Perlman looked uncomfortable with the question. “Where did you hear that?”
“From someone who would know.”
“Doris?”
“Neither confirm nor deny. But Barry also admitted it.”
“I see. But that doesn’t make him a killer.”
“You like him, I take it?” said White.
“He had his faults just like all of us. But he was always wonderful with Julia. Very kind to her, and he’s been a good father to Tyler. And we had so much fun together.”
“There was that tax issue.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” she said quickly — maybe a little too quickly, thought Decker.
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that he’s been released from custody.”
Her face brightened. “He has? That’s wonderful. What caused that?”
“Another alibi came in for him. Couldn’t be in two places at the same time.”
“I’m sure Tyler is thrilled.”
“We’ve learned some more about the man who was found dead at Cummins’s house,” said Decker.
“Oh, yes, what?”
“He had been involved in some blackmail schemes. And he had been accused of stealing jewelry from a woman he was guarding.”
“Oh my God, really?”
“Yes. Just to be clear, did you find anything missing?”
“What? No. I mean, I haven’t inventoried my jewelry lately. We keep it in a large safe. He couldn’t have gotten in there.”
“And no blackmail demands?”
She sat back, looking offended. “He would have nothing to blackmail us about, Agent Decker.”
“I’m not suggesting otherwise. But it doesn’t have to be anything illegal. Just, well, something you wouldn’t want anyone to know about. Hell, I wouldn’t want anyone to be able to see my online search history.”
She now looked uncertain. “Yes, I see what you mean. Well, we certainly didn’t get any blackmail demands from this person. If we had, we never would have recommended the firm to Julia.”
“Of course.” Decker looked over her shoulder at the wall of photos he had seen on his first visit to their home. “I take it you like to sail?”
Perlman glanced at the picture of herself and her husband on the sailboat. “We used to, quite regularly. Trevor kept a sailboat and cabin cruiser, but it got to be so much upkeep we ended up selling them. Now if want to go out we just charter something.”
“Did you keep it here?”
“No, in Key West. We used to take it over to Cuba.”
“I thought there were restrictions,” said White.
“This was when relations had thawed. It’s harder now, and you need a permit once you’re past the twelve-mile limit. It’s a beautiful country. Have you ever been?”
White shook her head.
While Perlman had been talking Decker ran his gaze over the other photos on the wall, until he came to the very end. He glanced at Perlman, who was looking at him curiously.
“We know you were a lawyer, but what did your husband do for a living?” he asked.
“He was already retired when I married him. He was a consultant. His work took him all over the world. He speaks several languages.”
“A consultant in what?”
“Raising capital for companies engaged in emerging markets. He was very successful.”
“Was he married before?”
She smiled. “No, he said he was waiting for the right woman to come along. I had already made my mistake with my first marriage. Trevor was a godsend.”
“He’s a good-looking guy,” said Decker, pointing to one of the photos on the wall. White turned to look at the image of a young Perlman in a suit and tie. Decker had actually seen it earlier, but back then it meant nothing to him. Now it meant pretty much everything.
Perlman said, “He was barely thirty then. It’s the only picture I have of him from that time. He doesn’t like to look back, only forward.”
“I don’t blame him. When do you expect him back?”
“Sometime this evening. Do you need to speak with him?”
“Probably. If you could let him know, I’d appreciate it. Just routine stuff. Well, thanks for your time.”
They walked out the door and got into the car.
“Okay, what was all that about?” asked White.
“That connection I was talking about? It just came together.”
“You mean that picture of a younger Trevor Perlman?”
“Yeah. I’d seen it when I was over here before, but I had nothing to compare it to then.”
“What do you mean? Compare it to what?”
“The picture of Trevor Perlman with Senator Tanner at Deidre Fellows’s house.”
Chapter 89
I need everything you have on Trevor Perlman ASAP,” White said into the phone as they sat outside of the Perlmans’ home. She gave the person the Perlmans’ address in Florida and also informed the person of his connection to Mason Tanner.
White clicked off and turned to Decker. “Okay, what now?”
“I emailed Deidre Fellows. She’s agreed to see us again.”
They drove to Sanibel Island and passed through the gates to Fellows’s oceanfront mansion.
She was waiting for them by the infinity pool when the maid escorted them through. Fellows had on a colorful muumuu and a sun hat.
On the way, Decker had taken a picture off the shelf in the other room.
They sat down, and Fellows eyed the photo frame. The picture was turned away from her. “Did you bring something for me to look at?”
“No, this is one of your photos from the other room.”
“Then it’s my father’s photos. As I said, this was his house. I’ve only lived here for about six months. It was fully furnished. The house I shared with my ex is on the market.”
Decker turned the picture around so she could see it.
She glanced at the group of men and women in the photo. “That’s my father, and the woman is my mother, and the man next to her was my father’s chief of staff at the time. He’s dead now.”
“And the young man on the very end?”
Fellows’s gaze traveled down there and then she gaped.
“Miami, 1981?” said Decker. “The man packing the woman into the suitcase?”
She nodded dumbly.
“I thought so.”
She looked astonished. “My God. It was here all that time. But I never looked at those photos. I’m not in any of them, you see. What’s his name?”
“Trevor Perlman. Ring any bells?”
“No, none.”
“I doubt he was part of your father’s staff. And that may not have been the name he was using back then.”
“Then why is he in the picture?”
“Politicians take lots of pictures.”
“Yes, but why would my father keep that one in particular? There are lots of others with my mother and his staff.”
“I don’t know. But I’m very glad he kept this one.”
“What does this all mean, Agent Decker?”
“Hopefully, it means a killer is about to get caught.”
After a long discussion with Fellows, and White making some phone calls, they drove back to Ocean View and to their hotel.
In White’s room they held a quick conference.
“Okay, let me try to get this straight,” began White. “Trevor Perlman helped clean up the mess in Miami back in 1981.”
“As we talked about before, he also may have created the mess.”
“You mean a setup?”
“A consultant? Traveled the world and speaks several languages? Goes to Cuba by private boat?”
“What exactly are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I would bet more money than I have that Kanak Roe’s boat is in Cuba, where Perlman took it after killing him and dumping his body in the ocean.”
White stammered, “Are you... was Perlman working for—”