Fighting Chance(88)
Sometimes exploding was even the right thing to do.
She did not think it was the right thing to do this time.
She worked at it some more, and eventually she came to a place where her breathing was no longer heavy and she didn’t think she would explode at the first signs of frustration.
She called Kasey Holbrook back and got her assistant instead. She waited for what seemed like forever. When the assistant came back on the line, the message was that Kasey had gone uptown for a meeting, and wasn’t expected to come back to the office until tomorrow. This was so transparently a lie, even the assistant who delivered it didn’t bother to try to make it sound true.
The control slipped, just for a moment. But it was enough.
“Tell Kasey I’ve gone out to do her job for her,” Janice said. Then she hung up the phone herself.
After that, she had to think. She didn’t know if anybody would take her word for anything. This was a deep enough conspiracy that she was sure people were being paid off. If people were being paid off, they wouldn’t want to hear what she had to say. They might even think they had to get rid of her.
She needed something solid to use, something she could show to reporters, something that would corroborate what she had to say.
And she was pretty sure she knew where to get it.
3
When Gregor Demarkian called, Russ Donahue was knee-deep in Petrak Maldovanian’s story, which was not the same thing as his alibi. He was also knee-deep in Petrak Maldovanian’s aunt, who was sort of a global source code for life on Cavanaugh Street. She was very small, but she made Tasmanian devils look composed.
“I’m not an idiot,” Sophie Maldovanian was saying. “I don’t think they’re lily-white little angels, the two of them. I know Stefan stole those things. I knew it before the police ever knew it, and if they’d come to me, I’d have told them. I should have marched him right down to the precinct the first time I found that stuff in his room and turned him in. That would have put an end to it. That would have put an end to it right there.”
“I don’t think it would have been a good idea,” Russ said. He was trying to be careful. He was not Armenian. He didn’t know how to negotiate these things as well as Gregor Demarkian did. Or as well as Father Tibor did.
“I think that, under the circumstances, you might have exacerbated the problem,” he said carefully. “If you’d wanted to do something like that, and you’d asked me about it, I would have suggested that Stefan talk directly to the store. You could have gone with him to the store and he could have made a confession to the people there and given back the items. The store might still have prosecuted, you understand, but it would have looked very good at Stefan’s hearing. I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to Martha Handling, but it would have given us something to work with to stage an appeal. And if we’d caught a judge like Sarah Shore or Margaret Heiss-Landum, Stefan would have walked away with probation. An ankle bracelet at the very worst.”
“Instead I did nothing,” Sophie said, “and look where it landed us. Stefan has been in jail for over a week. And we still don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve been to visit him every chance I have, and he’s in very bad shape. He’s in very bad shape. Yes, for God’s sake. The kid behaved like an idiot and worse, but this is ridiculous. And I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”
“No, of course not,” Russ said.
Sophie Maldovanian saw his confusion. “I don’t want to do nothing,” she said. “With this thing with Petrak. I don’t want to do nothing.”
“But Miss Maldovanian, I’m not sure what we can do. Petrak hasn’t been charged with anything. And I’m not sure what you’re saying. Are you saying that Petrak killed Mikel Dekanian?”
Petrak was sitting in a chair a little behind his aunt. He scowled.
Sophie Maldovanian blew a raspberry. “Of course I’m not saying that Petrak killed Mikel Dekanian. Even if I didn’t know the boy couldn’t commit a murder if his life depended on it, what would be the point of killing Mikel Dekanian? I can’t see anyone wanting to kill Mikel Dekanian, except maybe some of those banks you’re suing for him, and banks don’t do things like that. I think it would be more likely Mikel would want to kill somebody at the banks. And that idiot police officer. Did you hear that idiot police officer? Implying that Petrak killed that judge and Mikel knew something about it, so he killed Mikel. Is that the most asinine thing you’ve ever heard, or what? Even if Petrak killed that judge—and he didn’t do that either, let me tell you, but even if he did—what would Mikel Dekanian know about it?”