Page 95 of The Secrets We Hide
“She was crushed,” he said. “I crushed her. She believed in me. And she just cried, ma’am. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to keep her talking, but she hung up. Then I drove down to North Falls. Left our signal on the lamp-post. I guess I wasn’t as sharp as I thought I was. Callaghan told me Allison took my picture. If I’d seen her, she might still be alive. And her daughter …”
Jude listened to his voice trail off. “The signal on the lamp-post was for a meeting?”
“Yeah, if she saw it, she was supposed to meet me at the truck stop outside of Albany the next morning at nine. I gotthere at eight yesterday. I waited for five hours. She never showed. I guess I know why now.”
“Did she tell you why she needed protection?”
“She was worried about Reggie, but—” He paused. “I’m just spitballing here, ma’am. You’re the expert. I think Allison was desperate for a fresh start. She kept talking about getting Mandy out of North Falls and starting over. That’s what she wanted most. To do it all again, but maybe not make the same mistakes this time.”
“Okay.” Jude knew that was all they were going to get from him. “Reid, what were you authorized to tell me?”
“That Allison didn’t have a case. All she offered was speculation.”
“I’m assuming your copy of her investigation into the Clayville PD is in deep storage somewhere at DOJ. What about Allison’s?”
“She never told me, ma’am, but she was smart. I know she kept back ups of her work somewhere.”
Emmy started typing on the laptop.
“Reid, there’s a way to silo yourself in the agency. Find an area that interests you. Stay out of politics. Keep your head down. Do your job.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He cleared his throat. “It’s been an honor talking to you. I appreciate the advice.”
The call ended.
Emmy’s fingers punched the keys on the laptop.
“Fucking Jonah.”
“Fucking Reggie,” Jude corrected.
“I’m not seeing anything on the hard drive that looks like Allison’s investigation. The most recent file saved on the hard drive is from four years ago. We’ll have to send this to Sherry.”
“What about the CDs?”
Emmy read the labels as she went through the stack. “Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 7 Wiener Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan.The Boston Pops at the Movies.Mozart Jubilee Edition.Beethoven Piano Sonatas.Rubinstein at Symphony Hall.The Boston Pops on the Fourth of July.London Philharmonic Hymns Triumphant.”
“Those are CD-ROMs. They can’t be written over. You can only save data to CD-Rs and CD-RWs.”
“Thanks for the lesson, Inspector Gadget.” Emmy went through the entire stack. “There’s nothing in here that flags Allison. We never talked about music.”
Jude said, “Let’s talk about Jonah’s drug bust. It’s never made sense to me that someone of Woody’s stature would sell to Jonah. And it makes even less sense that Woody would get caught.”
“If I’m a United States senator who grew up in Clayville, and somebody tells me that there’s a police officer down here who wants witness protection, but she refuses to give up the name of a drug dealer, I know immediately who that drug dealer is.”
“Lee?”
“No. I’ve spent the last two days watching people act like Woody is Voldemort. He’s got the whole town scared of saying his name.”
“That’s probably the same reason Reggie tried to trick you into thinking Woody was Dad’s informer. He assumed Jonah wouldn’t tell you the truth, and he knew nobody else in town would give up Woody. He set you up for a dead end.”
“He didn’ttryto trick me. I fell for it. Allison didn’t bust Jonah and Woody. She busted somebody low on the totem pole that the Rawleys wanted to keep out of jail.” Emmy rubbed her face with her hands. “Goddam. I can’t believe how stupid I am.”
“Focus on what’s important,” Jude said. “What did we learn from that conversation?”
“Reggie didn’t have a strong motive, unless it was pure revenge. If he knew Allison tried to rat him out, he also knew she failed.” Emmy crossed her arms. “Reading between the lines, it feels like Allison was using the Giglio list as a means to an end. I mean, sure, she wanted Reggie and the squad to go down for being dirty, but what Allison really wanted was for her and Mandy to get away.”
“From Bill?”
