they didn't commit?'
'I don't know,' Samantha said, dismissing the question.
Mason picked up a manila file he had placed on the lectern. 'Do you remember giving a lecture on confessions at the police academy last year?' Mason asked her. Harry had given a lecture on the same program before he retired, and gave Mason a copy of Samantha's paper. Mason had set Samantha up, and she had obliged by playing the role of the tough cop, too certain of the defendant's guilt to consider other possibilities. Normally, he relished these moments as much as Ortiz enjoyed his videotapes. This time was different.
'Yes,' she answered, losing the glow from her performance.
'You wrote-and I quote- Be careful with a child's confession. More than anything else, kids just want to go home. They'll admit to almost anything because they figure their parents will make it all go away. Did I read that correctly, Detective?'
'You did.'
'Isn't that what Jordan Hackett wanted, to go home? Did you consider the possibility that she confessed so her parents would take her back and make it all go away?'
'The defendant isn't a child. She's an adult.'
'Who grew up with parents who called her damaged goods and a liar until they threw her out of the house. Since when does being an adult make that any easier to take?'
Samantha edged forward in the witness stand. 'People like that commit murder all the time, Counselor. They become violent, like the defendant.'
'Jordan Hackett isn't the only member of her family you suspected of committing a violent crime, is she, Detective?'
Samantha sighed, pursing her lips, realizing the trap she'd walked into. 'No, she isn't.'
'Who was the other person?'
'Trent Hackett,' she said, forcing Mason to drag it out of her.
'What violent crime did you suspect he committed?'
'He tampered with the elevator in the Cable Depot, causing it to crash. He was the building manager and had access to the elevator controls.'
'Who was Trent Hackett's intended victim?' Mason asked, boring in as Judge Pistone sat upright in the still courtroom.
Samantha said, 'You were. We suspected that Trent was trying to prevent you from investigating the defendant's claim that he had raped her.'
'Arthur and Carol Hackett didn't believe Jordan's claim against her brother and they're both alive. Gina Davenport believed it and she's dead. I believed it and Trent Hackett tried to kill me. That's what you thought, isn't it, Detective Greer?'
'Yes,' Samantha answered, glaring at Mason, forgetting their past.
'No further questions.'
Chapter 24
Blues on Broadway was a throwback to piano bars and gin joints that flourished during Kansas City's jazz heyday, before night clubs and restaurants became mini-theme parks for corporations more concerned with demographics than getting down with the sound. A rectangular bar struck from mahogany stood in the middle of the floor. An ebony grand piano on a low riser with room to add a trio, plus black-leather-lined booths bathed in blue shadows tossed from pinpoint spots buried in the ceiling, said this was a place to kick back and listen.
It was early Saturday morning and the last paying customers had tumbled out the door. Mickey was tending bar for Mason and Harry, who were perched on stools listening to Blues pick riffs off the piano. The notes clung together, fell apart, and found each other again, like subatomic particles.
'Putting Dr. Gina's murder on Trent was the smart play,' Mickey said. 'I mean Pistone was going to bind her over no matter what you did,' he told Mason.
'Pistone did the only thing he could do-order Jordan to stand trial and let the jury decide. Blaming Trent was a chump's play,' Mason said, 'but it was the only one I had.'
'I don't get why it was a chump's play,' Mickey said. 'It fits with the evidence and gives the jury a way out.'
Harry tapped his empty bottle on the bar and Mickey replaced it with another cold one. 'It's like this,' Harry explained. 'Blaming Trent for killing Gina gives Jordan another motive for killing Trent, not that she needed one. First her brother raped her, then he killed the one person who believed her story and was going to do something about it.'
'Then all we have to do is figure out who killed Trent,' Mickey said. 'Why is everyone acting like the dog died?'
'Because,' Blues said, running his knuckles across the keys, 'I'm betting on one killer, not two. The murders are tied together by the killer's rage. Throwing Gina through the window and slam-dunking Trent into the computer monitor takes a whole lot of poison. So far, Jordan is the only one that fits that description.'
'So, where do we start?' Mickey asked.
No one answered. Harry nursed his beer. Blues tapped out a string of chords, not finding the melody he wanted. Mason leafed through Dr. Gina's book, The Way You Do the Things You Do, stopping at the chapter about her daughter's suicide, reading the opening paragraph twice.
'Gina's daughter, Emily, was born in St. Louis,' he said, looking up from the book.
'And I was born under a lucky star,' Mickey said. 'So what?'
'She was born in the same hospital as Jordan, only a week earlier. Gina says her hard labor was a sign of things to come,' Mason said. 'Take a look,' he told Harry, sliding the open book in front of him.
'I take your word for it,' Harry said, finishing his beer, Mason feeling stupid, forgetting about Harry's eyesight.
Mickey picked up the book. 'I don't,' he said, reading the chapter to himself.
Mason said, 'Jordan and Emily were best friends. Both of them end up pregnant and living at Sanctuary. Emily killed herself before her baby was born. Jordan says Centurion sold her baby. Somebody hooks Abby up with Gina Davenport, implying that Gina knows what happened to the baby Abby gave up for adoption. The dates in Centurion's baby ledger match up with the birth dates of Abby's and Jordan's daughters.'
Harry said, 'What's the connection to the murders?'
'I don't know,' Mason said. 'But if we're looking for someone else to tie to both murders, we might as well start at the beginning and it looks like the beginning is at a hospital in St. Louis.'
'Here's something else I don't get,' Mickey said, putting the book down. 'Dr. Gina writes about Emily committing suicide, but leaves out the part about Emily being pregnant. I wonder why she'd do that.'
'I'll add it to my list of things that don't make sense about this case,' Mason said. 'In the meantime, we've got to take everyone back to when they were in diapers. Harry, can you get one of your buddies in the department to run a check on Robert Davenport? Find out if he's ever been busted for buying or dealing dope. Maybe he was hooked up with Centurion.'
'I've still got a few favors coming,' Harry said. 'Might even be easier on the weekend. Less chance Samantha might catch someone bird-dogging her case.'
'Great,' Mason said. 'Mickey, take another look at those IRS reports for Sanctuary. Follow the money. We're missing something, let's find it.'
'No problem. You want me to check out Emily's Fund at the same time?'
'Good call. Start fresh with everything and everybody,' Mason told him. 'Blues, take a look at Centurion. I want to know how he got into the baby business and if he's still in the drug business.'
'Samantha's got him on good behavior for the time being. I start poking around, he may come after you again,' Blues said.
'Then don't get caught poking around,' Mason said, grinning at his friend.
'I'll tiptoe,' Blues said. 'What are you going to do?'
