Laurie was surprised at how simple it was for Detective Reilly to record Keith’s call to Martin Collins, with a simple cord from Keith’s cell phone into a laptop’s microphone port. After considerable negotiation, Reilly agreed to let Leo and Laurie listen in on the call, but with no cameras or recording on their part. If the call panned out, Laurie could find another way to report the facts for the show. Right now, she just wanted to hear what Martin Collins had to say.
With the help of an audio splitter, Leo, Laurie, and Detective Reilly were all plugged in with their own earphones. She gave Keith a thumbs-up as he hit the dial button. The man was far from perfect, but today he was doing the right thing.
“Hey, Martin, it’s Keith,” he said when the call connected. “You got a sec? I had a weird visit from the police.”
“The police?”
“Yeah, asking about a Steve Roman. Bald, muscled, maybe in his forties. They said he belonged to Advocates for God, but I told them I didn’t know him. Does the name ring a bell?”
“Sure,” Martin said nonchalantly.
Laurie arched an eyebrow in her father’s direction. They had just connected the head of AG to a man spotted near Lydia Levitt’s murder, a man who was monitoring their movements just days prior to the attack on Jerry. Was it really going to be this easy?
Through her headphones, she listened as Martin continued. “I told you I wanted to know what Nicole was saying to those TV people? I asked Steve to lend a hand. He’s helpful that way.”
“Helpful? The police think he killed a woman in the Bay Area while he was snooping on one of the show’s participants. And three days ago, someone broke into the show’s set, stole a bunch of equipment, and nearly killed a member of the production team.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Steve used to be a violent person. But that was a long time ago. I don’t know anything about a woman in the Bay Area, but, yes, he did tell me about the unfortunate situation at the house in Bel Air.”
Laurie clenched a fist in celebration. Yes, they had identified Jerry’s attacker.
“An unfortunate situation?”
“He crossed a line. He said he found a door unlocked. He went in. Then someone came home and found him there. He told me he panicked, but he didn’t tell me how bad it was until I read about the assault in the paper. I’ve been counseling him, but it may be time for me to call the police before he hurts someone else.”
As Keith had explained it to them, Advocates for God encouraged all members to open up fully to the church but did not observe the traditional priest-penitent privilege. Instead, it was for the church to decide when disclosure of the information was necessary to “advocate for God’s goodness.” It sounded like Martin was getting ready to use what he knew about Steve Roman to distance himself from the man’s crimes, depicting Roman as an out-of-control lone wolf.
“Martin, it gets worse. The police also asked me whether—I feel gross even saying it. They asked if I had ever seen you be inappropriate with children.”
The line fell silent.
“Martin? Are you there?” Keith asked.
“Yes. This has to be coming from Nicole. She’s crazy. She fabricated something like this when she was in college. That’s why I wanted to keep an eye on her during the TV show. Obviously it’s not true, so don’t repeat that to anyone. Now, I better track down Steve. He’s clearly become a problem.”
When Martin hung up, the kitchen immediately broke into cacophony as they all spoke at once, rehashing every last word of the conversation. Detective Reilly formed his hands into a capital T to quiet them. “Good work, Keith. We’ve got what we need for an arrest warrant for Steve Roman. I’ll follow up with Martin Collins to get him locked down on the details of whatever Roman told him about the assault on Jerry.”
“Wait,” Laurie said. “You’re not arresting Collins?”
“I’ve got no probable cause. It’s not against the law to ask someone to keep an eye on a situation. If it were, there’d be no private investigators.”
“But Steve Roman’s not a PI. He’s hurting people. He probably killed Lydia.”
“And that’s why we’re going to arrest him. But until we can prove Martin Collins solicited Steve Roman to commit these crimes, he’s an innocent man.”
Laurie started to argue, but Leo interrupted. “He’s right on the law, Laurie. But a running start is just the beginning, right, Reilly?”
“Absolutely.” Reilly’s brow momentarily unfurrowed. “Once we get our hands on this Steve Roman character, he might have a different story to tell. Happens all the time. We’ll get the phone records, search his apartment, the works. I’ll get the arrest warrant out pronto. We can apply over the phone now. Trust me, we’ll get to the bottom of all of it.”
Laurie tried not to be disappointed. After all, they had probably solved Lydia’s murder and the attack on Jerry. But they still had no idea how any of this connected to Susan’s murder.
Reilly had just finished packing up his recording equipment when Grace came running into the kitchen. “Turn on the television!” she yelled, reaching for the remote control on the counter.
Laurie placed her hand gently on Grace’s forearm. “Hold on a just a minute, Grace. I’m about to walk Detective Reilly out.”
“No, it can’t wait.” She fumbled with the buttons and began flipping channels until she reached her destination. “Look!”
On the screen was a helicopter’s aerial footage over bright blue water. An anchor’s voice said something about a “thirty-nine-year-old genius” and the “revolutionizing of the Internet.” It wasn’t until Laurie read the text at the bottom of the screen that she understood what she was watching: REACH founder and CEO Dwight Cook’s body recovered from a scuba accident, sources say.
No, not Dwight. Please don’t let it be him, Laurie thought.