There was nothing to say to that. They both knew he’d pissed off the department enough over the years for a re-hirement to be unlikely.
Bolchoy lifted his glass toward Luke, silently asking if he wanted a drink. Luke shook his head. “The night before the hearing, Amberson, Yates, DeSantos, and I went out. Iris showed up, too.”
He shot Luke a look. “You back with her?”
“No.” Luke was firm.
“Bet she isn’t pleased about the hearing.” He offered up a thin smile. “Corkland wanted me to go down for this.”
“He didn’t have enough evidence.”
“Yeah, but he leans toward the Carreras.”
“The DA?”
“He doesn’t like going up against ’em. Knows they’re dirty, but he’s a chickenshit. If I’d managed to actually get something on ’em, he’d be in a real hard place.”
“Do they have something on Corkland?”
“Nah. Corkland just has no spine. Iris has more than he does, but she thinks sunshine beams shoot out of the guy’s ass. He can do no wrong.” He downed the rest of his drink. “But you came here for information on taking down the Carerras.”
“I’ve tried to contact Peg Bellows, but so far she hasn’t gotten back to me. Where did she land after everything? She and Ted were friends with the Carreras, or at least they thought so, initially.”
“That’s what she says,” Bolchoy agreed sourly.
Luke knew the story of Ted Bellows’s death, but he wanted to refresh his memory before he contacted Bellows’s widow. “Ted Bellows died on a fishing trip. The Carreras chartered a boat out of Tillamook Bay that was destroyed by a sudden squall. Coast Guard got to the wreckage and saved the captain and crew member, but one of the Carreras and Ted were on an inflatable, and when that turned up, only Carrera was on board.”
“Brian Carrera.” He harrumphed and settled himself deeper into his seat. “Bellows’s body floated up a day later. Whole thing ruled an accident. The truth is Brian Carrera’s an opportunist. My bet is he saw how to get rid of Bellows once and for all. The captain saw them in the inflatable together before his own fishing trawler broke apart. The ones who survived were lucky to be saved.”
“Carrera didn’t have an explanation of what happened to Bellows?”
“Oh, he said they’d tipped over and the boat was atop them. Brian managed to get the inflatable turned over and inside it, but by then Bellows was gone. Disappeared.”
Luke knew Bolchoy had never believed Bellows’s death was anything short of homicide, but there had never been any proof. “You told Peg your suspicions.”
“She wouldn’t believe me . . . at first. But then those documents turned up. The sale of their property with her signature, and she didn’t sign it. She had to go to court, you know. Actually prove it was a forgery. The Carreras insisted they knew nothing about it. Must’ve been Ted who put her name on the doc, was their defense. Maybe it was . . . hard to say because he was dead. Carrera brothers skated again, but after that, Peg wasn’t quite so fond of them.” He slid Luke a glimmering look. “Corkland said that’s where I got the idea to forge their confessions.”
Luke wanted to ask him if Corkland was right, like he’d always wanted to but had been reluctant to ask. Now Bolchoy was staring him down, almost daring him to, but once the truth was out, there would be no putting it back. Cautiously, Luke said, “Rule number eight: Don’t ask questions if you don’t want to know the answers.”
Bolchoy’s mouth settled into a hard smile. “That’s rule number six. Don’t forget it.”
“I haven’t.”
Bolchoy picked up his drink, though it was empty, then turned the glass in his hands. “At first Peg didn’t want to talk to me after Ted’s death. She’d had some medical issues. Cancer scare, I think. And anyway, she didn’t want to hear my theories about what happened on that inflatable.”
“You told her you thought it was a homicide.”
“She didn’t believe it. She defended those bastards until the document showed up. Even then, though, she shut the door in my face. I tried to contact her, but truthfully, she likes a prettier face.”
“What do you mean?”
He laughed shortly. “She liked the Carrera boys. Maybe even better than she liked her husband. I thought about using you back then, but well—” He shrugged. “Things went the way they went, and anyway, the lady wasn’t taking my calls. You want to know where she landed? Go see her in person. Knock on her door. She’ll take one look at you and you’ll be in.”
*