04 - Shock and Awesome (49 page)

 
   
Maddox laughed. "Ben's lawyer just got here. You'll have to wait on that peek while they talk privately."

 
   
"No problem."

 
   
"Coffee?"

 
   
"Please," said Solomon, making me jump.

 
   
"When did you get here?" I asked, twisting to find him looming over me.

 
   
"You'll never know," he said before turning to Maddox. "How's it going?"

 
   
"
Lexi
and I will fill you in while we get that coffee. Follow me. I hope you like coffee that tastes of nothing, but keeps you awake long enough to get the shakes." He didn't even wait to hear the answer, instead pushing back his chair and indicating we should follow him. Solomon's eyes roved over the same whiteboards as he waited for me to get up, and I was pretty certain he memorized the whole lot.

 
   
The
breakroom
-slash-kitchen was small, stuffed with old furniture, and a coffee machine that had seen better days. Maddox set about fixing the coffee, which involved hitting the machine hard enough to get it to start, then spending several minutes hunting for filters. While that occupied Maddox, I relayed to Solomon what Maddox already told me, with Maddox occasionally chipping in.

 
   
"Your uniforms are tailing the wrong woman," Solomon said when we finished. "Madeleine is long gone. I don't think she's even a redhead anymore. If she was in on this from the beginning with Ben, they must have an exit plan. They know how to move fast, change their looks, and never leave a trace."

 
   
"Didn't help Ben," Maddox pointed out.

 
   
"He was unlucky, but he knows there's nothing to hold him on until he can be tied to a crime. So far, we've got this one theft we can put him in the vicinity of, and a whole bunch of suspicions. Once his lawyer sees how little we've got, he gets boosted and he's in the wind. He'll put his exit plan into play and that's it. Ben Rafferty ceases to exist." Solomon clapped his hands together as if to say “the end.”

 
   
For a moment, we stood there looking at each other, then the coffee machine made the most awful gurgling noise and we all looked at it instead. That was the moment Detective Blake stuck her head around the door and we all looked at her next.

 
   
"Boss, a moment," she said, pretending not to notice us staring.

 
   
Maddox nodded and without looking at me, followed her out of the room.

 
   
"You okay?" asked Solomon.

 
   
"I wish people would stop asking me that! I am okay, I am totally okay, I am so okay, I'm the okay queen!"

 
   
"Just asking," said Solomon, with a slightly bemused look. "You really want this coffee?"

 
   
"I'd rather have a donut, but this station isn't nearly clichéd enough."

 
   
"We'll get a donut when we're done."

 
   
"It's a date." I froze, my mouth clamped shut, and my eyes widened. It was a flippant remark, but our history was too loaded for joking about dates.

 
   
"It's a date," said Solomon, softly.

 
   
Maddox stepped into the room and paused. He looked from me to Solomon, and for a moment, I wondered if he heard us. Then, he gulped and said, "We've got a problem."

 
   
Chapter Twenty-Two

 
   
"How the fuck did Ben Rafferty escape the police station?" yelled Maddox at the squad room, now filling with officers, both in uniform and plain clothes. Detective Blake stood to one side, slightly behind Maddox, looking chagrined. Maddox seemed like he was about to combust, the strain of the audacious escape showing. That, and he appeared more pissed than I'd ever seen him. "Since when do we let criminals go? Someone had better come up with an explanation pretty damn fast before I have you all on report!"

 
   
Soft murmurs rumbled through the gathered crowd. A few shoulders shrugged and some looked around, waiting for the idiot who let Ben go step forward. Unsurprisingly, no one came forth.

 
   
"Where's that lawyer of his?" demanded Maddox. "Who showed him to the interview room?"

 
   
"I did," said a young, suited man that I didn't recognize. "And it wasn't a him. A her."

 
   
"A her?"

 
   
"You know, a female lawyer."

 
   
"Damn it, Ray, I know what a 'her' is! Where is she now?"

 
   
"Well, sir..."

 
   
"Let me guess. You can't find her!"

 
   
Ray shook his head and fidgeted on the spot, seemingly unsure whether to fade back into the comfort of his brethren, or face further questioning.

 
   
A horrible thought crossed my mind. Surely not? Surely, they wouldn't be so daring? I leaned into Maddox, whispering, "What did she look like?" His eyes showed the comprehension crossing his face as he groaned, slamming a hand to his forehead.

 
   
"Ray, what did the lawyer look like?"

 
   
"Uh..." Ray scratched his head, leaving a tuft sticking up at the crown. "Caucasian, brunette, real long too, young, like maybe thirty at most, pretty."

 
   
"Madeleine," said Solomon, softly.

 
   
"Shit," said Maddox.

 
   
"I'm kind of impressed," I said. They both glared at me. Detective Blake glared too, but I pretended not to notice her. "Oh, come on! It's pretty bold. Busting Ben out of the station takes some nerve. It's better than a confession!"

 
   
"Ray, get me security tapes from the route she took to the interview room. I want to see for certain." Maddox looked around as Ray scurried from the room, grateful for anything to do besides getting berated. "Which one of you idiots was supposed to be watching Ben?"

 
   
"That would be me," said Blake softly.

 
   
"You're an idiot," said Maddox, not bothering to drop his voice She colored, her cheeks blooming pink. "How did they get past you?"

 
   
"I went to the bathroom. I didn't feel well."

 
   
"Why didn't you get someone to cover?"

 
   
"I did!" Blake protested, her cheeks pinking with anger and embarrassment. "Callaghan was supposed to stand outside until I returned."

 
   
"Callaghan!" Maddox yelled.

 
   
The man I assumed to be Callaghan stepped forward. He looked familiar and I had to think hard before I recognized him as a guy
Jord
once shared an apartment with. I was sure he'd been to my parents' house for dinner once or twice, but that was years ago now. He nodded to me and gave me a tight, little smile of recognition. I nodded in return.

 
   
"You know this guy?" Solomon asked softly, his lips inches from my ear. "Could he be compromised?"

 
   
"Old friend of one of my brothers," I told him. "Nice guy. Not the smartest, but good at his job."

 
   
"Captain Almond waved me over. I talked to him, but I swear I had my eye on the door the whole time," explained Callaghan, no doubt realizing that he was knee-deep in doo-doo. I wondered just what Maddox would do to the poor guy. But what could be worse than everyone knowing he let such a big fish walk out of the building, undisturbed? He made a rookie error by stepping away from the door and they all knew it.

 
   
"It only takes a few seconds to slip out of there and into the next corridor. Next time, do your job, Callaghan, or you won't have one. You too, Blake. Ray, you got the video?" Maddox asked as Ray paused in the doorway.

 
   
Ray gave an eager nod. "The tapes are ready to view in the AV room."

 
   
"Let's go. Solomon, Graves, you're with me. Blake, get out there and find them. They can't have gone far!" Maddox stormed from the room, ahead of us.

 
   
I turned to follow them, but stopped as Blake put her hand on my arm. She leaned forwards and whispered in my ear. It wasn't an appropriate time, and I didn't quite know what to make of it, but she was gone before I could reply.

 
   
I hurried to catch up to Maddox and Solomon as they rounded the end of the corridor, my heels making loud clicks on the floor, complementing Solomon's heavy, solid footfalls. True to his word, Ray had the video feed on the door to what I assumed was the interview room where Ben was held. He hit “Play” and we watched as a woman, her back to us, entered the room, carrying a large bag. Callaghan shut the door behind them and nodded to Ray who retreated out of shot. Callaghan fidgeted outside for a moment before we saw Captain Almond walk past and go out of shot. Seconds later, Callaghan looked in his direction, said something, and nodded. He glanced at the door and moved out of shot, just as he said, leaving the door unguarded.

 
   
It took only moments for the door to open. The woman stepped out first. I got a good view of her suited body and exceptionally nice pumps, but her hair concealed her face. All the same, I would swear it was Madeleine's jaw line. She pushed a sweep of hair behind her ear and inclined her head. For a fraction of a second, I saw her. Madeleine. Great wig! It was too long to be her own. I wondered where she got it, and if the red was a wig too.

 
   
Then Ben stepped out, his head down. He wore a pale suit, shirt and tie, looking every inch a smart civilian. As we watched the jacket came off and he pulled a sweater over his shirt, changing his look in an instant. He kept his head tucked down as they moved into the corridor. Someone bumped into Ben, a young uniformed woman, hurrying past with a stack of files in her arms. Ben simply looked away, down, then up, and straight into the camera. For a fraction of a second, I thought he smiled as he pulled on a baseball cap.

 
   
Like the proverbial ton of bricks, it hit me where I saw Ben before. It wasn't at a coffee shop, or the mall, or through a bored glance at the next checkout in the grocery store. It was a random meeting. I knew I'd never have worked it out, because it just didn't seem like a place I'd ever see him. It was on a stairwell in a dank apartment building in the midst of rundown
Frederickstown
, and he looked very different in jeans and a ball cap than in the beautifully tailored suit he wore on the video.