Dark Room (Pete 'Monty' Montgomery 2)

“That’s easy for you to say,” Gabelli retorted. “Sally’s still a babe. Have you taken a good look at Rose lately? She’s put on twenty pounds.”

“And you’ve put on thirty. That gut of yours needs its own desk. So be grateful Rose doesn’t dump you. Now what do you want? I’ve got work to do.”

“I called to give you a heads-up.” There was a somber note in Gabelli’s voice that Monty couldn’t miss.

“About?”

Gabelli blew out his breath. “The D.A. cut a deal with Lando. He gave them the name of Goddfrey’s killer.”

“Good. It sucks about Lando, but Goddfrey’s killer deserves to rot.”

“I agree. But there’s more.”

“I’m listening.”

“The guy who shot Goddfrey—it was Nate Schiller.”

“Nate Schill…Shit.” Monty ground out the word. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Schiller was bragging at Sing Sing about popping a cop. He was dumb enough to mention it was Goddfrey. Which means he killed Hernandez, and figured out who he was too late. There’s evidence to corroborate it, so he’d confessed to killing Jack and Lara Winter. Killing an A.D.A. would mean rotten treatment at Sing Sing, but killing a gang leader would mean being carved up like a chicken. And since Goddfrey was killed that Christmas Eve in Harlem around the same time as the Winters were murdered in Brooklyn, Schiller couldn’t have killed them.”

“Son of a bitch.” Monty slapped his file on the desk.

“You were right all along.”

“I didn’t want to be. I still don’t. But I won’t lie and say I’m surprised. The Winter double homicide didn’t follow Schiller’s pattern. The crimes felt too personal. And the Walther PPK? Not exactly Schiller’s style.”

“You know he loved throwing us off track. Anyway, the Manhattan D.A.’s pushing to reopen the Winter case.”

“Big surprise. Jack Winter was their golden boy. They’ll want to nail his killer’s ass. Problem is, the ball was dropped the minute Schiller confessed. Now it’s seventeen years later. No matter how much noise the Manhattan D.A. makes, who’s gonna jump? With no leads, no witnesses, and a skimpy list of potential suspects—most of whom are either dead or vanished into the woodwork—they might as well try pulling a rabbit out of their ass. Talk about a cold case.”

“You’re right. We already dug out the file. There’s nothing. But the captain wants us to go through the motions.”

“Of course he does,” Monty agreed drily. “He’s got his ass to cover. Man, he must be thrilled I’m gone. He knows I’d be all over this if I were still on the force.” Abruptly, Monty broke off, his voice taking on a rough note. “What about the daughter—Morgan—has she been told yet?”

“That’s the reason I’m calling. This whole deal just went down. The D.A.’s office is scrambling to get their shit together. They’re not looking forward to the fallout. But they can’t risk a leak. So they’re notifying her today.” A pointed pause. “As soon as our precinct finishes dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s to give them the okay. Which I’m doing as we speak.”

Mon

ty got the message. “That gives me time to get to her first.”

“Right. If that’s what you want.”

“It’s what I want.” Monty fell silent. He could visualize the hollow-eyed child who’d grown old in the space of a heartbeat just like it was yesterday. Even now his gut wrenched when he pictured the scene he’d walked in on.

Most cases didn’t get to him. This one had.

And still did.

“She was in bad shape,” Gabelli murmured. “You were the only one who was able to reach her.”

“Yeah, well, I was in pretty bad shape myself at that time. That’s why she and I connected.”

“I remember.” Gabelli cleared his throat. Partners or not, there were still some subjects he shied away from. That bumpy time in Monty’s life was one of them. “You’d better move fast. I can only hold up the process so long. And I don’t need to tell you that you didn’t hear this news from me. The captain would hand me my ass on a platter.”

“Not a problem. We never spoke.” Monty grunted. “But between you and me, I’m doing him a favor by being the messenger. I might be able to do some damage control.”

“With Congressman Shore, you mean.”