Chapter Twenty-Six #2
“So he said—until he heard that my foster child might be able to help us. Then he didn’t seem quite so determined to take me off the case.”
“You’re walking a very fine line here, Sam. He’s absolutely right that it’s a clear-cut conflict of interest, and you know that.”
“I do. But in the moment, all I saw were two little kids who needed something I could give them. You’ll have to pardon me if my first thoughts weren’t about my job.”
“You know as well as I do that our first thoughts always need to be about the job.”
“I’ll take the hit if you all feel I deserve one.” She’d already made her peace with the fact that she might never advance beyond the rank of lieutenant. “No problem. Do what you’ve got to do, but I wouldn’t have done anything different if I had it to do over again.”
“No one is questioning whether your heart was in the right place. That’s not the issue here.”
“I’m well aware of what the issue is, and like I said, I’m willing to take whatever hit you all feel is appropriate to get me back in line.
In the meantime, I have a homicide investigation, two foster children, a sergeant in the hospital and a wedding to contend with.
You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t have the time to fully explore my many transgressions. ”
Malone rolled his eyes. “Save the drama and tell me what’s up with Gonzo.”
“You heard me. He’s out on medical leave indefinitely.”
“What’s he got?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that, and I believe you’re technically not at liberty to ask me.”
“I’m not asking you as the captain. I’m asking you as his friend and colleague.”
“Who also happens to be his big boss.”
“Fair enough. How long will he be out?”
“I’m planning to see him this morning, and I’ll get the particulars.”
“Wish him well for me and let him know that we’ve got him covered here.”
“I’ll tell him. I’m sure that’ll mean a lot to him.” She looked down at the floor and then back at him. “The chief indicated that after we close Beauclair, I’m to take an unpaid week to think about the alignment of my personal and professional goals, as well as my impertinence.”
His brows lifted. “Is that right?”
“Uh-huh. If we’re able to close this in the next couple of days, that means you’ll be down three people in Homicide next week in case you want to make some contingency plans.”
“Good to know,” he said drolly.
“I need to check with Hill to find out the latest on Piedmont, the former business partner who’s been in the wind the last three years. They caught him at Dulles trying to leave the area and can put him in the District the night of the murders.”
“That sounds like a slam dunk close to the case,” Malone said.
“Maybe so, but the description Alden gave us doesn’t match Piedmont.”
“A guy that rich could hire it done.”
“No doubt, but we still need to grab the guys who did the crime.”
“Agreed.”
“I have to figure out how to handle the info Alden gave us. I had Carlucci and Dominguez pull photos of everyone involved in the case, so we have them if we have to involve Alden, but my goal is to do it without him if at all possible. I’m going to talk to Trulo about how best to handle this process with a traumatized five-year-old. ”
“I was going to ask what the plan was there.”
“I’ve got to talk to Carlucci and Dominguez before they leave, and then I want to catch Trulo before his appointments begin. After that, I’m going to see Gonzo.”
“Keep me posted. On all of it.”
“Will do.”
Sam left his office and went to her own, where her first order of business was a call to Avery Hill.
“Morning,” he said.
“How’s it going with Piedmont?”
“You won’t believe it if I tell you.”
“You’ve got my attention.”
“He and Jameson Armstrong were back in touch.”
Sam dropped into her desk chair. “You wanna run that by me one more time?”
“I know. It made my head spin, too, but Piedmont told us he’d reached out to Armstrong about three months ago to say that if he was willing to help Piedmont make some money, he would take back the threats he’d made against Armstrong’s family. Apparently, Piedmont was dead broke and out of options.”
“Can you confirm any of this?”
“We already have. He produced his financials that show every account down to less than a thousand dollars.”
“And we know those are all his accounts?”
“We’re still confirming that, but he turned over everything, including offshore accounts to our investigators, and they’re all tapped out. In addition, Armstrong’s assistant in his DC office has confirmed that he’d been in touch with Piedmont and met with him the day of the murders.”
“This is too coincidental. How could he not have been involved?”
“I thought the same thing until we told him Jameson and Cleo Armstrong had been murdered. He was inconsolable for hours after receiving that news.”
“Was he putting on a show?”
“It didn’t seem that way to us. His grief seemed genuine.”
“I’m extremely confused right now. This guy who threatened Armstrong’s family to the point that they felt the need to relocate and live under different names, comes out from under his rock years later, and Jameson takes the call and agrees to do business with him?”
“It wasn’t that simple. Jameson made him come to DC to get the money, so he could look him in the eye and tell him this was it, the only money he was ever going to get in exchange for Piedmont swearing to leave him and his family alone.
Piedmont had a cashier’s check for twenty million dollars on him when he was apprehended.
The check was drawn on the accounts of JAE in Delaware. ”
“This happens on the same day Armstrong and his wife are tortured and brutally murdered? How can it be unrelated?”
“We’re asking ourselves the same thing, but Piedmont’s profound shock and grief over the news of their deaths was legitimate. Everyone who witnessed it had the same impression.”
Sam released a deep breath. “Are you willing to rule him out as complicit in the murders?”
“I believe so.”
“Let me ask you this. If he cared so much about them, why did he make their lives a living hell for years after the company imploded?”
“He says much of that was ‘heat-of-the-moment’ and shock when he found out his longtime friend and partner had basically handed the government their case against him. He admits to being enraged and saying things he came to regret, but he never had any intention of harming Jameson or his family. Or so he says.”
“The head spins.”
“I know. I feel the same way, but like you said at the outset, sometimes the obvious answer isn’t the correct one.”
Sam blew out a deep breath. “We had a break overnight.” She updated him on what Alden had told them.
“Ah, God. How do you go about using him as a witness?”
“We don’t, unless we absolutely have to.”
“Let me know what we can do to help. Whatever you need.”
“I will. Thanks for the update and let me know if you get anything else from Piedmont that might help.”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
Sam ended the call and sat for a long moment attempting to make sense of what she’d learned from Avery and trying to figure out their next move.
She went through the folder of photos she’d requested from Carlucci and Dominguez.
Attached to the folder was a note from Dominguez that they’d been called by Detective Lucas to assist with an SVU investigation.
The photos included Jameson Beauclair’s former partners, Piedmont and Dave Gorton, several of his current business associates that Green and McBride had interviewed and Victor Klein, the man who’d been in the traffic altercation with Cleo Beauclair last Friday.
According to DOB on his sheet, he was twenty-nine.
She studied the mug shot of Klein, a big guy with dark hair and hard brown eyes, which dovetailed with Alden’s description of one of the men who’d attacked his parents.
Klein’s face was devoid of expression, which made it impossible to get a read on him.
Sam picked up the phone and called one of her favorite government employees ever—Brendan Sullivan, who’d been such a huge help to Sam in the case involving her ex-husband. Brendan had been Peter’s parole officer. He answered her call on the second ring.
“Brendan Sullivan,” he said, sounding rushed.
“It’s Sam Holland.”
“Oh, hey. What’s up?”
“Got a question for you. Does the name Victor Klein mean anything to you?”
“He’s one of mine. Why? What’s he done?”
“Maybe something. Maybe nothing. What can you tell me?”
“He’s an arrogant punk who thinks the world owes him something, and when it doesn’t deliver, he has no problem taking it.”
“You think he’d be capable of rape, torture and homicide by fire?”
“Are we talking about that home invasion in Chevy Chase?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“Is this an official or unofficial inquiry?”
“Unofficial at this point.”
“I can tell you he’s someone who had every advantage—a nice family, good schools, college, etc. But he’s always working an angle, a get-rich-quick scheme. He ended up in the can for his role in a robbery ring that landed several victims in the hospital with serious injuries.”
“What kind of injuries?”
“Broken bones, lacerations, concussions. If he sees a chance to make easy money, he stops at nothing to get it.”
“If we were talking about the home invasion in Chevy Chase, you think he’d be capable, hypothetically speaking, of course, of raping a man’s wife while the husband is bound and helpless, and then binding them both before setting them on fire after knocking some teeth out so they can’t be easily identified? ”
After a long silence, Brendan said, “I assume they were rich?”
“Filthy.”
“Then yeah, I can see him doing that or helping someone else to do it.”
Sam felt a tingle in the area of her backbone, which was almost always a good sign. “Do we know his associates?”
“I could make a few calls and see what I can find out if that would help.”
“It would.”
“What put him on your radar?”
“He was in a traffic altercation with the wife a couple of days before the home invasion.”
“I’ll get on it and call you when I have something.”
“Appreciate the help.”
“Not a problem.”
Sam called Carlucci. “Are you guys still with Lucas?”
“No, we’re on our way back to HQ.”
“Can you pick up Victor Klein on the way?” She passed along the address Sullivan had given her, which matched the address on the accident report.
“We’re on it,” Carlucci said.
“Call for backup before you go in.”
“Will do.”