Then Tom spoke and Eddie’s eyes moved to him.
“Seth Townsend is a piece of shit,” Tom announced. “But he loved Lizzie. It was an obsessive, smothering love but he loved her. He didn’t kill her.”
Lee leaned against his desk.
“You sure about that?” he asked.
Tom nodded. “None of the leads took us close to Seth. I don’t even think he knew she was talking to me. Malcolm and I figured Diggs found out what Lizzie was up to and ordered the hit.”
“Any chance she’s still alive?” Eddie asked, crossing his arms on his chest.
This time, Tom shook his head. “Sadie’s right. Lizzie would have found a way to keep in contact with her or she would have come back. Furthermore, Lizzie was loaded, still is. She had a trust, she was an only child and she inherited everything when her mother died and they had a large estate. The money is still sitting in her accounts. She never touched it. Seth never went after it either, didn’t try to have her declared dead so he could get his hands on it, never claimed desertion so he could get it for Sadie. Nothing. I’m not even certain Sadie knows it exists. If Lizzie found a safe place, she could have taken the money and she and Sadie could have lived their lives without ever lifting a finger. Eighteen years ago, Malc and I talked to Aaron Lockhart, Lizzie’s family accountant, and we told him our suspicions. His loyalty was to Lizzie and Sadie and he watched that money like a hawk and he would have done what he could to see Lizzie and Sadie safe. I called Aaron this morning to check and not a penny of that money moved, not in eighteen years. If Lizzie was alive, there would have been a time when she needed it. It never moved.”
“Any point pursuing this?” Vance asked. “Sadie’s got a new wound now and, by the looks of her, she has no intention of letting it heal, she intends to keep it licked raw. After eighteen years, that trail’s cold. I manage to find something, what purpose would it serve?”
Eddie looked at Vance. “At least she’d know her father didn’t kill her mother.”
Everyone knew that was so thin, it was practically useless.
But for Sadie, who had nothing but still managed to lose more, thin was better than nothing.
Because of that, Vance gave a jerk of his chin and muttered, “I’ll look into it.”
Hank moved to Lee’s desk and used his hands to pull himself up to sit on it. “We got another problem,” he announced when he’d settled.
Eddie felt the air in the room get heavy and his body tensed.
“Play the tape,” Hank said to Lee and Lee reached out and hit a button on a recorder on his desk. Sadie and Seth’s phone conversation from the day before filled the room. When it was over, Lee hit the stop button.
Hank’s eyes went to Eddie. “He said there’s business to attend to.”
Eddie clenched his teeth.
Hector had said Sadie had a will of steel. He hoped to f**k his brother was right because if Seth Townsend was doing business from prison, she wasn’t free of him. Not yet.
Lee spoke, “Hector heard the conversation. We played it back half a dozen times yesterday. He didn’t look happy at what he heard. I figure it was for more than the obvious reason but he didn’t share. We got somethin’ else to deal with here?”
“No idea,” Eddie replied truthfully and he saw Lee’s eyes cut to Hank before he continued. “Hector told me she knew what her father did. He also told me she slipped him information when he was on the inside.”
All eyes came to him at this surprising revelation.
“You’re f**kin’ kidding,” Vance murmured.
Eddie shook his head.
“Little Sadie?” Tom whispered.
This time, Eddie nodded.
“What are we talkin’ about here? What did she give him? Was she involved, in a position to know?” Hank asked.
“No. Hector said the information was worthless but she didn’t know that. He wasn’t in the place where he could tell her without putting them both in danger and it doesn’t matter. She did it all the same. Still, I’m thinkin’ Townsend figures family ties bind and she could help him keep a hold while he’s in prison. There was shit the Feds knew existed but they couldn’t find it. We know he’s still got men loyal to him and he’s keepin’ himself informed. Now, he knows she’s strayed and he obviously isn’t happy about it.”
“Where’s the link?” Vance asked. “If she wasn’t involved while he was active, why the f**k would he involve her now?”
Eddie shook his head because it was beyond his comprehension why a father would want to drag his daughter into a life of crime.
Then he looked at Lee. “Brody needs to do a hack, find out what the Feds got and what they didn’t and if they’re still keepin’ an eye on him. I’ll talk to Hector. We got more than the Balduccis to worry about. We need to keep Sadie clear of her father. By the sound of it he’s lookin’ to suck her in.”