Sleight of Hand - By Phillip Margolin Page 0,75
Nikolai isn’t mad at me, is he?”
“No, no, Gregor. Nikolai wishes you well. He hopes you make a full recovery.”
The pain hit and this time Gregor arched his back and grimaced.
“One more answer and you can press the button. Who told you to talk to the woman?”
“Charlie, Charlie Benedict, the lawyer. He said it was okay. Please.”
“Thank you, Gregor. Nikolai wanted me to tell you something. This woman who stabbed you . . .”
“He doesn’t have to worry. As soon as I’m out, I’ll make her scream, I’ll rip her up.”
“No, no, Gregor. Nikolai does not want you near this woman. She is off-limits to you forever.”
“What?”
Gregor spasmed. The pain was becoming unbearable.
“Say you understand. Say you will forget about this woman forever.”
“Please,” Gregor begged.
“Say it.”
“I won’t hurt her ever. Ahhh!”
Peter released Gregor’s hand and he stabbed at the button until the morphine chased the pain. Within moments, he forgot the woman and Peter and everything else because he was floating high above his troubles on a cloud of good feeling.
Perkovic studied Karpinski for a few seconds more, then shook his head. Gregor was an idiot, a fearsome windup toy. Peter knew he would forget his promise, but Peter would remind Gregor when he was well enough to remember. Now he had to tell Nikolai about Charles Benedict.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Dana was surprised to see Stephanie Robb follow Frank Santoro into Vinny’s.
“I told Steph I hired you and what you learned in Kansas City,” Santoro said. “She’s pissed that I went behind her back but she agrees that it’s time for all of us to get on the same page.”
“And just so you know,” Robb added, “I still think Horace Blair killed his wife, but after what you found out about Benedict, I’m willing to listen.”
“I also told her about the chow here,” Santoro said as the waitress came over and everyone ordered burgers, fries, and beer.
“I’ve been giving this case a lot of thought,” Santoro said when the waitress left, “and I’m convinced that Charles Benedict killed Carrie Blair and is framing Horace for her murder. I don’t know why he killed Carrie, but let’s assume that he did. Can we account for the evidence against Horace in a way that implicates Benedict?
“Let’s start with the keys. Something about them bothered me when we conducted our experiment at Blair’s mansion. Do you remember what the keys looked like, Steph?”
Robb looked confused. “They looked like keys.”
“Right, but there was something odd about one of them. The two keys we found in the grave—the single key and the front-door key on Carrie’s key chain—looked old and abused. They were dull, they had scratches on them. The key we took from Blair that wouldn’t open the front door resembled the keys from the grave but looked much newer and less worn.”
“Why is that important?” Robb asked.
“Remember Ernest Brodsky?”
“Of course.”
“Remember how he earned his living?”
As soon as she made the connection Robb looked sick.
“Dana and I went over the surveillance tapes we got from the River View Mall. On Tuesday morning, a Porsche resembling Carrie Blair’s Porsche entered the mall’s parking lot. I couldn’t read the whole license plate but two of the letters match Carrie’s license and are in the right place on the plate.
“Around the time I saw the Porsche on the tape, a man entered Brodsky’s store and left carrying a small paper bag that was big enough to hold several keys. The man made a real effort to keep his face hidden. He was wearing a sweatshirt with a hood and he kept his head down. I went over Brodsky’s receipts for Tuesday. He sold two keys for cash right around the time the man in the hoodie went into his shop.
“Later that night, shortly after Brodsky closed his store, a Mercedes drove out of the mall. Brodsky’s car was found in the mall parking lot, so it’s a good guess that he was kidnapped from the mall. Benedict drives a Mercedes.
“Here’s the way I see it. Benedict kills Carrie and figures out a way to frame Blair for his wife’s murder that includes making it look like Blair dropped his front-door key in Carrie’s grave while he was burying her. He has Brodsky make a key that looks like Blair’s front-door key but isn’t. Then he kills Brodsky so he can’t be a witness. If I’m right, we also know how the gun, hairs, and blood got in the trunk of the Bentley. The second key Brodsky made was a