'I'll hit the computer to see if Bennett has used a credit card recently and I'll talk to people at her apartment complex. Maybe see if Hamada or that other woman knows if she's working somewhere now that Exotic Escorts is on hiatus.'
'Sounds good.'
They rang off and Amanda thought about this new twist. Why had Bennett's apartment been trashed? Bennett could be dead, or so scared that she'd run. And what if she was dead? Amanda hoped that they could find her, and that she was safe.
Amanda's mother had died in childbirth, but she'd had one great parent and a carefree childhood. She always felt incredibly lucky about the breaks life had dealt her. Amanda shivered. Growing up with a sexual predator for a father, having to sell your body because it was the only way to get by. She thought about the psychological scars she carried from her one brief brush with depravity. What if every day of your life was like the moments she'd spent as a prisoner of the surgeon?
Amanda hoped that Ally had escaped the people who'd invaded her apartment and she hoped, for Jon's sake, that Kate could find her. A call girl was not the greatest alibi her pimp could have, but it would be a lot better than what they had now.
Chapter Twenty-Nine.
Tim parked in the motel lot. He'd told Cindy that he would be out late meeting with a reluctant witness, and he didn't know if she believed him. He'd lied to her before and merely felt uncomfortable, but this time he felt as if he was losing a part of himself. The other times he'd gone to prostitutes, there was almost no risk. Ally Bennett was not merely a threat to his career. He had finally admitted to himself that she was a threat to his family. What had he been thinking? If Bennett went to the media, Megan would grow up with the shame of his disgrace, and Cindy . . . It would be terrible for her.
Ally was already inside, dressed in a black turtleneck and jeans, smoking a cigarette and watching television. Ally snapped off the set when Tim walked in and closed the door. She was sitting in the shadows, in the room's only armchair.
'Take a seat, Mr. DA,' she said motioning toward a chair at the desk. Tim pulled it out and sat down. The desk was on the other side of the small room. He was glad to have the bed between them.
'What do you want?' Kerrigan asked.
'Getting right to the point, are we? Don't you want to engage in a little foreplay first?'
Kerrigan did not answer.
'Does Cindy like foreplay?'
'Keep her out of it,' Kerrigan said angrily, rising to his feet. Ally showed him her .38.
'Sit,' she commanded. Tim hesitated, then sat back down.
'That's right, Timmy. Be a good boy and do what you're told and you won't get hurt.'
Kerrigan's fists knotted but he did not dare move. Ally placed the gun on the table beside her chair.
'I've been finding out all sorts of interesting things about you. I didn't know that you were a big strong football hero,' she taunted. 'You didn't seem very strong the last time we were together.'
'There's got to be a point to this, Ally. So why don't you get to it. Is it money? Is that what you want?'
'Yeah, money. But I have other demands.'
'Such as?'
'I want you to dismiss the case against Jon Dupre.'
'That's impossible.'
'But you'll do it anyway if you want to hold on to your job, your family, and your reputation.'
'I couldn't dismiss the charges even if I wanted to. Jack Stamm is the district attorney for the county. I just work for him. He'd dismiss the charges if I could give him a reason, but he'd overrule me if I tried to do it on my own.'
'Then give him a reason.'
'Like what?'
'Jon didn't kill Senator Travis.'
'I don't believe that for a second, but even if it was true there's no question that he killed Wendell Hayes.'
'Tell Stamm that Jon killed Hayes in self-defense, like Amanda Jaffe said.'
'There's absolutely no proof that Dupre was acting in self-defense. Were you in the courtroom when the jail guard testified?'
Ally nodded.
'Then you heard what he said.'
'He didn't see everything.'
'Ally, there is nothing I can do for Jon Dupre.'
'Then I'll destroy you.'
Kerrigan felt the fight go out of him. He hung his head.
