‘And you stand by that now? That you’ve never been inside Bree’s place?’
Kerry crossed one leg over the other, and sighed deeply. ‘I suppose you’ve got somebody who saw me there? Took my picture? Perhaps Mr Hardy here?’
‘Damon, hold it!’ Valens again.
But Kerry seemed almost amused. A wry expression crossed his face. ‘It’s all right, Al. It’s all right. The lieutenant says he’ll keep this low profile – isn’t that true, lieutenant? So long as I didn’t kill Bree. We have your word on that, on this tape.’
‘If I can,’ Glitsky responded.
‘Yes, I went there.’
Glitsky and Hardy exchanged glances. ‘Why did you tell Mr Hardy you hadn’t?’
‘What difference does that make, lieutenant? Is that a crime? He might have been a reporter, trying to get some dirt on me and Bree. He might have been with my opponent, trying to smear me, make it look like I was having an affair with a married mother of two.’ He shrugged. ‘He said he was Ron’s attorney and it’s my belief that Ron killed her. He was building a case. So I lied to him. The easiest thing was to lie.’
‘You believe that Ron killed her?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
A shrug. ‘She was his major source of support financially. She was going to change that arrangement. When he found out, he lost it.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘She told me the first two. The last I surmise.’ By now, Kerry had come forward on the couch. The signs of fatigue had vanished. Hunched over slightly, his elbows on his knees, the washcloth now bunched in his right hand, he struck Hardy as a man engaged in watching the last seconds of an extremely close football game. ‘Frankly, I’m amazed it’s taken you – the police – this long to get to him. Judging from this interview, you’re still not there, are you?’
‘He has an alibi for the time of the murder,’ Glitsky replied calmly, his patented non-smile making a minor appearance. ‘We’re still laboring under the law of physics that you can’t be in two places at once. But while we’re on the topic, where were you on the morning she was killed?’
Kerry actually chuckled. ‘This is ridiculous.’
‘It’s a simple question.’
‘Yes it is, which doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. You’re implying that I am a suspect in this woman’s murder?’
But Glitsky knew how to interrogate, and the first rule is you don’t answer questions – you ask them. ‘I’m asking where you were when she was killed. Again, a simple question.’
‘All right. Here’s the simple answer. I couldn’t even tell you exactly the day Bree was killed, lieutenant. I’m in the middle of a thirty-million-dollar campaign for governor of the most populous state in the nation. I’ve had between ten and thirty appearances a day for the past six months or more.’
Glitsky nodded. ‘You’re on the record saying you were home, here, that morning. Alone. Do you remember that?’
‘I said it,’ Valens put in. ‘I told your inspectors. Hell, I’ve told them half-a-dozen times. Damon needs to sleep once in a while. He’d been out late the night before. We’d been shooting commercials that had to air the next week. The day she died he had to fly to San Diego at noon, so he slept in.’
‘Look.’ Kerry’s color had come up now. ‘It was a horrible tragedy that Bree was killed, and it is my most fervent wish that it hadn’t happened. Beyond that, I hope you find her killer. But I do wish that this city had a more competent police force, so that I would not have to be bothered with this grasping-at-straws stupidity on the penultimate day of my campaign.’
Valens took his cue and stood up. ‘That’s it. I’m calling the mayor. He’ll put a stop to this.’ He faced Glitsky directly. ‘You won’t have to wait for the election, lieutenant. You can lose your badge tonight.’
Hardy reached over to the tape recorder, snapped it off, and spoke before Glitsky could reply. ‘Good idea, Valens. You go ahead. Then I’ll call Jeff Elliot and we can see where that goes.’
‘You know Jeff?’ This was Kerry, all attention.
‘We’re buds,’ Hardy said. ‘He was here last night and you weren’t. How about that?’
Glitsky raised his voice. ‘That’s enough!’ He lifted the tape recorder and turned it on again, then whispered into the resulting silence. ‘This is my interrogation. I will ask the questions. Mr Kerry, I need five more minutes of your time, and then I will walk out the door with Mr Hardy. You’ve admitted you were at Bree Beaumont’s penthouse. What were you doing there?’
A disgusted shake of the head. ‘Visiting her. She was one of my consultants and beyond that, we were friends.’
‘Were you alone with her there?’
‘Yes. Is that sinister?’
Glitsky abruptly changed his tack. ‘What did you do after midnight last night?’
Kerry collapsed back on to the couch. He mopped his brow again with the washcloth. ‘Last night? What does last night have to do with anything?’
‘A policeman was killed about five blocks from here last night.’
Kerry cast a glance over at Valens. ‘They’ll stop at nothing,’ he said. Then, back to Glitsky. ‘And I killed him, too, I suppose. I’m not busy enough running for governor. I’ve got to premeditate several murders as well, among them a cop. I must have a low tolerance for boredom.’ He sighed. ‘Last night, I took a walk.’
‘You took a walk?’
‘That’s right. Al left at around – when Al, eleven thirty? – and I was wound up. The MTBE poisoning. Bree. Even Mr Hardy here. I decided to walk off some of the tension.’
‘Do you own a gun, Mr Kerry?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a basement full of Uzis and semi-automatics. AK-47s are my favorites. When I’m not killing women and policemen, I like to dress up like a postal employee and spray up some McDonald’s someplace.’ He forced himself to his feet. ‘This was a voluntary interview, as you noted: I would appreciate a copy of the transcript of that tape in my headquarters by tomorrow. And I assure you that I am going to speak to the mayor, and you can do any goddam thing you want about it, both of you.’
He was halfway across the room when Glitsky, a dog with a bone, spoke up after him. ‘Do you own a gun, Mr Kerry? You didn’t answer me.’
The candidate stopped and turned slowly. In measured tones, he answered. ‘I have a Glock nine millimeter in my bedroom for protection. I did not shoot your colleague with it. You have my word.’
Glitsky smiled and pounced softly. ‘How did you know he was shot?’
Kerry stood stock still. His eyes, for an instant stained with fear, darted to Valens. Then, recovering, he came back to Glitsky. ‘From your questions about guns, that’s a perfectly reasonable assumption. Now good night, lieutenant.’
Driving back downtown, for the first several blocks neither man said a word. At a red light on Geary, they stopped and Hardy half turned in the passenger’s seat. ‘Offhand,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t say that went too well.’
Glitsky looked over at him. ‘I don’t know. He has no alibi. He owns a gun. You notice he said “several murders”?’
‘When?’
‘Wait.’ Glitsky fiddled with his tape recorder, rewound a minute, got to the spot. And here was Kerry’s voice again: ‘I’m not busy enough running for governor. I’ve got to premeditate several murders as well, among them a cop.’ He flicked it off. ‘Several,’ he said, ‘is not two. Two is a couple – Bree and Canetta. No one knows about Griffin being part of this.’
‘But he didn’t say “among them some cops,” or “a couple of cops.” ’
‘No, he didn’t,’ Abe admitted. ‘I know he was being sarcastic. But still… it’ll be instructive if he does call the mayor.’ A pause. ‘He’s a lot quicker on his feet than I’d given him credit for. I might even vote for him.’