Recollection Rick
Chapter 12
"Peter Fisher would have interacted with Roger Berringer in the course of his work. But there would be no reason for Clea Blechman's D.N.A. to be on the body unless she killed him," Kate muses. "For now, I'm going to concentrate on locating her. I can't question Clea if I can't find her. We have her description and a load of her akas. She had to have used a credit card, an A.T.M., something."
"What about Peter Fisher?" Rick inquires.
"If I want to bring him in, I know where to find him. With his job and taking care of his family, he's not going anywhere."
"Can you get the word out to places where there might be people vulnerable to the type of con Berringer pulled, a sort of BOLO for Clea?" Rick wonders.
Kate stretches to plant a kiss on his lips. "Babe, that's a great idea."
Clea gazes around her room at the Stardust Hotel. The dive was the least expensive she could find in the city, but it's still not cheap. She brought all the cash she could lay her hands on with her from home. She wanted her share of what Roger set up, and it's still out there. But if she doesn't refresh her funds within the next few days, she'll either have to use credit, pick up a gig, or both.
At least she managed to track down Roger's target. Old habits die hard, and it wasn't difficult to follow his trail to the supported living community in Queens. He not only pulled the residents into his pre-planned burial scam, he convinced them to invest in a fund for indigents. She should be able to get the money soon. She just hopes that it's soon enough.
It will take her three subway trains to get there, but she should make the trip. If she can't keep her fish on the line, she might as well go back to the Midwest now. The cost of living is a lot lower, and she can pick up a job at one of the gyms where she used to work out.
The paperwork to get a picture and description of Clea Blechman to every facility in the city with clients vulnerable to end-of-life con games takes Kate most of a day. She's about to leave for the loft when her landline rings. "Detective Beckett, this is Maura Touric. I'm the activities coordinator at Staying in the Game."
"That's in Queens, right?" Kate recalls.
"Yes," Maura confirms. "I saw the alert you sent out. That woman, the one you called Clea Blechman, has been here several times, and she's here now. She's going by Barbara Mason, but it's the same person. She's usually here talking with our clients and playing cards with them for several hours. If you hurry, you should be able to catch her before she leaves."
Shy of an emergency or active pursuit, Kate is skating on the edge of legality using her siren and gumball. She uses them anyway for most of her trip. Staying in the Game is a considerable distance from lower Manhattan, but she's going to make it there as fast as her cop-honed driving skills will take her. She's called in a local unit for backup, but she's determined to grab Clea/Barbara herself.
Kate didn't have to hurry. When she arrives, Clea is engaged in a game of Texas hold'em with five white-haired players. They appear to be taking great satisfaction in "besting" their younger opponent. With four uniformed officers waiting outside the door, Kate walks casually toward her suspect. The last thing she wants is to use a gun around so many vulnerable bystanders. She smiles as she approaches Clea, the badge on her belt visible beneath her open jacket. "Barbara Mason? I'm Detective Beckett. Can I have a word with you? I believe you can help me with a case I'm investigating."
"How exciting! Go ahead, Barbara," a woman with deep laugh lines fanning from bright blue eyes urges. "I'll keep Freddy from touching your winnings."
"Of course," Clea agrees. The cop seems friendly, and she can't balk in front of her soon-to-be-financers.
Kate leads the way out of the room to where the uniformed officers are waiting. "What's this all about?" Clea demands.
"As I said, an investigation," Kate reiterates, "in which you are a person of interest. If you cooperate, I won't have to slap the cuffs on you in front of your 'friends' here. If you refuse, I'll place you under arrest. Either way, you're coming with me. Your choice."
"You're making a mistake," Clea insists, "but I'm not about to have you upset these people. I'll cooperate."
"Good choice," Kate replies.
While she calls Rick, Kate leaves Clea to wait in Interrogation under the watchful eye of L.T.
"You have her? Oh wow! I wish I could be there to see you go at her, but Alexis isn't here to watch Lily, and neither is Mother. And it's getting to the time when if she sees Mama, she's going to want you to feed her, not ask some nasty lady a bunch of questions."
"Bring her," Kate urges. "Sweating it out while I nurse the baby will only put Clea more off her game. And after I feed Lily, she may want to sleep in her stroller. Just make sure she has Gamoee with her."
"First thing on my list," Rick declares. "See you soon."
Fear and anger slit Clea's dark eyes. "It's about time, Detective. What were you doing, eating dinner?"
"Serving it, actually," Kate replies, "and I see you've lost the saccharine mask you put on when you're around your dupes."
"I still don't know what you're talking about," Clea claims.
"Then let me lay it out for you. You're a con artist with a list of aliases as long as my arm, your current one being Barbara Mason. You and Roger Berringer promised marks, like the ones in your little card game, that you would take care of putting them at their final rest without burdening their loved ones. You ripped them off. But I didn't bring you in to talk about fraud. I brought you in to talk about murder, the murder of Roger Berringer."
"I don't know about any Roger Berringer," Clea insists.
"Maybe when you met him, he was using another name. But you knew him. You knew him well enough to shill for him so he could get a job. You knew him well enough to follow him to New York and look for him at Peaceful End. And you knew him well enough to leave your D.N.A. behind on his dead body."
"I was at Peaceful End. So what? If this Roger Berringer worked there, he could have picked up my D.N.A. any time. You can't prove I did anything." Clea declares.
"We'll see about that," Kate retorts. "For now, you'll be a guest of the city. As a murder suspect, we can hold you up to 96 hours without charging you. And believe me, I can uncover a lot of tracks during that time."
"So, what are you going to do?" Rick asks Kate after Clea is lead away to Holding.
"Trace Clea's movements. According to Maura Touric from Staying in the Game, she's been arriving by subway. That means video. Putting that together with street footage, I should be able to figure out where she's been living. I have more than enough for a search warrant. I'll find what we need."
"My next appearance on Recollection may fall right in the middle of all that," Rick reminds her. "It sounds like I could be taking Lily along to that too."
Kate nods slowly. "Maybe. We'll see."