10th Anniversary (Women's Murder Club 10)

“I do, indeed,” she said. “And I’ll be following up on that in the morning. Mr. Santana, I’ll shelve the murder charge against your client for now. Sleep tight, Mr. Guzman.”

Chapter 114

YUKI AND I left the Hall together in silence. We briefly clasped hands in the elevator, then walked out to Yuki’s Acura parked outside the ME’s office. We got into her car and sat staring out at the dim streetlight in the parking lot.

I was thinking that I’d gone way over the line. That Brady was going to nail my hide to the squad room door if this plan of mine didn’t pay off, and maybe even if it did. I’d gone above, around, and behind my superior in investigating the Martin case, and saying “I was working on my own time” sounded lame, even to me.

Yuki was lost in her own thoughts.

I was about to break the silence and ask her to talk to me, when a car door slammed on the far side of the lot. I looked over my shoulder.

“Okay, she’s here,” I said.

A minute later, the back door opened and Cindy slipped into the backseat.

“I can’t believe Richie let you out at four in the morning,” Yuki said.

“Let me? Very funny. What have we got?”

I filled Cindy in on the fake charge we’d dropped on Guzman for the murder of Dennis Martin, and I told her what he’d told us: that Ellen Lafferty tried to hire him to kill Candace Martin and that he’d kicked young Ms. Lafferty to the curb.

“He was credible?”

“He was motivated to be credible.”

“Nice work, Linds,” Cindy said. “But what do we have to show for it?”

“I think we can eliminate Guzman as a suspect in Dennis Martin’s death.”

“Agreed.”

I said, “Ellen lies as easily as she breathes. If she knew that Caitlin was being molested, what did she do to stop it?”

“Do you seriously think Ellen killed Dennis?” Yuki asked.

“She had the means, the motive, and the opportunity,” I said. “And she’s smart in a vicious, clueless, stupid kind of way.”

Cindy said, “She didn’t have the opportunity to kill Dennis. Her alibi checks out for the time of the murder. Rich and I went to see her last night.

“Ellen told us that she left the Martin house at six p.m. — exactly what she’s maintained since the murder. She texted her friend Veronica from six until she met up with her at six-fifteen. She showed us a record of text messages that fill her window of opportunity.”

Cindy went on, “Ellen’s friend Veronica verifies that they met for dinner at Dow’s at six-fifteen, and the waiter remembers the time, because their table wasn’t ready. And he remembers the two of them because they were hot and flirting with two guys who were sitting next to them at the bar.

“Ellen picked up the bar tab at six-thirty-two,” Cindy said, “and he has her signature on the credit-card receipt.”

“Okay, so moving past Ellen Lafferty, what about Caitlin?” I asked Yuki. “Did she take her father’s gun and shoot him?”

“I’m talking to her court-appointed shrink in, uh, five hours. I’ll let you know what he says.”

I said to Cindy, “I don’t need to say, ‘Sit on this until we say go,’ do I?”

“I haven’t got a story yet anyhow.”

“You sure don’t.” I grinned, slapping her a high five.

Yuki leaned forward and started the engine. Cindy and I reached for our door handles.

Yuki said, “Linds. I’ve been so sure Candace killed Dennis. If Caitlin hadn’t confessed in open court to shooting her father, I think I would have gotten the doctor convicted. It scares me. What if I’ve been wrong?”