French Silk(147)

"You're making my case for me, Tony."

"Petrie's got enough money supporting him to float a battleship."

Cassidy held up both hands. "His wife has the money. And Petrie was using it to pay off Wilde."

Crowder resettled his bulk in his chair. "Pay off Wilde? You mean Wilde was blackmailing him?"

"Look at this." Cassidy produced the list of Wilde's contributors. "Glenn gave this to me yesterday right before all hell broke loose. I forgot about it when Claire confessed and didn't have an opportunity to look at it until early this morning. But by then it only proved what I'd already figured out."

"It doesn't prove a damn thing," Crowder said, grouchily flicking his hand at the sheets of paper.

"Listen to me, Tony. Several people, and more than a handful of companies, were funneling 'offerings' into Wilde's ministry. Glenn has found several who'll testify that it was hush money."

"Joshua virtually admitted to me that his father took bribes in exchange for absolution," Claire told Crowder.

"He admitted it to me, too," Cassidy said. "This Block Bag and Box Company is a pissant business owned by Petrie's wife's family. Right after they married, he was made president of the corporation, but it's a figurehead position from which he draws a handsome monthly salary. It also gives him access to the company books and the authorization to sign checks."

Cassidy pointed to the printed material lying on Crowder's desk. "Why in hell would Block Bag and Box Company contribute over a hundred thousand dollars to a televangelist's ministry, Tony? It started with a check for five thousand dollars, dated almost a year ago. The amounts increased in increments."

"Somebody else would have reviewed the books."

"If anybody questioned him about it, Petrie probably passed off the contributions as needed tax deductions. Who's going to cross the owner's son-in-law?"

Crowder gnawed his lower lip. "What was Wilde blackmailing him for? They kissed each other's ass."

"Publicly. Because it behooved both of them. My guess is that Wilde knew about Petrie's affair with Yasmine and threatened to expose it."

Claire said, "Yasmine told me several times that Petrie secretly disliked Jackson Wilde. He only used him to win votes."

"Petrie had access to Yasmine's gun, Tony. He could have taken it, used it that night, and then replaced it during a rendezvous. I'm sure he'd be smart enough to wear gloves or wipe off the fingerprints."

"How'd he get into Wilde's suite?"

"Maybe Wilde was expecting Petrie to deliver another 'offering,'" Cassidy said caustically. "He would have had no qualms about admitting Petrie to his room late at night."

"Naked?" Claire asked.

"It was documented in the newspapers that they had exercised together at a local health club that afternoon. Wilde wouldn't have been self-conscious about his nudity." Cassidy turned to Crowder. "Yesterday, I moved to that window," he said, pointing. "I watched as Petrie left the building. His entourage hustled him into a van. It's white with blue interior. It's a Chrysler van, Tony."

Claire's mind was clicking along faster than Crowder's. "The carpet in that van would match my LeBaron's," she said excitedly.

"Most probably. Petrie had been in that van the night Wilde was killed. He tracked the fibers into Wilde's bedroom. If we get carpet fibers from that van, I'm betting they'll match those taken from the scene."

Crowder's wide fingertips were doing pushups against each other. "It's all interesting, but it's not enough. What else have you got?"

"Petrie's cunning. He'd be smart enough to place the wounds so it would look like a woman shot Wilde."

"It worked. It threw you off from day one."

"Yeah," Cassidy admitted grimly. "Petrie probably thought Ariel would become our chief suspect. He'd been around the Wildes enough to know that they didn't have a marriage made in heaven. He might even have known about her affair with Josh."

"Why'd he come to us yesterday?"

"He was covering his ass. Our investigation into Yasmine's involvement would have eventually exposed their affair, but it also could have implicated him in the murder. He confessed to one sin in order to throw up a smokescreen to hide the other."

"But he's got alibis at the Doubletree who will testify that he was there that night," Crowder reminded him.

"He was there. He checked in at the registration desk and made certain he was seen. But he spent a good deal of the night at the Fairmont."

Crowder stubbornly shook his head. "It's still guesswork and circumstantial, Cassidy. A defense attorney—and he can afford the best—will chase your ass out of the courtroom unless you can substantiate that Petrie was in the Fairmont Hotel that night."

"I can."

"You can?"

"I have an eyewitness."

Crowder's eyebrows sprang up. "Who?"

"Andre Philippi."

"Andre?" Claire gasped.

Cassidy nodded. "He tried to reach me several times last night, and when he couldn't, he relented and spoke with Glenn, who hasn't let him out of his sight since. As soon as I got the message this morning, I joined them. Claire will understand this. You will after you meet him, Tony. He has this thing about safeguarding the privacy of his guests. It's like a code of honor to him. He's passionate about it. He kept Claire's secret until we caught him at it, remember? Likewise, he was keeping Petrie's. Until this morning."