Thorne had to give him credit. The man might be an asshole, but he was sharp. ‘Yes. But he doesn’t remember seeing anything.’
There was no point in saying anything else, because Kiley had promised that he would say exactly that to anyone else who asked.
‘Yet you stayed in his apartment for several minutes,’ Joseph commented. ‘So says his nosy neighbor, anyway.’
‘We did,’ Thorne confirmed, but said no more.
Joseph rolled his eyes. ‘So this is the way we’re playing it? Really, Thorne? Both Gwyn and Stevie are shot at and you’re going to make me guess the right questions to ask you?’
‘I’ve told you the one important thing that I see as a connection,’ Thorne said evenly. ‘The key ring. The one I saw on Richard Linden’s body belonged to him. Or resembled the one that belonged to him, anyway. The EMT couldn’t say where it disappeared to.’
‘Have you located Kiley’s partner?’ Joseph asked. ‘Maybe he saw it.’
Thorne considered his words. ‘When we asked Kiley if he knew where his partner was, he said he’d quit about a year after my trial. This was after a car accident in which his car was broadsided by a truck that came out of nowhere.’ He lifted his brows and Hyatt’s scowl deepened.
‘Your girlfriend at the time died the same way,’ Hyatt said reluctantly. ‘She would have been a witness. What happened to Kiley’s partner?’
Thorne shrugged. ‘He just . . . disappeared. Quit his job and never came back.’
‘We’ll start a search for him,’ Joseph said. ‘Who else was involved in handling Richard Linden’s body?’
Thorne glanced at Lucy, who’d been sitting silently at JD’s side. She was still wearing a lab coat and had probably come straight from the morgue.
Thorne dipped his head almost imperceptibly, giving his assent, and she cleared her throat. ‘I read the police report detailing the murder of Richard Linden,’ she said. ‘Richard was declared DOA in the ER. The doctor who called his death died a few years ago of a heart attack, so that’s another dead end.’ She winced a little at her unfortunate word choice. ‘Anyway, according to the report, there wasn’t much done in the ER. Richard may have been dead even before he was put in the ambulance.’
Everyone aimed a look at Thorne. ‘Was he?’ Joseph asked.
Thorne shrugged. ‘He had a pulse when I discovered him. I thought so anyway.’
‘He was convinced enough,’ Jamie said acidly, ‘to stay at Richard’s side to try to save his life, even though he knew he’d be blamed.’
Joseph met Thorne’s eyes and Thorne was momentarily struck speechless by the kindness and respect he saw there. ‘I gathered that from the court transcripts,’ Joseph said. ‘It was . . . above and beyond decency, Thorne.’
Wow. For a second, Thorne just stared. Then years of training in the art of interrogation kicked in. Joseph Carter was very good at his job. That wasn’t to say he was insincere or untruthful. But he definitely knew how to manipulate a witness.
Thorne smiled at him, allowing his amusement to show. ‘Thank you.’
Joseph held his gaze for a long moment. ‘I meant it.’
‘I know. It almost worked too.’ He sobered, reclaiming the thread of the conversation. ‘Richard had a pulse when I found him. I tried to stop the bleeding, but I was only seventeen. I’d had Red Cross first aid training because I’d been a lifeguard, but I didn’t know how to deal with a wound like that. I knew he was close to death, though. I mean, I could see his internal organs.’ He swallowed hard, remembering exactly how it had looked. How fucking scared he’d been. ‘Then the cops stormed the place and ripped me away from him. They had me cuffed and face down on the floor before I could say a word.’ Beside him, Gwyn tensed, and he glanced down at her. ‘It really did look bad,’ he murmured. ‘I was bent over him, covered in his blood. I couldn’t blame the cops for that part.’
‘I could,’ Jamie said flatly.
‘And I did,’ Phil added.
Smiling ruefully at them, Thorne returned his attention to Joseph. ‘I don’t know what happened after that with respect to Richard. I only know what I saw in those minutes that I was trying to help him. The key ring was there then. That’s what I know to be fact.’
‘I interviewed the ER doctor as part of my trial prep,’ Jamie said. ‘I asked him about the key ring, because Thorne was so adamant that he’d seen it and by then it was gone. The doctor said he didn’t do an exam. He called Richard’s time of death less than a minute after he was brought in. He deliberately hadn’t touched the body any more than necessary because he knew there would be a homicide investigation. And he said there was police presence the entire time. The cops accompanied the body to the morgue. The doctor didn’t have any more contact with the body or the Linden family.’ He looked to Lucy. ‘I also interviewed the ME. He denies having seen the key ring as well.’
‘I know the ME who did the exam,’ Lucy said. ‘He was my boss until he retired, and he was always a man of integrity, personally and professionally. His autopsy report lists no items found inside the body, and according to court transcripts, nothing meeting that description was taken into evidence by the police. That leaves the ME tech who prepared the body for autopsy as the only person left in the chain with access to Richard’s body. That tech is dead. He was killed at the scene of a shooting incident fourteen years ago.’
‘Lots of dead or missing people,’ Joseph commented. ‘What was the significance of this key ring?’
‘I don’t know,’ Thorne said truthfully. ‘It was made from a medal Richard received for soccer. As I recall, he carried a single key on it. Both key and ring were inside his body. Until they no longer were. Can you describe the key ring you found in Patricia’s wound?’
Brickman, the asshole detective still leaning against the wall, made a disagreeable sound. ‘That information is confidential,’ he said stiffly. ‘It’s part of an ongoing investigation. As are you, Mr Thorne.’
Thorne stiffened, and beside him Gwyn drew a deep breath, her cheeks darkening. She opened her mouth to say something sharp and snarky, but he squeezed her hand and gave his head a mild shake.
Joseph was giving Brickman a disapproving look, but he said nothing, probably because Brickman was Hyatt’s responsibility.
Hyatt harrumphed. ‘Not your call, Detective,’ he said, injecting the proper level of sharpness into his tone. ‘We are cooperating here. And Mr Thorne is here of his own volition. We are grateful for his help.’ He turned to Thorne. ‘Having said that, we really can’t tell you much about the key ring, but that’s because it’s being analyzed in the lab.’
Thorne nodded slowly, hoping his expression showed his disbelief. ‘I see.’
Gwyn tugged at his hand. ‘I think we should go now,’ she said. ‘They’ll never cooperate with us.’
Hyatt rolled his eyes. ‘For God’s sake. It really is being analyzed. Knowing that it might be a sports medal is helpful. Currently, there’s so much buildup on it, we can’t see what was inscribed. The lab will tell us what the item is when they’re finished. Jeez.’
Gwyn gave him a narrow-eyed nod. ‘Thank you. That is cooperation.’
Another eyeroll from Hyatt. ‘Now, what would be even more cooperative is if you tell us who you suspect is behind this.’
Thorne drew a breath and let it out. Frederick had drawn up a list of clients who’d been unhappy with their sentences, but no one had jumped out. Other than Cesar Tavilla, he wasn’t aware of anyone who hated him this much or had enough muscle to pull off such an elaborate setup. And according to Ramirez, this was not Tavilla’s doing. ‘I don’t know and that’s the truth. I tend to make enemies in my line of work.’
Detective Brickman made another offensive noise. ‘No kidding.’
Gwyn’s hands clenched into fists. ‘Motherfu—’
Thorne wrapped one of her fists in his big hand and squeezed. ‘That’s what he wants,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t give him an inch.’