Chapter Nineteen
Reo and Peabody arrived together. Hands were shaken, introductions made, seats taken, and coffee served.
Reo, in her no-nonsense gunmetal-gray suit, her fluff of blond hair tamed in a roll, took a tablet out of her briefcase, then glanced at Eve.
“Record on. Reo, APA Cher, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, Peabody, Detective Delia, expert consultant Roarke meeting with Delaney, Jenna Lynn, and her counsels Wenn, Robert, Wenn Stephen.”
“Ms. Delaney—”
“Jenna, please. Just Jenna. I can hear we’re from the same part of the world.”
“Yes. Jenna, your counsel and I have spoken, and I’m aware he has given you the terms of this agreement.
But we are now on record, and I will explain those terms for you again, on the record.
If you have information that can and does lead to the identification of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Nathan Barrister, if you have information that can and does lead to the recovery of the items taken from Barrister House, I’m authorized to offer you immunity for any charges related to the theft of those items. If you’re not truthful, if your information proves false, the immunity will be invalidated. ”
“I understand.”
“Do you also understand that when a death occurs during the commission of a felony, those who participated in the commission of that crime can be held responsible for that death?”
“Yes. It’s why I’m here.”
Reo took a tablet out of her briefcase, handed it to Wenn. “You’ll want to read the agreement before instructing your client to sign it.”
“I’m going to sign it. I’m going to tell you everything I know.”
“You’ll just wait on that, Jenna,” Wenn said, and read. He nodded as he read, then handed it to Jenna.
“Thank God,” she murmured as she swiped her signature.
Wenn took it back, signed, handed it to Reo. Once she’d signed, she tapped. “I’m sending you a copy, Mr. Wenn, and a second for your client.”
Once done, Reo set the tablet aside. “At this point I’d like Lieutenant Dallas to read you your rights and start the interview.”
“Jenna Lynn Delaney, you have the right to remain silent.”
After reciting the Revised Miranda, Eve asked Jenna if she understood her rights, and further understood waiving certain rights in conjunction with the agreement she’d just signed.
“Yes.”
“Did you kill Nathan Barrister?”
“No, I did not.”
“Did you enter Barrister House last Friday evening after circumventing the security system?”
“Yes.”
“Did you enter by a window, access the vault in the room Nathan Barrister used as a home office?”
“Yes.”
“Did you remove anything from that vault?”
“I removed the Royal Suite, which included a necklace, a bracelet, a ring, a pair of earrings, and a tiara, emeralds, diamonds set in platinum.”
“Why did you only remove those items?”
“Those were my instructions.”
“Who instructed you?”
“James Mulligan—someone I knew by reputation—and she went by Genevieve Delecroix, and spoke flawless French and Italian. But as I’m not an idiot, and no matter how much money someone waves at me, I don’t go in blind, I took time to find out who she was.
Magdelana Percell. He’s a broker—retired—a kind of liaison between people who want something that’s not theirs and people who can get it. ”
She paused, reached for the soft drink Stephen had brought her in lieu of coffee. “Can I go to the start, work forward?”
“All right.”
“Mulligan contacted me, offered to fly me to Italy—Sorrento—to discuss a major job with a major payoff. Either way I’d get a few days in Italy on his dime. It was his villa—I checked that, too. Really lovely spot, and that’s where I met her.”
“Magdelana Percell.”
“Yes. She was clearly in charge. That’s my opinion, but I’m a good judge.
He’s smitten, you know? But regardless, they offered the job.
An in-and-out, no muss, no fuss. I probably wouldn’t have taken it, but then they told me the target.
It’s legendary. Whoever took it the first time?
A genius. I was sort of disappointed I wouldn’t have to be, but the prospect of holding all that? I couldn’t say no.”
“Why wouldn’t you have to be a genius?”
“They already had the security system, the location of the vault. They had the damn combination.”
She blew out a breath. “You know how they say don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?”
“Why do they say that? Who wants to look in a horse’s mouth?”
“I don’t know, but I should have. It was too good to be true.
They offered me twenty, and I pushed for fifty and got it.
Fifty million dollars and a chance to hold the Royal Suite.
Fifteen when I take the job, another fifteen when I open the vault, send them a photo, and the rest on authentication.
I make a good living, but nothing like fifty for one job, and one I barely have to prep for. ”
She rubbed her hands on the thighs of her jeans.
“Palms are sweaty.” She blew out air. “Anyway. I went from the villa to New York, to look things over. The security system? Old, needed updates. I bought some fancy flowers, boosted a delivery truck, and got access to the grounds, got a look at the entrance and the butler guy. Everything was just the way they’d said it would be. ”
She shrugged, drank some more. “So I hung out with Steve.” Her eyes widened. “He didn’t know. None of it. About this, about what I do. He didn’t know, or Rob or Rachel and her family. I swear.”
“I’m not interested in jamming them up.”
“Okay, good. I went home, did my prep, waited for the go. I really didn’t need much time. Honestly, I could probably have gotten in before I left New York, but I like to take time, practice, consider contingencies, Plans B, C, and D.”
“Give me an example of Plan B.”
“Run like hell. Lieutenant—everybody—I steal things. That makes me a bad guy, but I’ve never hurt anyone. I don’t carry a weapon, and nothing I take is worth more than a person. Not to me. Not ever.”
Closing her eyes, she took a breath.
“I got the go, so they flew me back to New York. I was set to proceed, Saturday night.”
“Friday,” Eve corrected.
“No, see, I was supposed to move on Saturday, but they bumped it up a day to Friday night, last minute. I was kind of irked because there was a big gala at the hotel I was going to crash, but a job’s a job.”
“Who bumped it up?”
“She did, Magdelana. So I went in a night early.”
“At what time did you jam the security?”
“Twelve-seventeen. Then you take a solid minute to be sure, then through the gates. I had the window open in a couple minutes, maybe less. Then you take a minute again, you listen, you feel. When I knew I was clear, I opened the panel, as instructed, opened the vault. An old beauty. I’d have liked to crack it my way, but as instructed.
And holy Jesus, all that inside. Just beyond. ”
For a moment, in memory, Eve supposed, her eyes shined like stars.
“I might’ve swayed for a minute because wow. I probably drooled some. Then I held that necklace in my hands.”
She glanced at Roarke. Eve knew something passed between them, but it didn’t show.
“Then the earrings, the bracelet, the ring, the tiara. I bagged each piece up, and I was out and gone.”
“You left the vault open, but closed the window.”
“As instructed. It bothered me to be sloppy, but those were my instructions.”
“What time did you reengage the security?”
“Twelve-forty-two. In and out, and in and out clean. I swear it. I don’t know why they killed that man. I don’t know why they set me up for it. But I got out clean. I was to meet the authenticator at one-thirty.”
“Where?”
“Some warehouse downtown. I’ve got the address.
I went back to my hotel and changed out of my work clothes, then I left my room, walked a few blocks, took a cab downtown.
I met the authenticator and the security.
Security guy let me in. The authenticator went over each piece, gem by gem.
Careful, thorough. Took about an hour. A little more, I guess. ”
“Name.”
“He didn’t give it, I didn’t ask. Look, he was an old guy, probably has great-grandkids.
I don’t want to put him in the sling. The security guy?
I didn’t get a good feeling, so I’ll draw you a picture—or I’ll describe him so somebody can.
He’s the one who locked them up in a case and took them away.
It was about three-thirty, I guess, when I got back to my hotel.
I had to come down some, settle, so maybe five before I could get to sleep.
I slept most of Saturday. I got up, ordered some food—including a bottle of champagne.
I took a shower, and I turned on the screen while I ate. Watched some silly vid, relaxed.
“Then I switched to check the media reports, and that’s when I found out about Nathan Barrister.
I panicked. I don’t panic, but I panicked.
I was going to run, but … I couldn’t. Finally, I called Steve.
I just told him I was in trouble, I needed a place to lie low, to think. And he came and picked me up.”
She looked down at her hands. “I can be sorry I waited so long, and I am. But I was scared, really scared. Too scared to think straight, then I was angry, so fucking angry at what they’d done—I looked him up, Nathan Barrister.
A wife, kids, a good life. I thought about that, and about how they wanted to hang that on me even if I poofed. And I couldn’t live with it.
“I told Steve everything, and then Rob when he came, when Steve asked him to come.”
She looked up again. “I don’t want to go in a cage, and I’m not sorry for doing whatever I can not to. But if I do, it won’t be for something I didn’t do. Would never do. I didn’t kill Nathan Barrister.”
“I know that,” Eve said simply.
“You believe me?”
“I already knew you didn’t kill him. You’ve now verified. We’ve already gathered most of the information you’ve just given.”
“But … It’s good info, and I gave it willingly. I don’t—”