Exposed (Rosato & DiNunzio #5)(56)

“Yes. I always back up my guys. Todd told me he wanted to let Simon go, I backed him up.”

“What do you think about the merits of the lawsuit, the one that Simon filed against Todd and the company? Do you believe that Todd made those statements about the daughter’s medical expenses?”

“I have no idea.”

“Did he ever say anything like that to you?”

“No. Anyway, you were saying, about the warrants?”

Bennie thought fast, forming a plan. “It sounds to me like you’re right, in the point you were making. A warrant has to be specific in scope to be constitutional. In other words, a warrant gives the police permission to look only for documents or items that are reasonably related to their investigation.”

“That’s what I’m talking about! So why do they have to go in my office?”

“I agree with you, they don’t.” Bennie steered forward, reading the highway signs, their reflective numerals bright in the storm. “If the warrant seeks documents or seeks to search places that are irrelevant, it’s overbroad in scope and invalid.”

“So why did they ask then? And what are they looking for?”

“Evidence, in general. Most of the time, the cops get an overbroad warrant from a judge and it’s boilerplate. Nobody calls them on it because they don’t know the difference or have legal counsel. But you’re right to do so, and I agree with you.”

“Okay, so what do we do now? How do we know if this warrant is too broad or whatever you called it?”

“I have to read the warrant and make a judgment.”

“I don’t have it. Ernie has it at the plant. You want to call him and have him read it to you?”

“I have a better idea.” Bennie put on her blinker and steered to the right, heading for the Blue Route. “I’m in the neighborhood, about fifteen minutes away. Why don’t I go over to the plant myself? Read the warrant and see what’s going on?”

“Good deal, thanks. I’ll text Ernie. I gotta go.”

“Thanks, safe travels.” Bennie hung up the phone, feeling a twinge of guilt, but not much. Her motto had always been Don’t ask permission, apologize later, and it had served her in good stead so far. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had called Mike herself, misrepresenting her position. All she did was answer the phone and try to help a guy out. And all she wanted to do was peek around OpenSpace and see what she could see.

Bennie hit the gas, heading for Horsham.

Fifteen minutes later, she turned onto the road that led to OpenSpace, and though her visibility was poor, she could see a commotion in the parking lot, a marked change from earlier that day. Several police cruisers were parked idling in front of the building, and Bennie assumed the cops were inside, staying out of the rain. The administrative offices were lit up, and the factory was still running.

She turned in to the driveway, steered to the left through the downpour, giving the police cars and some other cars parked in front a wide berth. She wanted to get into the building, spook around, and then deal with the cops, not the reverse order. She parked around the left side of the building, cut the ignition, and braced herself to get rained on by grabbing her purse, putting it on her head, and bolting out of the car.

She ran for the entrance with her head down and under her purse, racing around the building. She splashed through puddles in the parking lot and bounded up the front steps in the downpour. She ran into the building and entered the lobby, which was empty except for three men standing in a circle. She recognized Ray Matewicz, the operations type who’d been in the meeting, but didn’t know the other two. She wondered if one was Ernie Greeley, the director of Security named in the defamation complaint against Simon.

“Hello, Ray, hi, gentlemen,” she began, brushing droplets off her khaki suit. She approached the two men she didn’t know. “And you are?”

“Bennie, you don’t need to meet anybody else.” Ray broke from the group and strode toward her, unsmiling. “I assume you know that Simon killed Todd today.”

“Well, I heard that Todd was murdered and I’m very sorry about that. My condolences—”

“You’re not sorry.” Ray folded his arms.

“Of course I am.”

“Oh come on.” Ray’s eyes flashed with anger. “Why are you here?”

“I got a call from Mike Bashir about the police and I was in the neighborhood, so I came by.”

“You were in the neighborhood?” Ray cocked his head skeptically.

“Yes.” Bennie kept a straight face, a skill she had learned from telling lies to get to the truth.

“I don’t believe for one minute that Mike called you. He’s not even here.”

“I know, he’s in Scottsdale. In fact, hold on.” Bennie got her phone out of her purse, scrolled to Recent Calls, and showed it to Ray. “See?”

Ray looked up from the phone screen, his mouth tight. “He called you because he didn’t know you got fired. Oh yeah, we heard that, too. See, we called our real lawyer, Jason, when the cops came and Jason told us you got shit-canned. Did you tell Mike that?”

Busted. “Ray, look—”

“We saw Simon and his lawyer on the news. They said his lawyer is from Rosato & DiNunzio. We looked it up. You’re the same Rosato. You’re on the other side.”