Couples
Chapter 126
Not being able to reach Britni on the phone is making Barry Loomis very nervous. As annoying as it is, he accepts that she lets personal calls go to voicemail when she's busy. But he tried calling her on the number she reserves for clients, and she didn't answer that either. Barry can't help thinking something's wrong. Britni's almost always available for her investors.
She went silent while he was upstate checking out a barn find of a 1955 Ford Thunderbird. The car was totally disappointing. Apparently, someone had attempted to restore it at one point but did it with parts from other models. It was more of a Frankenstein's monster than worthy addition to his collection.
On the other hand, driving the old caddy was a blast, but he knew he couldn't keep a car with questionable provenance – not officially anyway. Britni promised no one would bother it in her garage at work. He could go down and check on it. He doesn't have an access card, but he could walk around the gate. And he could try checking on Britni at the same time. She'll be mad. She hates being bothered when she's chasing new money. Still, having her ticked off at him might be better than not hearing from her at all.
Barry can't locate the caddy in the private garage, but he finds an area surrounded by yellow tape. He's seen the stuff often enough on T.V. cop shows. It means that the police were in the garage. And that the car Britni was driving isn't, doesn't look good. He reaches into the pocket of his jacket for his bottle of heartburn chews to quell the rush of acid in his stomach. Should he go upstairs to look for Britni? Every warning light in his brain is flashing red, but he needs to find out what happened. Against his best instincts, he pushes the button for the elevator.
Officer Arlo Brigham is proud that he received the assignment of watching for a male suspect to appear at the workplace of a female suspect already in custody. Since finishing his field training, his duties have been confined to patrolling the streets. This surveillance is a step up – for everything except his feet. Driving a marked unit is a lot easier on them than standing at the end of a hallway, checking the face of every man who emerges from the elevator against the image on his phone. Still, he's determined to execute his orders to the best of his ability.
Arlo hears the whoosh of the elevator doors opening and regards the passenger stepping forward. Sonofabitch! It's Loomis! Brigham watches as his target enters an office and immediately calls for backup. But if Loomis tries to leave, Arlo won't wait for help. He can collar a suspect on his own.
"Is he in the box?" Kate asks Ryan.
"He's there all right. You should have seen the grin on Brigham, the cop who brought him in. You'd think he won the lottery or something. And Loomis is sweating bullets. Wow! That sounds like a line from one of Castle's books."
"Maybe one of his early ones. I wish he could come and watch this, but he told me that Meryl has a deadline coming up, so he's riding herd on Lily and Belle. I promised him he could see the video later. How long has Loomis been stewing?"
"About 15 minutes."
"I'll give him another fifteen," Kate decides. "By then, he should be nice and tender."
Jack doesn't usually loiter on sidewalks. With his height and build, he doesn't blend well into the background. But the only way he can connect with Azra is by direct contact, and this is the only place he can make that happen. If someone tries to roust him, he has a cover story about researching pedestrian traffic in the area. He even phonied up documentation. It wouldn't pass muster with the agency analysts, but they would know who he is anyway. He only has to fool whoever might end up on guard duty. And the worst a guard could do is order him to move along. Anything else would raise too many suspicions.
He has about ten minutes until the time of day he captured Azra's image. Holding tightly to a clipboard, he plays the part he'll use as a cover, taking notes he'll never read. He spots a modestly dressed woman approaching, wearing the face that was in Azra's picture. For a micro-second, that face reacts before she continues past him. Even before he sees the tiny scar, he knows he was right. This was the easy part. Figuring out how to spend time with her without getting both of them killed will be the hard one.
Kate strolls casually into the interrogation room, dropping her leather folder on the table before taking a seat. She flips through the pages inside almost lackadaisically while feeling Loomis' frantic gaze. Finally, Kate looks across the table. "Mr. Loomis, do you understand why you're here?"
"The cop who arrested me said suspicion of homicide. But it's all a mistake," Barry protests. "I don't know anything about a murder. I was just going to see my investment counselor."
"Would that be Britni Maynard?" Kate inquires.
"Yes, that's her," Barry admits. "But if she killed someone, I didn't have anything to do with it."
"You like cars, don't you, Mr. Loomis?" Kate asks. "In fact, you invest in them, don't you?"
"I like cars. Britni helps me figure out which ones are likely to appreciate. That's no crime." Barry insists.
"But stealing one is. And driving that car to help Britni dispose of a body is a huge one."
Swallowing, Barry crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Kate pulls a picture of the Cadillac found in the garage out of her folder and passes it across the table. "Have you ever seen this car?"
Barry vigorously shakes his head. "I've never been near one like that."
"Now, that's strange, Mr. Loomis. If you've never been near it, how did your fingerprints get on the steering wheel?"
Loomis' voice rises an octave. "I don't know."
Kate's eyes harden. "I think you do, Barry. Your fingerprints are on it because you drove that car, a car directly linked to a murder. And Britni's fingerprints were right there with yours. So here's what's happening. We know that both of you were involved in the murder of Wilfred Morrison. But Britni and Wilfred have a connection. They were from the same town. As far as we can tell, your only link to Morrison is Britni, but that doesn't mean you didn't kill him. Britni's an attractive woman. Maybe you did it for her. It really doesn't matter much. Whichever one of you talks first will get a deal. The other one will be under the wheels of something a lot bigger than that Cadillac. So think about it. Do you get crushed, or do you jump out of the way?"
Loomis pulls at his collar. "I want to talk to a lawyer."
Kate nods. "That would be an excellent idea."
So Jack's found her. And from the look Azra saw in his eyes, he realizes it. She's not surprised. She's never known him to give up on a mission. She wasn't sure that he'd regard finding her as one, but now that she knows, she has to figure out what to do about it. In the past, they had meeting places in New York. Some of those are long gone, but some still exist. All she has to do is aim him in the right direction. With Jack, that shouldn't be too tough.