Page 53 of Zero Divergence
“Whoa,” Mendoza said. “Why do I get the impression there’s more?”
“There is,” Royce confirmed. “Vincenzo said Gross was in a state of panic he’d never witnessed before, and when he pressed her for specific details, she would only say her conscience demanded she turn the new evidence over to the police, but it would lead to her getting disbarred. She couldn’t see any way around it, and even if she miraculously retained her license to practice law, she’d be out of a job and have a tattered reputation. No firm would hire someone who’d betrayed a client and dragged her firm’s name through the mud.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Mendoza agreed.
Sawyer nodded. “Vincenzo said one minute he was consoling her, and the next, they were in her bedroom. Afterward, Gross went to retrieve a smoke from the senator’s suit pocket and found the pictures of her and Humphries.”
“The senator smokes cigarettes?” Mendoza asked.
“It wasn’t tobacco,” Sawyer clarified.
“Ah,” Mendoza said, absorbing the new information with a wry grin. “I’m guessing Ms. Gross wasn’t happy about the photos and woke up the good senator to have a conversation?”
“A fight,” Sawyer corrected.
“Fire and ice,” Royce reminded Mendoza, using air quotes to emphasize he was quoting Vincenzo verbatim. “She told Vincenzo it was a misunderstanding. She’d claimed to have requested the meeting to inform Humphries about the recordings. She was certain he wouldn’t want his wife to find out about their affair. Humphries allegedly claimed he didn’t care if Tiffany found out and asked Gross for a chance at a real relationship now that he was out of jail. Gross told Vincenzo she’d said no, had attempted to leave, but Humphries caught her at the open door, spun her around, and kissed her. Gross claimed she only gripped his biceps because she’d lost her balance. It was a kneejerk response and not a passionate embrace like the photo portrayed. She’d pulled back as soon as she gained her equilibrium, clocked him a good one, and fled.”
“They must’ve reached an agreement because he ended up staying the night,” Mendoza said.
Sawyer nodded. “Vincenzo believed Gross was telling him the truth.”
“Why? He could dismiss the recordings as old, but what about the photos? She must’ve been very convincing when she explained how the scene with Humphries played out.”
“According to Vincenzo,” Royce emphasized, looking at his notes. “Vivian told him she regretted the day she met Humphries. She emphatically stated she would never have taken him on as a client if she’d known the truth about him, and she certainly never would’ve let him put his filthy hands on her. She didn’t know what came over her. She likened their interactions to being under his spell. He saw the loneliness she tried to hide beneath a power suit and exploited it. Ms. Gross implored Vincenzo to believe her.”
“What did she know at the time of her death about Humphries that she hadn’t known sooner?” Mendoza pondered out loud.
“And is this the knowledge she referenced in her conversation with Vincenzo on Friday morning?” Royce asked.
“If so, whatever she discovered compelled her to turn it over to the police, even if it meant she might not practice law again,” Sawyer added.
“That’sifVincenzo is telling the truth,” Royce reiterated. “The man voluntarily submitted to a DNA test, which we dropped off to Fawkes on our way back to the precinct. We’ll know if the blood under her nails matches Vincenzo’s profile. If so, we’ll get a court order to search his body for scratches.”
“There’s one way to prove part of her story at least,” Mendoza said as he picked up his cell phone from his desk. He never revealed the identity of the person who answered on the other end. “This is Mendoza. Did you have Humphries’s detail last Thursday?” The chief waited for a response. “What happened outside the motel room?” Mendoza’s jaw worked from side to side. “You didn’t think to tell me about this incident? First, I want to know when a suspected serial rapist and killer is meeting women in a motel. Second, you tell me when the woman happens to be his attorney who Humphries forcefully grabs and kisses against her will. Did she hit him a good one at least?” Mendoza nodded at whatever the person said. “Good. Some PI shouldn’t be doing your job for you, got it? Keep me posted, or I’ll find someone else for this detail.”
Royce fought off the urge to salute the man, and he wasn’t the one getting his ass chewed. It irked him that Mendoza kept the identity of the people tailing Humphries a secret, but he understood it was best for the case. If Humphries spotted Royce following him, all hell would break loose.
Mendoza was still scowling after he disconnected the call. “Vivian’s account of what happened outside The Honeyhole Suites is accurate. We have a big problem. Vivian Gross was contemplating turning in a client on Friday, she ends up dead sometime between five p.m. on Saturday evening and five a.m. on Sunday morning, and her briefcase with a client file is missing. Not just any client file, but the one she got into an altercation with, and the same one we think she was getting to roll over on. That’s a motive for murder. Humphries was out of town, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t have help silencing a problem.”
“Are you sure, sir?” Sawyer asked. “What if Humphries escorted his wife to the security checkpoint, then left the airport and rented a car without their detail catching on. I don’t mean to imply I doubt your judgment, but I do question the person who failed to inform you about the incident between Humphries and Gross.”
Mendoza turned his dark, inscrutable expression on Sawyer. “You don’t think I’ve double-checked to make sure Humphries didn’t give them the slip? I have a contact in the TSA who obtained video footage of Humphries boarding his plane in Savannah at noon and his connecting flight in Denver six hours later. What I would really like to know is when Humphries had planned his trip? Was this a spur-of-the-moment, romantic getaway, or an alibi?”
“We’ll see what we can find out,” Royce said.
“Discreetly,” Mendoza reminded them.
Royce nodded. “Of course, sir.”
“I want to know who Gross talked to between Friday morning when she called Vincenzo up until she died on Saturday night or Sunday morning. I want to know if we can tie this to Humphries in any way.”
“I’ll request a warrant for her phone records. Knowing she spoke to someone isn’t the same as being privy to the conversation,” Sawyer said. “Her client list isn’t privileged information, so it’s worth a shot.”
“Fair enough,” Mendoza said. “Do we know who this PI is? It’s highly unlikely that no other copies of the sex tapes exist. Find the PI and find his source inside the prison. I want to know what else the guard knows.”
“On it, Chief,” Royce said as he and Sawyer rose to their feet.
Mendoza raised a hand, stopping them before they could leave. “One more thing. You two aren’t the only ones with twists to reveal. The neighborhood canvass didn’t turn up any witnesses to the crime, but Chen learned that Kendall’s absence for the entire weekend was highly unusual. He frequently stayed away on Saturday nights, but rarely on Fridays, and never on Sundays. Several neighbors remarked on his absence.”