Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,123
need to go up there together and lay it out for her. If she tells the truth, we don’t charge her with obstruction of justice or perjury.”
“Perjury for lying to a cop? Not a crime. Obstruction, maybe. No way are we going to be cleared to spend a few hundred bucks to fly to Chicago and interview the woman. Look, I get it, I would love to fly around the country interviewing witnesses, but it just doesn’t happen like that. And you know it.”
“She’s an accessory after the fact in a felony, which means you can charge her with a felony.”
He was listening.
“This case is about more than murder,” Jennifer pushed. “Lucy believes that Victoria was involved in a money-laundering operation to clean illegal gambling profits for Harrison Monroe.”
Mike nearly jumped out of his seat and stared at Lucy. “You have evidence of this?”
“No,” Lucy said. “It’s a theory that developed when I connected the three-year-old Albright murders to Victoria Mills’s homicide. I can’t prove it, but I think we can prove that Clemson was lying about his alibi—both times. I think he picked up the killer at the crime scene. And if we can get Randolph to recant that she was with him, we can bring him in.”
“He’ll call for his lawyer.”
“Yes, he probably will.”
Jennifer said, “We’re going to give his entire life a goddamn rectal exam, Mike. He’s not going to know what hit him.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “Have you even cleared this with your boss?”
“If you’re on board, he’ll let me go.”
He was thinking. “I can’t go with you, but you get her to admit to lying, I’ll work on getting her a deal. If she didn’t know that there was going to be a murder committed. If she knew about the crime in advance, all bets are off, got it?”
“Got it.”
“Devil’s advocate here,” he continued. “What if she took a bribe? What if she really didn’t meet with Clemson but instead got a pay raise and a transfer into a better position? What’s in it for her to come clean? We can’t prove she didn’t meet with him.”
“And believe me, I’m kicking myself for not going to Russo’s and verifying the information with the bartender. But there was no reason to at the time.”
“Because Stanley Grant confessed,” Lucy interjected.
“That changed the trajectory of our entire investigation. His alibi was weak—he was at home. We couldn’t prove that he was or wasn’t. We found the embezzled money, clear trail to Grant. And it made sense, because he’s not a financial genius, so he didn’t cover his tracks well. It was common knowledge among his friends and family of his gambling addiction when he was younger, it made sense—on the surface. And he knew specifics about the crime scene that we didn’t release.”
“Someone coached him,” Lucy said.
“So the guy goes in for murder?” Mike said. “Why?”
“Because his sister and her boys were threatened and he believed their lives were in danger,” Lucy said.
“I don’t know that I buy it, but I can see the possibility.”
“So can I,” Jennifer said.
“Did you honestly think I would hop on a plane with you to Chicago?” He was grinning.
“Well, we could make a date of it and have fun,” she teased.
“Watch it, or I’ll write you up for sexual harassment.”
But he was smiling, and so was Jennifer, and Lucy wondered if they had something going on after hours.
Jennifer said, “Lucy’s going to gaslight Clemson.”
“Excuse me?”
Lucy said, “As soon as I know that Jen has Randolph in an interview, I’m going to talk to Clemson. I’ll convince him that we know Randolph lied about the drinks and then suggest that there’s a witness who saw his car in the driveway. That I’m in the process of getting a warrant for his car to test for blood, convince him that no matter how much detailing he gets, blood stays.”
“Are you getting a warrant?”
“I’m going to try, but unless I have something like a witness or Randolph recanting, I don’t think I can get it.”
“You get me one thing,” Mike said, “like Randolph admitting that she didn’t have drinks with Clemson like she said she did or Clemson admitting that he lied, I’ll get you the warrant.”
Jennifer smiled. “Excellent. Clemson is already on edge, and he’s panicking—so Lucy might be able to get him to slip up.”
Lucy said, “I’ll suggest a deal—he talks, I get the AUSA to work out a plea arrangement.”