Always Watching (18 page)

“
You dumb son of a
bitch.  No.  No, no, no, no, no!”  I fumbled through
the bloody mess for Datello’s pulse.  I tore off my jacket and
pressed it against the gaping wound.  My belt followed. 
I snugged the thin strip of leather around Datello’s neck, seeing
the light fading quickly from his eyes.  I had to try to save
him.  After months of indecision, thinking how much better it
would’ve been to simply kill him rather than seeing justice served,
it came down to this – me, desperate to keep Datello alive. 
Probably in vain.

“
You murdered him in cold
blood!”  I turned my weapon on Preston again.  “Who hired
you to kill him?  Tell me now!”

Saul staggered through the doorway. 
“Jesus Christ!  Oh Jesus Christ!”

“
Get someone to call an
ambulance, Saul.”

“
Oh God.  Oh
please.  Not on my watch.”

“
Saul,
now
!” I barked.

He turned around and ran from the
room. 

I ground the heel of my boot into Preston’s
shoulder.  He shrieked.

“
No mercy, you son of a
bitch.  Tell me who hired you to do this now and I’ll make
sure the bureau doesn’t use the federal death penalty.”

He laughed.  Blood splattered his face,
ejected on the force of breath from what I presumed was a collapsed
lung.  “You’re not as smart as everyone thinks,
Eriksson.  I’m dead already.”

“
Then be the coward I know
you are.  Don’t go down for this alone.  Who hired
you?”

“
Nobody,” he
rasped.

“
Was it Sully
Marcos?” 

He laughed again.  “Not even
close.”

I pressed my boot into his shoulder
harder.  The hunch hit as fast as Saul’s bullet shattered
Preston’s bones.  “It was Sherman’s crew, wasn’t it?”

His eyes widened.

“
Bingo.  You’re not
here because you cared about that baby being found.  You
wanted to do damage control after the fact.  I hope you rot in
prison, you son of a bitch.”

The room flooded with jail guards,
paramedics, gurneys and a cacophony of stress.  Someone pried
Saul’s gun out of my hand and bagged it for evidence.  My eyes
jerked over the occupants in the room and settled on Saul.  I
yanked away from the paramedic trying to assess if I’d been shot or
if I was covered in Datello’s blood.

I grabbed Saul’s arm.  “Tell me what
Preston said to Danny.”

“
I –”

“
Dammit, Becker!  You
will not shut down now!  I need to know what he
said!”

“
Not here,” he
rasped.

“
I’m taking this man to
another room,” I announced.  “Don’t worry.  Neither one
of us is leaving the jail.  I’d suggest you contact Commander
Orion from OSI immediately.”

Saul stumbled behind me into a room across
the hall.  I pushed him down into a chair and crouched in
front of him.

“
Talk to me, Saul. 
When you came to get me, you said that Datello
confessed.”

He nodded absently.  “You shot an FBI
agent, Helen.  They’re gonna arrest you.”

“
I doubt that very
much.  Let’s not forget that the same FBI agent smuggled a
weapon in here, which is expressly against procedure in any jail
I’ve ever visited.  He proceeded to fatally shoot a prisoner
and claim it was self defense.  Tell me how a prisoner, with
shackled wrists and ankles poses a threat to his life serious
enough to warrant lethal force.”

Saul blinked several times.  “He
doesn’t.”

“
I need to know what
Preston said to Datello before you left the room.”

His head shook, eyes fluttered shut. 
“We went in the room.  First thing out of Preston’s mouth was
that he was FBI, that he was sent here to do a deal.”

That was a lie.  David would’ve told me
if such an offer was being made.  “Go on.  Did he say
what the deal was?”

Saul nodded again.  “He told him that
these piss ant state charges would go away if Datello admitted that
he orchestrated the kidnapping, that he acted alone.”

“
And Datello fell for that
crap?  Even if Preston had the authority to have the charges
against Danny dismissed, confessing to kidnapping carries almost as
severe a penalty as that for murder.”  It made no sense
whatsoever.

“
I wondered about that
too.”  Saul rubbed his chin.  “Anyway, Datello got real
quiet.  I figured it was more of his silent treatment, you
know?  All that was missing was the dinner tray for him to
throw.”

“
What happened
next?”

“
Datello just nods, real
slow.  Then he says,
All right. 
I want guarantees
.  And Preston asks
what sort of guarantees.  So Datello says he wants his wife
and kid protected, that he wants you in on the deal.  If he
can get that, he’ll make a full confession about how he cooked up
the whole kidnapping thing.  I figured that was it, you
know?  It was as good as a confession, but Preston
says,
you placed that baby with a family
for a legal adoption then
?”

“
Son of a bitch!”  I
shot up from my crouch and started pacing. 

“
Datello nods.  That
was when Preston told me to go get you.”

“
That cagey rat.  He
used both of us, Saul.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I mean that even if
Preston dies, you heard Datello’s confession.  You heard him
say that he acted alone, that he voluntarily gave his daughter to
my kidnapping suspect!  He made Danny alibi Melissa Sherman
and then he executed Datello after you left the room.”

“
No!” Saul
whispered. 

“
Oh yes, he did.  And
the only way out of this mess is if you don’t repeat what you said
to me to anybody, Saul.  No one.  Do you understand
me?”

“
But… but I can’t
lie!”

“
You can give me time to
build an airtight case.  If anybody asks you, it happened so
fast.  You didn’t really hear what Preston and Datello were
saying.  You were on the other side of the room.  Their
voices were low, too muffled.  You’ve got a head cold, for
God’s sake!  Think of something they’ll believe.”

“
I can’t tell
anybody?”

“
Not even Commander
Orion.  This is imperative, Saul.  If my suspect walks,
if I can’t charge her for kidnapping that baby, there’s no way I
can protect Celeste and her child.  If that happens, Datello
dies for nothing.”

“
But what if he was
telling the truth this time?”

I pounded my chest with one fist.  “I
know in my heart, when Datello had the chance to do the right thing
for once in his life, he did it.  Right now, you’re my only
witness to that fact, Saul.  Unfortunately, we can’t tell
anyone until I can prove that Preston is involved in this mess and
just as guilty as Sherman and the ones I haven’t yet
identified.”

His hands were sweaty when I clasped them in
mine.  “Promise me, Saul.  You’ll give me the time I need
to get to the bottom of this.”

He nodded.  “I trust you, Helen.”

Chapter 15

Johnny maintained his sense of authority
until the door closed behind Saul.  He bounded across the room
and buried me in his chest.  Fingers dug into my sweater.

“
I’m not hurt,” I
said.

“
But you could’ve
been.  Helen, why does this keep happening to you?”

I snuggled as close as possible.  “How
was I supposed to know we were dealing with someone who had no
business being an FBI agent?”

“
You had a clue,” he
whispered into my hair.  “I was already rushing over here when
the jail called me.  David warned me.  He said you were
talking and something happened, that I needed to get to you right
away.”

“
My hero.”

“
Is there any place for me
in there?”

“
I was talking about you,
Johnny.  This time, I’m afraid there are consequences that not
even you can prevent.”

“
Shh,” he murmured. 
“They told me what happened.  No way did Preston have just
cause to shoot Datello.  But at some point, you’re gonna have
to tell me what happened in there.”

“
Now,” I rasped. 
“Let’s get it over with while it’s still fresh in my
mind.”

“
Are you sure?  We
can wait until you’ve had time to stop trembling.  You’re
shaking like a leaf, baby.”

Lies can have that effect on people.  I
could only hope that Johnny’s desire to believe overrode his
uncanny ability to see right through me. I freed myself from the
prison of his protection and delved into familiar half-truth
territory.

“
I was on the phone with
David and Saul came in.  He told me that Preston told him to
come get me.  We were on our way through the doors when I
heard gunfire.  It was instinctive, Johnny.  I
reacted.  I grabbed Saul’s gun and ran for the interrogation
room.  When I got there, he was standing over Datello with a
.38 pointed at him.  Danny was bleeding…”  I shook my
hands, still covered in dried blood.  “From his
throat.

“
I told Preston to drop
his weapon.  He turned the gun on me.  I shot his knee,
thinking that the injury would make him drop the gun. 
Instead, he fired at me.  I shot again, hit his right
shoulder, I think.  That time, he went down.  Saul came
back in.  I checked Datello.  He was alive… barely. 
Johnny, I promise, I tried to save him.  I told Saul to call
the paramedics and tried to question Preston.”

“
Did he tell you
anything?”  Johnny took two steps closer, while I focused on
evasion. Couldn’t let his proximity suck the truth out of me. Not
again. Not this time.

“
He said he was dead
already, Johnny.  I tried to get him to tell me if Marcos paid
him to kill Danny.  He taunted me.  I asked if it was
Sherman’s crew.  He looked scared when I asked that.  The
paramedics and a whole lot of guards showed up.  Saul looked
like he was about to hyperventilate, so I brought him in
here.”

“
What did he tell
you?”

“
He’s in shock.  I
don’t think he knows what happened.  What about
Preston?”

“
They think he’ll make
it,” Johnny growled.  “Of course, he’s telling a very
different story.  Says Datello confessed to the kidnapping,
that he acted alone, that Saul witnessed the spontaneous
confession.”

“
You don’t believe that do
you?”

“
Hell no,” Johnny
said.  “I think if Saul heard a confession, he’d have insisted
that someone else come witness it, someone in an official capacity,
Helen.  That means another officer, or Datello’s lawyer, not
you.”

I nodded.  “Whatever happened in there,
I have no doubt that Preston tricked Saul into leaving him alone
with Danny so he could kill him.  It makes sense that he
looked scared when I asked him if this was done because of
Sherman’s crew.  Now he’s claiming that Danny confessed to
orchestrating Sofia’s kidnapping alone.”

“
That’s not the real
kicker,” Johnny said.  “Preston says part of Datello’s
confession was that Melissa Sherman thought she was proceeding with
a legal adoption.”

I gritted my teeth.  “So this was about
getting her off the hook for the kidnapping charges.”

“
Well, as things stand,
it’s Preston’s word against Saul’s.  Considering that he
smuggled a weapon into our county jail and shot a prisoner who was
shackled and unable to make any credible threat against him, it
severely curbs the trust anyone will have in Preston’s
statement.  I’m sure he’s praying Datello doesn’t
survive.”

“
Preston needs to be
arrested for this, Johnny.  If he slips through the cracks and
walks away from the hospital, we’ll never see him again.”  I
paused, frowned, met Johnny’s gaze.  “What did you just
say?”

Johnny’s smile was wan.  “Which
part?”

“
He’s not dead? 
Danny was still alive?”

“
Like you said,
sweetheart.  Barely.”  Hands massaged my shoulders. 
“This is quite the change of heart.  You sure it wouldn’t be
easier for you if Datello died?”

From my heart, the answer was an unequivocal
yes.  My head began to disagree.  “Is someone making sure
that Preston doesn’t vanish?”

“
Crevan and Dev were
following the ambulance.”

“
Good.”  I peered up
at him.  “Dev, huh?  Dare I hope that means the two of
you made peace this afternoon?”

“
We came to an
understanding, namely that I love you and I’m not letting you walk
away from this.”

“
Oh really?  And what
if I decide –”

His mouth pressed firmly to mine.  Lips
demanded entry.  His tongue mashed softly against mine. 
“If you decide what?” he whispered.

“
Nothing.”

“
Hmm,” he purred. 
“Much better.”

Someone knocked at the door behind us. 
Johnny cursed, reluctant to let me go.  He swung the door
open.  “Yes, what is it?”

“
Sir, we just got word
from Metro State University Hospital.  Our vic, that FBI
agent, he’s dead.”

“
Great,” Johnny
fumed.  “That’s just great.  I thought he was gonna pull
through this thing.”