Page 53

Story: Guilty as Sin

Hayes was stillon the phone with Adam when Reese came back inside. She went to her room for a few minutes and walked back out with a stack of documents, which she put on one of the end tables flanking the couch. When he’d finished his conversation, he turned to her.
“Interview set for Monday?”
“One p.m.”
Hayes picked up his cell and texted the details to Adam. “How can we be sure Raiker can line someone up by then? After speaking to Usher, I can see the wisdom of having an attorney with me.” She grimaced. “I think I’m his main suspect.”
“Adam has contacts everywhere. And his reputation opens a lot of doors. He’ll find someone.” Hayes had no doubt that “someone” would be high-powered and experienced. Because his employer settled for nothing less.
Reese approached the tabletop, her fingertips tracing across the chairs as she circled it to his open laptop. “What did you discover today while I was sleeping like a bum?”
“I submitted details of today’s assault into ViCAP. And then I spent the rest of the time drilling down on Langrath and McNulty.” He set his phone down and joined her, scrolling through the multiple tabs he had open on the computer. “I didn’t find anything further on Kervin. He’s got no record except for some speeding tickets. If there’s a connection with Thorne there, I didn’t discover it. As for McNulty, Jennings will have pulled up his criminal record already.” He tapped the tab he’d opened for the National Crime Information Center and positioned the laptop so she could take a look at it. “He’s had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. The first listed was when he was nineteen.”
“But this wouldn’t show a juvie record?”
He shook his head regretfully. “Only those crimes committed where he was charged as an adult. He’s got a solid history of B&Es. That’s?—”
“Breaking and entering,” she murmured, her fingers shoving his aside so she could scroll at her own pace.
“He did a four-year stretch at Lompoc. Got out three years ago.”
She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Was it for…”
“A string of break-ins. He has no documented history of sexual assault.”
“Maybe he hasn’t been caught at it yet.” She returned her focus to the computer screen.
He studied her for a moment. Reese seemed very certain of the hunch she’d had that morning regarding McNulty. Not for the first time, he wished the ViCAP match response would hasten. It would validate—or invalidate—her idea. Hayes wasn’t certain which outcome he’d bet on. “No record of drug use. A spotty employment history. Right now, he works part-time at Nelson’s Plumbing and Heating. The address on his license isn’t valid, but he did update it with the DMV. He lives about five minutes from that diner where you met Kervin. The property is owned by his stepmother—Lorna Eckworth.”
Shock widened her gaze. She clutched the back of the chair as if needing its support. “The woman contesting Ben’s guardianship. She was there, this morning. At the diner. I was a few minutes late, and when I opened the front entrance, she was standing at Kervin’s table. Even from that distance I could tell it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. Something about her body language and his reaction. I only saw her from behind. He said later that it was her. She left by the rear entrance.”
“I fucking knew it. Kervin is entangled in this mess. He could have told her he was meeting you.”
Reese appeared unconvinced. “It seemed like there’s no love lost between them. He had a lot to say about how she’s always throwing her weight around at the facility. He may have mentioned to her that he was meeting someone there. If she’s as nosy as Kervin says, she might have hung around to see who.”
Hayes wasn’t yet persuaded the CNA hadn’t sold her out, but her theory was plausible.
“Or…what if Eckworth somehow discovered that I’d registered for conservatorship over Ben and researched me the way we did her? Then she’d know what I looked like. Perhaps even the kind of vehicle I drive. “Maybe…” She swallowed hard. “She summoned McNulty there.”
“It’s a possibility,” he said noncommittally. Conjecture was useless until they could back it up with facts.
But Reese wasn’t done. “Eckworth might have seized an opportunity to frighten off her competition. Even put me out of commission for a while.” She circled the table. “That would account for the alteration I saw in McNulty. Like he was there for one purpose, and then when I fought back, his reason changed to something else entirely.” Hayes noted the shudder that worked down her spine as she spoke the words.
“How long did you talk to Kervin?”
“When I went inside, she was just leaving, like I said. He claimed he was going to be late, and didn’t have much time. He paid the bill and we went to his car.” Her gaze cut to his. “We spoke in the parking lot. Kervin was vaping again. Seemed to take a bit longer talking than he said he would. Fifteen minutes, maybe. No more than twenty. Then he left, and I walked to my vehicle. You know the rest.”
Hayes did. He’d imagined and reimagined the scene multiple times today. It still had the power to shoot his spine with ice. Reese put a tough face on things, but he couldn’t stop thinking how easily it could have ended very differently.
Because dwelling on what-ifs could divert him from his job, he tried to push it away. But the knowledge hovered at the edge of his consciousness, refusing to be banished. “Plenty of time to get there from Lorna’s. Her house is minutes away.”
“Kervin said she lived in the area. He goes to the diner most days and has seen her there before.”
Purposefully, he picked up his cell. Composed a text to Detective Sergeant Jennings inquiring about the most recent numbers on McNulty’s phone record. “Let’s see what the detective has to say about McNulty’s cell contacts today. If your prediction is correct, that’ll be information to share with Camry.Either way, Eckworth’s relationship with the man who attacked you isn’t going to look good for her court petition.”
Smiling wanly, Reese said, “Silver linings.”
“We may as well have dinner, then we can tackle whatever that is you carried out with you from the bedroom.” He nodded at the stack of documents she’d laid on the end table.