“Exactly.”
“No wonder we couldn’t get anything good on him. He’s using false names. The Tony Gorman is a legit ID, that’s what he’s registered in Tennessee’s DMV system as, the property rolls too. That’s how we picked him up. Wow, they’ve got some kind of vendetta against you, don’t they, LT?”
“Excuse me,” Baldwin cut in. “Care to give me a clue what you’re talking about?”
Taylor was shaking her head, a smile on her face that wasn’t borne of amusement.
“Tony Gorman manhandled me at a charity dinner earlier this week. Called me Tawny. That’s how we got to the sex tapes on Selectnet. This entire wild-goose chase was engineered, up to and including me getting my badge pulled. Though I’m guessing they thought their handiwork was good enough that it would be permanent, or that I’d slink away with my tail between my legs and resign from the shame. Oh, they are going to regret the day they were born.”
She got out of the car with fury in the pit of her stomach. The last laugh would be hers.
Baldwin looked at Marcus. “We might want to go after her. She looks like she could burn down the whole neighborhood if we don’t get her calmed down.”
Marcus laughed. “Yeah, well, good luck with that. You know how she is when she’s fired up. A train couldn’t stop her. I wouldn’t be laying money on Anderson surviving this one.”
They started after her. As they crossed the street, Marcus called in to Lincoln, asked him to execute a warrant for Antonio Giormanni ASAP, and to get him picked up. Lincoln put the pieces together immediately, cursed and promised to handle things on his end. Baldwin signaled he wanted to talk to Lincoln. After a few moments, he hung up, and they caught up with Taylor.
“You ready to do this?” Baldwin asked her.
“You know it. Let’s take this fucker down.” She un-holstered her weapon and went to the door. Banged on it like she’d done at Anderson’s other house. “Police! Open the door.”
Open sesame, she thought. The door was opened immediately and a familiar face stood in the doorway.
Michelle Harris looked completely and utterly shocked. Her face went white, and she moved on instinct, away from the brandished weapon Taylor had in her right hand, pointed right at her. She turned to flee. Taylor took three steps after her and got a handful of her hair, yanked her to a stop.
“Ow!” Michelle screamed.
“Shut up!” Taylor screamed right back at her. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Thirty-Eight
B aldwin was through the door now, Marcus too. Taylor looked at both of them, released Michelle’s hair.
“Where is Henry Anderson?”
“He’s upstairs, taking a shower. What in the world are you doing here? And why are you looking for Henry?” Though she sounded genuinely shocked, Taylor wasn’t falling for it. She knew that Michelle Harris wasn’t here by accident.
“I’ll get him,” Marcus said, charging up the oak staircase. Baldwin followed right on his heels.
Taylor steered Michelle by the arm, settled her roughly on a cinnamon-colored leather couch in what could best be described as a den. Dark wood, bookshelves lining the walls-there was a fleeting impression of beauty, but the irony of the situation was too strong. She blocked everything out but Michelle’s horror-stricken face.
“Why are you here? What is your connection to Anderson?” she peppered.
“Duh. He’s my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for over a year. What’s it to you? Why are you here? What do you want from Henry? He hasn’t done anything wrong, has he?”
Taylor stayed standing, looming over Michelle. “You are dating Henry Anderson. You’re kidding me, right?” Baldwin had sidled up beside her.
“Marcus has Anderson cuffed and in custody, has him Mirandized with me as a witness. Patrols are on their way to execute the search warrant. He’s lawyered up.”
“You arrested Henry? For what?”
“Oh, let’s see, Baldwin, what all do we have him on? Child pornography, for starters. Libel, slander, breaking parole, falsifying information about his whereabouts to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, falsifying his information on the sexual offenders database. That’s just for starters, I’m sure the D.A.’s office will have an indictment the length of my arm when they get done with him. Federal and state charges. Your Henry is going away for a long time. Oh, and there’s that other pesky little thing. Your sister’s murder.”
Michelle shook her head, swatting her hand in front of her face like she was shooing away a bee. “Wait, wait, wait. Todd killed Corinne. You arrested him. All the evidence pointed right at him. They are working on a trial date, for God’s sake. Henry has never met my sister in his life. There’s no way he could be involved. And what are you talking about, the sexual offenders’ database? Henry isn’t a sex offender. I live here, you think I could miss it if he had a problem?”
“You’re so sure about that, Michelle?”
Taylor heard the boots of the additional patrol officers arriving. The house was quickly teeming with officers. Henry Anderson was already stashed in the back of a patrol car, awaiting a ride down to the CJC. Taylor hadn’t even seen him brought out of his house. She stowed the disappointment, there was plenty of time to deal with him.
Michelle met Taylor’s gaze without flinching. “Yes, I am sure. I’d like to see Henry now,” she answered. She might as well have been sucking on ice cubes, the words were so cold.
Jesus. The woman didn’t have a clue. How was that possible? Her lover was a full-time video pimp, running a massive, diverse organization of smut, and she didn’t know? Taylor found that extremely hard to believe.
“Why don’t you come downtown with us, Michelle. You can tell me more about Henry.”
Taylor reached for Michelle’s arm. It was one step too far. Michelle snatched her arm away and turned on Taylor so swiftly that three weapons were drawn.
“You know, I trusted you. That first day, in Mrs. Manchini’s living room, when you’d just come from Corinne’s house. All I saw was a kind woman, a woman I could trust to bring justice for Corinne. Now look at you. Tilting at windmills, discredited, demeaned. You’re the laughingstock of Nashville, you know that? Can’t even keep your own playthings off the air. Not to mention solve a predictable murder. Henry told me what you did to him. I hate you, you…you…SLUT!”
Michelle stormed out of the room, leaving Taylor stunned.
She’d only focused on one line in Michelle’s tirade.
The laughingstock of Nashville?
Could that be true?
Stop it, girl. Look at the source. Michelle was obviously disturbed. First her sister is murdered, then she finds out her boyfriend is a liar. If anything, she was the sad case here. She’s having an awfully tough week. Just wait until she finds out her beloved boyfriend was banging her dead sister. Might make me a little testy, too.
Taylor swallowed hard, then followed Michelle out the front door of Anderson’s home. One way or another, it was time for some answers.
Thirty-Nine
T aylor was in Interrogation two, Henry Anderson across from her. He’d aged since she last saw him. The close-cropped hair was prematurely white, his skin tanned but starting to go crepey around his eyes and mouth, his teeth flashing under a still black goatee.
He still had those icy green eyes too, the ones that made her so uncomfortable all those years ago when she was putting the cuffs around his wrists the very first time. The eyes that distracted her just long enough for him to try to escape. Back then, she didn’t know the difference between lust and hate. She wasn’t intimately familiar with the seductiveness of evil. Now she was. And there was no question which emotion Anderson was feeling right
