Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #2: Books 5-8 (A Dead Cold Box Set) Blake Banner (read out loud books txt) 📖

The inspector looked depressed.

“This is going to be one unholy mess.”

Dehan coughed. Newman raised an eyebrow at her. “With all due respect, sir, it’s not going to be a mess, it already is a mess. What we are going to do is clean it up.”

“Thank you, Detective, for that enlightening perspective. Sadly, I don’t think our political masters share your view.” He sighed again. “But there is no way of avoiding it, is there?”

I shook my head.

“Very well, Detectives, I’ll see to the records. Proceed with great care and be very, very sure of each step you take. If even half of this is true, we are up against a very formidable opponent.”

We promised him we would be very careful and left. On the way down the stairs my cell phone rang.

“Stone.”

“Detective, this is Jackson Lee.”

“Hello, Mr. Lee, how can I help you?”

Dehan turned and watched me. Lee was saying, “Look, I wonder if I could come in and see you today? I’ve been troubled since you left, about our conversation yesterday. Thing is, I wasn’t totally transparent with you, and I’d like to have a fuller discussion. The situation is not simple or straightforward.”

“Of course. I appreciate that. When are you likely to be here?”

“I’m on my way now. Say in about half an hour?”

“That will be fine. Just tell the sergeant at the desk and one of us will come and get you.”

I hung up and we stood frowning at each other on the stairs. Dehan said, “We rattled her cage, and next thing everybody is volunteering information.”

“How about that?”

“You think it’s connected?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Let’s see what he has to say.”

He arrived about forty minutes later in a sharp Italian suit that was as vulgar as it was expensive. I had a uniform lead him up to interrogation room number three and left him waiting for ten minutes while I sat with my ass against the desk and spoke to Dehan.

“The anonymous letter incriminates Hennessy, so I don’t see that that can be a direct result of our rattling her cage. But now, less than twenty-four hours after talking to D’Angelo, Lee turns up wanting to change his story. What I’m interested to see is if he also incriminates her, or if he is going to try to shift suspicion away from her in another direction.”

“If he does, you’re thinking think maybe he’s on Hennessy’s payroll?”

I thought for a long moment, then shook my head. “To be honest, I don’t know, Dehan. I haven’t got a handle on this yet. Let’s go see what Lee has to say. We’re going to play our cards real close, okay?”

She nodded and we went upstairs.

When we stepped into the room, Lee was studiously unruffled and stood to greet us. “Detectives, how are you? I must apologize. This whole thing has taken me a little by surprise.”

I gestured at his chair as I pulled out my own and said, “Please, sit down, Mr. Lee. I am grateful to you for coming in. You want to add something to your statement from yesterday?”

He frowned. “Yeah. It’s a little complicated.” He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled at Dehan. “See, David was a very talented journalist. I mean, really good. And we had a good rapport. Frankly, I saw in him not just a friend but a damn good client for the future. A guy like David on a paper like the Telegraph…” He laughed, “That’s the goose that just keeps on laying! But, you know, it was always the policy on the paper that they would publish the most controversial articles, they didn’t care who they went up against or who they upset, as long as the facts were solid. And that was one area where David had always been really meticulous.”

Dehan raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“Well, here’s the thing. What I told you yesterday was true, so far as it went. I was fond of Samantha, and it did piss me off to see Dave screwing around with another woman. But there was more to it than that.”

“What, exactly?”

He shrugged and made a face. “It was like he was becoming obsessed. He had lost all objectivity. It seemed like to him all the hearsay and stories and accusations had become facts and evidence. You were right, of course, he always discussed his stories with me so we could consider the legal implications. And I kept telling him that all he had regarding the Hennessy story was what you could find on the ’net. It was unsubstantiated rumor.”

I frowned. “That was all he had?”

“Pretty much, detective. And, well, I couldn’t help feeling it was Katie who was getting to him. The two of them seemed to be…” He shrugged, shook his head, appeared to search for a word, and then repeated with more emphasis. “…obsessed! It’s the only word that really describes their behavior. When he asked to meet me, I was expecting something sensational. If you have spoken to Bob Shaw, then you know he was talking in terms of Watergate and shaking the foundations of the constitution.” He shook his head again. “But there was nothing like that in what he showed me. If I say that the evidence was circumstantial, I am being generous. It was more like innuendo. If he had published that article, as he showed it to me, Hennessy’s lawyers would have dragged him over the coals, bankrupted him, and he would never have worked again.” He gave a small laugh. “Except that Bob would never have published it in the first place.”

I took a deep breath and drummed my fingers on the table. “Forgive me, Mr. Lee, but I am finding it difficult to