The Living End (Daniel Faust #3)(90)

“Yeah,” I said, “funny story about that…”

? ? ?

On my list of things to do earlier that afternoon, one had involved sitting in a small, windowless interrogation room, drinking stale coffee across from Harmony Black. Meadow sat to my left, looking pained.

“Obviously,” Harmony said, setting a tape recorder on the steel table, “any references to magic aren’t going to fly. Just don’t talk about those parts.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Meadow snapped. “I know the rules. Do we have a deal or not?”

Harmony took a deep, centering breath and slid a manila folder across the table, pushing it in front of her.

“It’s all there. The DA just signed off on it. You will receive full immunity and placement in witness protection, in exchange for testimony leading to Lauren Carmichael’s conviction.”

Meadow yanked the folder open and snatched up the papers inside, speed-reading them.

“Can’t believe you talked me into this,” Meadow grumbled at me.

“That makes two of us,” Harmony said, shooting me a hard look. “And I’m still not happy about keeping Roth’s name out of this. He should go down with Lauren.”

I sipped my lukewarm coffee. “I don’t disagree. Just not like this. Look, once you get your hooks into Carmichael-Sterling, the odds are pretty good you’ll find something leading to his front door. I just can’t be involved in that part.”

“Why not?”

“Reasons,” I said, and set my cup down.

Meadow tapped her fingernails against the papers. “All right. Let’s get this over with. What do you want to know?”

Harmony pressed the red button and moved the recorder to the middle of the table.

“Everything. Let’s start at the beginning. What is your relation to the Carmichael-Sterling Group?”

“On paper? Director of public relations. That was just to keep the money clean. I kill people. For Lauren Carmichael. First time was…hmm, remember back in ’08, Ken Sterling’s murder-suicide? The one that gave Lauren full control of the company? That was me. Took a Jet Ski and boarded Sterling’s yacht. I shot him and his wife in bed. The kid ran. Found him hiding in a closet. I didn’t bother dragging him out. I just shot through the door. That’s a detail they didn’t release to the newspapers, so there ya go.”

“Jesus,” Harmony breathed. “You can prove Lauren hired you?”

“Always figured she’d turn on me eventually, so I documented everything as an insurance policy. Oh, her dead husband and son? Not a home invasion. Lauren did the job. I was her getaway driver on that one, and I furnished the alibi. I’ve got a recording of her talking about it. What do you want next, the details on the city inspectors we bribed to get the Enclave’s permits rushed through, or the honest one whose throat I slit when he wouldn’t play ball? Or we can talk about some tortured and dead bums, and yes, I do know where the bodies are buried.”

An hour later, she was finally finished. Harmony shut off the tape recorder. She stood on shaky legs, her cheeks pale, and gestured for me to follow her. Meadow sat placidly at the interrogation-room table as we stepped out into the hall.

“Jesus, Faust,” Harmony hissed. “I thought she was just going to confess to some kidnappings. I just gave blanket immunity to a f*cking serial killer!”

“So redact half of it. Lose chunks of the tape. It’ll still be plenty of ammo against Lauren, and it won’t hurt your career.”

“That isn’t remotely the f*cking point! That woman is a goddamn monster, and now I have to let her walk!”

I got close to her, close enough to smell the scent of faded flowers on her skin, and whispered, “I need you to trust me. If it was for anything else, any other reason, I wouldn’t blame you for laughing in my face, but this is just too big. We have to work together. There’s no other way.”

Harmony stared at the two-way mirror. Behind the glass, Meadow leaned back and put her feet up on the interrogation-room table. It looked like she was whistling.

“You bring her back here,” Harmony said, not looking at me. “You make sure she testifies. I want her in a courtroom. I want to be certain the charges against Carmichael stick.”

“Lauren won’t get away. So does this give you enough probable cause to raid the Enclave and get those hostages out?”

She nodded. Her eyes narrowed. “My next stop is a friendly judge with a pen and a search warrant. We’ll hit the place tonight. Don’t be anywhere nearby when it happens. Or better yet, do. I’d love to arrest you right alongside Lauren.”

? ? ?

“Those aren’t some third-world scrubs with broken AKs, like you’re used to fighting,” I told Angus Caine. “Those are the toughest cops in Vegas, and they’re rolling out all the party favors. Seems to me you’ve got two choices: one, you can get in a gunfight with the United States government—because that always ends well—or you can run downstairs, get as many of your boys out through the emergency exits as you can, and order the rest to surrender. Your call, but bail money’s a lot cheaper than a tombstone.”

Angus’s lips curled into a furious snarl. “You little gob of shite—”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Oh, hey, Lauren, speaking of not learning from history? Check out that screen in the corner.”