Stilwell glanced at Juarez to see if she was going to respond, but she looked frozen. It was clear that Terranova still had a hold on her. This told Stilwell he needed to keep control of the interview.
“What about the abduction of Tash Dano?” he asked. “What did Allen tell you about that?”
“Not a thing,” Terranova said. “I read about it in the news.”
“That wasn’t you who called Spivak in the trailer that night?”
“Not me. I never spoke to him one time. Like I said, he was the mayor’s guy, not mine. I had nothing to do with that thing either.”
“Bullshit. They grabbed her because they thought the saw handle was still on the island and not at the lab. That piece of information came from you, so don’t try to claim you’re innocent. The whole thing went down because of you.”
“Well, maybe, maybe not. But if you want to go that way with it, your pal and prosecutor here is part of the chain of guilt. That comes out, I don’t know how the chips will fall.”
Terranova had thoroughly thought out the moves here. Stilwell would be forced to throw Juarez to the wolves if he tried to pursue him for abducting Tash. It was an impossible decision, so he put it to the side for the moment.
“Tell me about Spivak,” Stilwell said. “If this was all the mayor’s play, how did he know him?”
“Far as I know, they went way back,” Terranova said. “The mayor used him before. He was like a bodyguard for hire who was willing to do whatever needed to be done.”
“Including murder?” Stilwell said. “And assaulting a deputy to get into jail to carry out the murder?”
“For the right price, you can get people to do anything,”
Terranova said. “Don’t tell me you don’t know that, Deputy Doo-Dah.”
Terranova stared at him, and Stilwell saw the threat in his eyes. Then Terranova’s face transformed into a smile.
“So we got a deal or what?” Terranova said. He looked at Juarez for an answer.
“What kind of deal are you looking for?” she said. “You’ve committed serious crimes. You can’t expect—”
“I get the golden parachute,” Terranova said. “That’s what I get. No conviction and no jail time, or it’s no deal. You take your best shot at me, and we’ll see how that goes with no witnesses and a... compromised prosecutor.”
That brought a long silence to the room. Stilwell didn’t know if he should respond, because golden parachutes were Juarez’s department.
“We’re going to step out for a moment,” Juarez finally said. “Sit tight, Oscar.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Terranova said. “Yet.”
Stilwell followed Juarez out. She closed the door to the interview room and they walked several steps down the hall so their whispers could not be heard. Juarez spoke first.
“So, what do you think?” she asked.
“I can’t see him walking away clean,” Stilwell said. “That bothers me.”
“It may be the only way.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Nobody likes it. But there may be no choice. That recording alone is solid evidence, and he says he has more. We’re talking about a corrupt mayor who had someone killed.”
“And Baby Head’s complicit in all of it.”
“He may be, but he’s holding the high cards and we might not have a choice.”
“Yeah, you happen to be one of those cards.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t worry. As soon as we get through this — if we get through this — I’ll resign and never step into a courtroom again.”
Stilwell moved away for a moment to think and walk off his anger. He forced himself to concentrate on what was at hand, not what had been done in the past. He came back to Juarez.
“Okay,” he said. “What will you do, take him to a grand jury?”
“Possibly,” Juarez said. “But this goes way above my head. I have to take this downtown and see how they want to play it.”
“When?”
“I have no court today. I can go as soon as we cut him loose.”
“What will you tell them?”
“That this guy came in with solid evidence that the mayor of Avalon is corrupt and probably commissioned a hit on a witness in a developing case against him. I’ll say our live witness is a criminal himself but he’ll share compelling and incontrovertible evidence, including recordings, that outweighs his own crimes.”
Stilwell just nodded. He wasn’t happy, but this was how most cases went. People made deals, shredded their loyalties to save their own skin. There was never complete justice. But if Baby Head got his golden parachute and remained in business and on the island, Stilwell knew that he would get another shot at him somewhere down the line. And then true justice would be served.
44
Once he was back on the island, Stilwell attempted to call Tash, but she didn’t pick up. He assumed she was either still angry or outside cellular range. Or both. She had left his house and returned to her own the night before after Stilwell told her about his appointment the next morning at the Long Beach courthouse. They had just finished eating her homemade chili and grilled cheese sandwiches. She got up from the table, dropped her plate and bowl in the sink, and went into the bedroom to grab her suitcase. Her last words as she went out the door were that she was going camping without him and that if he really wanted to, he could join her later. He called after her that he would.
Stilwell did want to join her but there was work to be done first. After checking in at the sub and deflecting questions about whether he was back on duty, he took the John Deere up to the Sandtrap to see if Leslie Sneed was working. It was the middle of the lunch rush, but he didn’t see her waiting tables. He finally asked a passing waitress whether she was on duty and she said Sneed was off on Tuesdays.
Ten minutes later he knocked on the door of Sneed’s apartment and found her at home. When she opened the door, a waft of marijuana drifted out, prompting Stilwell to remember her claim that she’d been sober since moving to the island. Maybe to her, smoking pot didn’t count.
“Congratulations,” she said.
Stilwell was puzzled.
“For what?” he asked.
“You solved the case,” Sneed said. “I saw it on the news.”
“Uh, actually, that’s what I’m here for. The whole story isn’t out there and I wanted to ask if you’d help me with the investigation.”
“Well, they said that guy who did it killed himself.”
“That’s not the full story, Leslie. If I can come in, I’d like to explain what you could do to help with the case.”
Sneed looked behind her into the apartment and seemed to hesitate. Stilwell spoke quickly.
“I don’t know if you heard, but the Black Marlin Club matched the reward money. So now it’s up to twenty thousand. It’s a pretty good chunk of cash.”
“Well, shit, that is a lot.”
“And I have an idea about how you could get the whole thing.”
She stepped back to let him inside. They moved into the tiny living room.
“What do I have to do?” Sneed asked.
“I want you to send a text and set up a meeting with somebody.”
“And where do I go for the meeting?”
“The Zane Grey.”
“Am I, like, bait?”
“Yes, but I’ll be there and you’ll be safe. If he shows up, I’ll take him down.”
“And if I do this, you’ll put me in for the full reward?”
“That’s the deal. If this goes the way I think it will, you’ll get it all.”
“Okay, I’m in.”
45
Leslie sneed sent the text to Charles Crane at three thirty and set their meeting for two hours later in the bar at the Zane Grey, where there was always an evening happy hour and a guarantee of safety in a crowd. That allowed plenty of time for Crane to go to the bank to withdraw what her message had called a down payment on her silence. Crane did not acknowledge the text in any way, but the fact that he didn’t ask Who is this? or respond that it was a wrong number told Stilwell that he might be taking the bait.