“We go see Covey.”
“Covey? Jack Covey?”
“He was working the Palmer case, remember? Early in the investigation.”
“The cop pedophile serving time for abduction and child molestation?”
“He was working the Palmer case when he was put away on the charge. He's likely mellowed out some by now. In any case, we need to know what he knows.”
“What do you hope to learn from him? “Why he was caught.” She glowered at him. “What kind of game are you playing, Stonecoat?
“ One as old as time. I have twenty questions for Mr. Covey.”
“Beginning with?”
Lucas strapped himself into his seat. “Who was behind his capture and arrest?”
“But what does that have to do with… with this?”
“Maybe nothing… maybe everything.”
“Damn it, I hate it when you revert to Indian glibness and cryptograms. Will you please tell me what you hope to gain from this filthy individual whose arrest brought down the image of every cop in Houston with it?”
“He may be dirty, he may crawl on the earth as a snake, but why was the snake beheaded just as he was about to uncover evidence in the Whitaker case?”
“What evidence? I saw no evidence of evidence coming out of Covey's involvement. Where'd you get that?”
“I read between the lines in the file. Covey was one of the two investigators on the case. One, Pete Felipe, a Spanish cop, was killed in what was described as a random act of violence outside a liquor store the night before his partner, Covey, was picked up on charges he abducted, molested, and filmed sexual acts with a number of minors.”
“All true, and a court of law put the man away.”
“Precisely.”
“Precisely what?”
“The judge who put Covey away?”
She stared hard into Lucas's eyes. “No. Charles Mootry?”
“One and the same.”
“Damn that! As Sheriff Barnette would say.”
“Something big and dark like an ugly cougar is roamin' about, and it has large claws and bigger fangs, Doctor, and if we continue to scratch at it, it's going to turn on us. Maybe now's a good time to ask yourself just how far you're willing to take this thing.”
“What're you talking about? Quitting now? That's non-sense!”
“When white men tell lies, they are often lies within lies, and I've heard it said that a cautious man is careful for what he wishes. Can you face the truth in the end if the truth may reach out and kill you or harm those in your family, Meredyth?”
She thought about this warning well. She said nothing, leaning back in her seat instead. They'd left the ground. “We've unearthed irrefutable evidence that some sort of hit men or hit squad is operating across state lines. We could turn what we have over to the FBI, pass the standard, make it someone else's nightmare. We could let it silently sink back into the quiet cemetery of the Cold Room from where it all came. But that wouldn't avenge Alisha Reynolds, now, would it?”
“Think long on it,” he said.
She shook her head. “I don't have to think long on it. I'll go with you to see Covey. We'll find out what he knows, or what he thought he knew when Mootry and the system put him away.”
“It may be he knows nothing.”
“I'm aware of that.”
'Then again, it may be that he was set up.”
“And his partner murdered? How did his partner die, exactly?”
“Stabbed repeatedly through the heart by what was described as a trio of street toughs.”
“Anyone charged with the stabbing?”
“They were never caught, never identified. One eyewitness said they were dressed entirely in black to blend in with the night, and apparently, they did.”
“Where did you learn of all this?”
“Insomnia gives a man time. I saw that Covey and Felipe were suddenly no longer on the case.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I noticed that, too, but I didn't pay much attention. I just figured administrative shuffle since they were getting nowhere on the case.”
'That's the difference between us. Doctor.”
“What's that?”
“I see conspiracies everywhere; you're too trusting.”
“Well, maybe… perhaps… but…”
“Covey and Felipe were probably warned in one fashion or another to let up on the case, to lighten up; it was probably suggested to them that it wasn't worth pursuing, but they continued to pursue, and look where it got them.”
She swallowed hard. “Are you suggesting… that we're Covey and Felipe now?”
“I'm suggesting that we're in danger.”
“Now that's carrying things a bit far, Lucas. The next thing you'll be suggesting is that Phil Lawrence is somehow involved, and that's why he's stood in my way all this time.”
“Just watch your back, Meredyth.”
She tried a joke. “I thought you'd do that for me.”
“You need somebody to do it for you. Obviously, you're no good at it,” he tried joking back, but then his tone hardened. “In all sincerity, we may be dealing with people who view life, your life and mine and anyone else's who stands to unmask them, as having very little worth, and frankly-
“You mean like the mob, the Mafia?”
“-and frankly, at the moment, I don't know anyone we can trust.”
The plane banked a bit. She stared once more into his deep-set, sure brown eyes, the centers filled with dread. She found her mouth dry and her palms sweating, her heart rate having jumped. “I'll see this thing through with or without you, you know.”
He frowned and dropped his gaze and shook his head. “Perhaps that is the one thing of which I have been certain all along.”
The plane continued to bank, smoothed out, played tiddledy winks with the air and their stomachs, the purr of the engine continuous and loud.
“You were good back there,” she told him.
“Just good? I thought I was a regular Columbo.”
“All you needed was the raincoat.”
He shook his head in amazement. “You know what I can't fathom?”
“What's that?”
“I can't believe those fools in Oregon overlooked so much.”
She shrugged. “Not everyone's got the gift. Hell, it was weird the way you did that. It was as if you knew the exact spot to go, the exact angle the killers used against Little.”
He realized she was looking at him with those blue-green eyes in a strange new light. “Hey, when I said we can't know who to trust, I meant people other than the two of us, Meredyth. You can trust me, and I can trust you, right?”
She hesitated only slightly, but enough that he noticed, she feared. “Sure… sure, I know I can trust you.”
“And I'm going to trust you.”
She managed a smile. “Big step in a… relationship.”
“Yeah, don't I know it. And don't forget, when this is over, you promised to get me out of the Cold Room permanently, right?”
“Yeah… sure, I'll do everything in my power.”
Why didn't it sound like enough? he wondered.
NINETEEN
It was extremely late when they arrived in Houston. Even the airport was deserted. They shared a cab into the city, and Stonecoat's place being closer, he said good night to her on the street. She had taken custody of all the information and photos they'd brought back with them. Tomorrow, they would share it all with Lawrence, who would in turn provide Bryce with the information.
Lucas waved the cab off and strolled for his door, swinging his small bag. He placed the key into a locked gate that surrounded the building, stepped through, and found himself caught off guard when someone in the shadows between the building and the gate grabbed him about the neck, toying with a huge knife at his Adam's apple, using it to make like a violin, the knife the bow, playing it back and forth, creating little rivulets of blood and telling him to shut up and listen. Lucas dropped the bag to free both hands, but he was in a helpless situation. He dared not attempt a fight.
“You get yourself free of this case you're pursuing, son, or you and your girlfriend are dead. You understand that, kimosabe?”