Joseph pulled up a chair and sat down. ‘The audio from your phone was muffled, but we got the general gist. Gwyn and Blake Segal filled in the blanks.’
‘And Brickman,’ Hyatt said gruffly. ‘He’s singing like a damn bird. I’m . . . I apologize on behalf of the department. Brickman’s been arrested and relieved of duty, of course.’
‘Of course,’ Gwyn murmured. ‘Was he able to fill you in on Tavilla’s operations?’
Hyatt nodded. ‘Yes. He’d been working for Tavilla for a few years. He’s already rolled on a half-dozen others in BPD who had ties to the organization or who were selling Tavilla information. He also gave us the woman who was Tavilla’s admin assistant for twenty years. Her name is Jeanne Bruno. Her husband owns the restaurant where Tavilla would hang out. Jeanne was a close friend of Madeline, Tavilla’s wife, who is now deceased.’
‘Her death came at the end of a long battle with heart disease,’ Joseph said, ‘but it also came days after Colin Tavilla was found guilty and sent to prison.’
Thorne sighed. ‘For which Tavilla blamed me.’
‘Passionately,’ Joseph said dryly. ‘Jeanne has – had – two daughters.’
‘Let me guess,’ Gwyn cut in. ‘Drizella and Anastasia.’
Joseph’s lips twitched. ‘Not too far off. Margo and Kathryn.’
‘Aka Anne and Laura,’ Thorne said. ‘The firm’s admin and the club’s bartender. What about the baby? The one Kathryn posted on her Facebook page as her own?’
‘It’s Margo and Colin’s baby,’ Joseph said. ‘Born after Colin went to prison. Kathryn was the baby’s aunt. We found the child when we arrested Jeanne Bruno. Jeanne has been charged with all kinds of criminal enterprise. She’s being held without bond and the baby is in foster care.’
‘Margo seemed to really love Colin,’ Gwyn said quietly. ‘Although I’m not sure how much of what she said can be believed, considering she’d double-crossed Tavilla and was planning to take over. She said she only decided to take over after Colin’s death, but . . .’ She shrugged her disbelief. ‘She worked for us for a year.’
‘Tavilla set up her false ID years ago.’ Hyatt looked incredibly weary, and Thorne found he had a little compassion for the brash lieutenant. ‘He’d been watching your businesses for some time and knew the kind of person you’d want to hire. Plus, he discouraged anyone else from working for you.’
‘What?’ Thorne looked at Jamie. ‘How?’
‘By offering them jobs with higher salaries at competing firms and threatening them when they wouldn’t take those jobs.’ Jamie shook his head. ‘I tracked down some of our applicants and they admitted that they’d been too afraid to come forward.’
Thorne felt some of the blood drain from his face. ‘Our admin assistant before Anne . . . She was in a car accident and had to quit. Was Tavilla responsible?’
Jamie nodded, briefly closing his eyes. ‘We didn’t know, Thorne. She didn’t know either. She doesn’t blame you.’
Gwyn’s hand tightened on his. ‘How did you find this out?’
‘We got Margo’s laptop,’ Hyatt said. ‘She had notes galore, including incriminating files on your clients’ – he held up a hand to stem Thorne’s impending explosion – ‘which we’ve sealed, pending the review of a third-party mediation panel who will determine what we can and cannot access for our investigation.’
Thorne bit the inside of his cheek, the sudden pain in the top of his head indicating that his BP had skyrocketed. This was unacceptable. This was wrong. He hadn’t come this far only to have his clients fucked over.
Jamie glanced up at the bank of monitors. ‘Thorne, you need to calm down, or the nurse will come in here and throw everyone out.’
Thorne jerked a nod. ‘Who’s on the panel?’
‘Grayson,’ Joseph said. ‘And Daphne.’
Thorne relaxed. Grayson Smith, Paige’s husband, was one of only two prosecutors he trusted. The second was Joseph’s wife Daphne.
‘And Frederick and me,’ Jamie added. ‘Don’t worry, Thomas. We won’t let your clients be screwed over.’
Thorne let his head fall back against the pillows, the pain in his head receding. ‘Okay. What else did you find in Margo’s laptop?’
‘A list of your clients she intended to blackmail once she’d taken over Tavilla’s operations,’ Joseph said. ‘According to everything we could find, those initial calls were as far as it went. That list was sent to the third-party panel as well. One of the things that won’t make you angry is the tie between Tavilla and Judge Segal. Segal crossed Tavilla’s radar about eight months ago. Tavilla had been digging into your past, figuring out the best way to hurt you. He had a multi-pronged attack – your friends, your businesses and your integrity. Ultimately he wanted you in prison, but he hadn’t planned to kill you.’
‘Then why did he have us brought to his boat?’ Gwyn asked.
Joseph grimaced. ‘According to Brickman, Tavilla had decided you weren’t worth the trouble. He’d planned to tie your deaths back to the judge, specifically revenge for his wife’s death and the kidnapping of his son. That way, if Segal claimed Tavilla had killed his wife, no one would believe him.’
‘But Margo had other plans,’ Thorne said. ‘She killed her own sister.’
‘She might have been a little . . .’ Hyatt tapped his temple. ‘But she kept amazing records.’
‘Best office admin we ever had,’ Jamie said morosely.
Gwyn frowned. ‘Hey.’
Jamie’s smile was indulgent. ‘You know we all love you, Gwyn, but your filing system was a huge pile of papers.’
She sighed. ‘That’s fair.’
Hyatt didn’t smile. ‘As best we can figure, she planned to make it look like her father-in-law and Thorne had killed each other. That way, Tavilla’s clients would continue to do business with her.’
‘What about Tavilla’s connection to Patricia?’ Thorne asked. ‘Did her husband give her up?’
‘We don’t think so,’ Joseph said. ‘Once we started searching Segal’s home, we had enough for a warrant for his safe deposit box. He’d written a detailed account of his dealings with Tavilla, who approached him about his connection to Thorne. Tavilla knew months ago that Segal had killed Richard Linden. He had paid Darian Hinman and Chandler Nystrom for the information. He also somehow knew that the judge had always been looking over his shoulder, expecting Thorne to figure it out. Or maybe it was just guilt. Whichever it was, Tavilla exploited it, convincing Segal that helping him get rid of Thorne would be in his best interest. The judge didn’t fight him too hard.’
‘Did Segal know that Tavilla planned to kill Patricia?’
Joseph shook his head. ‘Not according to the papers he left in his safe deposit box. He and Tavilla had agreed on a “different target”. The judge’s words, not mine. My personal opinion is that Segal believed Tavilla was going to kill Tristan Armistead for having an affair with Patricia. Tristan had been lured to a bench in the park. He thought the invitation had come from Patricia, but her phone records don’t show her having sent the text that he received. I think Segal texted Tristan himself.’
‘But Tavilla killed Patricia instead,’ Gwyn said.
‘Yes.’ Joseph lifted a shoulder. ‘Once that happened, everything was set into motion and Tavilla snipped off all his loose ends.’
‘But why did he need the judge?’ Thorne asked, squinting in confusion. ‘He had the story from Darian Hinman and Chandler Nystrom.’
‘Segal believes that Tavilla planned for him to be the fall guy,’ Hyatt answered. ‘That if everything fell through, he would be suspected, especially since he’d threatened Tristan Armistead for sleeping with his wife. Once Patricia was killed, Tavilla knew that the judge couldn’t come forward without incriminating himself over Richard’s murder and making himself a suspect in the murder of his wife.’
‘He didn’t draft the papers we found in his safe deposit box until after Patricia was killed,’ Joseph added. ‘He realized then that he needed leverage.’
‘What about Linden Senior?’ Thorne asked.