“The laptop,” I say.
A bitter smile forms on Devlin’s lips. “A couple of times when I went to Jennifer’s house, I brought my own laptop with me. I’d shower before I went home. I think she took that time to copy my files. I was supposed to put a password on the computer, but I never got around to it.” Devlin shakes his head. “And then, like you said, one day I woke up, went outside my house to get my paper, and there it was in black and white—the story about the grand jury and the crooked cops. I knew I was fucked. I made a big show of subpoenaing Jennifer to appear before the grand jury to disclose her sources. But privately I was pleading with her to fight the subpoena. That’s why I went to her house the day she was killed. I told her not to testify. And I begged her not to implicate me.”
“And she admitted what she’d done? Copied the files from your laptop?”
“She didn’t even apologize for it.”
“And that’s when you threw her down the stairs,” I say.
“No. That’s not what happened. I cooled down, and we talked. I convinced her that she needed to hire her own lawyer. Someone other than the TV station’s hacks.” Here, he pauses, looks at me, and says, “I gave her the same name I’d given her before. Your name,” he says bitterly, and the irony slaps me in the face. “The next time I saw her was after the murder, at the crime scene, that night.”
I sit back in my chair. I understand the timing now. Jennifer called me at my office, having earlier been given my name by Devlin. Devlin then went to her house and pressured her again, and she called me a second time, telling me she needed to see me right away. So I went to her house. Later, when Devlin got the call that Jennifer had been killed, he knew the CSU guys would be at her house.
“So,” I continue, “you got a call from one of your contacts in the police department that David had been busted at Jennifer’s house, and you hightailed it over to Addison Street. You barged in and made sure to pollute the crime scene, including the basement, with your hair and skin and fingerprints—because you knew the CSU team was going to find all that stuff anyway. You’d been in the house during your affair. Hell, earlier that day.”
Devlin says nothing.
“I wonder whether it was in the back of your mind to kill her even before she opened the door for you.”
“Goddamn it! Why aren’t you listening to me?” Devlin’s voice is thick with exasperation. “I did not kill her! I thought we could find a way to make it all work out.”
“With my help?”
“You’re the best in the city, Mick. The slickest. And, quite frankly, the most ruthless. If there was anyone who could get her out of having to testify, I knew it would be you.”
I think back to Jennifer Yamura telling me there was someone we could blackmail—meaning Devlin. But that doesn’t make sense. Devlin didn’t want Jennifer to testify any more than she did, so blackmailing him wouldn’t have accomplished anything more than Devlin would have readily done on his own if he could’ve managed it. As for Devlin’s hope that I could figure out some way to rescue Yamura from the grand jury, it was a pipe dream. No lawyer was going to beat Devlin’s subpoena. Devlin and Jennifer were both so desperate, it clouded their judgment.
Devlin laughs bitterly, shakes his head. “Christ, what a fuckup. What a massive fuckup. One mistake. One fucking mistake, and everything down the drain.”
The words are a punch to the gut. It takes all my effort not to double over from the same sense of desperation that’s driving Devlin.
“I never should have let her lure me in, never given her the chance to trick me.”
I laugh. “Is that how you see it? She was the clever fox, and you were her witless prey?”
Devlin steels himself, looks at me. “I think she knew about the grand jury before I told her.”
“How could that be?”
“Your brother. He’s friends with Lawrence Washington. Lawrence probably told Tommy about his testimony. Or maybe,” and here Devlin leans toward me, “Tommy was a part of it all. Lawrence brought him into the scheme, and Tommy gave Jennifer the initial heads-up, when he was taking his turn with her.”
“You have a rich imagination.”
“How is Tommy doing these days? I haven’t seen him in court. Doesn’t he usually sit in?” I glower at Devlin, who glares back. “Whatever happens to me, to David Hanson, Tommy’s going down, and I think you know it.”
“The only person going down is you. And it’s going to happen today. I’m going to stop you from sending an innocent man to prison to cover for your own crime, and I’m going to destroy you in the process.”
Devlin’s shoulders slump, every ounce of bravado draining from his body. There’s no way out for him, and he knows it. I sit back in my chair for a long moment and enjoy it. Then I say the word that saves his life.
“Or . . .”
For the next twenty minutes, Devlin sits perfectly still, staring out the window behind me as I lay it out for him. When I’m done, he fixes on me, his face incredulous. “You expect me to let a murderer walk out of that courtroom, scot-free?”
“But it was always your plan to walk out of that courtroom. Now David—the man you set up to take the fall for you—is going to walk out, too.”
“Listen to me: I did not—”
“Stop it! Just stop it. No more trying to bullshit me into thinking you’re innocent. I’m giving you one chance to avoid the catastrophe you’ve brought on yourself. Take it or leave it. Either way, David Hanson’s going to walk.”
Devlin exhales, nods. He lifts himself out of his seat, as deflated as I’ve ever seen him, as spent as I feel myself. When he gets to the door, I call after him.
“We’re not done,” I say.
He turns, opens his arms: What else?
“One more thing,” I say. “Tommy. He gets a pass. You leave him alone. And you make sure everyone else does, too. Including Tredesco.”
Devlin glares at me. “You’re a prick, McFarland. You know that?” And he’s gone.
Vaughn gets in an hour later. I hear him greet Susan fifteen minutes after that. I give Susan a chance to situate herself in her office, then I go in and close the door. “I’m going to need your help this morning.”
“Sure, anything.”
“I need you to question our first witness.”
“This morning? Is he already prepped? Do you have a list of questions for me?”