“I really doubt it. Besides, Rosario ’s murder wasn’t the only security breach. Somebody chased me in the basement last night, stole evidence from my purse-”
Bernadette laughed. “Yeah, I heard about that one. The security company complained, you know. I commend your nerve in going down to Dead Files so late at night. But next time be a little more careful with the emergency door, or we’re gonna have to start paying them overtime for investigating false alarms.”
“I didn’t just hear a noise and freak out, Bern. Somebody was down there. Valuable evidence is missing.”
“Melanie,” Bernadette said sharply, “the perpetrator removed cash from your wallet, right?”
“Yes, but-”
“So don’t give me partial information, miss, it’s misleading. The cash is key. Some janitor obviously stole your money, and in the process he took your evidence by mistake. He probably dropped it in a Dumpster last night on his way to score a few dime bags with your cash.”
“That’s it? You’re just explaining everything away without even investigating?”
Bernadette sighed. “Look, I understand you’re upset. It’s very traumatic when a witness gets killed. There’s a natural tendency to see it as bigger than it is, as the result of some wild conspiracy. But that’s just nerves talking. You want my advice? Calm down, do your work, and stop running off at the mouth with crazy theories.”
Melanie stared at Bernadette in dismay. She couldn’t believe that her boss wasn’t all over these security breaches, that she wasn’t helping her. Then it dawned on her that Bernadette had a huge conflict of interest here. Rommie Ramirez’s squad had taken responsibility for protecting Rosario last night. The crew-cut cop had left his post to respond to a drug call. Did Bernadette already know that? Did she fear that an inquiry might negatively affect her boyfriend, further damage his already troubled career? Would Bernadette allow personal feelings to influence her professional judgment like that? She was obviously head over heels for Rommie. But covering up something so significant would put her whole career at risk. Melanie respected Bernadette too much to believe that such a thing was possible. Yet she couldn’t deny that Bernadette was acting bizarrely nonchalant.
“Rest assured,” Bernadette continued, “nobody blames you for what happened to your witness. When you’re faced with a killer as smart and ruthless as this one, you’re gonna experience setbacks.”
“ Rosario wasn’t a setback, she was a person!” Melanie said. “There’s a leak somewhere, and for all I know, her door was purposely left unattended. I think we need an inquiry.”
Bernadette’s eyes narrowed. “When you say something like that, I have a hard time deciding whether you’re stupid or just reckless. You want an inquiry, you say? Those things never go the way people expect, you know, Melanie. If I were you, I’d make damn sure my own house was in order before asking for one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You want to know how the killer tracked Rosario down and whether there was a leak? Have you examined your own conduct? Were you careless with information? Isn’t it possible it was really your fault somehow, and not anybody else’s?”
Melanie fell silent, thinking about the address she’d put on the G-car authorization and never found time to erase, about her call to the grand-jury clerk, about her other actions in the past twenty-four hours that might have divulged Rosario’s location. What if it had been her fault? God, how could she ever live with that guilt? Her stomach sank. It must’ve shown in her face.
“Uh-huh, I thought so,” Bernadette said with a knowing smirk. “Well, I guess that’s why I’m here. To teach you greenhorns to look before you leap.”
“I tried to be so careful-”
“Of course you did. And if you let something slip, I’m sure it was an accident, hon. That’s my point, you see? Don’t start pointing fingers, because nobody’s perfect.” Bernadette stood up and moved toward the door. “Speaking of not being perfect,” she said, with a nod toward Melanie’s desk, laden with piles of unopened subpoena responses, “this desk is a mess. Clean it up before something else falls through the cracks, would you?”
“Okay.”
“And another thing. Romulado tells me Amanda Benson still is not well. So just stay away from there, okay? Focus on something else for a while. After all, you have plenty of other work to do.”
After Bernadette left, Melanie went over her actions in her head. She was certain she’d never divulged Rosario ’s whereabouts to anyone outside her office. If someone from the office cribbed the address and leaked it, that person was complicit in murder. But she couldn’t be expected to anticipate someone else’s treason, could she? No, she was entitled to trust her own people. Only once she got comfortable with that did she begin to see that Bernadette had manipulated her. Bernadette had turned the tables, made her question her own conduct, distracted her. And left her empty-handed. No help on investigating the security breach, no additional staffing. She was determined to solve these murders, but she needed resources and proper support. She was starting to have a bad feeling about this.
MELANIE’S PHONE RANG SOME MINUTES LATER. “Hey, what’s up?” Dan said. “I thought it was about time to check in.” His voice cheered her up so much that it scared her.
“You always check in with the prosecutor every few hours?” she asked breathlessly.
“With you I do. You miss me?”
Playing this game with him was dangerous. She’d end up in way over her head with this guy if she wasn’t careful. She looked down at her bare ring finger, longing for the security of her wedding band. When she wore it, she knew where she stood in the world. She knew where the boundaries were.
“Any developments?” she asked Dan.
“Yeah, actually. I just got a lead on Jasmine Cruz from this scumbag informant of mine,” he said.
“Well, that’s good news, because I was just examining Jed Benson’s telephone records, and she’s all over them.”
“No kidding!”
“Yeah. I’m starting to think she’s it. You know, the missing link between Slice and Jed Benson.”
“What’s in the phone records?”
“Numerous calls in the last year from Jed Benson’s cell phone to two phones subscribed in the name Jasmine Cruz. One landline, one cell phone, so he was calling her at home and on her cell. I’m talking like several calls per week, usually late at night. Long ones, too.”
“Wow! All from his cell, you said, not from his home phone?”
“Yes, that’s right. He didn’t call her from his house.”
“You know what that means?”
“Unfortunately, I do. He was hiding it from his wife, the jerk.” She was thinking of her own innocent-looking home-telephone bills-they hadn’t breathed a hint of Steve’s cheating. “I have a feeling Benson got around. Sarah van der Vere practically admitted they had an affair. And these phone records suggest the same thing about Jasmine.”
“Good work, partner. You might have just solved the crime, although I think you trashed our jurisdiction.”
“How’s that?”
“What we got here is a good old-fashioned crime of passion, don’t you think? Benson barked up the wrong tree. He did Slice’s girl. Simple as that. None of this retaliation-for-prosecution shit.”
“Huh. Maybe.” Was Dan right? It was a simple and elegant solution, yet it didn’t feel like the whole answer. “But what about that phone call four years ago? The one from the Blades wiretap that got stolen last night, where Slice and Jasmine are talking about Mighty Whitey?”
“Maybe it wasn’t Benson they were talking about.”
“Then Jasmine Cruz just shows up on Benson’s cell- phone records four years later as a complete coincidence? I don’t buy that.”
“Hmm. Maybe you’re right.” They were both silent, thinking. “Hey, what about this? Maybe in the wiretap call, Slice was trying to blackmail Benson or something, you know? Maybe they had photos of him with Jasmine, and if he didn’t pay up, they’d tell his wife?”