reluctantly shook Vamos’s hand, then slid around him on the porch. He didn’t leave her much room, forcing her to press her body against his greasy one in order to leave. He clearly enjoyed making her uncomfortable.
“Fuck,” I muttered. Watching this was torture.
Nina exited the property and got back into the Escalade, then drove away. Vamos remained on the porch, taking his sweet time as he smoked another cigarette, looking up and down the sidewalk until it was finished. And then, finally, he disappeared back into the house.
The video ended. For the first time, I wondered if I had made a mistake in not letting her tell me what she knew about her husband’s dealings. I had assumed that she was mostly in the dark, considering how estranged they were most of the time. But on top of that, anything I discovered through her would have been grounds for my potential disbarment. So really, it was better that I was discovering it this way.
It didn’t make it any easier to take, though.
“He did all that off a settlement?” I asked finally. “The property, everything?”
Derek looked at me like I was an idiot. “Zo, come on.”
“Okay, so what, a silent partner?”
Derek nodded. “We tracked it down. Most of his properties are owned jointly between him and an LLC that’s registered in Delaware.”
I looked up. “Don’t fuck with me. It cannot be that easy.”
Derek nodded, filling the gaps. “No jokes, my friend. Ben Vamos and Pantheon co-own about twenty houses in the New England area. Could be more. We got guys in Connecticut, Jersey, and Massachusetts now helping to track them down. Starting with this one where your girl paid a little visit.”
“Then why wasn’t Calvin there?” I demanded. “Why the fuck would she be there instead?”
Derek just looked sorry for me, like I was a lost puppy and he wanted to pat my head.
“I’m sorry, Zo,” he said. “I really am. But you gotta face it: your girl’s involved. I think she needs a bug. And probably a tail on her too.”
Dread filled the pit in my stomach. Like I’d been punched before and now someone had filled that hole with cement.
“All right,” I said, my mouth feeling wooden. “I’ll get the warrant tomorrow.” I couldn’t stop staring at the video, now frozen back on a frame of the Escalade, Nina’s head silhouetted through the window. Then, another thought occurred to me. “She, ah, she mentioned she’s going to Boston. Taking her daughter up to school there, and she’s planning to take some classes at Wellesley herself. Stay up there for a while.”
Derek’s eyes opened wide. “What? Shit. Zola, we won’t be able to plant anything if she leaves the city. That’s way beyond our jurisdiction.”
“I know.”
I worried my mouth, then pressed play on the video. I needed to see this again. And again and again if necessary in order to do what needed to be done.
“I—I can get it planted,” I said slowly. I kept my eyes trained on the video, hoping to God Derek wouldn’t understand exactly how I could make that happen. “I can do a lot more than that. If you want. She leaves on Wednesday, and she, um, she likes me.”
Derek gave me a long look that I chose not to address.
“She’ll tell me what we want to know,” I kept on. “She’ll—she’ll let me get close. All the way to Boston, even. If that’s what we want.” I shrugged. “No one has to know.”
I shouldn’t have doubted my partner. When I looked up again, full comprehension shone in his eyes. But to my relief, there was no judgment there. Maybe some pity. After all, what I was suggesting wasn’t strictly legal, though it was by no means uncommon. It was more that he understood the personal cost of it.
“All right,” Derek said, standing up. “I’m going to get a glass of water.”
And give you a second to come to terms with this. He didn’t say it out loud. He didn’t have to.
He went inside, and I was left there with the video. I watched again as Nina shied from Vamos’s greasy touch. As she spoke to him with awkward familiarity.
“Christ, doll,” I murmured as she sidled past him once more. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
III
Chiaroscuro
Then
Chapter Twenty-One
May 2009
“This looks amazing.”
Nina smiled as she and Caitlyn both surveyed the lavish spread in front of them. The long dining room table was still mostly empty, but one end was jammed with Nina’s favorite foods she