Chapter 90

CHAPTER 90

D EVINE KNOCKED ON THE DOOR of Lynn Martin’s apartment; she was Perry Rollins’s elderly neighbor. Devine had with him a man dressed in faded overalls and holding a satchel of tools.

Martin answered the door and Devine said, “Remember me?”

“No.”

She was about to close the door when Devine put a hand on it.

“Hey!” she snapped.

“Streaming again?” asked Devine.

“So what if I am, asshole?”

Devine slipped a piece of paper out of his pocket. “This is a check from the federal government for five thousand dollars made out to you. Interested?”

“What’s it for?” she asked suspiciously. “Tax refund?”

Devine glanced at the man next to him. “We need to check something in your wall. My friend here will do the honors and then fix everything. And you get the money.”

“My wall?”

“Specifically, the spot where Perry Rollins patched it. Remember, you told me about that?” He held up the check enticingly. “Streaming or cold, hard cash?”

“Federal check?” she said.

“Yes.”

“Will it bounce?” she said derisively.

“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“Right, they’ll just print more money,” she said in disgust.

Martin let them in and showed them the spot where Rollins had fixed her wall.

As Martin and Devine watched, he said, “I found a receipt for drywall joint compound in Rollins’s wallet. Thought it was curious that a guy like that would patch your wall, or do other repairs for you. He just never struck me as the altruistic type.”

Something seemed to click in Martin’s head. “Wait, you think he hid something there?”

“I really hope so.”

The man used his tools to cut out the section and stepped back.

Devine used a light to check the opening. Taped to one of the studs was a USB stick.

“What is that thing?” asked Martin, as Devine pulled it out.

“Something worth a lot more than five grand to a certain acquaintance of mine.” He handed her the check. “Happy streaming.”

After leaving Martin’s building, Devine drove over to the local police precinct and met with Braddock and Walker, who had come there to meet him.

Braddock said, “Two of the men taken into custody at the place where they were holding Betsy Odom confessed to Perry Rollins’s murder.”

“I’m sure there will be lots of confessions coming from that group.”

“Oh, and they were also the ones to bug Rollins’s apartment because he had been sniffing around. That way they learned of his plan to peddle what he knew about Danny Glass. And they took him out before he could do that.”

“Makes sense.”

“And exactly what information was so damaging about Glass?” asked Braddock.

“I wish I knew.”

Braddock nodded, but clearly didn’t believe this. “Your methods are unorthodox, Devine, but you get results, I’ll give you that.”

“And I appreciate your following the evidence where it led you.”

“As you know, along with the Bureau, we raided the compound of the ‘Termites,’” said Walker. “Nicholas Dawkins was found dead. He’d been shot.”

“My money would be on Mercedes King’s having done that.”

“She escaped from there, not sure how,” said Braddock. “But we got everybody else. And with Glass back on board, DOJ is salivating at the prosecutions that are going to be coming out of it. Lots of heads in high places are going to roll, so I heard. Guess all of them are lawyering up and hiring big-time PR firms. You know they’re guilty if they do that.”

Walker added, “The Kings’ house blew up. Remains were found inside. Looks to be several men and at least one woman. We’re waiting on positive IDs, if we can get any. You know anything about that?”

She and Braddock stared at Devine.

“House was still standing when we got Glass out of there. Probably a gas main explosion.”

Braddock said his goodbyes, and Beth Walker escorted Devine out.

“Think you’ll make it back here at some point?” she added hopefully.

“If I do, you’ll be the first to know.”

“You know what happened to Mercedes King, don’t you?” she said.

He looked at her, his expression turning serious. “If I had to speculate, I would say that a terrible wrong might have finally been set right. And justice was done. That’s the business both of us are in, right? Justice?”

“Yes, it is,” said a taken-aback Walker.

“Then let’s just leave it at that, Beth.”