But nobody who knew what they were doing would leave one hanging out there without a good reason.
And now I need to find out what that reason is.
CHAPTER
64
MICHELE COHEN POURED herself a cup of coffee and carried it into the family room where the TV was on. She was alone. She set her cup down, picked up the remote, and changed the channel.
“I preferred the other program, actually.”
She screamed.
Robie sat down in the chair opposite her.
“What the hell are you doing in my house? How did you get in my house?” she demanded.
“You should lock your doors, even while you’re home,” said Robie.
“I don’t know who you think you are. But I’m calling the police. You were very rude to me today at the FBI. And I think you were following me earlier. I don’t have to stand for this. It’s harassment, plain and simple.”
She stopped talking when Robie held the item up.
“Know what this is, Michele?”
She stared at the flat square box.
“Should I?”
“I don’t know, should you?”
“I’m not going to sit here and play stupid mind games with you.”
“It’s a DVD. From a security camera.”
“So?”
“It was pointed right at the spot where the bus exploded.”
“If that was the case, why didn’t the police know about it?”
“Because it was from a webcam a guy had set up in his apartment overlooking the street. I found it because I went door-to-door before the cops did. This guy had had some problems with burglars. Wanted to catch them in the act. It was on a rotation program. Clean sweep of the street. And it has a time and date stamp. Would you like me to tell you what it didn’t see?”
She said nothing.
“It didn’t see you, Michele, or your boyfriend, at the spot you said you were.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would we lie about something like that? And the motel clerk backed up our story.”
“I’m not saying you weren’t at the motel. I’m just saying you’re lying about what you saw. In fact, you saw nothing.”
“You’re wrong!”
“You said you saw the bus explode.”
“I did.”
“And you also said you saw the guy’s gun fly off and land under a car?”
“That’s right.”
“That bus explosion would have blown thousands of pieces of debris all over the air. It would’ve been a shitstorm of stuff. And you, all whacked out from seeing a bus explode and lots of people die, you saw one little gun fly through the air, and you were able to follow its path, with all the other stuff going on, until it landed under a car?” He paused. “That is total and complete bullshit.”
She jumped up and raced to the phone on the table next to the doorway into the kitchen. “I want you out of here. Now. Or I will call the police and have you arrested.”
Robie held the DVD up higher. “And we both know that you didn’t see two black people get off that bus, Michele. And the DVD will confirm that. So you lied to the FBI. That will get you at least five years in a federal prison on about three different felonies. No more working in the financial industry for you. And you’ll be early forties when you get out. And prison is not easy on the body or the psyche. You’ll come out looking closer to fifty. Maybe sixty if they’re rough on you in there. And it’s not just the guys who have the bitches inside, Michele. The ladies get lonely too in there. You’ll be easy fresh meat. You’re small and soft. You won’t stand a chance.”
“You’re just trying to scare me.”
“No, I’m trying to enlighten you on just how serious your situation is.”
Robie set the DVD down on the coffee table. “Two people did get off the bus. But they weren’t black.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I saw it on here, Michele. Now why don’t you sit down and we can talk about this and maybe come up with a way out of it for you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m a nice guy, that’s why.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Believe what you want to believe. If I believed for one second that you weren’t just a patsy in this whole thing I would’ve already arrested you. But if I can use you to get to the people I really want, then that’s valuable. That’s something you can negotiate with, Michele. Don’t walk away from this deal, because you won’t get another one.”