Glenville property, Caffrey, Townsend, and Jackson. Then I used lines
to connect facts that might be related, like Clarissa's ruling on the
Gunderson case, Gunderson's stake in the urban growth boundary, and
Clarissa's affair with Cafferty.
Before I knew it, my legal pad was so filled with overlapping lines
that I couldn't read anything. Frustrated, I finally circled my pen
around the entire list over and over again until I popped a hole in the
paper. What the hell were you up to, Clarissa?
Making sense of everything I'd learned over the weekend was going to
take some legwork. I paged Johnson.
I tried to keep it simple, telling him about Clarissa's safe deposit
box. 'I was hoping you'd have another go at Caffrey since you never
got in touch with him the first time. We need to find out what
Clarissa was doing with that videotape.'
Johnson obviously didn't share my enthusiasm. 'Sorry, Sam, but I'm
working other cases now. I can't pull off to put in more time on
Jackson.'
'Do you know if Walker can do it? I've got the rest of the prelim
tomorrow.' I had a hard time hiding my frustration. The
Major Crimes Team owed its existence to the District Attorney's
insistence on sufficient investigative support for cases carrying
mandatory minimum sentences.
'That's going to be a problem too. Look, since it's you, I'll give it
to you straight. When we saw the lieutenant this morning, he told us
that any overtime on Jackson needed to go through him.'
'Did he say why?' The bureau could be stingy on overtime, but I'd
never heard of an order to run each minute through the supervisor.
'I got the impression someone had put some extra time into the case
after it was cleared. But I know it wasn't me, and it also wasn't
Jack. You know anything about that?'
'Chuck went with me to pick up the key from Clarissa's assistant, but
it only took a few minutes.'
'And why didn't you call me or Walker? We're the leads.'
'I did call you, but you weren't in.' He didn't respond. 'Look, do we
have a problem here?'
'Just remember how you felt when I went around you for the polygraph.
You've got my pager number.'
'I didn't go around you, Ray. It was a quick walk across the street,
and Chuck happened to be in.' Again with the silence. 'If you want to
say something, just say it.'
'I just think it's funny how you say your old buddy just happened to be
in when you wanted something done on a cleared case. Maybe part of you
knew I wouldn't be too happy about doing work that's going to bite me
in the ass down the road.'
'And how's that?'
'When you tell me three months from now that you're pleading the case
down because of something the defense attorney's twisting around. You
know, it's always those little extra details stupid things like a safe
deposit key or the occasional extramarital roll in the sheets. Stuff
that we both know or at least I know doesn't change the fact that
Melvin Jackson's guilty.'
'I don't know what to say, Ray. I wasn't trying to hide anything from
you, or I wouldn't have called you just now. And I wouldn't ask you to
do something if I didn't think it was important.'
'If you want to call the LT, that's fine with me,' Ray said. 'But for
now, we're not supposed to be working a cleared case. I don't want to
get stuck between my boss and your office.'
Neither did I, I thought, as I hung up. One thing was for sure: I
wouldn't be getting any more help from the bureau.
The notes that Clarissa stashed in her safe deposit box mentioned a
case she referred to as Grice. It still felt familiar.
I found my own notes from the review of Clarissa's files. It didn't
take long to realize where I'd seen Grice's name before. It was in the
list of cases from which Clarissa had recused herself. According to my
notes, Grice Construction was the company that had complained that the
city had unfairly denied its request to rehabilitate some Pearl Street
buildings. The date of Clarissa's recusal was the same day she had
apparently talked to DC about both the Grice case and the case
involving Gunderson's own rehabilitation program. If DC was Coakley,
that might explain what Nelly overheard at City Hall.
I didn't know the details yet, but it was becoming clear that Gunderson
had some kind of connection to Clarissa.
Good thing I knew who his lawyer was. I even had his home number.
I was surprised when a woman answered. When I asked to speak to Roger,
