Chapter 35
Humphrey smiled and nodded along as Carl Seacrest waxed on about his idea for a class focused on the history of maverick CEOs. Seacrest was the head of a farm equipment manufacturer out of Illinois and an Oliver Humphrey College trustee.
“It could feature people like Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and the like,” Seacrest said. “Men who are examples of what is possible.”
“Let’s not forget to include you on that list,” Humphrey said.
No one would consider Seacrest a maverick, as he’d been handed the reins of his company by his father, but Humphrey knew how to play the game. Which was also why he didn’t mention that the school already had a class exactly like what the man was describing.
“I would never presume such a thing,” Seacrest said, clearly presuming exactly that.
“I’ll bring it up at the next—”
Someone rapped on the dining room door, cutting Humphrey off.
He looked over his shoulder as the door opened, expecting it to be one of the waitstaff.
Instead, a woman in some kind of military uniform peered in and said, “Sorry to interrupt. We’re looking for Oliver Humphrey.”
Humphrey’s brow creased in confusion. “I’m Oliver Humphrey.”
“Excellent.”
She entered, followed by a man in a suit, four uniformed police officers, and most surprisingly of all Stone Barrington and a beautiful middle-aged woman who looked vaguely familiar.
“Oliver, what’s going on?” Seacrest whispered.
“I have no idea,” Humphrey whispered back.
The voices shouting in his head begged to differ.
He tried to mute them as best he could, knowing the idea that he had been connected to Trenton’s death was ridiculous.
Plastering a smile on his face, he stood and said, “How can I help you?”
“Mr. Humphrey, I’m Commander Choi of the U.S. Coast Guard, and this is Dino Bacchetti, police commissioner of the City of New York,” the woman said. “We’d like you to come down to One Police Plaza with us.”
Or maybe not ridiculous. “Police Plaza? Um, why?”
“There are some matters we believe you can help us clear up.”
“Now is not a good time,” Humphrey said, grasping at any straw he could. “We’re in the middle of a meeting. I could come after we are done, if that works.”
“The commander was doing you a kindness,” Bacchetti said. “But I’ll be a little more direct. You can either come with us willingly, or we can arrest you and escort you out. Your choice.”
“Arrest him?” one of the other trustees asked. “On what charge?”
“First-degree murder, conspiracy to commit said murder, criminal mischief regarding the destruction of the vessel upon which said murder took place…” Bacchetti paused. “Shall I go on?”
“Murder?” Seacrest asked. “Who was murdered?”
“Trenton Sidney.”
The trustees stared at the commissioner for a moment before turning their collective gaze on Humphrey.
“Oliver?” Seacrest asked.
“It-it-it’s just a misunderstanding,” Humphrey stammered. “I’m not the one who killed Trenton. I would never do something like—” He cut himself off, realizing he’d already said too much.
“I thought he died in a boating accident,” Seacrest said.
“He did,” Humphrey said quickly.
“You said you weren’t the one who killed him. That implies you know who did.”
“I meant the accident killed him, of course,” Humphrey said, trying to laugh it off.
“Mr. Humphrey,” Choi said. “The sooner we talk, the sooner we can clear up any ‘misunderstandings.’ ”
Humphrey tried to swallow, but his throat had gone dry. “Sure,” he croaked. He turned back to his guests. “I apologize, but it appears we’ll have to reschedule.”
The looks they gave him ranged from confusion to disgust, but none of them said a word as he was led out.
Stone and Josie were ushered into a room where they could watch a camera feed from Humphrey’s interrogation. The college president sat on one side of the table in the room, with Dino and Commander Choi on the other.
“I have no idea why you might think I’d be involved with Trenton’s passing,” Humphrey said, unprompted. “I was under the impression it was an unfortunate accident. But if someone’s responsible for it, it certainly isn’t me.” He paused. “And it’s horrible. Very horrible.”
Choi examined the iPad she was holding, while Dino sat quietly beside her, neither of them acknowledging Humphrey’s words.
“Seriously,” Humphrey pleaded. “Trenton was my friend, and a friend of the college. Why would I kill him?”
After a few seconds of silence, Choi finally looked up and said, “Mr. Humphrey, tell us about your friend Andre Parker.”
“P-P-Parker?”
“Oh my God,” Josie said. “You can actually see the blood draining from his face.”
In the room, Humphrey tried to recover from his mistake by saying, “Who is that?”
“The man you hired to sink the Amanda Jae,” Dino said.
Humphrey feigned indignation. “Me? I would never. I don’t even know who this Parker person is.”
Choi turned her iPad so he could see the screen. On it was a still image from the CCTV footage of him talking to Parker right after Humphrey left Stone’s office.
“You want to try that again?” she said.
“I-I-I…”
“In case you are unaware,” Dino said, “New York State does not have the death penalty.”
Humphrey visibly relaxed.
“Unfortunately for you, this crime occurred at sea, so it falls under federal jurisdiction, which does.”
Humphrey opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but nothing came out.
“The more you cooperate, the more inclined we’ll be to put in a good word with the prosecution,” Choi said.
“Of course, that all depends on who talks first,” Dino said.
Humphrey blinked. “What do you mean?”
“It means that if Parker tells us everything before you do,” Choi said, “you’re shit out of luck.”
“You’re…you’re already talking to P-Parker?”
“How do you think we knew about you?” Dino asked.
Humphrey stared at nothing for several seconds, then his head drooped forward.
“That’s not something you see every day,” Stone said. “You’re very lucky.”
“What do you mean?” Josie asked.
“You just witnessed the moment Mr. Humphrey broke.”
In the interrogation room, Humphrey started to cry.
Dino and Commander Choi joined Stone and Josie for a late dinner at Josie’s hotel.
“I can’t thank both of you enough for your assistance,” Choi said to Stone and Dino. “Without it, I might never have figured out what happened.”
“It might have taken a bit longer for you to piece it together, but you would have gotten there,” Stone said.
“Stone’s right,” Dino said. “But don’t get too far ahead of yourself. The case isn’t wrapped up yet.”
Choi nodded. “True.”
It hadn’t taken long for Humphrey to tell Dino and Choi about how his financial mistakes had led to a scheme to cover the losses with the bequest from Trenton’s estate, and how a middleman named Richter had helped him hire Parker to carry it out in a way that would look like an accident.
Unfortunately, Humphrey hadn’t been able to tell them where Parker was. They had only met in person twice. The first time was prior to the sinking of the Amanda Jae, and the second was on the street near Stone’s office.
His only method of contacting the hitman was via an email address, which he’d relayed to Choi. All phone conversations had been initiated by Parker from a blocked number.
This meant that Humphrey’s arrest had to be kept quiet, so Parker didn’t hear about it and disappear. Until that was settled, Humphrey was being kept under house arrest at a nearby hotel.
“Have you thought any more about your post–Coast Guard career?” Stone asked the commander.
Choi smirked. “Commissioner Bacchetti and I may have had a conversation along those lines.”
“She has my number,” Dino said. “And I expect her to call it.”
“I do, and I will.”
After the meal was done and goodbyes were exchanged, Stone walked Josie to the elevators.
“I suppose this is farewell for now,” she said as they waited in the elevator lobby.
“Hopefully for not too long.”
“I guess that’s up to you. But just in case you need an incentive…” She moved into him and kissed him softly on the lips.
When they parted, Stone said, “The first thing I’m going to do when I get to my office in the morning is find time in my calendar for a trip out west.”
“You do that.”
The elevator dinged, and one set of doors opened.
“I guess this is me,” she said.
“Let this be the last time you go up alone.”
“At the risk of repeating myself, I guess that’s up to you.”
He kissed her again. “Safe travels.”
She cupped his cheek, smiled, then stepped into the elevator.
At the same time Stone was climbing into his Bentley to go back to Turtle Bay, Andre Parker was watching Stone’s Islesboro house through a pair of binoculars.
When Parker had found out about Barrington’s connection to this job, he’d almost backed out. He’d interacted with the lawyer several times when he’d been masquerading as a steward on the Amanda Jae. But once he thought some more about it, he decided there was nothing to worry about.
There was little chance they’d run into each other. And if they did, Parker would simply finish what should have happened to Barrington the night of the sinking.
He’d been in the trees a couple hundred yards from Barrington’s house for more than an hour already and had identified two men and one woman patrolling the property, all dressed in black.
He’d also caught glimpse of another woman in the house, walking past one of the windows. She couldn’t have been much older than thirty, however, so she wasn’t the target.
He was beginning to wonder if his client’s information was bad, and Dame Felicity wasn’t there at all. The Russian was kind of a dick, so it would serve him right.
He trained his binoculars on the house again.
Through one of the windows, he could see two women talking to each other in what he was pretty sure was a hallway. One was the young woman he’d seen earlier.
The other was Dame Felicity Devonshire.
So the information hadn’t been bad after all.
If Parker had a sniper rifle, he could have taken care of the job right then and there. But all he had was a silenced pistol that was useless from this distance.
Tomorrow night would be soon enough.
He gave the house another glance, then quietly made his way back to his vehicle.