The next morning, he returned to prison. He never lost another fight, and with each new achievement, the king rewarded him by taking more time off his sentence.
The conjugal visits continued, and over the next ten years, he and Jam had four children. As the dream of a life together slowly became a reality, she took a job working in the American Embassy in Bangkok. She was the one who secured his passports: one that gave him easy entry into the U.S., and a second passport with a new identity for his new life. Their new life.
He was too well-known in Thailand to go back, and as much as he knew Jam would want to live in America, that was impossible. The plan was to meet her and the kids in Adelaide, Australia. Flynn Samuels had given him contacts. After putting his life on hold for twenty years, he was ready for a fresh start.
But not yet. He still had two more people to see in New York.
Princeton Wells was no doubt expecting him. But first he had to pay a surprise visit to one of the most ruthless men in the city.
The J train stopped at Broadway Junction, and Segura connected to the L, took it six stops, and got off at the Rockaway Parkway station in Canarsie.
He tightened the straps of his backpack around his shoulders and started the mile-long walk to the Karayib Makèt on Rockaway Parkway.
He had a gift for Malique La Grande, and he planned to deliver it personally.
CHAPTER 58
“Good morning, handsome.”
I looked up from my keyboard. It was Cheryl. I checked my watch. It was only eight thirty. “Hey,” I said. “What the heck are you doing here?”
“Well, I was thinking you’d be happy to see me,” she said, “but I guess I thought wrong.”
I jumped out of my chair and gave her a hug. “Of course I am. I just thought you were spending the day at that conference in Philadelphia.”
“It was a total yawn. Then Captain Cates called this morning and asked me if I could come back. I caught a six-thirty train, and here I am.”
Kylie was at her desk taking it all in. “I don’t know about Zach,” she said, “but I, for one, am thrilled you’re here. It would have been even more fun if you’d been here last night.”
“Why? What happened?”
“You know the robbery we caught last week at the Mark hotel?”
“Shelley Trager’s poker game,” Cheryl said. “Did you find the guys who did it?”
“Just the opposite. Shelley doesn’t want us poking around. The hotel management is so grateful he’s sweeping it under the rug that they offered us dinner at the Jean-Georges restaurant in the lobby. C.J. and I went last night. The place was packed, the food was incredible, and it was free. Guess who turned down an invitation to go with us?” Kylie pointed in my direction.
I looked at Cheryl. “Hey, you were out of town.”
“I know. But the Mark restaurant? I’d have gone if you were out of town.”
“Tell her what you did instead,” Kylie said.
“I have a better idea,” I said. “Instead of standing here rehashing every detail of my pathetic evening, I’d rather be alone with my girlfriend, so I can tell her how much I missed her. Excuse us.” I put my arm around Cheryl and walked her to the stairwell.
“What’s going on between you and Kylie?” she said as soon as we were alone.
“Nothing.”
“Zach, I’m a cop and a shrink, so I get lied to every day.”
“I’m not lying to you. I may be leaving out some of the details, but—”
“So you’re sticking to your story that you had a pathetic evening last night?”
“I may have exaggerated that one.”
“And when I asked ‘What’s going on between you and Kylie?’ and you said ‘Nothing,’ was that an exaggeration, or were you just leaving out the details?”
“Maybe a little of both.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m starting to understand why you weren’t happy to see me this morning.”
“Can I explain?”
“Go for it,” she said. “They say the truth shall set you free.”
Maybe so, but in this case, I was afraid that the truth would only dig me a deeper hole. So I started with a half-truth.
“I’m investigating Kylie’s boyfriend,” I said. “I think he may be involved in that poker game robbery.”
“And this is something Cates asked you to do?” Cheryl said.
“Nobody asked me. I see a crime; I try to solve it. I’m a cop.”
“A cop who’s trying to put his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in jail.”
“Bullshit. You think this is personal?”
“Zach, everything with you and Kylie is personal.”
“She’s my partner. If C.J. used her to get invited to that poker game, I think she’d want to know before he uses her again.”
“Did she ask you to protect her from C.J.?”
“Of course not.”
“Maybe that’s because she’s a grown woman who can take care of herself. She’s also a smart cop, which means if you suspect C.J. because he’s the new guy at the table, don’t you think that thought might have crossed Kylie’s mind as well?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
Cheryl kept going. “You say you’re her partner, and you think she’d want to know if C.J. were using her. And yet you lied to her last night about what you were up to. What happens if you catch him? Are you going to arrest him?”
“No. Shelley has already said he won’t press charges.”
“So what do you think he’ll do?”
“Knowing Shelley, he’ll give the guy a chance to pay the money back and quietly slip out of town.”
“So C.J. will be out of Kylie’s life,” Cheryl said. “Mission accomplished, partner. You just better hope she never finds out that you’re the one who got rid of him.”
Clearly the truth had not set me free. I’d only told Cheryl part of what I’d been up to, and all I’d managed to do was piss her off. The rest would have to wait.
“We’d better get back to work,” I said. “Let’s finish this up another time.”
I opened the stairwell door, and we walked back into the squad room.
“Good timing,” Kylie said. “Aubrey’s hard drive is hooked up to a monitor. It’s ready for us in the conference room.”
I turned to Cheryl. “I’m glad you’re back. I’ll see you tonight.”
“What do you mean tonight? I’m going with you now.”
“With us? We’re going to screen Aubrey Davenport’s video files.”
“I know. That’s why Cates called me this morning. You’re two cops working a homicide where the victim had deep-rooted psychosexual disorders. Cates thought it might help if an actual psychologist sat in and screened the videos with you.”
“Great idea,” Kylie said, giving me a thumbs-up.
I followed my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend into the conference room so we could watch sex tapes together. It was definitely not the threesome of my dreams.
CHAPTER 59
Jason White, our resident computer genius, was waiting for us in the conference room. Normally, he’s a high-energy guy with a passion for mountain bike racing, complex techno problems, and caffeine, but this morning he looked as joyless as a funeral director.
“Good morning, Detectives, Dr. Robinson,” he said. “Brace yourselves. It’s going to be a long day.”
“What have you got?” I said, taking a seat.
“Aubrey Davenport was making a documentary. From what we could piece together, she video-ambushed thirty-two different men. She used code names, but some of them, like Judge Rafferty, are immediately recognizable. Given a little time, I’m sure our facial-recognition software can ID them all. We’ve organized the files according to date last opened. Every single one of them was opened after Aubrey’s death.”
“That would be our blackmailers’ handiwork,” Kylie said. “Can you tell if they edited anything?”
“They didn’t,” Jason said. “They just watched. The last file modified was Sunday, May seventh—the day before the murder. It’s Aubrey’s on-camera introduction to the film. It’s only two minutes and twenty-four seconds long. The rest of the footage is Aubrey having sex with these men. None of it is pretty. It’s still unedited and will take you about fourteen hours to screen. Less time if you high-speed through it. More time if you get sick to your stomach and have to walk away from it.”