“He has always maintained that he severed his mob ties.”

“Not that that means much. But he didn’t need mob ties. He had his own club. Money laundering would be a cinch, especially with Shelly helping. She hadn’t been involved in the kidnapping, but she was more than happy to help out with the laundering once Mario promised her a small cut. All they had to do was replace the money that came into the cash register with money from the ransom, a little at a time. Not enough to create suspicion, or a trail. It would be a slow process. But it would work.”

“Assuming no one found out.”

“Yes, but someone did, didn’t they? Tony Barovick, the poor chump. He says in his journal that he had responsibility for the cash register. He counted the daily receipts. He let Shelly do a lot of the accounting work because she was better at it, but he was ultimately responsible. And I also know from reading his journal that he took his responsibilities very seriously. He must’ve caught Shelly or Mario making the switch, or somehow figured out what they were doing. That’s why he had to die.”

“Shelly told you they used her to lure Tony out.”

“Which was all a big con to bail herself out of trouble. She didn’t have to be forced to do anything. She put on that fake sling and told people she’d tried to kill herself after Tony was killed to divert suspicion and give herself a story to tell in case anyone questioned her hard about her fatal phone call. After Mario realized Tony was onto the money-laundering scheme, I’m thinking he went ballistic. A hothead like him-I can see it happening. He thinks his little scheme is crumbling all around him. He panics. And he decides Tony has to die.”

“Mario could never keep his head together under fire,” Swift commented.

“So,” Mike continued, “he needed to get Tony alone, fast, before he said anything to anyone, so Shelly lured him out. She knew he’d come. He loved her. He thought he knew her.” He shoved his fists angrily into his pockets. “But you never really know anyone, do you, Swift? She betrayed him. Just like you did me.”

“What?”

“Don’t waste your breath,” Mike grunted. “I was such an idiot. Tony Barovick, a kidnapper. In retrospect, it’s so stupid.” He swung his fist in the air, pummeling an imaginary punching bag. “Tony Barovick wasn’t the fourth kidnapper. You were.”

She took a step closer to the doorway. “That’s a pretty serious accusation, sport.”

“It’s all too obvious. For months now I’ve been beating myself up over that botched rescue mission. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong. How did the kidnappers know when the snipers had been pulled in tight, making it safe for them to flee through that underground passageway? How did they know you and I were coming up the rear fire escape? Easy. They had a man on the inside. You.”

“Mike, I’ve been working with you to solve that case.”

“No, you’ve been clinging to my side like a barnacle to make sure I didn’t get too close to the truth. And I suppose if you ever thought I was too close, you would’ve taken care of me-just like you did the others.”

Mike watched her eyes flit around the room-to her holstered weapon on the coat stand.

“Please don’t,” Mike said. “You wouldn’t get past me. And even if you did, Baxter and three uniforms are waiting in the elevator lobby. There are dozens of people in this building. It’s over.”

“Guess this is the part where I ask to see my lawyer, huh?”

Mike felt a sadness so intense he could barely speak. “Before you go all Fifth Amendment, answer one question, okay? Why Manny and Charlie the Chicken? Why did they have to die? Just so you wouldn’t have to share?”

She shrugged. “We could’ve handled Tony in a sensible, nonlethal way, but Mario didn’t ask me. He just went off half-cocked and killed the poor kid. At least he had the sense to move the body to the frat house and crank up the air-conditioner-both to confuse the cops. Afterward, of course, the murder became this huge cause célèbre and got so much media attention, Manny and Charlie demanded more money, and fast. Manny was the instigator. We gave Manny all the loot we’d managed to launder so far, but I guess it wasn’t enough. Manny threatened to talk if I didn’t transfer all the money-even the unlaundered stuff-to him immediately. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen. He was hiding out in Tulsa, refusing to return to Chicago with the rest of us. He was panicking. With every reporter in the country working on the case, he thought we were doomed. He wanted every penny he could get so he could slip out of the country, and if he didn’t get it, he and Charlie were threatening to make a deal with the DA, so…”

“A power drill?” Mike said incredulously.

“It wasn’t planned. I went over just to reason with him. There was a fight and…” She sighed. “A good agent is trained to use whatever weapons are at hand. After Charlie learned what happened to Manny, he tried to hide. But I found him. I am a detective, after all.”

“And you set up Mario.”

She didn’t deny it. “He was behind all the attempts on your lawyer buddies. The vandalism, the shooting incident. We made it look like that gay rights group was responsible. Basically, he wanted them to back off. He wanted Christensen convicted and the whole business put to rest. They were doing a lot of snooping around, too, you know. Mario was setting the stage to take them out-if they got too effective or too close to the truth.” She paused. “Mario was always a hothead-to the bitter end. I eventually realized that keeping him around was… an unacceptable risk. After the lawyers gave that press conference, Mario had a meltdown. He tried to get me to kill them, but I told him I couldn’t. Since I knew you all personally. So he went himself.”

“You knew he’d end up getting himself killed.”

“I had a strong suspicion, yeah. But of course, if he’d been successful, that would’ve worked for me, too. Mario’s death left me with all the money, minus the fifty grand Manny had and whatever trivial sums went to Shelly. And all the known conspirators were eliminated.” She sighed. “It seemed like the perfect crime.”

Mike removed the cuffs from his belt. “There’s no such thing.” He was relieved when she allowed him to restrain her. All the combat scenarios that had run through his mind on the drive over-none of which ended well-were not going to materialize. “Care to tell me why?”

“Aw, who the hell knows?” Her voice seemed tired, drained of its usual effervescence. “I could use the money, sure. But-you know, I worked on all of those child kidnapping cases. For years. I saw all the mistakes crooks made, mostly just because they’re so damn stupid. And I thought-I could do this. I could do this so well no one would ever catch me. And I did. Or so I thought.” A soft echo of a laugh escaped her lips. “It was a lark.”

“Not for Tony Barovick,” Mike replied. “So that’s it? You did it for the intellectual challenge? For kicks?”

She shrugged. “Would it be better if I told you the Metzger family betrayed me when I was a child? That I needed money desperately to save my ailing, sainted mother? Grow up, Morelli. A crime’s a crime. We’re all crooks, deep down. All we need is sufficient motivation.”

“Some of us don’t even need that, apparently,” Mike muttered. He stopped at the threshold of the door. “I liked you, Swift. Did you know that? I’m not talking about all the teasing pseudosexual stuff. I mean I really liked you. I admired you. I thought you were a great cop.” His head swayed from side to side. That damn Billy Joel song buzzed to the surface of his brain. “And then the stranger kicked me right between the eyes.”

He turned her around and steered her out of the office.

After Mike made his report and put Swift in custody, he found Baxter waiting for him outside the downtown Cook County jail’s rear entrance.