of their excellent grades, which is valid because the two were at the top of their classes. They were also the only nonwhite, nonmale students ever to receive a scholarship from Aquarius, but again, I can’t tie that back to Gartner. It’s completely circumstantial.”
“Okay. First dead end. Go on.” George did nothing to hide his frustration. They might be able to talk to somebody at the foundation, but with things being so far in the past, witnesses were hardly reliable, not to mention hard to find. And even if somebody did talk, what would it prove? That Gideon Gartner was a philanthropist? Not the image George wanted a jury to get of him.
“I also found a connection to Peter LaFarge, the man who put out the hit on the three victims. One of his companies was a client of Gartner & Partners, though not him personally.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t know him.” Andi sounded grim.
“No, it doesn’t. Which brings us to the contract I so conveniently found on the darknet.”
“The way you say it makes me think something is very wrong.” George looked at her. Shireen’s expression was grim.
“I think I was supposed to find it, because for somebody who was careless enough to let me hack him, he surely is damn good at vanishing without a trace. If I had to make a guess, I’d say our newbie broker never existed in the first place. The timing works as well. I mean, what are the chances of me finding a kill contract so shortly after the victims died?”
“You mean this was meant to throw us off track? That Daniel Holway and Peter LaFarge were tricked?” George could easily believe it. A genius move, letting the police find a professional killer to blur the trace of the real one. And it would have worked perfectly hadn’t it been for Andi and his army of informants.
“The longer I think about it, the surer I am.” Shireen furrowed her brows. “That Holway was greedy enough to take the money without having made the kill must have made the person who cooked this up very happy. And come to think of it, finding him the first time was a little too easy as well. As if somebody had prepared the information for me to find. I know—” She held up her hand. “—everybody makes mistakes, but in hindsight, I shouldn’t have been able to trace him so quickly. The offer of another contract was probably a ruse to keep him in the city long enough to give us a realistic chance to find him. I mean, having a suspect at large is one thing, but having said suspect behind bars? Perfect.”
