There was a knock on the door, then Dean popped his head in. “Show time.”
Jim Perry was led into the adjoining room, along with several lawyers for both the government and Jim. Dean Hooper led the questioning. The preliminary paperwork and agreement had been hashed out with the attorneys. Jim would be given ten years strict probation but no jail time. He would not be allowed to possess a firearm. He would lose his pension. He had to forfeit his passport and if he left Sacramento County, he had to inform the FBI and AUSA of his travel plans.
Jim didn’t seem particularly disturbed by the restrictions. Alex wondered how much money he had squirreled away. It could be substantial.
Or he might have enough money to disappear like Rykov appeared to have done.
He would not testify against Sergei Rykov, but one condition of his deal was that he would give the names of any law enforcement official—local, state or federal—who he knew to be engaged in illegal activities, and he would agree to testify against former Detective Tommy Cordell. He identified four individuals: two in Sac PD, one in the Sheriff’s department, and one DEA agent that he had evidence were taking kickbacks from organized crime. Alex hoped that was it—that Jim wasn’t holding back. He was only required to give names of those he could document, and he turned over a box of evidence which Dean ordered two agents to review in another room.
Once that was done, Dean moved the conversation to Travis Hart.
“Mr. Perry, as part of your plea agreement, you agreed to testify to serious felonies committed by an elected official, Lieutenant Governor Travis Hart. You also indicated that you have evidence to support your accusation.”
“Yes, sir,” Jim said. He was serious, but there was a sparkle in his eye.
Alex whispered to Matt, “He’s enjoying this.”
Standing behind her, Matt squeezed her shoulders. “It appears so.”
“Please state your charges and evidence.”
“Travis Hart killed five women, all prostitutes, over the last five years. Sacramento PD knows about two of them.”
Alex leaned forward. She hadn’t been expecting that.
“Please explain how you came to know about these murders.”
“I became aware of Hart’s proclivities five years ago when he hired a prostitute and screwed her in the alley, leaving her beaten and bruised. That was the case that Detective Selena Black picked up. Selena is like a dog with a bone, she wouldn’t let it go. I didn’t know about all this until the girl, Daphne Vasin, OD’d at her apartment. I do not have any knowledge as to whether her OD was intentional or accidental. But I knew if Selena dug around, she’d find other girls who could identify Hart. I’d learned this wasn’t the first time he’d roughed up his whores.”
“Do you have any evidence that he attacked Ms. Vasin?” Dean asked.
“I have a copy of all the books. It’s my freebie for you, Agent Hooper. It includes some very interesting names and their particular fetishes. But Hart is the only one who turned his fetish into murder.”
“Go on.”
“Three years ago he killed Elsa Babnin. He’d made arrangements to have her all night, and when he called her manager to pick her up, she was in a bad way. Barely conscious. Cut and bruised. He called me. Her manager understood that having a prosecutor on the payroll, so-to-speak, would greatly assist the expansion of the organization. He didn’t know that Hart had been part of the organization for years. We had him on tape with several prostitutes, and used that to leverage certain outcomes for certain trials. Not many—only key situations.”
Jim smiled as if he was in on a joke. Dean didn’t say anything, but waited.
“Elsa was as good as dead,” Jim continued. “Broken ribs, punctured lung, cracked skull. I told the manager that Hart needed to take care of this one. I gave him the gun. The manager ordered Hart to put a bullet in her head or he would take her to the hospital. Hart balked, saying just let her die. He was given a count of ten. He killed her at seven. The manager then dumped her, but kept the gun. I don’t think Hart realized that we had enough evidence to bury him. He wasn’t thinking like a prosecutor. I believe that this was the first time he killed a woman, but certainly not the first time he’d raped someone. I was a cop long enough to know that the level of violence wasn’t a first offense. I did a little research and learned that there were a series of rapes at Hart’s college campus that fit his basic M.O.—take the women from behind, pushing their face down. Three had been reported, but you know that many of these crimes don’t get reported.
Jim paused a minute, sipped his water.
“I always thought that Hart became more violent after suffering a set back in his personal or professional life. Three years ago was a turning point for him.”
Matt tensed behind Alex. “He’s just saying that because he knows we’re listening,” Alex said.
“He’s not lying,” Matt said.