“The model?”
“Yeah, the one and only. Her…” What was Jordan Wolfe anyway? “Uh…significant other brought me here. He had evidence to exon—”
My gaze zeroed in on a cardboard box on top of the coffee table. “For Lacey” was written on the side of it in black marker.
Had that been there before? Surely, I would have noticed it.
I walked slowly—I was still a little dizzy—toward it and looked inside. Several thumb drives. One had a label identifying it as the missing timeframe from the surveillance at my apartment building.
I grabbed it. “I need to see what’s on this. All of these. Please. Now.”
“Ma’am, we’re going to have to take you in.”
“Please. You know I’m innocent. If you know anything about this case, you know the evidence against me is purely circumstantial. It was all planted. This will exonerate me. I swear it.”
“We’ll let the DA be the judge of that.” He picked up the box.
“No! That belongs to me. It has my name on it. It’s mine.”
“But this isn’t your place.”
“Yes, but I didn’t break in. I swear to it. I’ll tell you everything, but I need my lawyer present. And…”
“And…?”
“My husband. I need to contact my husband.”
“Where is he?”
I opened my mouth and then shut it. Rock and Reid weren’t supposed to leave the state of New York. I couldn’t tell this officer that they were somewhere in the Pacific.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I need to call this—”
The officer nearly jumped out of his blues when a burly man plowed through the door. “Lacey! Thank God. Rock will be so rel—” He spied the cop. “Fuck.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Who the hell are you?” the cop demanded.
“Buck Moreno. I work for the Wolfes. Rock asked me to find his wife.”
“His wife is coming with me,” the cop said.
“Fine. As long as you play by the rules.” Buck pulled out a cell phone and sent a quick text. “I’m calling her lawyer. He’ll meet us at the station.”
“Grab that box,” I said to Buck. “I have a feeling it contains everything we need.”
56
Reid
The files Jordan left with Lacey managed to exonerate every one of us.
Apparently my oldest brother had been surveilling all of us, and the evidence showed all of our whereabouts the night of the murder. We all got over the privacy violation quickly, as it proved our innocence. After we proved Derek had set out to fake his death and that Nieves intercepted Jordan’s faked call, the rest fell into place.
As for who fired the fatal shot?
It was either Jordan or Fonda. We’d never know for sure. Neither of their prints were on the murder weapon, although Rock’s were. The authorities had finally traced the weapon to a gun show Rock had attended. He’d used the firearm at the shooting range before choosing to purchase an identical one. Somehow, Jordan had obtained the gun with Rock’s prints.
Rock and I gave the files we’d found on the island to the FBI and the NYPD. DA Jonathan Leopold was arrested, and the NYPD did some serious housecleaning. Lacey’s tape of Morgan got him arrested. He’d cried like a baby when he was hauled in.
Terrence bawled like a baby, as well. Seemed he wasn’t as tough as he wanted people to think he was. All he’d done was doctor a few office records and try to goad me into believing an office security breach was imminent. Turned out Dick Fallon, head of security was clean. Terrence got off with a slap on his wrist.
Hoss, Manny, and Nieves told their story and somehow evaded arrest as well. Leta was still recovering, and the other three testified that she wasn’t very involved, anyway. We’d been able to trace her attackers through the NYPD, who were angry that she’d met with Roy and Charlie.
No prison time for any of them.
Father Jim was, of course, dead. We’d never know the extent of his involvement, or if he’d truly wanted to get out after my father was killed.
Good riddance.
I was beginning to truly detest the system. Would anyone pay for all this shit?
Apparently not.
The true culprits, Jordan and Fonda, had disappeared.
“Jordan swore they weren’t going to let me go down for this,” Lacey said a few days later, when we were all together in the conference room at the office. “He wanted it to be one of you. But in the end, he did the right thing.”
“A good woman helps even the most corrupt see the light.” Rock smiled at his wife.
“Except for our father,” Riley said. “Irene couldn’t do that for him.”
“No,” Rock said. “He was apparently beyond help.”
“I still feel bad for Diamond.” Zee squeezed my hand.
“We did all we could,” I assured my wife. “She’ll be in minimum security, and after a year, she’ll be eligible for release. We’ll take care of her.”
What Zee didn’t know was that Diamond had agreed to plead guilty to accessory to kidnapping so that the government would release the island funds for the benefit of the women who’d been held there. The Wolfe Foundation was already setting up treatment for them, along with all other needs. They’d be taken care of for life.