Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)(101)

“But something had changed,” D.D. said. “Evie already told us that. Conrad had become tense. Something was worrying him.”

“I got pregnant.” Evie shrugged. “If one of these guys he was investigating found him … there would be greater consequences.”

D.D. shook her head. “It had to be something more direct than that. He found something. Serious enough someone didn’t just kill him, but burned down your home. Except they’re still worried. Why would they still be worried? So they went after your place next.” She looked at Delaney. “Because you’re Evie’s lawyer, or because this person knows you learned the truth about Conrad?”

“I have no idea,” Delaney answered coolly.

“Who did you speak with this morning?”

“Just a former friend of my father’s,” Evie volunteered. “Dr. Katarina Ivanova. She and my father were involved once. I thought maybe … maybe she’d grown jealous. She’d shot him.”

D.D. couldn’t help herself. “And?”

“I don’t think Dr. Ivanova gets jealous. She just moves on to bigger prey.”

D.D. frowned again. The more information she got, the less anything made sense. Evie’s father’s death. Evie’s husband’s death. Evie investigating her father. Evie’s husband, investigating two different major cases.

A lot of stirring the pot of past secrets and current crimes. Any number of things could’ve risen to the surface. But what tied it all together? Two shootings. Two house fires. There had to be one connection.

Phil appeared beside her. “We have a sighting.”

She didn’t need to ask of whom. “Where?”

“Boarded the T three blocks from here. Green Line.”

“Get MBTA on it,” she ordered, referring to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police.

“Already done.”

“You two”—she skewered Delaney and Evie—“sit tight. No more running around asking dangerous questions. We’ve got enough going on.”

Then D.D. was on the move, phone in hand. She had one last tool to deploy. Someone who already knew Rocket Langley, who was intimately familiar with the city’s subway system, and who could move faster and hit harder than any police officer could.

She called Flora.





CHAPTER 33


    FLORA


KEITH IS TYPING FURIOUSLY. FROM my angle behind Quincy’s shoulder—the FBI agent is still videoing the computer screen—it’s harder for me to make out all the words. Not to mention Keith seems to be using some kind of shorthand known by computer geeks and cybercriminals.

I catch snippets of the exchange. The usual long time, no see. Keith answering he’s been on an extended getaway, which seems to serve as a euphemism for prison. Which is then followed by a stream of questions I don’t get at all.

When Quincy murmurs some of the answers, I start to understand. The online target is trying to establish that Keith really has been incarcerated. Which prison, block, hey what’d you think of the corned beef? A level of specificity that never would’ve occurred to me, and without Quincy standing there, I’m not sure Keith could’ve handled. He’s sweating profusely. But he resolutely clacks away, building I. N. Verness’s story of being gone from the game for a bit, but now out and ready for some action.

“Don’t go to him,” Quincy murmurs, placing a steadying hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith had just typed,I’m interested in …

“Make him come to you,” Quincy continues.

My phone rings. I check the screen, see it’s D.D., and take a step away from the table.

“Flora,” I answer.

“Rocket Langley is back in action. Just torched Dick Delaney’s house. No one was hurt, but uniforms caught sight of Rocket leaving the area. Hopped on the Green Line, headed in the direction of Lechmere.”

I frown. “Do you have eyes on him now? Green Line is a major subway vein. Plenty of places for him to get off or switch lines.”

“We have transit authority searching. But you’ve met him. You know how he thinks. I thought you might want to help.”

I nod. So far, fighting cybercrime consists mostly of sitting around watching Keith type. I should be more patient. But I’m not. I prefer my action face-to-face.

“Why do you think he burned Delaney’s place?” I ask now. “Isn’t that Evie’s defense attorney?”

“According to Delaney and Evie, they have no idea.” D.D.’s tone is droll.

“First Evie’s house, then her attorney’s.” I try to follow the thought. “Someone’s trying to destroy something, but what?”

“Oh, it gets weirder. We’re now relatively sure Conrad Carter was investigating two different Florida cases, one of which probably got his parents killed.”

“Conrad is Batman? Turned into a lone crime fighter to avenge his parents’ death?”

“I’m surrounded by nut jobs with no respect for law enforcement,” D.D. agrees. “One of the cases involved two missing women, which may be what put Jacob Ness on Conrad’s radar screen. Oh, and Dick Delaney, Evie’s attorney, knew Conrad’s true identity. Delaney ran a background check on Conrad when he and Evie started dating.”