CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

 

Stone was just getting out of the shower when greeted by his wife with a fluffy blue towel.

“Better dry off in a hurry,” Joyce said. “You have a phone call from Isabel Santiago. Isn’t she the mother of—”

“Yeah—of both of them,” Stone said succinctly.

“I thought so. Well, I told her I’d have you call back, but she insisted on talking to you now. So—” Joyce handed him the towel, a worried look on her face. “What does she want with you?”

Stone considered the question while drying. He had given Isabel Santiago his work and cell phone numbers, promising to help should Rafael prove to be more than she could handle. Now Stone wondered about the wisdom of sticking his nose where it probably shouldn’t have been. This case was more or less over and it was time for him to move on. Or be left behind.

His brows touched in gazing at Joyce. “Guess we’ll find out in a moment—”

Stone took the call in their bedroom. “Mrs. Santiago,” he spoke politely.

“You said I was free to call you. Did you mean it?” Her voice shook.

“I meant it,” he said. “How can I help you?”

“It’s Rafael...”

“What about him?”

“I just wanted to keep my son from going back to prison. That’s why I told the police what I did.”

Stone recalled hearing that Isabel was Santiago’s alibi the night Sheldon and Maxine Crawford were victimized. “Are you saying you were lying to cover for your son?” Not that it made a hell of a lot of difference at this point. The deal had already been made to send her other son to prison for the rest of his life while freeing Santiago.

Without making a liar out of herself, Isabel deflected the question and said instead, “Rafael killed my cat...”

Stone reacted in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

Again Isabel moved on to something else on her mind. “I saw the look in his eyes... I don’t want nobody else to get hurt.”

“Like who?”

“Whoever he’s carrying a grudge against—”

* * *

Stone watched as Manuel Gonzalez entered the interrogation room in handcuffs and shackles, along with a jail guard who looked like he could have been a starter on the Oakland Raiders front line.

Why the hell am I here on a wild goose chase instead of home with my wife and kids? Probably because the department never would have authorized it and Stone’s instincts told him this case wasn’t over, even if everyone wanted it to be.

“You can remove the shackles,” Stone told the guard. “Manuel isn’t much to fear when he doesn’t have a knife or gun to use.”

“Suit yourself, man,” the guard muttered and detached the shackles before leaving them alone.

Manuel flopped onto a chair. “Why am I here, man?” he asked curiously.

Stone sat across from him, sharpening his gaze. “Had a question for you.”

“Yeah what?”

“How’d you do it?”

“Do what?” Manuel chewed on his lower lip.

“Fool the hell out of the polygraph machine.”

Manuel laughed. “What’s makes you so sure of that?”

I’m not sure, but I want you to think I am. “For one, your story about the alleged affair between Adrienne Murray and Judge Sheldon Crawford doesn’t check out.”

Manuel rolled fingers through his hair. “Yeah. So sue me. Just don’t expect to collect. They don’t pay much in prison.”

Stone pinned his gaze on the prisoner. “Must pinch a little knowing that your twin brother is a free man—free to do the things you used to do.”

Manuel shrugged. “That’s the way it goes. He served his time.”

“So what, now it’s your turn to do a stretch in the pen—to make amends for the time he spent there? You think that’s what identical twins are supposed to do, cover for each other?

“You don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, man.”

“Don’t I?” Stone sensed otherwise. “Look, Manuel, your deal is already in place and nothing can change it. The D.A.’s office is not about to make more of a laughing stock out of itself than it already has by retrying Rafael.”

“Yeah, so what you want from me?” Manuel set his jaw.

“The truth, just for my own peace of mind,” Stone said.

“And why would I care about your peace of mind, man? What the hell’s in it for me?”

Not much, asshole. But maybe just a little compassion for the one person on this planet who may still give a damn about you.

“You’re right, Manuel. I wouldn’t expect you to lose any sleep on account of my peace of mind.” Stone paused and waited till their eyes connected. “I was hoping that you might make it easier for your mother. Yeah, I know all about how she dumped you off on another woman, causing you to have one problem after another. I also know she regrets it and never stopped loving you.”

Manuel licked his lips. “I don’t wanna here this.”

“I know you don’t,” Stone said. “I’m not asking you to forgive her. What I am saying is that if you have a decent bone in that body of yours somewhere, you’ll give her a break. Right now she’s scared to death that Rafael is out to do more harm, especially after he drowned her cat in the bathtub.”

“What!” Manuel glared at him. “Rafael wouldn’t do that.”

“Look, we both know what he’s capable of. We just don’t know who’s next on his hit list. If we can stop him before he starts then no one else has to suffer, including Isabel—”

Manuel leaned forward. “You wearin’ a wire or something?”

“I’m not wearing anything.” Stone stood and patted himself for the prisoner’s benefit. In fact he was wearing a wire, just in case anything useful came out of the conversation. “What you have to say is just between you and me.”

Manuel seemed to mull this over. “All right. I’ll just say that Rafael ain’t through yet. He still blames that black judge Grant Nunez for sending him to prison back when the dude was still a prosecutor. And he also wants some payback from the good lookin’ Latina lawyer bitch for trying to bring him down again.”

Beverly Mendoza, Stone mused. He had considered that Santiago had a beef with Beverly and Grant Nunez, but didn’t figure him to be stupid enough to actually go after them.

Well, think again.

Stone looked across the table at Santiago’s twin killer. “Just one more question. How did you manage to nail your story about the crimes against the Crawfords so accurately? Or were you there?”

Manuel eyed him askance, grinning. “Already said what I’m gonna about that.” He paused and seemed to have second thoughts. “Rafael gave me the scoop word for word, man, blow-by-blow—passing the information through other inmates. It was easy. I just memorized what I needed to and made up the rest. Guess it was close enough.”

“Yeah, guess it was.”

Stone doubted that the conversation would be enough to put Rafael Santiago back on trial for crimes he committed. But it was enough to convince him that the lives of Beverly Mendoza and Grant Nunez were in danger.

They needed to be warned and Santiago located before it was too late.