with stealing Social Security numbers belonging to dead people and selling them to illegal immigrants so they could get fraudulent home loans.”
“I thought I was going to lose that one, sure as hell.”
“So did I until you blew our star witness out of the stand. Been so long I can’t remember her name.”
“Kendra Wood. Wasn’t hard once I figured out she was in love with Janice’s husband. She wanted to get rid of Janice so she could run away with him. Turned out she was the one running the scam and had set Janice up.”
“We checked her out six ways to Sunday and didn’t come up with that. Janice’s husband had no idea Kendra felt that way about him. How did you tumble to it?”
“You looked in the wrong places.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You looked at Kendra from the outside, at all the stuff you could see. She worked for Janice and her husband. Always showed up on time. Always got good performance reviews. She was married with kids, went to church on Sunday, and didn’t stay out late.”
I nodded. “The kind of upright citizen with enough guts to blow the whistle.”
“That’s who you saw. I saw a woman who betrayed the people she was closest to outside of her own family. We weren’t talking about a drug addict that needed a fix or a gangbanger looking to get right with the cops before it was his turn to take the needle. Shit, upright is easy compared to betrayal. Upright takes guts, but betrayal takes loathing and guts. I wanted to know where the loathing came from, so I looked at her from the inside out.”
“How’d you do that?”
“I’m like a magician. I never give up my secrets. Kendra Wood was living a fantasy, and no one knew it because she came across so normal she’d bore you to death. Crazy how people can hide shit like that.”
“Not as crazy as Jimmy Martin killing his kids.”
Bonner leaned back in his chair. “Point taken. Except for one thing. He may not have done it.”
“May not have done it? I thought defense lawyers stuck with innocent until proven guilty.”
“Jimmy Martin is charged with two things: stealing and contempt of court. He stole to support his family, and the judge held him in contempt because he’s pissed at his wife. He hasn’t been charged with killing his kids.”
“Yet,” I said. “There’s a reason the cops are looking at him so hard.”
“You and I both know that doesn’t mean they’re right.”
A server took our orders. Three men in suits, carrying briefcases, filed past our table, one of them telling Bonner he’d see him in court after lunch. Bonner got up, followed the man to his table, wrapped his arm around him, whispered, patted him on the back, and came back to his seat.
“Just settled a case. Now I can pay for breakfast. What if Jimmy Martin didn’t kill his kids?”
“Then he should tell his wife where they are,” Lucy said.
“If it were that easy, we’d all have to find another line of work. Look, I don’t know what happened to his kids. Jimmy won’t talk about them. Not one fucking word.”
“At least he treats you the same way he treated us,” I said.
“I don’t mind. Sometimes it’s better not to know. Lets me sleep at night. This time, I’m not so sure. Best chance I’ve got to get Jimmy a deal on the theft charge is find those kids and hope they’re still alive when I do.”
“Then tell him to talk to us,” Lucy said.
“Won’t do any good. He won’t talk to me about the kids. He’s not going to talk to you. But you guys can still help me.”
“How?”
“His wife Peggy hired you. Tell her to let you work with me. We want the same thing, to get the kids back, and I need investigators Jimmy can’t afford.”
“Can he afford you?”
“Nope. Public defender is refusing to take any new cases. Their workload is so heavy they’re probably committing malpractice every time they answer the phone. The judge asked me if I’d take the case. Looked like a simple
“I thought I was going to lose that one, sure as hell.”
“So did I until you blew our star witness out of the stand. Been so long I can’t remember her name.”
“Kendra Wood. Wasn’t hard once I figured out she was in love with Janice’s husband. She wanted to get rid of Janice so she could run away with him. Turned out she was the one running the scam and had set Janice up.”
“We checked her out six ways to Sunday and didn’t come up with that. Janice’s husband had no idea Kendra felt that way about him. How did you tumble to it?”
“You looked in the wrong places.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You looked at Kendra from the outside, at all the stuff you could see. She worked for Janice and her husband. Always showed up on time. Always got good performance reviews. She was married with kids, went to church on Sunday, and didn’t stay out late.”
I nodded. “The kind of upright citizen with enough guts to blow the whistle.”
“That’s who you saw. I saw a woman who betrayed the people she was closest to outside of her own family. We weren’t talking about a drug addict that needed a fix or a gangbanger looking to get right with the cops before it was his turn to take the needle. Shit, upright is easy compared to betrayal. Upright takes guts, but betrayal takes loathing and guts. I wanted to know where the loathing came from, so I looked at her from the inside out.”
“How’d you do that?”
“I’m like a magician. I never give up my secrets. Kendra Wood was living a fantasy, and no one knew it because she came across so normal she’d bore you to death. Crazy how people can hide shit like that.”
“Not as crazy as Jimmy Martin killing his kids.”
Bonner leaned back in his chair. “Point taken. Except for one thing. He may not have done it.”
“May not have done it? I thought defense lawyers stuck with innocent until proven guilty.”
“Jimmy Martin is charged with two things: stealing and contempt of court. He stole to support his family, and the judge held him in contempt because he’s pissed at his wife. He hasn’t been charged with killing his kids.”
“Yet,” I said. “There’s a reason the cops are looking at him so hard.”
“You and I both know that doesn’t mean they’re right.”
A server took our orders. Three men in suits, carrying briefcases, filed past our table, one of them telling Bonner he’d see him in court after lunch. Bonner got up, followed the man to his table, wrapped his arm around him, whispered, patted him on the back, and came back to his seat.
“Just settled a case. Now I can pay for breakfast. What if Jimmy Martin didn’t kill his kids?”
“Then he should tell his wife where they are,” Lucy said.
“If it were that easy, we’d all have to find another line of work. Look, I don’t know what happened to his kids. Jimmy won’t talk about them. Not one fucking word.”
“At least he treats you the same way he treated us,” I said.
“I don’t mind. Sometimes it’s better not to know. Lets me sleep at night. This time, I’m not so sure. Best chance I’ve got to get Jimmy a deal on the theft charge is find those kids and hope they’re still alive when I do.”
“Then tell him to talk to us,” Lucy said.
“Won’t do any good. He won’t talk to me about the kids. He’s not going to talk to you. But you guys can still help me.”
“How?”
“His wife Peggy hired you. Tell her to let you work with me. We want the same thing, to get the kids back, and I need investigators Jimmy can’t afford.”
“Can he afford you?”
“Nope. Public defender is refusing to take any new cases. Their workload is so heavy they’re probably committing malpractice every time they answer the phone. The judge asked me if I’d take the case. Looked like a simple
Similar Books
