Chapter 34 #2
“Actually,” said Heck, “it did a little. He paid out some of what he owed to some of them but never most of it and not to all of them. At least that’s what she told me—Detective Matthias.
When she was trying to make me feel like a liar.
She said, Listen, we know what’s going on, Mike, it’s the Ponzi.
And we also know that you had to know. Pressuring me.
I didn’t know squat. But she kept pressuring me anyway. ”
His mouth dropped open. “I just realized I told you something wrong. It wasn’t two times I saw her, it was three. Forgot about the first, it was when she got me coming out of the office and did the badge thing. We walked a few blocks to her car and that’s where she said what I just told you.”
“We know that you know.”
“Pressuring me. Then Osler does the same thing and I was feeling really hemmed in so I said what the hey, I’ll see what I can find out.
Which was nothing. I’m telling you I made a mistake about three days not two because I don’t want you coming back on me saying hey, Mike, you lied, so we’re looking at you again, dude. ”
I said, “The second time was…”
“Like I said, Denny’s. Like a couple weeks later. That’s where I told her I didn’t find anything, she could say what she wanted but that was the situation and now I had a lawyer so go talk to her. Which she did.”
“Martha talked to Bettina.”
“She called her. Bettina told me, told me I’d screwed up by not asking her first.”
“You were observed talking to Martha with Bettina.”
“By who?”
Milo smiled.
“Okay, fine,” said Heck. “Yeah, that’s true but that was the third time, okay? Signing off, making it official. Detective Matthias takes me and Bettina into this little side room—like the one you just put me in first. I sit there keeping my mouth shut, Bettina makes this lawyer speech to Matthias.”
“What’d she say?”
“This is the situation, stop bugging my client, that kind of thing. Tough talk, you know? And that was it. I signed some papers and left.”
“How did Detective Matthias react to tough talk?”
“She listened all stony-faced, like she wasn’t impressed, same way she’d treated me. Then she walked to the door, came back with papers, and I signed them. Not a word. Like we didn’t exist. Bettina and I are outside the building, she’s like, what was that? Is the bitch planning something else?”
“She called Detective Matthias the bitch.”
“Yeah, but that’s just the way Bettina—no, no, nah, I’ve got my issues with Bettina but she’d never hurt anyone. Not physically, anyway. She uses her mouth, that’s all.”
Another rightward eye-shift.
I said, “Not physically.”
“Never. Anyway, we never heard nothing from Martha or anyone else and then Darren got indicted and I never got subpoenaed, no one did, so we figured that was it. Which it was. Which Bettina took the credit for.”
“How so?”
“She’s walking around nak—We were together, it was afterward, at the Ojai Valley Inn. She’s prancing, she likes to prance. Proud of her body. Says crazy things like ‘Look at the Post-Modern Venus’ and does a bunch of dance moves naked.”
“How’d she take credit?”
“She said, I read that bitch the riot act and she melted. Or something along those lines. Which was b.s. but why argue? Then she said, now you’re going to take me to dinner tomorrow at Spago, white truffles are in season.
That I remember clearly because that shit costs, man. And that’s all I got to say.”
Milo looked at me.
I said, “We’re confused, Mike. Bettina said you could help us but so far you haven’t.”
Heck wiggled in his chair. Like a kid in the principal’s office. Weird surprising movement.
He said, “Well, I don’t know if it’ll actually help—and I have to be off the record, okay?”
Milo moved his chair closer, his knees an inch from Heck. Stared into Heck’s eyes and began talking in a low voice.
“Not okay, Mike. You’re in no position to make demands.”
“Listen—”
“No, you listen, Mike. This is a multiple murder investigation and you’re a person of interest. Of strong interest—hold on, let me finish. Maybe you didn’t strangle Sophie yourself but you could’ve hired someone to do it—”
“That’s crazy! What’s my motive?”
“Who knows, Mike, maybe the whole thing was a way to set up a huge civil lawsuit…”
“That’s fucking—”
“People have murdered for a lot less…let me finish, Mike. Here’s the deal: Until now we’ve lacked grounds to get hold of your phone and financial records but the scam you and Bettina tried to pull off gave us grounds.
So before we do a deep dive into your life, if there’s something you want to tell us that will help you, now would be the time. ”
Michael Heck stared at him. Small deer, large headlights. On bright.
His hands shook. His chin vibrated. He sank low and hung his head.
People in that situation usually make one of two choices: shut down completely or spill. Heck did neither.
Instead, he got up suddenly, retrieved the coffee and took a few sips while standing. Murmuring something.
Milo said, “What’s that, Mike?”
“Tastes like shit—no offense.”
“None taken, Mike. Though I am a little hurt.”
Heck put the coffee down, trudged back to his chair, and sat.
“Here’s the problem,” he said. “What if what I think might help doesn’t?”
Milo said, “Why don’t you just tell us and we’ll see.”
“Sure, you’d like that, nothing to lose. But I’d be back to square one with you making my life miserable. For no reason.”
“No matter what you tell us, Mike, we will be reviewing your phone communications and your cell-tower locations as well as your bank records. If something comes up that—”
“Nothing will come up,” said Heck. “Just like before. Just like with Darren. But you screwing around in my life can still ruin my life. Once you got hold of something, it’s public.”
I said, “There’s stuff you want to keep private.”
“Hell, yeah, wouldn’t you?”
Milo said, “Hard to say because we have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t? C’mon. You’re going to find Tinder, okay? A bunch of it. And…other stuff. Texts, videos—nothing creepy, just normal stuff but who wants that publicized? Mike likes brunettes with hairy—whatever.”
“If you’ve got nothing to hide other than sexting and legal images, don’t worry.”
“So you say. But she told me once you had anything in your clutches it would be public domain.”
Milo smiled. “Our clutches.”
“Her words, not mine.”
“Well, she told you wrong, Mike. Bona fide evidence can find its way into public documents if it leads to an arraignment but—”
“None of that’s going to happen because I’m totally innocent.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about and I have to say, Mike, given what I just told you about your legal vulnerability due to that attempted big-time fraud you and Bettina cooked—I wouldn’t be concerned about hot dates and porn.”
Heck stared at the ceiling. Then at the long table pushed up against the wall.
“This place sucks,” he said. “Your coffee sucks. I could walk out right now.”
“Yes, you could, Mike.”
“But I’m not going to because I do want to help you. Especially now. ’Cause it’s changed. When it was all about Sophie, I thought I kind of wanted to but wasn’t sure. But now that you told me about Detective Matthias, I definitely want to. Because no way am I getting crucified for that.”