Page 123 of One of Us Is Guilty

As he put it down, he breathed out. A long sigh. Like he was laying down a burden, and lightening the load he carried around on his shoulders. No matter how far a person falls, there’s always a part of them that wants to climb back up.

I put the journal in my coat.

‘What else did you do for Dekker?’

‘I handled some cash payments. Dekker wanted to make sure witnesses would play ball.’

‘The neighbor, Alison Karim. Who else?’

‘That’s all I’m saying for now.’

‘The judge?’ I asked.

‘You’re a real piece of work, Eddie. Yeah, her too. But, look, that’s it. That’s all I got. I’ll never testify to any of this. I’m not going to jail for doing the right thing.’

‘The right thing?’

‘Yeah, look, I made sure that the right person went down for this. That’s all. It don’t matter one heap of shit what I’ve done. I believe your client killed that girl. I didn’t fuck around with forensics, Eddie. It’s her DNA on that jewelry box, and the vic’s blood too. She beat that girl to death with that box then took her head. She killed Molly and tried to frame her husband. And I made sure she didn’t get away with it. You ask me about any of this shit on the stand, I’ll deny it all. I’ll say Dekker gave me the journal and I gave it to you. That we didn’t use it because it painted the victim in a bad light for the jury. That the NYPD is not in the business of trashing murder victims. You can’t prove any of the other shit I told you, so we’re done here.’

‘You mean,you’redone. You’re finished. Do the right thing and I can get you FBI protection. You’re being manipulated. Patrick and Dekker, they’re trying to frame the wife and you’re helping them.’

‘Listen to yourself. You believe your client? She’s a liar. She said she’d never been to Molly’s building. She didn’t know about the security camera in the back of the building, though. Like I said, we’re done here.’

He got up, left his soda and nachos, took the photo, and then left.

That hadn’t gone the way I’d expected.

I picked up my soda, pulled the straw out, then opened the lid and tipped the cup. The mini microphone fell into my hand.Reaching under the table, I pulled the duct tape loose and retrieved a phone. Swiped the screen to open it and then stopped the recording.

It was an illegal clandestine recording. It may not even be admissible in court. If I let Judge Tanner hear this, my best guess was she would be worried about Larkin exposing her. And she wouldn’t want Larkin to be in any kind of trouble in case he made a deal with law enforcement. Taking out a corrupt judge is a way bigger prize than a corrupt cop. Tanner would bury this recording, and then try to bury me and Vanessa.

Still, the recording was ammunition.

I just needed to figure out the best way to use it.

As I got up from my seat, I thought about Larkin. He was corrupt and he deserved to go down for this. I could understand his reasoning. Most cops who go bad do it for what they believe to be the right reasons – stretching the evidence, hiding inconsistencies in their case, all with the aim of putting bad people away. They manipulated the system for their cause.

In some ways, Larkin wasn’t so different from me.

I just hoped I was on the right side of this case.

Weaving my way through the crowds at Times Square, I reached the subway station, got on a downtown train and found a seat in the carriage.

I took out Molly Green’s journal, and read.

51

Vanessa

Eddie was late.

She was pacing the floor, clenching and unclenching her fists. The skin on her hands was raw, and she’d moisturized them a few times, but it didn’t help. She was washing them way too often. It was almost seven when Vanessa heard the knock on the door of her hotel suite.

‘They’re here,’ she said.

Voss sat on the edge of Vanessa’s bed, and placed her index finger over her lips to confirm they should be quiet. Vanessa closed the bedroom door, then made her way through the living area and opened her hotel room door.

Eddie looked tired.