Dwayne didn’t answer, just stared at her.
“You know what I think?” she asked.
“What?” he said, breaking his silence, his voice hard and flat.
“I think Kyrie killed Wilfred and tried to frame you, and I think you told me you did it so I’d think you were a bad motherfucker.”
Dwayne spat on the floor. “Kyrie couldn’t kill his own self if he tried. I done Wilfred jus’ like they say I done it. I gutted him and I cut his dick off and I made him eat it ’fore he died. And there ain’t nuthin’ you or nobody can do about it.”
“So why did Kyrie go to so much trouble to get you convicted? What was going on between the two of you?”
He gave her a smug half smile. “You have to ask Kyrie ’bout that.”
“Except Kyrie is dead. What? Did you think if you waited awhile before killing him and the Hendersons that no one would suspect you? Did you think you were that lucky?”
Dwayne glared at her. “I ain’t sayin’ I kilt them.”
“Convince me I’m wrong.”
He shook his head. “Why you bustin’ my balls ’bout that? You startin’ to sound like five-0.”
“Because you’ll only make things worse for yourself if you go after that ER doctor.”
“I don’t know nuthin’ about no fuckin’ ER doc.”
“Sure you do. Her name’s Bonnie Long. She sewed your leg up the other day. She told Detective Rossi that you threatened to rape her and that you said you’d be waiting for her when she got home.”
Dwayne’s mouth hardened. “That bitch stuck her hand in my leg like she was diggin’ for fuckin’ quarters! She lucky I didn’t do her right then, but she sure as shit gonna pay!”
Try as she might, Alex couldn’t keep her mouth from quivering or her eyes from watering. She took a quick breath to gather herself.
“And Rossi doesn’t give a shit. He couldn’t nail you for killing Wilfred Donaire, and so far he can’t stick you with the Chapman and Henderson murders, so he’s praying you’ll show up at her house just so he can put a bullet in you. You want to end up dead, go after her. You want to live long enough to get lucky on the Chapman and Henderson murders, stay away from Bonnie Long.”
Dwayne studied her for a moment. “I know you don’t like me. I know you afraid of me. Somethin’ happen to me, you ain’t gonna cry. So all this be careful what you do bullshit ain’t about me. Is it?”
“Sure it is,” she said, her quivers turning into tremors that rippled through her. “I’m your lawyer. I’m just doing my job.”
Her involuntary reactions had lit up Dwayne’s predatory instincts. He didn’t say anything, letting her squirm, keeping his poker face until a small, cruel smile split the corners of his mouth.
“Nah, that ain’t it. That ain’t it. So it gotta be ’bout that bitch doctor. Why you care so much what happen to her?”
Alex shuddered as her chest tightened and heat rose from her neck to her cheeks. She ground her teeth, fighting against the shakes, unable to answer.
“Uh-huh. That’s what this is all about. How long you been divin’ into her muff?” Dwayne asked.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rossi’s cell phone rang as he walked through Truman Medical’s parking lot to his car. It was Lena Kirk.
“Tell me you found something,” Rossi said, “or tell me you’re in love with me.”
“Are those my only choices?”
“No. You can always go with
She laughed. Rossi liked the sound.
“You’ll have to settle for
“How long will that take?”
“I don’t know. The sample I got is pretty small and the fabric is very fragile, which makes things tricky, and the lab is backed up as usual. Under normal circumstances, it could take a week, maybe two.”
“These aren’t normal circumstances.”
“Nothing with you ever is. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, and you can still choose
“So many choices, so little time. Good-bye.”
He wasn’t in love with Lena Kirk, but he liked the idea of being in love with her. Truth was, he just liked the idea of being in love. It was a condition he’d gone too long without, and he knew the reason. He was a hard man to love. Too much crime grime, his last girlfriend had told him.
He settled into his car, fired up the engine and the air-conditioning, and called Gardiner Harris, hoping he’d add to Lena’s maybe good news.
“You catch a killer?” Rossi asked him.
“Nope, but I’ve got my line in the water. I looked over the list of Kyrie Chapman’s known associates. One of them is a gal named Gloria Temple.”
“She might have been Chapman’s girlfriend.”
“And you know this how?” Harris asked.
“I think it. I don’t know it. Jameer Henderson testified at the Wilfred Donaire trial that Kyrie Chapman had some girl give Dwayne Reed a gold necklace that belonged to Donaire. We don’t know if that’s what happened but Dwayne was wearing the necklace when I arrested him for the murder. After the trial, I asked around, trying to find out who the girl was in case it went down the way Jameer said it did at the trial. I figured she had to be close to Chapman, probably his girlfriend.”
“And?”
“Best I got was some secondhand rumor from a CI that Chapman had the hots for Gloria, so she could have been that girl.”
“Makes it sound like Chapman killed Donaire and used his girlfriend and Jameer Henderson to put the murder on Dwayne,” Harris said.
“That’s what Alex Stone told the jury and they bought it, but it was my case and I know that’s bullshit. That’s why I tracked Gloria down after the trial and asked her if she was the girl that gave Dwayne the necklace.”
“What’d she tell you?”
“Told me to go fuck myself.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
“Great. I even sent myself a text message the next day to say how great it was.”
Harris laughed. “Well, you’ll always have the memory. At any rate, according to the case file, no one’s been able to find Gloria since Chapman got popped. Makes me wonder why.”
“Good place to start,” Rossi said.
“Good as any. What’s biting in your pond?”
“Nothing good. I just left Truman. Had a talk with Bonnie Long, the ER doc Dwayne threatened to rape. Turns out she and Dwayne’s lawyer got a thing.”
“What kind of thing?”
“A girlfriend, girlfriend thing.”
“No shit! Alex Stone is a dyke?”
“You mean lesbian.”
“Since when did you get PC?” Harris asked.
“Guess it just snuck up on me. Don’t tell anyone.”
“And ruin your reputation for being an asshole? No chance. Does Dwayne know?”
“You got me, but if he finds out, it’s not going to help their attorney-client relationship.”
